Neil Diamond in Toronto

I could not resist switching to PBS to watch a two hour concert by my favourite singer, Neil Diamond.  He was presenting the 2018 issue of his 2012 concert at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. This commemorated the 40th anniversary of the original ‘Hot August Night’ concert in 1972.  I turned the volume up and danced!

I first came across Neil Diamond way back in the mid-70s as the singer behind the inspirational movie, Jonathan Livingstone Seagull.  This was in a London cinema and that mellow voice in surround-sound just blew me away.  My favourite song is still ‘Be’ from that film.  After that, I became a real Neil Diamond fan.  Everyone who came to visit me had to listen to his music in the background.  Fortunately, his songs were loved by everyone I knew.

Of course I always wanted to see him live, but although he toured the world from time to time, I never managed to attend any of his concerts while I lived in England.  So when I heard that he was on his 50^th Anniversary World Tour in 2017, I knew it was now or never.  I checked my CAL frequent flyer miles and his tour schedule, and decided that my best bet was Toronto in June.  My sister, artist Karen Hale-Jackson, also a big fan, joined me for this once-in-a lifetime experience.

The concert was taking place at the Air Canada Centre, so we booked an Airbnb in a condo across the road from there.  We were met at the airport by our nephew, Sean, and his husband, Scott, and they took us for a lovely pub dinner before dropping us to our place.  Every Trini has family in Toronto, right? 

The next day, a friend took us to the fascinating Blue Whale Story exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), followed by a visit to the Art Gallery of Toronto (AGT) which features the largest collection of Canadian art.  Union Station was a short walk away so our location was very convenient for getting around the Metro system. 

The morning of the concert, we did more of the tourist thing and had lunch at the top of the nearby

CN Tower where we could observe how high (scarey) our condo was.  We also enjoyed visiting Ripley’s Aquarium next door, marveling at the pretty tropical fish.

We were getting excited now, watching people arrive for the concert – mostly ‘mature’ women like us.  Soon we walked across the road, got through the fast line as we are Royal Bank of Canada customers, and were perched on our seats high up and to the side of the stage.  I couldn’t purchase better seats by the late time of our booking (at least not what I could afford) and the stadium was completely filled.  We chatted to the young man next to us and he said that he became a fan as his parents had taken him to several Neil Diamond concerts.

Finally, Neil came on stage and it was transcending!  His voice was strong and deep and smooth as ever, as he took us through his many hits – rock, country, ballads. We sang and danced at our seats.  Yes, he sang ‘Be’ plus two other tracks from that album.  Of course, his popular encores were ‘Sweet Caroline’ and ‘Cracklin’ Rosie’.  ‘Sweet Caroline’ is the traditional Boston Red Sox song, and Karen and I had witnessed the whole Boston Fenway Park stadium singing it when we went to a baseball match there a few weeks after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.  Apparently, Neil Diamond personally sang the song at that stadium at their first game after the bombing.

The two hour show went by so fast that I couldn’t believe it was over.  We had noticed that Neil walked very stiffly on stage and assumed that this was because of his age (76).  Sadly, he had to cancel his tour a few months later when it reached Australia, because of being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.  He has promised to keep writing songs but he will never tour again.  I’m so glad I followed my strong gut feeling that I must see him live while I can.  Thank you, Neil Diamond, for a lifetime of wonderful music.  He really is the greatest singer/song-writer ever!