The Marathon Man of Pop

At 67, Neil Diamond is a slightly muted version of the showman he has always been

At 67, Neil Diamond is a slightly muted version of the showman he has always been
Four decades into a career as the sequined king of soft rock, celebrated in his 1970s peak as much for his rakish growl and helmet of wavy hair as for hits like Sweet Caroline and Song Sung Blue, Neil Diamond is enjoying something of a career renaissance.

Always a strong concert draw, he has been making more money on the road than ever before, grossing $168 million over his last three tours, according to Billboard. And in May his 46th album on the charts, “Home Before Dark” (Columbia)—a set of stripped-down and reflective songs—became his first to reach No. 1. Diamond, 67, is now on a mostly sold-out world tour that will take him well into 2009. “I never expected that I would be doing this for as long as I’ve been doing it,” he said, “But I don’t think I’m ever going to stop. It’s the only challenge I have left in my life.”
Onstage Diamond is a slightly muted version of the showman he has always been, belting his songs in a still-powerful baritone and punctuating the climaxes by pointing straight up to the rafters. Only his hair is much different: thinned, cropped short and streaked with gray. At the XL Center in Hartford, more than 12,000 fans rose to their feet and shouted when he began the opening number, Holly Holy.

Diamond is known as a particularly hard-working performer and songwriter. When writing songs, he said, he keeps copious notes on yellow legal pads and lugs the paperwork around in dozens of shopping bags. On tour, he has his meals sent by FedEx every day from a dietary consultant in California. Backstage at the XL Center, he warmed up his band with light calisthenics and a group whoop, and announced, “This is the 16th time we’ve played this building.” “I run a two-hour marathon every time onstage. So I have my electrolytes kept at a certain level, and I do my carb-loading after the shows for the next night,” he said.

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“Home Before Dark” and his previous album, “12 Songs”, run counter to type, with clean, clear arrangements that for the most part steer clear of his hallmark histrionics. They have got him some of his first serious critical attention in decades. “Somehow it’s dawning on me that I’m a more mature individual and I’m not a kid writing Cherry, Cherry anymore,” Diamond said, referring to his first Top 10 hit from 1966.

Diamond’s newer material has limited appeal for his core audience. In concert he played hit after hit from the 1960s and ‘70s to roaring applause. By contrast, the response to three songs from his new album was notably quiet. Linda Aronie, a 56-year-old fan, said after the show that she was lukewarm about the new material. “I have to be honest, I’m not crazy about it,” she said, “It just doesn’t seem like him.”
Diamond said he was not bothered by the response to the new songs. Toward the end of the concert, right after a string of megahits, Diamond told the crowd he had no plans for retirement. “This is my job,” he said. “Someone much greater than me gave me that job. He said, ‘You, you with that stupid look on your face—go out and sing until I tell you to stop.’ I haven’t heard the word yet so I’m just going to keep doing it.”
BEN SISARIO, NYT