Neil Diamond’s secret show at the Bitter End last night was not about showmanship.  There was nary a sequin to be found, in the crowd or on the stage.  It was hardly even about the music, three old tunes and three new tunes and 40 minutes of Neil were up without a single “TODAY!” shouted from the audience, and while  he did sound as good as ever, he may have lost a step from 40 years earlier, the last time he took that stage.

Tonight was about the whole, not the parts.  Tonight was about four young ladies experiencing the thrill of an older man, one actually crying when he played “Cherry, Cherry” while another shouted from her tattooed mid-20s hipster cuteness, “I love you Neil!” at the top of her lungs and you just knew, if she had them handy, panties would have followed her voice onto the stage.  Tonight was about the thrill of the woman in her 60s, who may have seen Neil play this very stage the last time, as she stared at his junk for 40 minutes and sang along to “Sweet Caroline” while I noted to the tattooed beauty, “Now that is the look of lust.”

No, tonight was not about the music, or the new album, or MySpace promoting it or the awesome poster they gave me as a parting gift for my 4 ½ hours of waiting for 40 minutes of music.  No,  tonight was about being with Neil, intimately, just once, just for a moment, just to see how it feels.  —R.J. Wafer