Our Big Night Out.

NEIL DIAMOND IN CONCERT!!! The tickets were a wonderful birthday present. While I did not see what I imagined, which was middle aged women throwing their panties at this 64 year old hearthrob, we did have a wonderful time. The man hasn't lost a thing! The Centrum was packed - everything was sold out except for the very top seats in back of the stage. There were more walkers and canes at this concert than I had ever seen anywhere else (except at work, maybe), much of the rest of the audience was college aged / Generation X-ers. A very interesting mix. It was intruiging to watch the fan interaction.
The two and a half hours that he played were like having a big sing-along with 14,800 of your closest friends. I could have done without the whole "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" montage in the middle of the show - but the rest of it was phenomenal. Especiallly his new stuff.
One of the best numbers of the night was "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show". "Sweet Caroline" was also a lot of fun, but it occured to us that it might be tough to tell Crash (if s/he is a girl) that we got her name from a song sung by an aging rocker wearing sequins. Crash's favorite song seemed to be "Kentucky Woman" judging by the way s/he was stomping on my bladder and how his/her head was smashing into my right lung (leaving no doubt in my mind that s/he is, indeed, the breechest of breech babies).
One of the best parts is that we never had to leave Worcester (besides the fact that Neil, being from Brooklyn, actually knew HOW to pronounce Worcester!)! It's so nice having a venue that we had have concerts like this so close.
An excellent birthday present and a fine "last hurrah" before Crash's arrival.