Sweet Caroline

I don't know if you've ever been to one of my shows, but we only have one rule. There are no rules, you can stand, you can dance or you can sit back, relax and enjoy the show. Me, I have one rule, I follow the noise.

Those were Neil Diamond's first words to the crowd gathered tonight at the Sprint Center. Stella and I were tucked snugly in the corporate suite enjoying the cheapest my company had to offer. The Sprint Center has several packages for the suites for an event. I guarantee you we got the cheapest. We had a bowl full of Jelly Bellys, Gummy bears and several snack mixes, it looked more like the toppings bar at Yummo. Luckily we had a fridge full of drinks, unfortunately for us those drinks were 6 Heineken keg cans, 12 Bud Lights and 12 Michelob Ultras as well as various sodas.

No matter how uninspiring the selection of snacks and drinks, we still had Neil Diamond to look forward to. I don't mean to age myself but there is something personal to me when it comes to Neil Diamond. When I was growing up we would go on trips in our van and play the hell out of Neil Diamond 8 tracks. I know we had at least 3, Hot August Nights, the Jazz Singer and whatever had “We're Coming to America”. Neil Diamond kind of owns the soundtrack to my youth.

As I gained maturity, I've discovered so many Neil Diamond songs that I love such as Cracklin' Rosie, Sweet Caroline, Son of a Preacher Man and I am I Said. It's not even funny how much these things mean to me. Every one of these songs holds a specific memory for me and only a couple of artists mean as much to me as Neil Diamond.

He did not disappoint tonight. He rocked the house with “Cherry, Cherry”. He romanced everone with “You Don't Bring Me Flowers Anymore” and he made everyone hoarse with “Sweet Caroline”. He even weaved in some songs from his new album without making everyone mad. You know why? Because, they still have that Neil Diamond magic.

If you weren't at the concert tonight, you missed out. I think that anyone in that arena tonight who screamed “They comin' to America” had the time of their life tonight. It didn't matter that my suite didn't have an appropriate beer selection, sometimes beer selection is not the most important thing.