I thought he was dead, but apparently not. Rupert’s mob reports:
Neil Diamond has lashed out at big-name performers who “rip people off”, vowing no one will pay more than $99 to see him live in Australia.
They’d have to pay me $99 to go to a Neil Diamond concert, and even then I’d wear earplugs (and dark glasses to avoid being recognised). What sort of brain dead Baby Boomer would bother going to hear Neil Diamond? (Help! I’m beginning to sound like Paul Watson.)
But there’s worse. The story continues:
The move contrasts sharply with the $580 for best seats for the Eagles tour in November and the $1530 ticket for Barbra Streisand in 2000.
Great Caesar’s Ghost! (as Perry White used to say). I’m not even going to think about Barbra Streisand, but the Eagles weren’t worth listening to at their peak back in the late 70s, not even after a dozen cones of Mullumbimby Madness. This may well be a sadistic crime against humanity to rival Lindy Englund’s laughing and pointing at Iraqi prisoners’ penises.
When I travelled through Norway in the 1970’s, Hotel California was on every car radio and cassette. The Norwegians are very nice people, but they do live in a largely rural country festooned with fish drying on racks, and have an extremely long, grim winter. All of which plays hell with your musical taste.
I’d pay to see Neil Diamond – do a Hot August night type show. Hes rarely been overrated and often underated. I wont be seeing the Eagles or Streisland. Not to mention that Bonny Prince Billy is on in Melbourne next week or so.
*shreds Diamond CDs, sheds tears*
I remember the Eagles’ comeback in the mid-1990s when they were charging a hundred bucks per ticket. I thought that was obscene then, as it was and still is, but alas it’s no longer uncommon.
$350 for The Rolling Stones at Rod Laver Arena and $190 for The Who at Vodaphone Arena. I’d pay ten times for each if they played in a club or pub.
Tony
Mentioning the Strolling Bones (even in their current decrepit state) in the same breath with the Eagles is foul heresy in my book.
Couldn’t agree with you more about The Eagles and Neil Diamond. Sheesh, what is it about people. Growing up in the ’70’s I had to endure teenage parties where Hotel California etc were de riguer. Radio Birdman, The Buzzcocks were more my style but no one wanted to know at the time.
Remember Dave Warner and From the Suburbs? Forget the name of the track but there was a tremendous piss-take of all that sort of shit in a song about Derek (” …he’s a salesman, drives a Toyota Celica, is 27 years old, trys to look 21, but looks 32″) and Sandra who he chats up and takes back to his pad and to lubricate the event puts on The Eagles (“…oooh yeah sez Sandra, they’re sooooo talented”).
Craig
Funny you should mention Dave Warner From the Suburbs. I even thought about incorporating that “they’re so talented” line when I was writing this post. I have fond memories of hearing Dave Warner live and sweaty at the Coogee Bay Hotel not long after Just a Suburban Boy was released. I wonder whether the LP is available on CD. I stupidly allowed all my old vinyl LPs to be flogged in a lawn sale years ago. BTW Dave Warner has lately re-materialised as a crime/detective story writer, and they’re not too bad either as a light read. A bit like Peter Corris’s Cliff Hardy novels, only Warner’s hero is a rock star turned detective named Andrew “The Lizard” Zirk. I also see from a quick Google that discovered his website, that the Dave Warner From the Suburbs band actually made a brief comeback appearance only two nights ago in Perth. I wonder if any of our Perth blogging fraternity went along? I guess most of them are too young even to remember who he was/is.
I hope Bonnie Prince Billy is coming to Perth. He is excellent.
ps Careful, Ken (“the Strolling Bones (even in their current decrepit state)”). We know irony does not travel well on the internet and we don’t want the Cancer Wars to flare up again. Charlie Watts is currently fighting throat cancer and his fans will flame first and look for nuance later. In fact I was mid flame before I realised you were saying something nice, but it was far too oblique for my liking.
You’re right, of course, Ken. I’ll just add this little rider …
The above comment of Tony.T implies no real or actual connection between, on the one hand the abilities of either The Who or The Rolling Stones and on the other, the “ability” (more correctly “lack there-of”), of The Eagles.
And James, I’m also aware of Charlie Watts recent medical troubles but I’m more than comfortable with Ken’s description of The Stone’s present musical, as opposed to medical, condition. As close to the wind as it would appear on first reading, especially if you were of a mind to pick a fight.
Very civil, Tony!!!!
Hi Ken
I cannot provide much of substance on Dave Warner From The Suburbs other than he has been playing a bit in Perth. I did not get along to the first re-union gig at the Leopold Hotel a few weeks ago. The Leo is the local pub in Bicton, deep deep in Dave Warner territory* and I would expect there would be many fans who came along. The fact that he played again would indicate that there was public interest.
* I believe there was a song “When the boy from Bicton meets the hood from Brooklyn, there’s gonna be a hell of a fight”.
I always liked Warner’s Half-Time At The Football, Worst Day Of My Life and Lolongo Stomp. All very classy stuff.
I’ll be going along. $99 per ticket sounds like a bargain to me.
Niall
You don’t mean to Neil Diamond, do you? God, I just sat through an agonisingly boring interview between him and Andrew Denton. You’re not serious are you? I’ll be forced to add to your blog description and make you “a Left Wing Death Beast with appalling taste in music”. Repent while you can.
So not even Denton could make Neil Diamond interesting? That’s dullness, all right.
harsh parish but jesus christ I wish people would pay 99 bucks each to watch/listen to me being pleasant.
Diamond was alright on Denton. He came across as quite warm and human I thought. Denton did his usual “I’ve read where you said XYZ” thing, which means “My researcher gave me a stack of clippings and this is a good soundbite.” I mean, what can you do with a question like “How is your life different now from when you were growing up?” “Oh well. Then I was a poor kid living above a butcher’s in Brooklyn and now I am a squillionaire celebrity living in a mansion in Beverly Hills with an Australian lover half my age. So, it’s a little different.”
I am a fan of Denton’s but he doesn’t always light up an interview with his questions.