Customer Reviews

Neil Diamond: Hot August Night NYC- Live from Madison Square Garden

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Superb concert! Neil Diamond looks and sounds great! His voice has not changed! This DVD was recorded in 2008. The quality of the DVD is absolutely perfect in audio and video! He sang ALL his oldies, EXCEPT Hello Again, Shilo, Desiree, Longfellow Serenade, Heartlight, and September Morn. The audience at Madison Square Garden was clearly delighted!. I've been waiting for this since the Neil Diamond, Greatest Hits Live DVD of 1988 and I certainly was NOT disappointed!

Superb concert! Neil Diamond looks and sounds great! His voice has not changed! This DVD was recorded in 2008. The quality of the DVD is absolutely perfect in audio and video! He sang ALL his oldies, EXCEPT Hello Again, Shilo, Desiree, Longfellow Serenade, Heartlight, and September Morn. The audience at Madison Square Garden was clearly delighted!. I've been waiting for this since the Neil Diamond, Greatest Hits Live DVD of 1988 and I certainly was NOT disappointed!

The included CD, titled "Neil Diamond 10 Favorites", includes:
Cherry, Cherry
Shilo
Sweet Caroline
Hello Again
September Morn
Forever in Blue Jeans
Play Me
Pretty Amazing Grace
Love on the Rocks
America

In the "Welcome Home Neil" segment on the DVD, Neil Diamond revisits his childhood neighborhood and home in Brooklyn. It was cute that when he chatted with four African-American guys in their late teens, they "didn't have a clue" who he was. Later he chatted with his team and planned the concert.

Neil Diamond videos have been sort of hit or miss affairs over the years. Even though Diamond is known for doing great shows their power has not translated to video very well (see Greatest Hits Live). It can now be said that there is a Diamond concert video that captures the intensity of an actual show.

Shot by Hamish Hamilton,Hot August Night:NYC gives us a glimpse of the 2008 Tour in front of a hometown crowd who is in love with the entertainer. The show capures twenty-eight songs in just over two hours as Diamond takes us through most of his catalogue from his earliest hits to his latest Home Before Dark material. Backed by the band that has supported him for the past thirty years or so Diamond makes it look easy. The high point of the show is a rousing mid set Sweet Caroline that has the entire arena on its feet.

The only bonus feature is Neil Diamond Coming Home which takes the singer back to his old Brooklyn neighborhood and apartment fifty years later.

This is a worthwhile DVD to watch if you have an interest in one of America's most known singer songwriters.

I own Neil Diamond Live in Australia 1976, Live Greatest Hits 1988 and now this one from 2008. All 3 show Neil at distinctly different stages of his career, all with the same band and background singers. Its interesting to see all 3 and compare. He's great in all 3 and he's schmaltzy in all 3 to some degree. He always has his charm and always has his very enthusiastic fans. This is good. Very good sometimes. But, in this one, he and his band are showing their age a bit, and sometimes its not very flattering. But.. They're out there and they're doing it and they're giving it their all which is impressive in its own right. And the song choices and the special feature of Neil going home show a reflective and bright person trying to show his appreciation for his past, his present and his future. I'd recommend getting all 3 if you are a fan of Neil. (I would not recommend getting the audio versions of Neil live though - too much hokey audience participation that is best appreciated in video, but not audio only.)

Finally Neil has decided to bring us his live performance home... Living in France, Neil never pointed his nose in our country and I can only find that live experience trough cd's or a (very badly filmed) DVD live in Australia in the early 70'... This is a gig ! His best performance ever ! great voice, great sound, nice audience (middle-age 60 !) best filmed. Go for it, a must have !

I have two other Neil Diamond DVD but this is by far the best!!..The video and audio quality..and the performace are without equal.!! If you are thinking of owning one Neil Diamond DVD, This is the one !!!

This DVD shows clearly that Neil is better than ever. His voice is a little smoother, his delivery a little more nuanced, his interaction with the audience a little more relaxed.
This DVD clearly shows why he has been so popular for all these years. What a great talent. If you like (or love-like me) his music, this DVD is a must have.

I have purchased 5 different versions of this DVD some from other vendors, and all of them have a 2 second "freeze" during the song ' Sweet Caroline '. There must have been a problem with the Master equipment. Sorry we have to suffer for the mistake from professionals that should have done a perfect job.

The concert was excellent. Neil Diamond put on a great show as always.

He just needs to get better DVD producers.

This is a good show overall. The audio and video are quite good. Intially, I was taken aback by his "advanced" years and hence voice, but I got over that after a couple of songs. Maybe he warmed up as well...I can't say I'm the biggest ND fan out there by any stretch. This DVD was just meant to add to my concert DVD collection and its a welcome addition. Not my favorite DVD, but certainly not the worst either. I haven't seen any other ND concert DVD's and have never been to a ND concert so I couldn't compare this one vs another... We did just recently watch the Jazz Singer and got me thinking about adding one of his DVD's to my collection. Overall, glad we did. The playlist appears to be pretty good and the production is very good. IMO, the only negative would be he's "getting up there"...

Neil Diamond the essence of quality performing. He has been continuing for decades in sold our perfromances. In this DVD, you can see the joy and participation of the audience and their intereacting with Neil. This is an outstanding performance by a stong and classic icon.

Thought the music and performance was outstanding! It is better than his original Hot August Night and worth the money, just to hear the "new" performance and sounds.