Customer Reviews

Neil Diamond: Thank You Australia Concert - Live 1976

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a fantastic concert that show cases many of Neil Diamond's greatest hits. I still remember watching this concert live on TV as a teenager over 30 years ago. This concert is more in the 'Hot August Night' style - which is vastly superior to Neil Diamond's more recent DVD concerts and live CDs - there is no screaming, no mundane dialogue from an aging artist - just excellent music. This concert is highly recommended to anyone who is a fan of Neil Diamond's 60's and 70's style of delivery.

As a life long Neil Diamond fan, in fact I can remember being rocked to sleep as a baby to the echo's of Hot August Night, I was so excited to find this DVD and the era the it represented, the Mid-70's when Neil Diamond was the essential Singer-Songwritter of his generation. Nobody had yet heard of Billy Joel, Elton John or Bruce Springsteen. When it came to male singer-songwritters, Neil was the man. The song selection and concert presentation on this DVD is first rate a nice mix of his early classics and just released songs from Johnathan Livingston Seagull and Beutiful Noise recordings with an appropiriate amount of crowd interaction. In the Mid-70's Diamond's voice was still strong and he was singing his music, not talking it like he has progressed towards in the mid-80's and later. My biggest disappointment with this video is the sound mixing. Realizing this video is over 30 years old and there are serious sound limitations in the source tape, but still it does not appear to have been any effort or attempt to clean up the sound. There is no 5:1 suround sound offered and in portions of the DVD the sound has a repetative "hissing" that is either an poor dual layering of the disc or a source tape defect. I found this sound defect to be very distracting from an otherwise historical DVD presentation. It is a shame, the producers did not spend a few more dollars to clean up and present the audio in the first class presentation that it deserved. If the music from Woodstock/Jimi Hendrix and early Rolling Stones can be made almost prestine, then there is no excuse for the defects in this DVD's audio. So for the concert, songs, presentation 5 stars, for the audio 1 star, overall 3 stars, but ohh what it COULD have been.

I can't believe the negative reviews! This is by far the best Neil Diamond DVD out there! Sure, if you like all that Heartlight/Coming-to-America/Bring-me-no-flowers crap, and if you like his glittery costumes and Vegas schtick, then you'll hate this DVD. Mainly because ND was still a great songwriter/performer at this point. After 1976, Neil slowly moved into the realm of shlocky muzak balladeer, down there with Lionel Richie & Leo Sayer. Some reviewers complain about the sound. If you have a decent stereo TV, this sounds fine. Just turn it up. Those with 5.1 surround sound and a pristine home theater will hate this and most 60's & '70's DVD's. Such people wouldn't be happy unless Neil played in their freaking living room! Yes, I think Hot August Night is his undisputed peak, but until that is released on DVD, this Australian show stands as classic Neil Diamond. I subtract one star for the cheesy '70's synthesizer that replaces counter-melody guitar lines on Cracklin' Rosie & a few others. Thankfully, there are no disco songs to cringe over.

This is the best Neil Diamond DVD to come out. Other Neil Diamond Dvds are either chopped up Tv specials or 60 min made for TV affairs. Not so with "Thank you Ausrailla" concert in March 1976. Recorded before a large crowd of 38000 people(a record at the time)You get the complete 2 hour concert plus bonus features.

Most experts agree that it's better to film a concert rather than videotaping it. However, It appears that the tapes have been preserved and taken care of. The quality of the picture and sound are very good.

There is a bonus track of "Morningside", which has been restored. During the origanal broadcast, it was cut short by a comerical break. I wish they would have edited this song into the concert. This is only a minor thing-no big deal.

If you are a diamond fan, you will want this DVD. Buy it. You won't find a more complete Neil Diamond concert on DVD than this!

This is a MUST HAVE for any Neil Diamond fan. I consider it the BEST CONCERT FOOTAGE of Neil Diamond to date for it's wonderful song selection, the fact that it's unedited, and for Neil's good choice of wardrobe...seriously. (The "Love At The Greek," "Greatest Hits Live" and even the more recent "Stages" concert footage all capture him wearing outfits that are amongst the worst he's worn, and don't go with the deep introspection and rock edge of his music.)

This DVD captures the "James Dean" quality in Diamond's stage performance that was such a part of his early career, but never preserved on film....until now.

Also, there's an highly unusual 45 minute long interview with Neil Diamond in the "Bonus Features" section where the interviewer asks Neil some of the most personal and unusual questions you can imagine. Intriguing.

All these reviews have made excellent points, and the shortcomings, from today's perspective, have been validly pointed out - but I want to emphasize that this concert was 33 YEARS AGO! Yes, we have come a LONG way since then in audio/video production for live concerts, but we must understand that wasn't the way it was in those days. And, yes, Neil is older now ... but: AREN'T WE ALL? Putting it all into perspective: ABBA had just barely won the Eurovision Song Contest and were just barely getting off the ground. Now, doesn't THAT seem like it happened in the Stone Age? So much has happened since those days. IF you are a Neil Diamond fan, appreciate this concert for what it was then: totally dynamic. Speaking just for myself: I feel darn lucky to have come across this DVD and have added it to my collection ... love it! It arrived today, and I IMMEDIATELY sat down and watched it. Sure, we WISH we had the modern production techniques back then to have smoothed all sorts of stuff out (such as not having TV cameras with numerous low shots into glaring overhead lights), but I'm sure they did the best with what they had at the time. As I mentioned in a prior review of his HOT AUGUST NIGHT/NYC performance (DVD): we saw his show live in Paris the year after this '76 concert. Yes, it was classic (young) Neil Diamond ... dynamic ... awesome performance. And this DVD reminds me so much of that Paris gig. I will put in a plug for the HOT AUGUST NIGHT/NYC DVD, again, however. It HAS all the modern audio/video techniques fully utilized ... with a bigger band ... totally awesome experience. I would unhesitatingly recommend BOTH DVDs for your collection if you're a fan.

UPDATE: 11-06-09: Just watched this concert again. It was the first time since my initial review, above. We turned off the lights, cranked up the sound, and WE WERE THERE! This concert is totally absorbing. Diamond has those 38,000 people at the concert ... and my wife and I here at home ... in the palm of his hand. Classic Diamond songs ... powerful ... VERY powerful. His music has always appealed to my very soul, and it was not a whit different tonight watching the concert again. I was transformed back to the time of long hair, flowered shirts, bell-bottomed jeans, and great ... GREAT ... Neil Diamond music! I am sooooo glad I had the opportunity to buy this superb DVD!

Over ... and out ... :-)

It is extremely rare to have concert footage that includes Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Morningside. This DVD live in Australia performance in front of 38,000 Aussies has an extensive song selection from the amazing Jonathan Livingston Seagull: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack OR Jonathan Livingston Seagull: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. It's rare to ever hear this on his concerts. So many beautiful and fun songs are here.

At one time, Diamond gets comfortable chatting with the audience, engaging them into Song Sung Blue. This audience participation went on a little too long! Time is precious in concerts and I would much rather hear the performer.

Morningside is here!
What is more rare and a wonderful addition included in the special features is Morningside! If you ever want the best version of Morningside, try the double CD, Neil Diamond - The Greatest Hits (1966-1992)an amazing and mesmerizing live treasure of that song.

Interview with Neil
A lengthy interview reveals who Neil Diamond is, Forget that the interviewer had the audacity to ask him how much money he had!! Wow! When asked, Diamond explained that a benefit with financial gain is to buy your privacy, freedom, which average person doesn't need to do.

The interviewer also tried to pigeonhole Diamond into exploring the question about getting "a message" out. Diamond clearly and often explained his music is about emotions, feelings, thoughts and not "a message."

Since the DVD is from a 1976 concert, the sound is good! He dressed good, and looks good!! The features are few, but listen to the interview! It would have been nice to have a stereo effect, but hey, anything by him is a treat!! I recommend another classic performance Neil Diamond: Love at the Greek. I doubt if this is on DVD, but is another best! ......Rizzo

Before releasing this DVD, the sound should have been "enhanced" like they do on cd's. I expected it to not be equal to today's sound since it was recorded in 1976, but this is terrible even for that era. The "creative" camera shots are also annoying, but typical of that time.
Neil himself is exceptional, as always. This is what he was/is always about. An outstanding singer/songwriter with exceptional stage presence that comes across even in this somewhat flawed recording. But it IS much better than the VHS recorded in 1976 from a friend's television set, lol.
Buy it for the performance.

I was present at this concert in 1976 at the Sydney Sports Ground. I had seen Neil in concert at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney a couple of weeks earlier. Although I agree with some of the comments about the sound and overall quality of the actual video, watching this concert brings back a lot of memories. This was at the time when Neil Diamond was probably the biggest individual music star on the planet and his concert tour of Australia had been eagerly anticipated. I also remember that tickets to his concert were priced at the extraordinarily high price of $15, yes fifteen dollars. The video does not capture the atmosphere of the concert and I can assure you that no one who was there went away disappointed. I have just also purchased and watched Neil'd new DVD Hot August Night NYC which is an absolutely brilliant display of showmanship, 33 years on. Despite the fact that many of the critics ridicule him, Neil Diamond has been and remains one of the truly great performers of our generation, with songs that will endure forever.

I saw this concert live at the Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne (Australia) in February 1976, and watched the actual concert live on a black and white television in the March of that year. So to see it thirty three years later in glorious colour was like being there all over again. The concert is much as i remember it although some songs have not made the final cut, I wonder about this. The Jonathan Livingston Seagull medley was, and still is a highlight. The extras on the DVD are fascinating. The interview with a "smoking" Neil Diamond is worth watching, although I wonder whether he would enjoy it in hindsight! It was a a very pleasurable experience.