That is a cool picture.Wonder if he will play Solitary Man.

"There's nothing I like more than hardcore pornography. That's right."

"Yeah, he likes that real weird stuff."

-- one of the best SNL skits ever.

I hope he plays Soggy Pretzels. That's Bubby's favorite. so beautiful..

You were cryin' in your pretzels when I met you
You were washing
All the salt away from the dough
You were cryin' in your pretzels
And I'll never forget you
But, baby, just why, I'll ever know

Cryin' in your pretzels
Cryin' in your beer
Cryin' on the table
That's where I found you dear

[Spoken:]
Yes, my sweet I came into that bar
It was in Mississippi
There you were, sitting in the corner
Crying in your pretzels
You'd already sogged up
A whole plate of potato chips
But the management didn't mind
Because you were a regular customer

And I saw you sittin' there and I said
"That person needs a friend,
And I'm gonna be a friend
Ain't nobody deserves to cry in his pretzels
All night and wash away the salt."
So I kinda sided up to you and I said,
"What can I do for you? How can I help you?
What can I do to ease the pain?"

Well, you were cryin' in your pretzels
Oh, you were cryin' in your beer
Yes, that was the night I meet you
And I'll always hold you near

Soggy Pretzels was an improv joke song.I doubt that he even remembers it.

He will probably be in a much better mood then on the video with this news
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003800580

Why is Al Roker blocking the shot.I bet Roker will sing along to Neil's songs like he did on the Today Show concert with Neil.

hittable.

Ladies and Gentlemen... the Jewish Elvis!

NEIL!!!! I WANNA PARTY WITH YOU!!!!!

Elvis was the Jewish Elvis.

Yeah,cuz Neil sure looks like Elvis in that pic and video.I think that Neil is the Jewish Dylan.

yeah, cause, um, dylan wasn't jewish at all, was he................dumbass.

She can't be seen in the photo, but when it was taken, your mom was giving Al Roker a blowjob.

hispters unite!

thats not al roker, its the guy from the evil urges cover

I wonder what that hipster dude is saying to Neil in that picture.

"She can't be seen in the photo, but when it was taken, your mom was giving Al Roker a blowjob."

His mom should have taught you not to use a pronoun before the antecedent.

It's called poetic license, dumbass!

Bitter End written setlist:

Don't Go There
Home Before Dark
Pretty Amazing Grace
Solitary Man
Kentucky Woman
Cherry, Cherry
Sweet Caroline

via:
http://neildiamond.typepad.com/neil05/2008/05/bitter-end-setl.html

also:

---
From our man on the street, Joe Imhof, at the Bitter End comes this live report.

Tonight's show at the Bitter End will be taped by both Neil and CBS TV.

The show will feature only a few band members, not the entire band.

Fans started lining up for the show today at 11am.

Rehearsal for the Bitter End show is scheduled to begin today at 3pm. Doors open at 7pm.
-----

-----
Show will begin at approximately 9pm and is expected to last approximately 35-40 minutes.

The Bitter Ends holds 171 patrons
----

---
According to the club owner fans will be sitting up front for the show, there will be no press and only two reps from Columbia will be there. All this is per Neil's request as Neil wants this show to be for the fans.
---

----
Songs heard during sound check at Bitter End:

Home Before Dark, Pretty Amazing Grace, Solitary Man, Kentucky Woman, Cherry, Cherry and Sweet Caroline

Also, all fans attending the show will receive a free poster at the end of the show. (the poster shown for the show on the myspace secret show website).
----

http://neildiamond.typepad.com/neil05/

I'm not a big fan, but that's pretty dope. I heard from a friend who lives over there that they opened the front windows and put PA speakers facing the street so people could listen. Very cool. Too bad he didn't do Cracklin' Rosie, though.

That written set list was right, except that he OPENED with "Solitary Man." The rest of the set list followed as written.

It was fucking AWESOME! And I only waited about an hour in total! I got there at 5pm, they took our names at 6pm, then asked us to come back between 7-8:30pm. The show then started at 9pm. It was handled very smoothly. Great job to the Bitter End staff.

I would have waited MUCH longer! I can't believe how easy this was. And again, Neil was fucking righteous. Totally surreal evening.

(They didn't allow cameras, so I don't know how many photos will crop up... though I did see a few people sneaking cameras. And yes, is was in fact filmed by a couple of guys with handheld DV cams, but who knows if/when/where that will be released.)

After tonight, I'm STILL STOKED to see him play frigging MSG! What a treat tonight was though!

Crowd awaits free Neil Diamond show at The Bitter End
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFDeG09NH2k

the videos from the show will be posted on myspace eventually, they do that for every secret show.

The dude performing in the subway can get more then 40 people to watch him perform for free lol.

Cool setlist.

Too bad that he did not perform I Am... I Said though."I am Arizona born and raised but nowadays I'm lost between two shores.L.A is fine but it ain't home,Arizona is home but it ain't mine no more."I am," I said.To no one there.And no one heard at all not even the chair."I am," I cried, "I am," said I.I am lost and I can't even say why.
Leaving me lonely still".

Wow simply wow. I just saw Neil Diamond at The Bitter End followed by Japanther at Europa tonight, I saw Earth at the Knitting Factory last night and will see Fucked Up there on Friday. What a great music week in NYC.

That is a weak pic. Fuck this hipster douchebag.

Neil Diamond luvz Japanther

neil rubbed my back after the show and held me for a long time and he smelled terrific

this next song's about the time i killed a drifter so i could get an erection....

After reading how easy it was to get in I kind of wished I went. Oh well...

This sucked. I waited for 1 1/2 hours in line (showing up just after 6pm), just to be turned away at the door because we weren't on some mysterious list. During that entire time in line, no one from the club walked the line to let people know that they were wasting their time if they hadn't come earlier in the day and put their names on said list. It was pretty weak, and completely unfair.

10:11:

Not to make you feel worse, but you shouldn't have given up that easily and left.

Just before he took the stage the club opened the windows and doors and put a speaker out front so that all the people outside who didn't get inside and weren't on that 'list' could see him and hear him. If you stood directly in front of the club you could see an unobstructed view of Neil and hear the whole show loud and clear from the sidewalk, which considering how small the club was wasn't all that different from being inside and in the back near the bar.

Great show. Kudos to the Bitter End for setting that up that way. Real cool.

It also seemed that the people watching the whole show from the sidewalk were having more fun than the people inside.

Uh, I don't know. The people inside were definitely having a ton of fun!

10:11:

Ever thought of asking someone something?

If you just walked onto a line at 6 pm after people had been waiting there for hours before you and you didn't think to inquire about anything going on for the hour and a halff that you stood there, then it isn't necessarily the club's fault that you were turned away.

I too joined the line around the same time you did, and after asking the people in front of me what was going on and how long they had been waiting I got the scoop in two seconds that names had ben taken just before I had arrived. Asking the guy at the door, he said that I should wait on the line anyway, because they were going to try and accommodate everyone, that they had not taken down enough names to fill the place, etc...

You can't blame anyone for not coming up to you and telling you what you need to know if you are too lazy and dumb to ask anyone just what the situation is.

Wow, what an incredible/surreal experience. My friends and I had seats right behind the soundguys on the left side of the stage. The poster they gave out is really awesome.

A 1:05AM: You know that Brooke on AI changed the words to AZ, right? You know that's not what Neil Diamond sings, right?

I was waiting for someone to point out the stupid "Arizona" gaffe.

I can't believe I'm publicly admitting to watching AI, but just to defend the innocent, the Arizona gaffe was a result of Neil's advice to her, it wasn't her own idea. It was probably part of a master plan to mock the contestants.

Right... but the gaffe was quoting it here on BV as if it were the correct lyric. (I watched Idol, too.)

watched the show from the street! Amazing show!

basically weather you waited on line or not or you eventually got inside or not, if you went there you got to see and hear the show.

Bitter End deserves much praise!

OMG YOU IDIOTS SHUT THE FUCK UP.
It was freaking Neil Diamond you morons. It was not like Bob Dylan came back and played. 3 years ago, most of you dummies would have laughed at the idea of seeing this but now because he has 2 records produced by RIck Rubin suddenly you are all Neil fans.
Omg so awesome i got to see him play a 7 song 35 min set. Wowweeeee. Too funny this was such an exclusive and once in a lifetime show had literally only 60 people lined up at 530pm the day of the show. I know this cause i went by to scout it for a friend cause i live by there. I counted all the people in line for him. And dont say it was for lack of publicity. It was in all the papers and all the Neil fan sites in the morning.

Meanwhile, no one has a clue about what Springsteen did last night.

First of all, I got there shortly after 5pm & I was #98 in line. Secondly, the line seemed to grow rapidly after 5pm, as most Neil Diamond fans are EMPLOYED. And whether it be MySpace, newspapers, blogs, official sites, regardless, it was only announced the day before. So you're not going to get idiot college kids or unemployed hipsters camping out on the sidewalk for 3 nights to see Madonna perform at Roseland... or Tapes & Tapes perform at the Market Hotel... whatever flavor of the month you douchebags are listening to. Admitedly, Neil has gotten much better after Rick Rubin washed away the schmaltz. But why should you hold that against any of us?! It's still NEIL DIAMOND. He's a great songwriter. Always was.

Neil was a lot better before he made the same generic Rick Rubin acoustic record that Rick Rubin makes for every geezer (remember when he did one of those for DONOVAN?) Rubin's a hack, Neil's the real deal.

Yeah I know. Springsteen Did all of Darkness and Born to Run... $1,000 a ticket....

Matt-
You are just plain fucking wrong. I was there at 530 and actually went down the line and counted each and every person on line. It came to 61 people. And again give me a fucking break on that Neil fans are employed. So let's use the example again of Bob Dylan. Do you think if he was playing at The Bitter End on a weeknight that there would only be 61 people on line at 5:30pm??? Oh wait lets take some more adult acts such as Elton John or Barry Manilow playing there. You would have lines around the block and down 2 blocks. Truth is except for the people at the very front of the line most of the people were young 20-30 year olds. As i said this was no big deal so please stop with this shit.

Dude, seriously tell me you didn't walk along the line counting people up to 61. Get a life.

11:20

I did ask people what was going on. The guy in front of me said that after the "press" people got in that the place would start letting people in. He never said anything about a list.

Yea, it sucks that I didn't stick around until he went on, but it really didn't seem like anything was going to change and no answers were being given to the questions being asked, so my friends and I just decided to bail. I was just a wee bit disappointed was all, not really life changing upset.

And to 12:57 - I went because I thought it would be fun. I love Neil Diamond songs and it was free. I didn't even know his last two records were produced by Rick Rubin until reading you comment. I just like all the old albums that I own and thought it would be a good show.

nyctaper,

I actually like what you do and like your site so i wont attack you like others on here do but be careful about who you tell to get a life. People in glass houses........

Anyway if you read my earlier comment you would have seen that i was helping out a friend who was at work. I happen to live by there and he asked me to take a head count to give him an idea if he should try to run down after work and try to get in.

yeah the old "i have a FRIEND who......"

Just admit it, it was you who was there to see Neil Diamond, and after you counted the 61 people before you you made yourself number 62.

Big difference between Dylan and Diamond. Even though both of them have fans around the same age and are mostly employed, Dylan's fans are crazy and would probably risk getting fired in order to just up and leave work to stand in line for a chance to see him at a place like this, Diamond's fan's not so much.

yes, Dylan does attract a level of oddball obsessiveness that Neil Diamond or Barry Manilow or Elton John's fans do not have.

"I actually like what you do and like your site so i wont attack you like others on here do"

"Actually", I could give a flying fuck what the anonymous morons posting here have to say about me or anyone else.

when he was done counting he went around the corner to buy a new butt plug for himself.

you should have tried telling your friend what a big deal it wasnt instead of raining on people's parade here.

Anon@1:26... I hate arguing on message boards, but how am I "plain fucking wrong?!" The Bitter End staff went around & took people's names down on a list. We were all given a number. I was number 98. It's literally documented. And while I know I can't prove this, I am 110% positive that I got there between 5 and 5:15pm. In fact, I kind of can... my phone show I called my friend at 5:13pm, when I told her I was in line. So I gotta say: YOU are plain fucking wrong. You probably just counted wrong. Sorry.

And you're probably right-- an entertainer with a 40+ year career who has sold out arenas hundreds of times over playing a small 150 capacity bar was certainly NOT a big deal.... because only 60 people took off work to line up, on 24 hour's notice. You're right. We're wrong. Sorry there weren't enough people lining up early to meet your expectations. I profusely apologize, you douchebag.

may I interject here with the possibility that you are both right? There may well have been only 61 people on line that were counted, and around the same time someone's number was given to them as 98. Could it be possible that there were already people on the list that were not standing on the line? The very first person on the line may have been given number 37!

There were people you know that get into these type of things without having to wait on line. They go on the list, they are given a number.

Just saying that arguing about this kinda nonsense on this board doesn't make a whole lot of sense, especially when neither person knows all the facts..

Anon 2:38- so right.

Matt you are in fact wrong. Read what Anon 2:38pm says plus the fact that you fucked yourself in your last post. Yes I heard they took down a list....and its been said on here they took it down at 6 O CLOCK!!!!!! not 5 or 5:15pm Did it ever occur to you in your little brain that maybe people showed up and joined their friends on line btw when you got on line and when they took down names. And what makes something a big deal jerkoff...because you say it is???? Usually demand and interest are also markers and frankly 60 people on line a few hours before the show to see such a big event as you call it says a lot.

And i knew that the Dylan comparison would elicit the response it did and that is why i added Elton John and Barry Manilow who i am sure would have had many many more people waiting outside. Its just your lame excuse of "well people could not get out of work" is just that. LAME.

As for lying about counting for my friend, why in the fuck would i lie about that???? If i went i would have said i went to the show. Stupid motherfuckers.

Finaly nyctaper, i am glad you dont care what people on here say about you. You shouldnt but the fact that on another thread you were responding angrily to some of the comments says otherwise.

You may be right, 2:38, but I did hear the Bitter End staff say they were letting in about 130 people from the line. I think capacity is about 200, so I don't think VIPs & such were on the list. But I'm over arguing anyway. All this seems moot anyway! Who cares how many people were there at what time... the place was packed, more people wanted to get in than were allowed... but those (well, most) who came out didn't go home disappointed, thanks to the Bitter End staff's good gestures.

Also, I know a lot of pepople who didn't even try to attend b/c they assumed it would be mobbed... hell, there were people on this board who made that assumption. So for what it's worth, I'm sure that played a part in the turnout.

Okay. I'm done.

Alright, I didn't see 2:54's address to me.

How did I fuck myself in my last post?

I never said they took names at 5:15. I said I joined the line between 5:00 & 5:15. And I said they took names at 6:00 (look at my post from 10:47pm last night).

Yes, people could have joined their friends at the front of the line after you counted. You're absolutely right & I didn't think of that. But I still don't see why that matters. If that's the case, it's not like ONLY those 60 people were interested.

But numbers don't matter. I have no idea why we're arguing about this. I regret now jumping in on this discussion to tell you about my placement in line.

And no, something isn't a big deal just because I say it is. I certainly didn't mean to imply that. But it's also NOT not a big deal just because YOU say it is. I know you're using the number of people in line as an example, but it doesn't matter if people started lining up at 6am or 6pm... by the time the show started, the place was packed with enthused, psyched fans, with a large number of people outside who couldn't even get in. (And even more who probably stayed home assuming it would be the chaotic mob scene that you wanted it to be.)

No, this wasn't the second coming of Christ, but it was fairly momentous, by concert standards. I don't think there's any arguing that. Stop trying to bring people down with your pompous attitude.

Someone made a video of the people standing in line http://youtube.com/watch?v=OFDeG09NH2k
Count the people yourself.It looks a lot more then just 60.

Matt, you were done after your first comment but ill just say no i dont agree that it was a fairly momentous event by any concert standards. There is nothing pompous about it. It is just stating the facts not the conjecture and assumptions you are making.

Anon 3:55pm-looks can be deceiving and what time was that taken?

BSS Presents the Worst Thread Ever

i was just surprised that this picture was up here so goddamn fast after i took it. and yeah - the names in line were taken about 20 mins after that. so quit bitching.

...and i'm sorry about not politely asking al roker to move, but he looked like he would kick my ass.

Tova,
who gives a shit about your stupid shitty picture. I got a much better one cause i moved to a diff angle.

WOO! you're my hero!

Tova, are you still married to Ernest Borgnine?

Remember this show was only announced 24 hours before the event. Seemed to be a lot of people considering that fact. I was lucky enough to get in. It was one of the coolest musical events that I've ever been to. And I'm not even a big ND fan. The Bitter End did an awesome job making this work! Hats off to the venue!

the tone and frequency of the posts that keep on pimping/defending this event are shady at best.

"the tone and frequency of the posts that keep on pimping/defending this event are shady at best."

Get over yourself. You already posted that on another Neil thread, asshole.

anon. 2:48 has also entered "the bitter end"