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Posted in music | tour dates on August 28, 2008
Ailing Neil Diamond pledges refunds, cancels shows
Janene Bushey, who is 53 and has seen Diamond 14 times, said, "I about fainted when he came out and said, 'Hello, Columbus,' because I knew something was wrong."
Neil Diamond @ MSG (more by Eric M. Townsend)
After a subpar performance Monday night in Value City Arena, Neil Diamond yesterday apologized and offered refunds to the 11,000 people who attended the concert.Remaining tour dates below..."Dear Fans in Columbus," the singer said in a statement, "I haven't let you down before, and I won't let you down now. Until you hear from me again remember, You are the sun. I am the moon. You are the words. I am the tune. Forgive me. I love you. Neil."
Diamond, whose voice was extremely hoarse throughout the show, said yesterday that he is suffering from acute laryngitis. Ordered by doctors to rest his voice, he canceled his two other shows this week -- today in Green Bay, Wis., and Friday in St. Louis.
Some industry veterans said they'd never heard of a performer offering refunds because of the quality of the show.
[The Columbus Dispatch]
Neil Diamond - 2008 Tour Dates
Sep 10 - Reschedule-Scottrade Center St. Louis, Missouri
Sep 12 - Reschedule- Resch Center Green Bay, Wisconsin
Sep 14 - MTS Centre Winnipeg, Manitoba
Sep 16 - Rexall Place Edmonton, Alberta
Sep 18 - Pengrowth Saddledome Calgary, Alberta
Sep 20 - General Motors Place Vancouver, British Columbia
Sep 22 - Rose Garden Portland, Oregon
Sep 24 - Key Arena Seattle, Washington
Sep 26 - Arco Arena Sacramento, California
Sep 28 - HP Pavilion San Jose, California
Oct 1 - Hollywood Bowl Hollywood, California
Oct 2 - Hollywood Bowl Hollywood, California
Oct 4 - Staples Center Los Angeles, California
Oct 7 - San Diego Sports Arena San Diego, California
Oct 10 - Jobing.com Arena Glendale, Arizona
Oct 12 - AT&T Center San Antonio, Texas
Oct 14 - Toyota Center Houston, Texas
Oct 16 - American Airlines Center Dallas, Texas
Oct 19 - Ford Center Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oct 21 - BOK Center Tulsa, Oklahoma
Oct 24 - St. Pete Times Forum Tampa, Florida
Oct 26 - BankAtlantic Center Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Oct 28 - Amway Arena Orlando Orlando, Florida
Oct 30 - Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena Jacksonville, Florida
Posted on August 28, 2008 12:38 PM
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Comments (18)
Get well soon Mr. Diamond.
Posted by Anonymous | August 28, 2008 12:45 PM
That's a generous offer. He didn't want to let fans down by canceling the show.
Posted by Anonymous | August 28, 2008 12:47 PM
Carl Yastrzemski, then Neil Diamond... what a week. Get well Neil and you're a prince for offering refunds.
Posted by Anonymous | August 28, 2008 12:53 PM
people gave neil such a raft of shit after this performance on monday - most notably the columbus dispatch, whose review on tuesday was pretty venomous.
i'm curious if any satisfied diamondheads out there will not accept the refund.
Posted by Anonymous | August 28, 2008 1:02 PM
...I dont think that two days rest is going to do it with all those tours dates left...
Posted by Anonymous | August 28, 2008 1:02 PM
"He didn't want to let fans down by canceling the show."
The fans who attended that performance had to go through the trouble and expense of traveling to and from the arena. While it is better that he made an effort to put on a show instead of canceling at the last minute, maybe he should have canceled the show the day before (assuming he knew his voice was in bad shape that far in advance).
"Some industry veterans said they'd never heard of a performer offering refunds because of the quality of the show."
Those "industry veterans" are ignoramuses.
Posted by Anonymous | August 28, 2008 1:10 PM
Scary precedent. Be wary, Black Kids.
Posted by Anonymous | August 28, 2008 1:15 PM
i just love that he played the Value City Arena - dont know why i find that amusing but i do.
Posted by Anonymous | August 28, 2008 1:17 PM
hell yeah dude. the jewish elvis lives!
Posted by Anonymous | August 28, 2008 1:26 PM
Neil played Fenway Park the night before.It was the Boston Red Sucks curse on our homeboy.
Anyway,Neil was on top of his game the 4 nights at MSG.The best show I have seen in a long time.His voice gave me doosh chills when he reached the high notes.I doubt he has ever sounded better as a singer.And he also played guitar in almost every song at the same time.
Check this out
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/boxscore.jsp
#1 Neil Diamond Madison Square Garden 54,487 Attendence $4,953,275 Gross 4 Sellouts.
Even though the concert reviewers from our local rags all chose Bob Dylan's mumblefest to review the opening night,that is a shitload of people who went to see Neil those 4 nights.
Posted by Anonymous | August 28, 2008 1:41 PM
There were a ton of empty seats on the 4th night. Got upgraded to 200's from the 400's. Lots of seats in the outter areas of the 300's open too.
Posted by Anonymous | August 28, 2008 1:51 PM
He did the right thing...
Think about when CREED played the worst show ever and the fans sued them and won! Totally true.
thats amazing.. .haha
Posted by Anonymous | August 28, 2008 2:02 PM
"Think about when CREED played the worst show ever and the fans sued them and won! Totally true."
Can we sue CREED also for just being a shitty band? That would be cool!
Posted by Anonymous | August 28, 2008 2:05 PM
Watch out, Telepathe
Posted by Anonymous | August 28, 2008 2:07 PM
Reminds me of when Eddie Vedder got the runs in the middle of a show,and Neil Young took over the singing to a chorus of booes.
Posted by Anonymous | August 28, 2008 2:12 PM
booing Neil over Vedder?
Insanity.
Posted by Anonymous | August 28, 2008 2:15 PM
"Watch out, Telepathe"
indeed.
Posted by Anonymous | August 28, 2008 2:36 PM
When will Telepathe play for nights at MSG? I want that. Todd P can be the key-note speaker.
Posted by Anonymous | August 28, 2008 3:47 PM