Sunday, October 13, 2013

How A Neil Diamond Cover Band Can Shape A Successful Set List

By Catalina Nielsen


Hiring a Neil Diamond cover band remains a very popular way of marking celebrations across the world. Few singers and songwriters have enjoyed as much success as Diamond over the years, and many of his songs have become known as standards. Anyone playing in this type of groups has an enormous choice of songs that they can perform.

With Diamond having sold over 125 million records across the globe, any group which wants to use his material as the basis for their act has plenty of choice of songs. Not many artists have written and sung so many successful numbers as this Brooklyn-born musician. This makes choosing the right numbers to include in a set list can be a tricky process for musicians.

If the group is playing a gig at a wedding celebration, for example, then they will need to choose songs which reflect the occasion. Guests at this kind of event do not want to have to think too much about what they are hearing, and tend to favor very popular songs. Thankfully, Diamond is a singer who has a number of great hits, with which many people are familiar.

That still leaves a huge range of options for musicians, though, as the singer's career began in the early 1960s. It was not until later in that decade that the singer really made a huge impact, however, when, in 1969, 'Sweet Caroline' was released. This remains one of the singer's best known numbers, and it continues to go down well with audiences when covered by wedding bands and other performers.

The songwriter's career really began to surge in the early 1970s, and bands looking for material should always listen to the live album 'Hot August Night'. There are many classic songs on this LP which are great for bands to perform in their own set lists. 'Song Sung Blue' remains one of Diamond's best known songs from this era.

Bands should also take a look at the kind of material which the singer released in the 1970s, as they peruse his repertoire for potential covers. This was an era when the singer achieved massive stardom, and a song like 'I'm a Believer', previously a hit for The Monkees, was recast and re-released. 'You Don't Bring Me Flowers' is another hit from the era, and was covered by Barbara Streisand at the time.

Almost everyone knows the hit song 'Red Red Wine', though few people will know that Diamond wrote it, if you ask them. It was a song which was made very famous by British reggae act UB40 in the 1980s, though it was Tony Tribe in the 60s who first gave the number a reggae arrangement. The song retains its ability to grab audiences, and should be considered by any covers group.

Anyone who is playing in a Neil Diamond cover band has plenty of great material from which they can build some killer set lists. The key to making the most of the singer-songwriter's stunning musical legacy is to make sure that the material matches the mood of the event at which the band are playing. Thankfully, there is no shortage of superb songs, which can played in a range of generic styles, to be included.




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