Thursday, October 10, 2013

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

By Catalina Nielsen


Neil Diamond remains one of the most successful and famous songwriters and singers of all time, so it is not surprising that many bands still cover his work. Hiring a Neil diamond cover band is a great idea to mark a celebration of some kind, such as a birthday or wedding. The range of songs which a group of this type can include in their sets is huge, and very high quality.

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.

At a wedding, for example, people are there to enjoy themselves; they do not necessarily want to be made to think too much. They are also much more likely to enjoy material with which they have some familiarity. For this reason, it is best to choose some of the absolute classics from the great singer's repertoire of material.

There is a still a massive choice of songs from the singer's repertoire which musicians can use in their own set lists, though. The singer's career was given a huge boost in the late 1960s, although it started a few years earlier, when 'Sweet Caroline' was released. This song remains a great favorite for audiences across the world, and makes a great option for bands looking for popular covers.

It was in the 1970s when the star's career really began to take off, though. 'Song Sung Blue' came out in 1972, and it still goes down well with audiences wherever it is played. Bands who really want to get a better idea of what Diamond was all about during this stage of career should listen to the live LP 'Hot August Night', which has some cracking tunes to learn on it.

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.

Strangely, perhaps, one of the singer's best known songs is actually famous for being performed by reggae artists. 'Red Red Wine' was made famous by British reggae band UB40 in the 1980s, but had previously been covered by Jamaican artist Tony Tribe. It is one of those songs which almost everyone seems to know, but very few people actually know who wrote it originally.

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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