Live music: Neil Diamond at the 3 Arena, Dublin

3/5

It was apt that Neil Diamond (below) opened his Friday night concert at Dublin’s 3 Arena with ‘I’m a Believer’. At 74, the Brooklyn crooner is still filling arenas with Irish believers and boy are they dedicated. Such is Diamond’s popularity that this is one of two concerts in Dublin and while the young bucks playing down at Marlay Park on the same night may scoff, they’d be doing well to have a career that lasts even a fraction of Diamond’s, let alone the impact he has had on popular culture over the last five decades or so. As well as his opener, a hit for The Monkeys, ‘Red Red Wine’ which he performed beautifully here is better known as a UB40 hit, while ‘Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon’ was featured in Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.