By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
The music of Neil Diamond is one of the rare stayers in an ever-changing music industry, with Hot August Night one of those records that’s in every collection.
So to get the imprimatur of one of pop’s enduring legends is high praise indeed for tribute artist Peter Byrne.
Byrne has won awards for his work in spreading the Neil Diamond gospel and received a letter of congratulations from the man himself.
“I met him in 1996 and he is well aware of what I do,” Byrne admitted modestly.
Byrne puts on a two hour concert experience performing Diamond’s greatest hits spanning three decades.
Forever Diamond features all the hits like Sweet Caroline, Song Sung Blue, I Am I Said, Cherry Cherry, Beautiful Noise, Cracklin’ Rosie, Crunchy Cranola Suite, Holly Holy and Solitary Man to name a few.
“It’s just me paying tribute to a wonderful guy and his songs,” Byrne said simply in his lyrical Irish accent.
“I don’t pretend to be him because I have far too much respect for him. But I tell a few stories and have a lot of fun with the audience.”
Byrne was chosen as one of only 12 tribute artists around the globe to represent Australia by participating in a documentary about the influence of Neil Diamond’s music.
“The documentary is about why so many people love his music and why there are so many tributes to it,” Byrne said.
“The producers chose the best 12 tributes around world and it is endorsed by Neil himself.
Byrne gets to perform two Diamond songs in the documentary: Walk on Water from Hot August Night and his cover of the duet You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling.
Byrne got his start in the music business from Irish icons The Furies, with whom he grew up and are still good friends.
“They put me on stage when I was 19 to sing a song and it went from there,” Byrne said.
Byrne and his six-piece band perform at GPAC on 23 April.
For tickets contact 5225 1200 or go to gpac.org.au.
