Cape music picks: April 8 2011

You can’t really ignore the fact that Neil Diamond is one music’s biggest stars.

• He’s sold over 120 million albums, penned 18 Top 10 albums and 37 hit singles. He’s a Grammy and Golden Globe Award winning composer. He’s been inducted into the Rock and Songwriters Halls of Fame. He’s Neil Diamond and after 45 years in showbiz, he’s finally touring South African shores. The fact that it’s Diamond’s first trip to the country means that audiences can expect a singalong selection of many of his greatest hits including Sweet Caroline, Forever in Blue Jeans, Song Sung Blue, Beautiful Noise and more. But while he remains best-known as the flamboyant, sequin-shirt sporting ‘Mr Entertainer’ immortalised on such classic live DVDs as Hot August Night, there is another side to the septuagenarian singer. The past few years have seen Diamond reconnect with his singer songwriter roots on critically-acclaimed ‘unplugged’ albums 12 Songs, Home Before Dark and Dreams. Here’s hoping he also includes some of this emotionally lean ‘n mean acoustic repertoire.
  
  Cape Town Stadium, Fritz Sonnenberg Road, Greenpoint, April 11, 6pm. Entrance is R250 to R950. Book at Computicket.

• ‘This album is the birthing of a 20-year-old baby,” says Heather Mac. After an absence of almost two decades from recording, the former Ella Mental chanteuse is back with a new album, Within. The deeply personal collection of songs chart Mac’s journey from the seedy night spots of Hillbrow’s Chelsea Hotel to UK rock clubs, from the despair of personal tragedy to a spiritual rebirth in Brazil and the ability of love to overcome heartache and loss. ‘Each song represents a part of my life experience over the passing years. During this time, I have had the inordinate blessing of connecting with many extraordinary people. They have made me who I am today,” she says. Tim Parr (guitar), Mark Harris (guitar), Ian Cohen (bass), Tonia Selley (percussion), and Chris Tokalon (flute, sax) accompany Mac at her one-night-only launch concert
  
  Baxter Concert Hall, April 9, 9pm. Entrance is R100.