There are certain things one expects from a Neil Diamond concert. It's a given that he will be dressed in a glittery outfit more suited to figure skating, for example, and that the ladies in the audience will not only clasp their husbands tightly during You Don't Bring Me Flowers but also pat their denim-clad bottoms, Asda-style, during Forever in Blue Jeans. What it's impossible to prepare for is the moment Diamond - the legendary cheese merchant, 64-year-old songwriter for Elvis and the Monkees, and a man so "easy listening" that for decades he refused to button up his shirts past his nipples - breaks into a rap. "Red red wine makes me feel so fine/ Hear it on the radio all the time." He even enlists his backing singers to wriggle around him, gangsta-style, as he struggles to find a word to rhyme with "UB40".

Before Diamond's John Barnes moment, the gig runs its usual course. He uses the royal "We" between songs and struts around the stage like a mating peacock, winking and blowing kisses at the crowd. He walks and speaks in perfect time with his backing band, which means he leaves ... odd ... pauses ... between ... words ... in order to fit the syncopated rhythms. "Hello ... " (noodly guitar bit) ... "London! It's ... " (cha-boom, boom, boom) ... "great to be here tonight!"

There's another great point at which he urges everyone in the crowd to turn to their neighbour and say: "I love you very much." Which we all do, of course: after all, he's Neil Diamond.

Sometimes Diamond seems to be on auto-pilot, not bothering to switch from croon-mode for a second, and of course it's all pretty insincere stuff - especially the tortured Andrew Lloyd Webber-lite duet in the middle. But still, hearing Sweet Caroline and I'm a Believer from the man himself! Magic.

· At Woburn Abbey, Befordshire on Saturday. Box office: 0870 400 0688. Then touring.