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The 74-year-old, award-winning Greek Theatre broke NEW ground November 17 with a Multi-million renovation project…

Neil is coming to PBS. Taped in Dublin in July, 2002, NEIL DIAMOND: SPECIAL MOMENTS IN CONCERT FROM IRELAND…

Or, as 3LW co-manager and Universal Records Vice President of A&R Tse Williams said simply, “The best time to do one is when you’re hot.”

Maybe so, but try telling that to Neil Diamond. His career was fading when he released The Christmas Album in 1992 and sold some 1.8 million copies, more than triple what 1991’s Lovescape sold. Barbra Streisand has revived her career twice with Christmas albums, and certainly Whitney Houston was not capitalizing on being hot when she released One Wish: The Holiday Album in November.

“I am . . . I said,” he sang – whatever that means. Perhaps the secret lurks within the “Stages” box, a staggering, career-spanning overview of Diamond in concert. Besides four CDs of performance highlights and a fifth CD of live Christmas music, a DVD captures the pop superstar onstage last year in Ireland and behind the scenes on the road.

Neil Diamond: “Stages: Performances 1970-2002”

Local Diamond fans will almost certainly want this all-live collection, as Discs 1 and 2 chronicle a complete MGM Grand Garden concert from Dec. 27. The show finds the popular singer in fine form, blazing through such hits as “America,” “Sweet Caroline” and “Cracklin’ Rosie.”

Discs 3 and 4 chronicle Diamond’s touring career, Disc 5 presents live Christmas material and Disc 6 offers a DVD glimpse at his onstage prowess. Obviously, this one’s for Neil aficionados only.

Cost: $45.

Neil Diamond, Stages: Performances 1970-2002. (Legacy) If you’re a fan of full-on, later-day, Vegas Neil, you’ll probably want this. Previous boxes have catalogued the hits, but this is five discs of live stuff, plus a DVD recorded live in Dublin. The first two discs cover a Vegas show from a year ago, with the sort of gruff vocals and mammoth-band workouts/singalongs Diamond is known for these days. The next two discs cover live stuff from 1970-2001, too lean on the early years. Disc five is Christmas music. Diehards will want it, but Stages isn’t his best live material.

“She gets the concept of the harmonica, but she just can’t blow hard enough yet,” said Pollard, who owns more than a dozen instruments. “I dance with her so she can get used to rhythm. She likes the energy of soca but also responds to Tom Jones, Neil Diamond and Mozart.

Neil Diamond, “The Christmas Album,” Sony, 1992: Singing the heck out of “Jingle Bell Rock.”

Rusty Gatenby talked to Neil Diamond about the release “Stages: 1970-2002,” a boxed set of six CDs of the musician’s live performances.

Checots says the effort will include programs that have been popular both locally and nationally including a new concert from Neil Diamond and a marathon presentation of the drama series “Anne of Green Gables.”