Neil: It’s more than a show and it’s really more than opening a theatre. This is really a novel idea for Las Vegas, where basically what you have are hotels and the night clubs. There are large ones…very beautiful ones and this is the first major theatre that’s opened in Las Vegas. It’s been an extraordinary experience for me and, as I said to you before, second only my Australian tour.
Michael: You keep talking about Australia, don’t you.
Neil: Yeah, ???? absolutely! We talk about it all the time.
Michael: Why is it different to you? Why was it different to you?
Neil: Well, first of all it was an extraordinary experience that was condensed into a thirty-day period. We toured…we touched one end of Australia to the other, from Sydney to Perth.
Michael: What about the reaction here. The reaction here was great.
Neil: The reaction here is great, but this was also my first experience in Australia. It was a first. It was an exotic strange new land with exotic strange new people, including yourself, Michael. You’re very strange!
Michael: (laughs) ???
Neil: It was quite an experience for all of us… very exciting, exhilarating and it left a mark on us. We knew that when we returned to the states that we would come back to Australia and we’ve been talking about it.
Michael: Right! Question? When?
Neil: We’re going to come back next year…1977 for sure. We have to do some planning and some preparation, but I want to do something very very special, and I have what I want to do in mind.
Michael: What is it?
Neil: Well, what I would like to do, if it can be arranged, is to tour Australia with a Philharmonic Orchestra… with a large Symphony Orchestra and put on a very very special musical presentation the next time we go there. This takes preparation and planning and finding an orchestra. We may find one in Australia that’s willing to work and to go out and tour.
Michael: Are you planning early in the year or late in the year?
Neil: I think I’d like to …my guess is that it will be in the fall of ’77.
Play: “Beautiful Noise”
Michael: ???
Neil: Well, I’ve heard about all these fantastic things and how was your trip here?
Woman: It was good because I traveled with people from Australia ????
Neil: Have you been over here before?
Woman: No, I’ve never been outside of Australia before.
Neil: This is not typical of the United States… Las Vegas. This is very unusual…hotels. This is the middle of the Mojave desert. You have deserts in Australia, too?
Woman: Yes.
Neil: Tell me about these children. You mentioned something about …Michael told me before that there are eighteen children that you are close with in Sydney.
Woman: Well, I have …I work with unmarried mothers… a few of them from Cork.
Neil: Uh huh.
Woman: But these ??? are very special because I tried to get into your show in Australia for three days and I had them outside. And a girl named Donna ??? and she’s only 16 and Jenny’s …she’s slight retarded and the other kids name is ???
Neil: And you couldn’t get tickets?
Woman: I couldn’t get tickets.
Michael: Not a chance.
Neil: We’ll have to remedy that. Next time we’re in Australia we will arrange it for all of those kids to get special seats as my guests of the show.
Michael: Tonight…are you going to the concert?
Woman: They asked me to ask you for …on a piece of paper or record or ticket…
Neil: Absolutely! We have… Jerry, we have copies of the program book and albums and pictures and things?
Jerry: Right!
Neil: We’ll do that…we’ll get some pens and some things and I’ll be happy to sign those things.
Woman: Thanks very much!
Neil: My pleasure! My pleasure! Enjoy the show tonight.
Woman: I will.
Neil: And we’ll get you all the pictures and albums that you want for the kids and we’ll see them all when we’re in Sydney next year.
Woman: Thank you very much.
Mike: Michael Schildberger with Mum Shaw and Neil Diamond in Las Vegas. Well, as well as the promise of tickets to his Australian concert, Neil Diamond gave Mum Shaw a substantial donation for her charity work as well.