McCartney Times

The singer Neil Diamond on Monday announced his retirement from touring, after a recent diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.

Concert dates in Australia and New Zealand that were set for March and April as part of Mr. Diamond’s 50th anniversary tour have been canceled.

“It is with great reluctance and disappointment that I announce my retirement from concert touring,” Mr. Diamond said in a statement on his website. “I have been so honored to bring my shows to the public for the past 50 years.”

Mr. Diamond, who turns 77 this week, said he planned to continue writing and recording music, but would no longer play to live audiences. As part of the anniversary tour, he had already performed concerts across the United States and Europe, including dates in New York; Nashville; London; and Hamburg, Germany, when he made the announcement.

Mr. Diamond, whose career spans six decades, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. He will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Grammys.

Here are some highlights from his live performances over the years.

‘Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon’ — 1967

In 1967, Mr. Diamond appeared on daytime TV on the “The Mike Douglas Show.” Among the songs he performed was “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon,” his hit from the same year. The song enjoyed a second life when it featured on the 1994 “Pulp Fiction” soundtrack, recorded by the alternative rock group Urge Overkill.

‘I Am … I Said’ – 1976

In 1976, Mr. Diamond went on tour after a four-year break from live performances. At the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, he performed “I Am … I Said” from the 1971 album “Stones.” John Rockwell, The New York Times’s pop music critic at the time, reviewed the Forest Hills Stadium show in Queens which was part of the same tour. “His musical virtues are considerable,” he wrote, “above all his rich, easily produced bass baritone, smooth enough for ballads yet rough enough to suggest a personable sexiness.”

‘Golden Slumbers,’ ‘Carry That Weight’ and ‘The End’ – 1988

During a concert at the Aquarius Theater in Los Angeles in 1988, Mr. Diamond performed three B-sides from the Beatles’ 1969 album “Abbey Road.” Mr. Diamond dedicated the performance to the memory of John Lennon, who had died eight years earlier.

‘Holly Holy’ – 2008

Mr. Diamond went on a world tour in 2008 that included a four-night run at Madison Square Garden in New York, during which he performed “Holly Holy.” The Times music reporter Ben Sisaro reviewed the gig at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn., where “more than 12,000 fans rose to their feet and shouted when he began the opening number, ‘Holly Holy,’ though most had sat back down by the second verse — they’re getting older too.”

‘Sweet Caroline’ – 2017

Mr. Diamond was on his 50th anniversary tour when he announced his retirement from live performances. As part of that tour, he performed at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore in June 2017, where he sang probably his best-known and most-beloved hit, “Sweet Caroline.” In the statement announcing his retirement, he cited a line from the song: “This ride has been ‘so good, so good, so good’ thanks to you.”