Bruce Springsteen is great at it. So are Billy Joel, Prince and plenty more.

But Neil Diamond may be the undisputed champ at figuring out exactly what his audience wants and delivering it just the way they want it (including no opening act - just a night of Neil).

At the Pepsi Center on Wednesday night he masterfully wove together greatest hits and new songs in a show that was engaging and cut across generations (there were a slew of fans there younger than you'd assume they'd be, though we, uh, more seasoned fans were in the majority).

It's a very old-school presentation, with Diamond on an oversized stage that looks like a TV soundstage from a '60s variety show - very spare, the 14 musicians behind him on risers that changed position throughout the show. Instead of an opening act, Diamond has an announcer who warns the audience that the show is starting soon and finally introduces the band with a flourish as Diamond himself appears in a flash of blinding white light in the middle of the stage. His crack four-piece horn section swayed and danced in time with the rhythm, as did his trio of female vocalists. Diamond points at the crowd, shamelessly tells stories they eat up, and has sweeping arm gestures.

Yet with a few exceptions (he really, really milked Sweet Caroline), it's not campy or corny. Again, Diamond knows how to talk with and sing to a crowd with a breezy, warm rapport, never condescending or rote. (He spoke at length about living near Aspen for nearly three decades.)

The hits were delivered, and it never got more experimental than a few new songs off recent albums and some retooled vocals on Solitary Man and I Am, I Said. Those new songs were scattered in with the classics, and when Diamond introduced the new songs he politely asked the crowd to give them a listen. And instead of scurrying to the beer lines, they did just that. It paid off with songs like Home Before Dark, the title song off his latest Rick Rubin-produced album that ranks up with his best singles.

His voice was raspy on the first couple of numbers, Holly Holy and Beautiful Noise, but by the time he got to Love on the Rocks it was strong and sure.

The crowd was on its feet and dancing, literally to the last row in the rafters, for big hits like Cherry Cherry (with his backing singers uncannily recreating the vocals of the original).

You wouldn't think it could get crazier than the response to Forever in Blue Jeans, but the aforementioned Sweet Caroline and the follow-up You Don't Bring Me Flowers drove the crowd mad.

Neil Diamond

* WHEN

Wednesday night

* WHERE Pepsi Center

* GRADE A-