Barry looked like he felt great tonight. Much better than he has in a while. Looks like he's finally kicked
that cold/flu/bronchitis/whatever. He sounded fantastic! I'm having a hard time remembering any show where
his voice sounded better.
Giving us more of The Old Songs was a special treat. That's one of my favorites. I believe he sang the entire
song - at least, most of it. I hope that stays in the show.
Instead of the 40's segment he went into Ready to Take a Chance Again. That's also one of my favorite songs.
When I first heard he was doing this as the dance number, I was excited - it seemed as if it would be a
perfect, romantic song for that segment. I can't judge what may have happened at other shows, but it
really didn't work for me at this one. It just didn't seem romantic at all - and the length of time that
the woman was with him was so short, it almost made the whole thing seem out of place. Maybe I just need
to get used to it after seeing it the other way for so long. I'll see it again in Dallas next week, so
maybe I'll change my mind.
Barry did sing Weekend in New England - I can't remember the exact point in the show, but it was early. I'm
thinking it was after Ready to Take A Chance Again. It was complete with the rising piano.
Barry changed up the 50's segment. No Keely/Kye dance. Instead, the backups all danced while Barry sang a
complete Bandstand Boogie. There was a cute moment at the end of the song where they all start waving (as if they
were waving at a camera). On this night Barry told us that Dick Clark was actually in the audience - so he and
the backups all started waving to Dick.
The cutest bit was when Barry took off his tie and handed it to Keely - and she
started jumping up and down and squeeling with excitement. I think the reason I like these little "skits"
is because I can see "us" in what the backups are doing - it's exaggerated (well, in most cases!), but still
I see it. What Keely was doing is exactly what I would be feeling inside if Barry were to hand me his tie,
even though I would never act it out. At any rate, I hope that stays in the show because it's very funny.
Barry sang I Am Your Child and I Made It Through the Rain. I will say that IMITTR always makes me feel
proud as I watch Barry perform. I can only imagine what his grandfather was feeling that night at Carnegie
Hall. Sometimes the song is more emotional than others. Tonight's performance was - well, it's hard to
describe. I guess it just seemed as if Barry were feeling a little bit of what he must have felt that
night that his grandfather gave him his first standing ovation. More than once Barry seemed to be in
awe of the audience response.
Barry said that he had to do a special song that he could only do on Valentine's Day - I didn't really
know it. It turns out that it was My Funny Valentine. Although I've often heard the song title, I
honestly don't believe I ever heard the song. For some reason, I couldn't quite hear the lyrics as Barry
sang it. I heard him say something about "looks are laughable" and "completely unphotographical" - I was
thinking that was a very strange Valentine song! Just what I would want - for my guy (well, if I had one)
to tell me I look like a dork on Valentine's Day! But after the show was over I looked up the lyrics and
saw that it's actually a very sweet song. I wish I had been able to get the full effect of it. Especially
the line "don't change a hair for me" - what a wonderful thing for someone to say. Unfortunately, I missed
it all.
During that song Barry brought Dave Koz up out of the audience to play a saxophone solo. After that song
was over, Dave stayed
on the stage to play the sax solos while Barry sang Brooklyn Blues. Then Brian Culbertson
came out to play trombone. Brian and Dave had a little session of dueling brass (or wait, a saxophone
is a woodwind, isn't it?) - whatever - they "dueled". I enjoyed listening to Brian play his trombone.
Somewhere in there Barry sang Can't Smile Without You - must have been after Brooklyn Blues. He seemed to
be in a funny mood when he
was signing that song. Actually, he seemed to be in a great mood all night - so maybe it was just more of that.
I enjoyed hearing all of Could It Be Magic. I enjoyed watching Barry perform it, as well. There's more
to that song than just the music and the performance. For lack of a better way to say, it's very obvious
that Barry's soul is in that song - it shows.
Oh, yes - they also did the William Tell Overture. I think Barry messed up the words at the beginning.
Well...there aren't really any words...uhm...two words...and one of them he's very fond of saying. :-) It
actually turned out to be one of the better performances of the song. It's still one that I get a kick out of seeing.
Sixties segment was minus Yesterday. Barry started the funny cigarette bit and made some mention of the
mockup of his little apartment and sparing no expense on it - and then said something like "Eat your
heart out, Van Halen" - or maybe it was "Take that, Van Halen". (I saw one of the shows on this latest Van Halen
tour - awesome set!).
Barry's set is beautiful, too. I spent a lot of time just looking at the lighting and the screen in
the background. It was impressive. It did seem like the lights were washing Barry out at times.
Sometimes it seemed as if he were enveloped in a fog. But it could also be that it just looked that
way from the front row - I know it's all designed to look best from a little further back.
One thing I'm not sure of with the set is whether all of the stuff that's being shown on the big
projection screen behind them is the same as is shown in Las Vegas. In Vegas, it's much less bright - sometimes
it's even hard to see. But when Barry goes on the road, you can see it all very well.
The rest of the 60's bit consisted of Can't Take My Eyes Off of You and What the World Needs Now is Love. I
really like the big LOVE sign in the back. I remember drawing oodles of those with multi-colored markers
when I was a kid. I guess I was a hippie - wore peace signs around my neck - all that stuff.
They did New York City Rhythm with all the keyboard players coming down to take turns. Having front row was a
slight disadvantage for this song since I could only really see the top of their heads. But hey, I can live
with that kind of disadvantage occasionally! :-)
I liked the extra confetti that came down at the end of the show. First streamers, then confetti. Very colorful.
After the streamers and confetti, Barry came back out to do Old Friend and Forever and a Day as an encore.
Those are always such emotional songs. Before he started singing, he told us that if we ever hear him say
that he's doing his last show, to not believe him. He said as long as we're there, he will be. I don't
think any of us plan on going anywhere - so that means we have Barry forever, right?!
After he finished singing, Barry stood there looking out over the crowd. As he scanned the audience, he
stopped a couple of times as if he were looking at certain people. He started to leave the stage, but then
stopped and looked back at us again. He then left the stage. But he surprised us by coming back out
one more time to take additional bows and blow kisses to the audience.
I don't think I've ever seen such a large crowd. I've seen louder crowds - much louder. It wasn't unusual at all
on both the 2002 and 2004 tours for the crowd to be so loud that it hurt my ears. Didn't have that problem in LA -
but there was a sense of excitement in the crowd that seemed more pronounced than usual. I was remembering back
in the days of the first Manilow concerts I ever saw, early in his popularity - I don't remember the same "electrical"
feeling at those. For all the years of being made fun of for being a Manilow fun, it's kind of cool to be able
to look at people now and say "Told ya so!". :-)
