Ooooh, if tonight's show was an indication of things to come, this is going to be a crazy
weekend. I just *thought* Barry had a lot of energy last night - when I think he's put all
he's got into a show, he digs down and finds more.
The audience was full of fans already here for the convention. A lot of energy from the
audience, a lot from Barry and his crew. A lot of standing ovations, but I felt they were
all deserved.
He performed Even Now, which is still bringing me down for some reason - but he put an
incredible amount of feeling into it and I enjoyed it. And then he gave us an extra - he
sang an emotional rendition of If Tomorrow Never Comes. It was wonderful.
On the Dew Drop side he chose Lay Me Down because he said it went well with a raspy voice.
He did start out with a raspy voice, but he wasn't the only one. I noticed Kye having some
problems once or twice, too.
He hammed it up a little more than usual during the 50's segment - very cute. I snapped
what should have been the perfect picture of Keely holding on to Barry's leg - he was looking
right at the camera and grinning - and it came out too blurry to use. Darn it!
During Love Is A Many Splendored Thing his voice made a miraculous comeback - and he told
the crowd that we had brought his voice back. This is another song that he put a lot of
feeling into.
He did It's Not For Me to Say. Then he sang Unchained Melody. There was a lot of emotion
and passion in the closing of that song. No sign of any voice strain, either - he hit that
high note perfectly.
After the Mayflower segment, he gave us another extra - he sang That's Life. It seemed to
be very well received by the audience - oh, heck - everything he did last night was well
received by the audience! But it was deserved - no free rides - the rewards were earned.
I didn't pay as much attention to the band, but I think the backups were feeding off the
audience energy as much as Barry was. They all seemed to be enjoying it. Barry really got
with it during Somewhere in the Night, which brought tons of squeals and screams from the
audience - and the backups seemed to really enjoy that.
He seems to be staying with the soft, tender rendition of Are You Lonesome Tonight. And I
think that works best - the audience is (almost) always very hushed during the song.
I've heard people speculating as to whether he'll do anything from the 60's album this
weekend. I don't know, but after seeing the track list, I'm excited. There are some
wonderful songs on there that I think he'll do a great job on.
