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Paris Las Vegas - February 27, 2011(View photo gallery here)
BB-30
What a fantastic show this was! Normally I walk out of the showroom a little bit down after the last show, but not this time. I was almost dancing to the studio version of Everything's Gonna Be Alright. Well, okay - total lack of rhythm and coordination combined with two left feet more closely resembles spasms than dancing, but whatever. I was in a great mood and I was loving that song and I was HAPPY!
 All three shows have been fantastic. A couple of people said they thought I didn't like the first show. ?!? I loved all three shows! I would say this one was the best, because Barry seemed extremely happy and upbeat - and he always carries the tone for the show. But there was nothing wrong with the other two - they were great! And Barry's voice has been magnificent at all three shows. I think the stage was set for what we were about to experience from the very beginning. Even though it's very dark when Barry takes the stage, I could see a huge grin on his face as he walked out to the center of the MANILOW sign. I know that for the last several shows, Barry has been picking up the lyrics of Could It Be Magic somewhere in the middle - in other words, he usually is shaking hands or doing bows off to the sides and so when he finally gets back to the microphone, he has to start the lyrics at the point the music is at. Actually, I think it's kind of neat that he seems to do that so effortlessly. At any rate, he went straight to the mic and started singing from the beginning. I guess it may seem odd that something that small would have made such an impression on me, but it did - maybe it's because of what he sings and the way he sings it in this instance - I think I missed hearing all of it, I just didn't realize that I was missing it. I'm not sure. Something else that really impressed me (and I'm 99% sure this is from Could It Be Magic) was the lighting. The colors were so vivid - red and blue and then a merging of the red and blue into purple. It took in the entire stage - everything - it was like Barry was wrapped in a wall of color. I loved it! That has never caught my attention before - don't know if it's new or if I've just been oblivious. It does seem that there might have been some lighting changes - at one of the shows this weekend, Barry pointed at various lights as they went on and off - the lights were coordinated with the music - can't remember the exact song now, but I did notice it. Dare I say it? Yes!!! Barry was so cute! At the beginning of the show, he thanked us for coming out on Oscar night and asked us if we wanted him to keep us informed of the winners throughout his show. Someone was feeding him the winners - he could hear whoever it was in his ear monitors. It was so funny. Plus, as he was being fed the first winners, we were treated to his little stammer as he was trying to hear what they were telling him and convey it to us at the same time. Yes, we were "treated" - that stammer is so cute - and I haven't seen it in a while. The new medley stayed as it was the night before - Daybreak, Somewhere in the Night and Looks Like We Made It. Barry must have been proud of his masterpiece because during the transition into the last song, he really emphasized the beginning lyrics to the chorus of Looks Like We Made It with a husky voice and a huge grin on his face. And after he finished the song, he looked at us with one of those expressions that seemed to say, "Am I awesome, or what?" You know, there's some great lighting during the medley, too. Somewhere in the Night is kind of a midnight blue - the same kind of effect as I described earlier - Barry is enveloped in a wall of blue color. As I recall, the song has always had a blue tone to it, but this just seemed so much more vivid. Medley is almost a misnomer for what he's doing in this part of the show - he sings most, if not all, of the first two songs of the medley. Probably not all the lyrics, but at least the majority of them. I really didn't analyze it enough to be exact on that - I was too busy enjoying it to worry about it in that much detail. It just seems that Barry performs a great deal of each of those songs. I believe it's only a chorus from Looks Like We Made It - again, don't hold me to that - it might be more. But LLWMI seems much shorter. Barry's voice was beautiful on Weekend in New England - very tender. This is one of Barry's songs that can take almost any direction depending on what he wants to do with it. I've seen times when the longing just poured from the song. And I've seen times when it was incredibly romantic. I guess this performance would lean more toward the romantic, but it wasn't extremely passionate. I think the proper word is, in fact, tender - a tenderly romantic performance. It just left you feeling warm all over. I said warm, not hot! You know, it's really something when at the exact second that I hit the enter key as I complete a sentence my mind immediately jumps to all the possible interpretations that Manilow fans could come up with for that sentence. LOL!  Brandon's sax during Brooklyn Blues was back to sounding bright and rocking. Still can't say for sure if the diminished sound on Saturday night was because I was sitting off to the side or not, but there was definitely a difference. I did try to capture a photo of that cool lighting during the song that I mentioned in my previous review - all of those individual spotlights shining down on Barry. As I suspected, the photo doesn't do it justice - but it shows up a little. That song has such a great beat and feel to it. I can't be sure it was this song, but the "feel" matches - at any rate, there was one song during the show when I could really hear Stan's bass - and it sounded fantastic.  I Am Your Child was very poignant tonight - Barry put a lot of feeling into the song. Same way with Nature Boy. Both were beautiful.  My favorite song of the night was This One's For You. This one just blew me away. I had mentioned that at the previous show, the tone was one of resignation. Not this time - this time it was almost like Barry were dedicating it to someone - talk about making a connection! It was fantastic. I doubt that I'll ever see another performance of this song that moves me more. I couldn't stop thinking about it all night. I may be writing less about it than any of the other songs that Barry performed, but I think that's just because I have no words... Barry did a very nice job on the love songs segment. Our Love Is Here to Stay was very sweet and gentle - more of those warm fuzzy feelings. And Theme From Love Story was very passionate - a very strong performance. My second favorite song of the night was Even Now. Barry's performance was incredible - again! And that long note went on and on forever - I think Barry's outstretched hand really did reach to the heavens this time - it reached a few hearts in the audience, too. I heard more than one sigh in the crowd - I think one of them came from me. It's amazing what kind of feelings he can generate with that song, especially there at the end. The first portion of the song is emotional and poignant - you find yourself caught up in the emotions this person is going through and you can feel them yourself. But when Barry gets to the last part - the last chorus, the "God, I wish you knew", the pained expression on his face as he turns to walk away, and that hand reaching out but never quite grasping - oh, what that does to you... And even when Barry is taking his bow at the end, the song continues, the mood continues - the look in his eyes as he gazes at the audience - all of that keeps you in his world even though the music has stopped. It's one of those moments where time seems to stand still - it stays with you forever. There have been other performances of this song where that look, those eyes have burned into my soul and I can still recall them just as clearly now. Tonight's performance was one of those. It's magic, I tell you. This photo is from that final note, where he approaches the front of the stage again. Even it was impressive - and I love this photo (in spite of the head that got in the way).  Here's one of Kye's facial expressions that I mentioned when I reviewed the last show. He's so funny - he looks like he's been sniffing the glue holding those glasses frames together! LOL! It looks like Keely must think so, too...  I have been trying forever to catch some shots of Barry goofing around during the Bandstand segment. I finally got a couple. This segment is so much fun - like New York City Rhythm, but in a different way. Well, for that matter, you have to throw the current incarnation of Copacabana into that mix. They're all BIG FUN (no pun intended) - intricate production numbers with vivid colors, upbeat music and complicated choreography. Or at least, the choreography appears complicated to me. Not only that, there's so much detail to these segments - there are so many things to take in, it sometimes seems you could see the show hundreds of times and still not pick up on all the details. The segments are just fun - everyone in the audience smiles - no one is sitting there looking bored. I love these portions of the show.
Mandy was very nice tonight. When you're talking about connections, as a rule Barry doesn't make any during this part of the show. Frankly I'm not sure he can even see the audience - and I don't just mean see individuals - I mean, I'm not sure he can see the audience at all. The lighting is so different - the way it actually reflects off of him, it makes me think there must be an awful lot of light in his eyes. So, I guess it's not surprising that he seems somewhat more removed than he does on other songs. But there were actually a couple of moments when he did seem to make a connection at this show. Surprisingly, that does "warm up" the song. I'd never really thought about it before, but it just occurred to me that the lighting and set for this portion of the show (including the first part of I Write the Songs, as well) creates kind of an iconic atmosphere - of course, Barry IS an icon, so it's totally appropriate. That thought had never popped into my head before, though - I recognized a difference, but never put it all together. I think it's interesting. Anyway, I felt more emotion coming from Barry than I normally do during this particular song. Again, as with Weekend in New England, it wasn't a strong yearning or longing - it was more of a tender, warm feeling. Now, with I Write the Songs, even though the lighting is very similar - heck, maybe the lighting is identical - the tone is almost always happy - Barry almost always is smiling and looking, I don't know...grateful. He looks grateful. When he's performing I Write the Songs, Barry looks as though he knows exactly how much he has been blessed. Has anyone else ever seen that? I've never thought about that before, either - it just popped into my head. But that's what I'm seeing. I didn't mention in any of my other reviews from this weekend, but we still have karaoke night for Can't Smile Without You and Copacabana. In this shot, Barry is conducting the audience during Copacabana. They were pretty loud at this show. Prepare to swoon. Prepare to melt. <insert huge sigh here>  These last shots are obviously from Copacabana. I wish I could go into detail about Barry's vocals or performance of Copa - but honestly, I don't think I ever get over watching him in that tux. He could probably be singing a totally different song and I wouldn't pick up on it. Between the tux, the smile that's always on Barry's face, and just the general atmosphere of that segment, I never take in details - I just take in the feeling. Looks like the girls might be as enamored of Barry as we are, huh?  Like I said, no way to leave on anything other than a high note, even though this was the last show of the weekend. I can't wait until next time - but this show was definitely enough to keep me on a high until then.
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