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Paris Las Vegas - March 6, 2010 (early show)(View photo gallery here)
KK-29
And I'm quite sure I'm going to miss some details. There's so much to see and so much to say. I just can't fit it all in the first couple of shows. First of all, the showroom is beautiful - all red. Granted, interior design isn't one of my interests - I can't tell you how many times I've had friends who made fun of me for not even being able to tell you what colors make up the hotel room I'm staying in - in fact, I've been staying at the Hilton for 5 years and I just now had to look around to see - and I won't remember 5 minutes from now - I just don't care about that stuff. But, I made a point to take notice last night. I'd never been in the Paris theater before, so I don't know what it was like - I can only report on what I saw last night. Actual size, I don't know - but there was the perception that it was even smaller than the Hilton showroom. Probably not accurate, because I think the seats did go back further - but there was a much larger slant upward - the Hilton is kind of flat. If you were sitting in the back at the Hilton, you weren't going to be able to see the show. Not so at the Paris. Chandeliers everywhere - they move up toward the ceiling at one point during the show. Red velvet (?) curtains everywhere. Questions everyone had: How high is the stage? Looked to be no higher than the Hilton - if it is, it isn't much. How close is the front row to the stage? Looked to be closer than the Hilton. When Barry said in an interview that we would be sitting in his lap, he wasn't kidding! The seats are very comfortable. One slight negative - there's very little room between your seat and the row in front of you. So, if someone needs to get by, you're going to have to stand up - no way around it. I ended up sitting in row KK - turned out to be a blessing. Needless to say, I want to be up close - but for this first show, I think I saw much more where I was. As I've said before, Barry puts out an energy - that's why we're so darn addicted to seeing him! When you're up close, you get caught up in the energy - in row KK, you can't feel it. But you get a better perspective of the show from a spectator viewpoint. So, this allowed me to see Barry's new show from two different vantage points in one night - it worked out well. Some have accused me of wearing rose-colored glasses when I write my reviews. Rose-colored glasses? Why would you have any other mindset? Why pay money to see a show and then walk into the showroom determined to find something wrong with it? My intent when I walk into the theater is to have a good time and enjoy what I see. Anyway - this is an awesome show no matter where you're sitting. Barry was very accurate when he said it's the most beautiful show he's ever done. It really is.
I'll be honest that I was a little apprehensive about the new show. So many rumors floating around. So much we had been accustomed to. People don't like change, right? It frightens them, right? I was frightened. I loved the Hilton (well, I'm still staying here this weekend) - it felt like home. It was familiar. But to address everything we were all afraid of: Cameras? No problem. They discourage flash - no video, of course. But it was even easier than at the Hilton. At the Hilton you had security guards sitting up front ready to pounce anyone that they thought might be breaking a rule. If they had that at the Paris, I didn't see it. That's the first time I've felt at ease when taking photos in a long time. How close is Barry? What are the seats like? What is the theater like? I've already addressed that - and it's all awesome! How much will the show change? Will it be all production? Will it be all slow? No worries! Yes, it's a change - but all for the better... No lack of Barry - lots of production - but nothing takes away from the real reason we come to the show. Definitely not all slow - no where near... So, in the words of Barry's second song of the night (which I'll get to later) - "Everything's Gonna Be Alright". Barry opened with Could it Be Magic. Started out slow, ended up with the fast version. No BAMs. This was a totally classy version of the song. But still had everyone up and dancing. Barry and the backups also do a little line dance for us, complete with high kicks! The second song must be a new one - but I just love it. "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" - very upbeat and happy. And based on the lyrics that I can remember so far, it sounds like it was written just for us and all of our fears about this new show. Gosh, I hope he records this song. I so want a copy of it. Barry's voice sounded better than it has in a long time - he hit every note, held every note. Fantastic! And he looked fantastic, too. He looked very, very happy.
My usual disclaimer - the songs are not necessarily in the right order. Set list didn't change between shows, so I'll report on some songs in this review and some in the next. Barry does have new jackets, the backups new costumes. I'll leave my photos to describe the various jackets and costumes - I'm not a fashion guru by any means. The band is set up differently - even this is better. All of the guys are facing us now - they're further back, but there's more light on them. So you can actually see the band. There's also much more light on the backups when they're performing, so you can see them. Weekend in New England was fantastic. Lots and lots of lights on Barry through this. The lights seem to envelope him. Plays havoc with your camera! But, actually, I think my photos turned out well even though it didn't seem they were looking through the viewfinder.
We got I Wanna Be Somebody's Baby and the crowd went wild. Everyone loved it. Very funny - Barry started to introduce it and people started clapping - not wild applause, but obviously a lot of fans already knew what was coming. Barry made a comment to the effect - "Oh, good - 2 of you know it" (paraphrased) - then the clapping got louder and he said, "Oh, 4 of you". Then everyone went wild. Fantastic performance! We just love this! I noticed that a lot of the songs seem to have a color theme to them - or at least, a color seemed to stick in my head for the songs. For instance, Somewhere in the Night came across to me as purple. New York City Rhythm is in the show - in a way we still have the fireman chase - except this time it's musical pianos. More on that in the late show review. Barry has a segment of the show for his new album. He did 3 songs from the CD. The first was Our Love Is Here to Stay - I would say the color scheme for that one was red. Beautiful song, beautiful performance.
He sang Where Does Love Begin next - that one gets better each time he does it. It's really progressed since I saw him do it during the QVC taping - and I thought it was great there. Love Me Tender - that was the 3rd song. I hate this song - I loathe this song. I didn't just want to change stations when I heard it on the radio - I didn't just want to get up and walk out of the room - I wanted to beat the radio to smithereens with a sledge hammer. I hate, hate, hate this song. Well, Barry... You've done it again. I love this song. Barry sang it so softly and so tenderly... He makes you believe every single word of the lyrics. The music in the background is just beautiful. If you don't sit back and just sigh after hearing this, then you're missing something in the performance. As I'm writing this some of the details are a little fuzzy - but I'll get it all pulled together hopefully by the time I write the review for the Sunday night now. Brandon gets to play a sax solo. The girls are standing as statues in the background, with the picture frames hanging above them - Barry points at each frame and the picture magically changes - except one of them didn't - and everyone laughed. The girls don't move a muscle - I swear I don't know how they stand still for that long. Can't remember exactly where all these things happen.
Barry put in a little medley - I don't have all the songs down yet. I'm going to call it a 60's medley for now, but it's not like the one at the Hilton. Actually, this one is more fun. New costumes for the backups - black and silver - Barry in his bright red jacket. Kye gets to do a little solo dance. Barry dances with Melanie and Muffy. Keely and Kye have a solo dance, and they've resumed the "through the legs" routine from the old 50's segment - except this time Barry is facing the audience and we get to see it head on. The Twist was in there, as was a song that I don't know the name of for some reason even though I know the tune well... Na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na - and that means absolutely nothing to you without hearing the music! LOL I'll have to go find the name of that one. Someone said that Bandstand Boogie is included in there - I swear, I can't remember - too much going on for me to catch it all the first couple of times. A little glitch with the Midnight Special video that led up to Mandy - the audio and video weren't in sync - kind of like some of those old kung fu movies where they've put English voices to actors who are speaking Mandarin! Only I think this was even further off - Clive was mouthing the words long after we stopped hearing his voice! LOL! And the real Barry had sung half of Mandy before baby Barry even got started! But aside from that, Barry's performance of Mandy/Could It Be Magic was beautiful. Very well done. Very fresh. My favorite white jacket is gone. <sniff, sniff> But there's a new white jacket, with black trim. Pretty cool, actually - so maybe I'll get over my favorite jacket being gone. Maybe... <I really do like this one...>
Copacabana is totally different. No huge head dresses. No catwalk. No brightly colored costumes - well, yeah, but classier costumes. Same mannerisms and performance by Barry - same cuteness. But the difference was at the end. Barry walks to the front of the stage, and then descends down into the floor and disappears from view. Earlier in the show Barry commented that he had 39 seconds to make a complete clothing change at one point in the show - and that if he didn't pull it off, we would all be getting very "intimate" - this must be what he was talking about. And also, the backups have a costume change - and I haven't quite figured out how it's all accomplished so smoothly. Anyway, while Barry's gone, there's a little dance segment on stage - more on that in a future review. But... When Barry came back up through the stage... For 30-45 seconds, I couldn't have cared less about the "music"... Barry came back up wearing a full black tux, complete with the flower in the lapel and white cane (I think it was white - would have to look at my photos to be sure). Everyone I spoke with afterward was just as smitten as I was! He took our breath away! On the back of the tux is a big red heart, no less!
Thankfully, I recovered from that in time to enjoy the video effects - I'm going to have to think for a while to come up with a description for those. At any rate, when Barry resumed singing the song he did it very differently. Anyone remember watching Copa "the movie"? Duh, like everyone reading this hasn't seen the movie... Remember the choreography, the slow, deliberate, emphasized steps forward? That's kind of what he's doing. And the backups join him for the choreography. And that was the true end of the show - we even get video effects telling us it's the end! A huge red heart with the words "The End" in the middle! Barry walked to the back of the stage (and it's a long walk!) and stood there looking at us until the curtain came down to hide him from view. Fantastic show! Really fantastic! It's a very classy show, very well put together, very well choreographed. And it shows just how much work Barry and his crew have put into it. Just awesome!
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