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Paris Las Vegas - March 27, 2011(View photo gallery here)
BB-36  And, oh yeah - Barry sang the rest of the songs in the medley, too! The middle one just kind of stood out! LOL! Daybreak came across as very happy. I can't think of another way to say this, so I'm going to go ahead and post it, hoping it isn't taken wrong - this is a compliment, but in writing it may not come out that way. Most of the time when Barry performs Daybreak, the performance is such that it appears Barry is telling someone to "buck up" - basically giving them a pep talk, right? But tonight's performance was just plain happy - it really seemed like Barry totally believed what he was singing and that it was meant for him as well as for us. It was really an upbeat performance. I wish I could say more about Looks Like We Made It - but I was still trying to recover from Somewhere in the Night! Barry got silly with the lyrics of Can't Smile Without You again. This time he spoke them so fast they didn't make any sense at all! That was the end of my singing along with the song! I started laughing, the audience started laughing, Barry started laughing, the backups started laughing. And I spent the rest of the song trying to recover - but I wasn't successful - it took everything I had just to stop laughing! Barry really got into Weekend in New England. Again, it wasn't super soft, it wasn't super powerful - just kind of in the middle. But this is one of the songs of the night where Barry really seemed to be living in the song. It was almost as if he were singing to himself - the audience didn't exist - that's how genuine it seemed. Someone did yell out during the song - but not two/third's of the audience this time! And Barry told us he's still "got it", and snapped his fingers. But then he said something quietly under his breath. For those who were there, did I hear him correctly? Did he say "sometimes"?? Well, if he did, all I can say is "WHAT?!?! Try ALL THE TIME!!!" (Hey, that's a song title...) And if he didn't, someone tell me what he said. (and "all the time" still applies, regardless!) We just thought the Brooklyn Blues long note was great at the first two shows - Barry surpassed himself tonight. It went on forever! The backups were standing behind him, hands on their hips as if they were thinking, "What a showoff!" I didn't think it was possible to hold a note that long. I didn't even attempt to take a photo - I just wanted to watch it. He stretched his right hand toward the sky and it actually looked like he was grabbing that note and holding on to it. And when Barry finally stopped, he said "Now I'm just showing off!" Show off all you want, Barry - we love it! Some more of those nit-picky details came to my attention tonight. First, I noticed the piano during Our Love Is Here to Stay - it had kind of a smooth jazzy feel. It sounds beautiful. Never heard that before. Then, I heard what sounded like a synthesizer during the part of the show where Kye and the girls do their dance routine while Barry is turning himself into a tux-clad, sophisticated, suave, dreamboat for us. <giggle> Never noticed that before, either (the synthesizer, I mean - I noticed Barry!!!) It sounded similar to what I've heard when Barry is performing a live version of Why Don't We Live Together. As with the night before, both songs in the love song segment seemed to have extra feeling. I think Our Love is Here to Stay was a tad more emotional on Saturday night, while tonight's performance of it was more romantic. Barry gets such a sweet smile on his face while's he performing that song. The Theme from Love Story was also performed the "feeling" way - the end was just as huge as the night before - actually, it might have been even bigger. The rest of the song leaned a little more toward the big power ballad than it had on Saturday night - it was a little more forceful, but not to the extent that it lost the feeling. You can see some of the feeling in this shot that I captured.  Every performance of New York City Rhythm seems just as fresh as the first time I saw this incarnation of the song. If the performers aren't having a blast up there, they hide it well - because they all look like they're having the time of their lives. Barry always smiles as he's singing the lyrics to the song - all the way through the entire song. The line "jazz in paradise" seemed to have some kind of special meaning for him tonight. Hmmm.... Barry also has seemed to very "into" his piano playing this week - not quite as much tonight as the previous two nights, but still more than usual. I also noticed the same thing on Brooklyn Blues. Even Now was incredible tonight - every aspect of the song. While Barry was performing at the piano, he got a faraway look in his eyes - it looked so real - not at all like someone who was simply performing a song.  And when Barry stood up from the piano and came out to the front of the stage... Oh, man... I've described that part of his performance before as displaying frustration, but this went way beyond frustration. This was almost agitation. Barry stomped, he clinched his fist, he gritted his teeth. The long note was incredible, the reaching for the audience was so powerful - Barry's knuckles were almost white, he was gripping the mic so tightly. And after the song was over and Barry took his bow, just before he turned to walk off the stage, I swear it looked like he wanted to cry. This is what I'm talking about when I say Barry can live the song, and we can live it right along with him. All of the performances of Nature Boy this week have been great. Barry has been putting a lot of emphasis on the line "love and be loved in return." He has always said that it's "a good lesson" - but only recently has it really come across as genuine. I especially got that feeling as he was mouthing the words along with baby Barry. Ok, if I didn't know better, I would think Barry really IS trying to keep me from taking photos of him while he's being silly during Bandstand. Ha! Fooled him, though - I pretended to be taking a photo of the girls then quickly switched the camera back to him as he started imitating Kye! Nyah, nyah! LOL! He was too fast for me the rest of the segment, though.  There have been several songs this week where Barry appeared to be lost in the song - several from just tonight. Besides all of the songs from tonight, I especially noticed Brooklyn Blues from Saturday night. I guess you could say he was really acting it out, especially during the second verse - but it was meaningful than that. Barry would take his hands off the piano to gesture. His facial expressions would really convey the meaning, really make the lyrics jump out at us and make us take notice. And tonight's performance of This One's For You was also one of the songs where Barry seemed to travel to some place far away, taking us right along with him. As with Brooklyn Blues, Barry would take his hands off the piano to emphasize a point in the lyrics. Or he would gaze off into space, as if remembering something from long ago. Or maybe dreaming of something yet to come. This isn't the same as when I say he performs a song with feeling or emotion. Barry truly seemed to be in another world. He's so good at reinventing these songs, so good at keeping them fresh. I CAN! I can take photos of Barry during Mandy now! See???  There was a hilarious moment before Barry even started Mandy. The video with Clive was playing, and then from the back of the theater we heard a woman let out a passionate, "Ohhhhh, God!" LOL! It sounded like she was... Uh, well never mind what it sounded like she was doing - LOL! But apparently a 30 year video was enough to do it! Barry wasn't even out on stage yet! If Barry heard it, you wouldn't have known. When he appeared on stage, there might have been a slight smile playing on his lips - but he pretty much got down to business. It was a beautiful performance of Mandy. Actually, Barry even seemed to be living that song as well - you can kind of see it the photo up above. Really, for those three ballads, Mandy, WINE and Even Now, Barry really didn't play to the audience. For all three songs, Barry seemed to be totally engrossed in them. Reading my own words, that kind of comes across as Barry just "performing" the songs rather than "feeling" the songs - but in this case, it's just the opposite. There was tons of feeling in the songs - it's just that it seemed to be directed more inward rather than outward toward the audience. And the neat thing about that is that you felt like you were watching something real. I missed a priceless shot tonight - boy, I wish I'd had the camera up. It was during Copacabana, when Barry sings his "Ah, love...ah, romance" bit. It's not unusual for him to add, "Ah, SEX!" to that. But tonight he added it, along with raising his hands up and getting a look of mock shock on his face. It really was a priceless moment. And so funny. Barry got silly with more of the lyrics to Copa, too. He sang the last part of the first chorus of the song very fast, kind of like what he was doing with CSWY. That broke everyone up. And it was hard to keep from laughing for the rest of the song. Probably won't put this photo on my personal site, but wanted to share it here. In one of my last reviews I mentioned catching a look in Barry's eyes once in a while that takes me back to the old days. This particular photo did the same thing for me. This was just one of those moments in time where the camera captured something that the naked eye can't see. It's literally a momentary change in Barry, as he's setting up to do his "jacket on acid" bit during Copacabana - he stops "performing" for a very brief moment. I've never actually seen this with my own eyes - it happens way too fast. The camera snapped at just the right moment to capture this. I love this shot. It's a completely different view of Barry - and it's also one of those shots that can take you back to the beginning.  I was wanting to hold on to the final moments of the show the way Barry was holding on to that note during Brooklyn Blues. I don't know how time can go by so fast, but it always seems to if Barry is involved. Guess I'll just have to keep looking back at this adorable grin to hold me over until next time. 
All photos and content Copyright ©Dana Holland 
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