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Paris Las Vegas - May 27, 2011(View photo gallery here)
BB-29
 You could definitely tell that Barry is still recovering when he got to Weekend in New England - well, for the first part of the song, anyway. But, I have to say... The beginning of the song was very throaty, and husky, and breathy - but darn, if that wasn't sexy! Ha! I mean, I know it was because he isn't quite well yet - but it was kind of nice! By midway through the song, though, he was back to our normal power ballad Barry - beautiful finish, very passionate, strong vocals. Fantastic! The opening medley - he changed the words! Daybreak and Somewhere in the Night were as usual, but then during the Looks Like We Made It portion there was a change. I'm about to admit something here that may make me sound like a bad fan... Since I come to these shows to feel good, when Barry performs a song that is kind of a downer song (meaning the lyrics), I tend to tune out the lyrics and concentrate on the sound of Barry's voice, the music, and the performance. (I know - bad, bad Dana - slapping myself on the wrist) Tonight when Barry got to the LLWMI portion, my ears detected a change. Since I wasn't really paying attention to the actual lyrics (another slap to the wrist), I didn't catch what he said. But I knew it wasn't the normal lyric. So, I started paying attention (I'm only a little slow). I still can't quote it verbatim, but it changed the tone of the song - instead of being a break up song it was more like a song indicating that "we made it" - it's forever. Someone asked me if I thought he had just flubbed the words. Possible, I suppose... I've seen him flub lyrics before - but he always just picks back up where he's supposed to be - in fact, he usually does it so seamlessly that very few people even realize he's made the mistake. I've never seen him just change the lyrics. Of course, then the question is, why would he do that? Maybe it had something to do with with what happened at last week's shows. Or maybe Barry is just being Barry - and playing with his arrangements. If you think about the lyrics to the songs in that opening medley rather than just viewing it as three of his hits inserted into the show, you have one "all's right with the world" song, then you have one "totally in love with you" song, and then you have one "Thank God I got rid of you song". Okay, so that kind of mirrors my life experience with relationships, but that's not the ideal way for things to work out! Ha! The change I heard would keep the same theme going. But who knows? I've said a million times, that's the beauty of Barry's shows - you can see and hear what you want - he can take you anywhere you want to go, even if that wasn't what was in his mind at the time. So, I'll be paying attention tonight - just in case he does it again. I know I didn't dream it, because other people heard it. While we're playing true confession here, I'll also admit I botched the photos again - and it had to be my fault because no one else touches my camera. It wasn't even a setting that is easily accessible. The ISO was changed to 80 - that's why my photos have been so dark the last two shows. 80? Come on famous-camera-maker... These are point and shoot cameras meant for the average consumer - not someone who knows about ISO and aperture-priority and all that stuff! When would the average user need an ISO of 80?!? Why would you deliberately put failure in their path? Ha! Okay, I'm done with my rant now... It's much easier to blame the manufacturer than accept my own incompetence! <insert big smile here> Oh, before I forget - Somewhere in the Night... Always one of my favorites - always so romantic. Tonight it was a little more than romantic - Barry slipped back into sexy mode. I love the romance, so I'm not looking for sexy in this song. But, it's a beautiful illustration of what Barry can do with an audience. So, he's singing the song in his best romantic voice, making us melt in our seats. Then he gets to the lyric, "I'll play you over and over again" - and he puts on his best bedroom eyes. That's all - that's all he did, a slight lowering of the eye lids, a slight raise of the eyebrows - and the audience starts screaming. Man, he's good! Ha! He took it and ran with it then - that was the sexiest performance of SITN that I've seen in a while. Can't Smile Without You really was like a big karaoke bar night. Heck, even I sang along! Lots of fans in the audience tonight, so it was very loud. Barry was totally into the music with Brooklyn Blues tonight - maybe the lyrics, too - actually, *probably* the lyrics, too. New York City Rhythm was the same way, although not so much with the lyrics - just the music. I couldn't believe Barry was going to try that long note at the end of Brooklyn Blues. But he did - Looks Like He Made It!! I couldn't believe it - I couldn't believe he tried it and I couldn't believe he pulled it off. Totally off topic, but a lot of folks said Jim Carrey was in the audience. I never turned around to look. Barry is the focus of my attention - I really don't care who might be in the audience Well, ok - if Johnny Depp were there wearing his Capt Jack garb, I would probably turn around to take a peek. Hee! But other than that, it's ALL Barry. I Am Your Child was great. I'm not sure how someone can perform a song both softly and strongly, but somehow Barry managed to do just that. His voice was soft, but still the emotion came through - the song seemed a little more emotional than usual, actually. I remember sitting there wondering where Barry was at the moment - what had he used as his motivation for that song at this particular show. That carried over to This One's For You. TOFY comes across in a lot of different ways - it can be interpreted in a lot of different ways. But tonight I felt more emotion from it - more directed to the entire world, maybe the entire universe. It wasn't as if Barry were really singing to a person. More than once, I saw him raise his eyes skyward - he even looked up and around once. For Grandpa maybe? No doubt Grandpa was there. No doubt someone had their arms around Barry throughout the entire show - for that matter, throughout the entire week. You know, there are always going to be negative people trying to knock you down - but there's an awful lot of love flowing Barry's way, too. Genuine love and caring - not just infatuation with a celebrity-object. It's real - you can feel it when you sit in the audience - especially on nights like this.
 Our Love Is Here to Stay didn't connect as much as it has in the past. The vocals were beautiful - there just didn't seem to be as much feeling. But, now that Bring On Tomorrow is in the show, it's hard for other romantic songs to compete. And Bring on Tomorrow was fantastic. It's still a huge production - like the man says, a Big Barry Ballad! The lighting and colors are magnificent - they really add to the BIG effect. Barry's vocals were fantastic. He didn't seem to have any trouble at all with that high note at the end. He blew us away with it. I like the tone of the song - I like the feeling that Barry brings to it. It's a combination of happy and a love song. I know when Barry has been introducing it in his various interviews, even here at the show, his introduction makes it sound like it's more just a guy that's really happy he got the job. But that's not what the lyrics are saying to me - and that's not what his performance is saying. Yeah, the guy is happy about the job... But my interpretation is that the guy hasn't been able to commit to the girl because of his struggle to "make it" - and now that he's succeeded, he's ready to tell her that she belongs in his life. Of course, people can interpret lyrics differently - that would make for an interesting discussion, actually. But that's my take on it, anyway - and that's what I'm hearing when I watch Barry perform the song.
 Barry really took Mandy up a notch tonight. There was extra emotion in it. He said on one of these recent interviews that Mandy was meaning more to him these days - it certainly seemed like it at this performance. And he connected with the audience more than he normally does. That same feeling was in I Write the Songs - maybe more so. As with TOFY, there seemed to be a bit of a lump in Barry's throat, and I'm not talking about a struggle with the voice. Every word of the lyrics seemed to mean something to him. The sound of his voice, the look on his face - it was a very different performance from what I normally see. Sometimes I hesitate before I say what I'm seeing, because I could be so far off from what is really going on in Barry's head. But you know, that's what entertainment is about, right? Especially in Barry's case, since it's so important to him that he makes us "feel" - that in itself kind of leaves what we feel and what we see open to our own interpretation. So, I guess it's okay if I stick my own thoughts into his head - doesn't really matter what he's thinking - it's about what we want to take with us when we leave. That said, I saw gratitude in that performance. As with TOFY, Barry cast his eyes heavenward more than once. And he really connected, he really looked at us when he sang - not just at the audience as a single entity, but as individuals sitting out there. I'm not necessarily saying that he was seeing individual people - maybe he can, maybe he can't - but that's not where I'm going with this.
 <Okay, let's put it this way, during one of the interviews this week, the interviewer asked Barry if he ever felt like a "thing" - and he said sometimes he does. So, turning the tables, sometimes we fans can feel like a thing, too - sometimes it can feel as if we're viewed as this one big "thing", where all the individuals have been merged and lumped into a non-living object, all with the same qualities. That's a gross exaggeration for illustration purposes to try to explain what I was seeing as Barry performed the song - so, no one get all uptight about that, okay? What I felt and saw at this performance, what made it stand out and seem so special in comparison to the other performances, was a feeling of appreciation and gratitude and affection flowing out toward EVERYONE - not toward the audience, but toward the people in the audience. I've seen Barry perform IWTS hundreds of times in person - the performance has to be special to get my attention. Really, how frequently do I even mention the song when I'm writing about the show? And when I do, how frequently is it more than a line or two?
 This was special. Like I said, I'm putting my own thoughts in Barry's head. For all I know he was just thankful the show was over - but that's not what it felt like. And as for Barry being a "thing" - not where we're concerned. He's very much a loved PERSON. Anyone remember on Joy Behar what she said? That she had a photo of Barry in his tux from Copacabana but she wasn't going to show it because he looked too good? Ha! Ought to be a law against anyone looking that good in a tux. It's such fun watching Barry with that huge smile on his face during that last number. I never look around at the audience during that song because I can't take my eyes off him - but I'll bet everyone in the audience is smiling, too. I know I am.
 Looking forward to tonight, but not wanting time to move too fast. Savor the moments - and the memories.
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