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Paris Las Vegas - July 9, 2011(View photo gallery here)
BB-31  It's apparent that I have some sort of mental block when it comes to the new lyrics for Looks Like We Made It. I had them, I swear I did. I had them at breakfast - I was sitting there going through it in my mind - I knew them. Then I get back to my computer and they're totally gone. What's up with that?! I'm excellent at remembering lyrics! A song came on the radio the other day that I haven't heard in 25 years, and I was able to sing right along with it, not missing a beat. And yet I can't remember this?? Sheesh... All I can remember is the line, "And there won't be another love." Well, maybe that's okay - that's the important line, right? We got foot stomps during Can't Smile Without You. We actually got foot stomps there toward the end. Love it! Barry killed us with Even Now tonight. What a fantastic performance! There was emotion and passion and Barry was so expressive - this performance had it all. Barry gazed off into the distance with a far-away look in his eyes - and he played to the audience, as well. It was a superb performance. You know, at that point in the song where Barry gets that angsty look on his face before turning to walk to the back of the stage - the thought of trying to take a photo of that moment briefly crossed my mind - but I just couldn't do it. I couldn't. I couldn't take my eyes off him, couldn't let go of that feeling in that moment - couldn't ruin it by letting anything else in. That long note at the end was incredible. And he reached out for us tonight - really reached. I broke myself out of the emotion of it all long enough to snap a shot because I really wanted a photo of that moment. Although it's not the most professional looking photo it exactly captures what I'm seeing. This is it - the expression on his face, the hand reaching out... I was really lucky to catch this. Even though I was intending to grab this shot, I wasn't looking at the camera display - I was looking over the top of the camera so I could see it with my own eyes. In fact, several times throughout the night that's how I took my photos - just didn't want to take my eyes away from the real thing. At any rate, this performance was magnificent. I don't know that Barry managed to top that one performance from a couple of months ago, but he certainly tied it. Wow! He didn't have to ask the band to play something while he recovered tonight - they went straight into some "recovery" music. And he needed it - Barry put everything he had into that song.  I just love that after more than 35 years Barry can still do this to me - he can totally own me. He can make me feel all giddy like I did when I was 16. Or he can make me feel comfortably in love. I guess it's sufficient to say he can just make me "feel". One thing for sure - if I ever had any doubt that sitting in the 4th row is too far back (which I didn't!), I certainly wouldn't have any now. The feeling coming from Barry during Even Now was consuming - that feeling is my drug, my addiction. It's indescribable. I think someone already mentioned this, but just before I Am Your Child someone in the audience yelled out "I love you, Barry" - or maybe they yelled "We love you" - doesn't really matter which. Barry chuckled slightly and then said, "I know that." Now, I've seen similar situations before - I've heard people yell "I love you" and then seen Barry respond - sometimes he says, "I love you back" - or sometimes he says, "I know". But I've never seen him say it this way. In the past, it's always come across as more of just a response - just an acknowledgement that he heard it. And I hesitate to say this for fear it will be taken wrong, but I honestly can't think of any other way to say it to get my meaning across, so... Barry's responses in the past have always sounded a little as if he didn't totally believe it when someone said "I love you" - more like he felt the audience member was directing their comment to BARRY, not Barry. Granted, it's only my interpretation, which means nothing - but tonight Barry's response sounded as if he finally gets it - that he finally understands we really do love Barry, not BARRY. The entire night was Barry, not BARRY. Everything about it pointed to the Barry we long-timers fell in love with years ago - not just BARRY the fantastic "showman of our generation". It was a magical night. Brooklyn Blues had an extra groove to it tonight. In terms of expressing himself with the lyrics, I'll admit I've seen Barry more expressive. And for that matter, I've seen him more "into it" during the music. But still, there was a great groove going on there. And "showoff" Barry was back - he must not have been happy with last night's long note, because he doubled it tonight. We were all able to order out pizza - sorry, Barry - there was none left for you - we ate it all while you were singing that note! Seriously, he did a fantastic job. I loved the way the backups all stood there looking disgusted at him and then pretending to chastise him - well, uhm, I guess they were pretending! Ha! The entire I Am Your Child, Nature Boy, This One's For You segment was great. Barry kind of conducted the music during Nature Boy again - I managed to get a shot of it. This One's For You was touching. Barry seemed a little drawn into himself for this performance - sometimes he does that. But, this wasn't so much a far away look in his eyes - whatever was motivating him for this performance seemed to be right there inside him. He spent a lot of the first two verses gazing down at the piano as if he were lost in thought. But then just as he started the second chorus, he looked out at the audience as he sang "And I sing for you, I sing for you". When he stood up from the piano, the song turned into one of the big Barry ballads. He put a lot of feeling into the lyrics and he projected that feeling out into the audience.  New York City Rhythm was lots of fun tonight. Barry really seemed to be enjoying himself - seemed to be having a lot of fun. You can tell by the expression on his face during the dance portion of the song. He was kind of mocking Ron P during the Gershwin portion - playing air piano with two fingers, Chopsticks style. He did that the night before, too. And during Barry's solo at the piano, the expressions on his face were priceless. He looked like he was having the time of his life.  Barry had us all giggling when he did his intro to Our Love Is Here to Stay. He always says that when he went to France he "butchered the language." Tonight he said something about not knowing French. Then he said, "I've had French toast... French fries... I've practiced french kissing..." And everyone broke out in giggles. Never seen him do that before!!! Ha! Our Love Is Here to Stay was excellent - very, very romantic. To show how much of an impression it made, I realized I've been walking around the hotel room since the show singing little snippets of it. It just keeps running through my head. Like I said, Barry's performance was very romantic. But the killer moment was as he strolled across the stage during the middle of the song - he put up his arms as if he was holding someone and pretended to be dancing. Just imagine Barry doing a slow, romantic waltz with someone - that's what it looked like. Feel free to imagine that you're the "someone" he was dancing with it - I did - it's more fun that way! Ha! I heard some woman sigh in the audience - no, it wasn't me - but I was thinking it. And I remembered that I wanted to take a photo of Barry conducting. Had my camera all ready. Even adjusted it before Barry ever came out on stage so that everything would be framed correctly. Barry struck the pose - and then I couldn't see the conductor in the camera display. I kept waiting, and then I moved the camera a little in case the lights were just keeping me from seeing it. Nothing. Then finally I saw the conductor painting - at the same moment Barry started to change position. So after all I that, I got a goofy looking photo! I don't know if Barry was early, or the painting was late, or I just couldn't see the painting... Too funny...  Something I didn't catch during 15 Minutes last night was that Kye walked out on the stage at the beginning - he played the opening notes of the song on the harmonica. I didn't see that last night. Before the song, Barry walked toward the back of the stage and the lights went down low - this was all while Kye was playing the opening of the song. And then the spotlight shone down on Barry and he was standing there with a fist raised in the air - rock pose! I didn't get a shot of it because I wasn't expecting it. But that would have been a cool shot to have. The lights are still much too low on the guitar players to get decent photos - in fact, they seemed to be even lower tonight - but that might have just been a matter of where I was sitting. Barry's performance of 15 Minutes was fantastic. I didn't really get any good photos of it because I was more interested in watching how he performed the song. There's definitely attitude in there, which is great. I think he might have scaled the performance back just a tad from the night before - but I'll bet he turns it up a notch tonight. You know the point in the song where Barry sings "just gimme my shot" and you can hear the echo on the CD? Well, that's in the show, too - you can't hear it as well as you can on the CD, but it's there. Always loved that part. The music is fantastic - like I said last night, it's really rocking - more so than on the CD, and even the CD gets you moving. Bring On Tomorrow was perfection again. I don't really know what Barry and Enoch's interpretation of the song is, but what Barry's doing now fits my interpretation perfectly. I love the way Barry switches from tender expressions to smiles to attitude ("they told us we're crazy") and then back to smiles. And then when he sings "why else would I climb" - ahhhh... I got a photo of that moment tonight. Chilling... And Barry hit those two high notes effortlessly tonight.  Oh, and the BIG ballad is back. I don't think it's the lights or the music - I think it's Barry. As with Even Now, the feeling coming from Barry is incredible. He's the one that's making it seem so huge. He's magical, I tell you... Well, the lights at the end of Bring On Tomorrow were different tonight. They didn't seem to narrow down the way they've been doing - the field of light was much broader. When they finally did fade, it was fast - it went to black in just a second. So, I watched more of the videos during the Bandstand segment tonight. I wasn't as successful pulling my attention away from Barry tonight as I was last night. Please... You can only expect so much of me... ;-) But, tonight I saw Brandon up there on the video screen. And I "think" that's Stan dancing with the bass - not totally sure because I can't see the faces well unless the video is really enlarged. For Brandon, Stephen and Chris, the videos are mainly head shots - so it's easy to see who you're looking at. The videos that are full body shots or very animated just can't be seen clearly - at least not by my eyes. It might be me. There's an awful lot going on during Bandstand - it's really a big production. And you have Barry all over the place and the backups all over the place - you've got Russ and David off to the sides - and then you have all the different videos going on in the background. Plus, you're dealing with multiple songs... Really hard to take it all in if you're trying to absorb the detail of each activity. Or maybe my brain is just full from all the details I keep stored up there. I need a RAM upgrade! You know, they used to say that 64mb was the most memory anyone could ever need - my brain was installed back in those days... Yup, that's my problem! Barry was still adorable during the Bandstand segment. He was very animated during the beginning of the song - lots of gestures and bouncing around. He scaled it back a little during Kye's solo dance - he didn't mock Kye as much as he usually does. But he still made fun of the silly dances. (Yes, I was watching the videos - but I was watching him out of the corner of my eye! Hee!) Barry is still playing to the audience during I Write the Songs. I love it! He always would look at the audience during the "My music makes you dance" part. But not so much during the beginning of the song - that's kind of different - not something I've seen a lot of. And I love it. You know, that little extra attention toward the audience kind of changes the tone of the song. Mandy was always the start of a of downward slide because you knew the show was coming to a close. Barry puts something upbeat at the end of the show, but that isn't always enough to counteract the feeling that it's all about to be over. The changed lighting during Mandy makes things a little brighter, and Barry spends more time looking out at the audience during both songs - with those changes, the "together" feeling with him is maintained - there's an interaction. And it makes a difference, at least to me. I know Barry has always asked us to sing along during I Write the Songs, but that's not the same kind of interaction I'm talking about. All I know is, it's made a difference for me. For the last two shows, Barry has been extra silly during Copa. Also for the last two shows, Barry has added "ah sex!" to the "ah, love....ah, romance" bit. But at both shows, he turned to the backups to say it and they got the benefit of his mock shock facial expression. No fair! We're jealous - we want to be able to see all the cute expressions! Another shot of Barry in his tux. I could say we all love a man in a tux, but no... We love Barry in the tux! 
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