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Paris Las Vegas - July 15, 2011(View photo gallery here)
BB-31  He was having trouble with his ear monitors from the start. When Barry moved from Could It Be Magic to Daybreak, he started giving instructions to his sound guy - "turn down the audience", "turn down the band", "the mic is too bright". Barry went ahead and performed the opening medley (more on that later), but then as the band started playing Can't Smile Without You, Barry stopped and told us the ear monitors just weren't working right and that he was going to have to get them fixed. Then he told us that the wires were attached to his underwear so he would have to leave the stage - a few woo-hoo's from the audience rang out loud and clear - and Barry said, "I'll do anything for a cheap cheer, but not that!" Then he got kind of silly and was showing us where the wires run, turning around and pointing to the middle of his back. He said it would take 5 minutes, so "everyone go get a drink". Ha! Then Barry walked toward the back of the stage and asked them to bring down the curtain. And Barry stood there waving to us, making funny faces. But the curtain didn't come down. And Barry kept waving - and the curtain still didn't come down. Then he started motioning for it to come down. But it STILL didn't come down. I guess he really couldn't hear anything in the ear monitors, because Keely was trying to get his attention - she even walked over closer and yelled "Barry" at one point. All this time he was waving, motioning at the curtain and making funny faces at us. Finally, he just left the stage. And, of course, the minute he got off stage, the curtain came down! I don't know why he wanted the curtain down unless he was planning to change the monitors out right there on the stage without having to actually go off stage. What?! The band and backups get to see him in his underwear, but we don't!?! Ha! Or maybe he just didn't want the band and backups to have to stand there doing nothing with a theater full of people staring at them. Ok - that would be torture for me... Yeah, maybe that was it. After the show I had a fleeting, horrible thought. Barry told the sound guy to "turn up the audience". Barry hears the audience in his head? Just how much of the audience does he hear? I had this horrible thought for a brief moment - what if he could really hear us singing badly? But then I discounted the thought - no way he could hear individual bad singing, only collective bad singing. Right? Well, my conscious mind discounted the thought - but my subconscious mind apparently didn't - because during the night I dreamed that I was singing CSWY with him, and I sounded like a frog with laryngitis! A nightmare! So, if I sing during the CSWY group sing-a-long tonight, I'm lip syncing! It was kind of funny to hear him say "turn up the audience" - we didn't need to be turned up! Tonight's audience was already at full volume! Really a great audience. Anyway, Daybreak was really happy again - Barry was very bouncy. Last week the tone of the song was almost like a little good-natured lecture - but tonight it was more matter of fact. It was like Barry was stating the lyrics, stating that it really is "Daybreak". I love watching him be in such a good mood.  Somewhere in the Night was different - sometimes Barry is romantic, sometimes seductive. This was almost a combination of the two. The tone in his voice for the first part of the song was happy. I've been trying to figure out how to describe it. Okay, imagine a couple having been together for a while, so there's a level of comfort there, no need to try to impress anyone. So, the guy is being romantic, but it's more lighthearted because neither needs to prove anything. But then when Barry started to unbutton his jacket, he turned it way up - very seductive. And he again took a step back away from the audience. Yep, I think he's afraid we just can't take it if he's any closer! Everyone seems to love the little snippet of Looks Like We Made It that's at the end of the medley. There are usually cheers from the audience. Barry always exaggerates that opening line - that may have something to do with the audience reaction. And okay - I think I finally have the rest of the lyrics to Looks Like We Made It - I think these are the last two lines: And it's true today Because you are there, everywhere Or maybe he says because "you are here" instead of "you are there". This is so silly that I can't retain that. I'm going to blame it on all the years of hearing the original lyrics - and my brain just refuses to budge! I guess I'll always wonder the real reasons behind Barry changing the lyrics. I speculated it was to keep the happy theme going throughout the opening medley, but what the heck do I know? Absolutely nothing. So, I think it would be interesting to know the real reasons. I can definitely tell a difference in audience reaction - and I'm not saying it was a bad reaction before - it was a great reaction before. It's just that this one is different - well, okay - I'll steal the lyrics from the new CD. It's like Barry is "working the room" - he's turning the heat up, turning the moods up. The fans in the audience don't need it - our "on" switch never gets turned off. But the rest of the folks in the audience (especially if they're at the show just to be attending a show) need something to get their attention, to get them more involved with the show rather than just sitting there quietly watching. I'm seeing that happen during the open medley now. Oh, and the funniest moment from the ear monitor snafu - I almost forgot to mention it. So, Barry came back out on stage after getting the monitors changed. The band played a snippet of beginning music for Can't Smile Without You as the curtain came up. Barry was standing with his back to us. Then he wheeled around to start the song and... And he pretended that his fly was down, got a look of mock horror and embarrassment on his face, and then turned around pretending to zip himself back up. The audience howled. And Barry turned back around to face us with the biggest grin on his face. That was just too funny! Even Now was fantastic. Barry was so expressive for the first part of the song - he really did a great job with selling the lyric and connecting with the audience. The ending was very strong - Barry didn't quite reach out and grab me the way he did last Sunday. Actually, that's probably a good thing - this old ticker can only take so much! But even though I didn't "feel" the ending quite as much, it was still extremely strong. The long notes were incredible. I always mention two long notes - but last night it hit me that there are really three. The first one is where he gets the pained, frustrated expression on his face as he turns to walk to the back of the stage - you know, the one I never get a shot of because he has me so mesmerized. (and that facial expression tonight was something else!) Then the second is at the back of the stage, where those beautiful spot lights are shining down on him - that's where he sometimes reaches toward the audience, and sometimes reaches toward the sky - tonight he reached toward the sky for the most part. He only reached for the audience briefly just before he started walking toward the front of the stage. And then the third long note is the final note of the song. That one is always strong. And you can see how hard Barry is working on it lately. If you're sitting close enough, you can see that he's put everything he has into the song. Just a fantastic performance.  Again lots of groove with Brooklyn Blues - actually, I think there was more than last weekend. Barry is obviously into the music. During the part of the song where he's at the piano, you can see it to some degree - but for the most part he's selling the lyric. And he's really been doing a great job of that. The song always has a slightly different feel to it - he tends to emphasize different parts. But when he stands up from the piano to sing the last verse, you can see that Barry is into the music and feeling it himself. I give the long note tonight a 9 out of 10. I've seen him hold it longer in the past, but this was pretty darn impressive.  The Grandpa Joe segment was fantastic. I Am Your Child was so beautiful. The sound of Barry's voice was beautiful. And the performance had such sweet emotion to it. This seems like it must be one of Barry's favorites songs to perform right now.  The part where Barry is listening to Grandpa try to convince baby Barry to sing is always cute - I don't guess I'll ever tire of it. Barry is never quite the same during that part. He gets some of the most adorable facial expressions - and sometimes the cutest grins!  Nature Boy was great, as well. Big Barry listening to Little Barry was cute - I love hearing and watching the non-fans in the audience react. And I also really love to see Barry's interpretation of the lyrics - when Big Barry takes over the singing, I mean. It frequently changes, but is always touching. I've been trying to decide what to say about This One's For You. The first verse seemed to be directed more toward the audience - Barry was really connecting. Then for the second verse, I saw that far away look come into his eyes - actually, I managed to catch a shot of it. After Barry stood up from the piano, the song seemed to combine the two - one moment he really seemed to be connecting, the next minute it was as if he were singing for someone long gone. Kind of interesting, really - I've never quite seen it performed that way.  Barry really got into the music during New York City Rhythm. He was so cute while he was playing his little piano solo. He's always cute during the dancing part. That's such a fun part of the show. Barry really gets into the music with this song - actually, he always seems to really be "into" the performance. He just looks happy.  Love Is Here To Stay had that same feel to it that Somewhere in the Night had - a comfortable, lighthearted yet romantic feel - a happy feel. Barry's voice sounded great - so soothing and smooth. And he had a sweet smile on his face throughout the song. I missed the shot of Barry and the conductor again - this time it was totally Barry's fault - he made a funny face! Ha! Hey, I did my part right! I'm not even going to post it because I'm afraid Garry or Marc would hunt me down! It's that bad! This morning while I was at breakfast I started thinking - a very dangerous thing - way too much caffeine and way too much sugar - I'll probably still be bouncing off the walls by the time of the show tonight. But anyway, I started thinking about the way that Barry sells the songs and connects with the audience. In essence, he communicates with us. Well, he kind of said that during that the Access Hollywood interview - that he thinks he's good at making us understand what he's saying with the song. And he is - or at least, I think he is. I don't know if everyone gets it the same way I do. Actually, I don't know for sure that I "get it" - not in terms of what Barry has in mind - but I "get" something. And that's impressive to me, because I'm not a communicator. I write a lot - but one-on-one, it's very difficult to get me to talk to you unless I'm very comfortable with you - not even necessarily friends and family. (of course, if you ever get me talking, I won't shut up!) But I tend to zone out the people around me because I sometimes find people overwhelming (probably why I like being around animals so much - they make sense to me). So, I find it impressive that Barry can make me tune in to human emotion consistently - and make me actually like it. He not only makes me feel, he makes me feel like it's safe to feel. I like that after all these years I can walk into the showroom and have butterflies - and I had them last night! I like that with his performance of a song he can take me to a place that I may not have even experienced before, only imagined. I just find it very impressive. 15 Minutes is so fabulous! I love it more and more and more every time. Kye had more light on him as he opened the song playing the harmonica. But the light on Mike and Stan seems to get worse and worse. There was some cool light on Barry as he opened the song. He always walks to the back of the stage, then strikes some kind of pose. I'm going to go ahead and post the photo so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about. It's not sharp and it's way too dark. But you can see enough of it to see what he's doing. The lighting that my eyes saw seemed to be a little more orange than what is shown in the photo. I'll keep trying and hopefully catch a good shot of that. It happens really quickly.  At any rate, I love this song. There's so much attitude to it. It looks like Barry is enjoying performing it - it looks like Barry is living it. It's very difficult to get photos during this. Barry is extremely animated. I even turned up the shutter speed to try to catch some shots, but only one shot came out sharp. It's hard - he's going to make ME work to try to get some good photos to document it! Ha! I didn't even manage to catch a shot of the air guitar.  The music is fantastic. To me, anyway, the live performance rocks even more than the CD. I'm sure Barry's performance has a lot to do with that - he's really doing a great job conveying what's going on with the lyrics. My mind's eye still imagines Barry in front of a mic stand for part of the song - no BAMs - just a rock star in front of his mic stand. That's kind of the feel of the song, even though he isn't in front of a mic stand. It just has that gritty, in-your-face kind of feel. Love it! Bring On Tomorrow was magnificent. Barry did a fantastic job of connecting with the audience during the first part of the song. He spent the first verse and chorus looking out into the audience rather than looking off into the distance as he sang. That part was great - worked for me, anyway. Last time the attitude during the "they told us we're crazy" part was more of a consoling tone - the time before it seemed very defiant. I would put this performance somewhere in the middle. When he sang "they told us we're crazy", it was somewhat softer - but then he turned on the attitude and it became more defiant. And then as Barry got to "they're yesterday's news", he had a huge smile on his face. I love the performance of this song - and I love the song - this will always be one of my favorites. I still marvel at how "huge" it "feels". I noticed something different with the lighting, too, thanks to my photographs. Previously I'd only noticed the fuchsia and violet lighting. But there's a point during the final chorus where it turns to a different color - I don't know even know what you call the color in this shot.  The lighting after Bring On Tomorrow finishes is slightly changed again. This time it just seemed to be a gradual fade to black - nothing spectacular about it. Barry bowed instead of standing there looking at the audience. Well, he did look at the audience. It was just that this was more a bow and thank-you, instead of having the feel of the continuation of the song. Barry was his funny self during the Bandstand segment. Kye and Keely were doing a little extra dancing before their solo dance - actually, Keely was doing most of it. Kye was doing funny faces. Barry absolutely won't let me get photos of him being silly during the dances. I've had to start taking distance shots of everyone to be able to get anything. But I'm enjoying those because of all the lighting and the video screens. Barry has also really been acting out when he first comes on stage for Bandstand. He runs from the back of the stage, then has a lot of gestures and animated moves, emphasizing both the lyrics and the music. There are lighting effects, as well - and he plays to those. It's really a fun part of the show - the audiences appear to love it. I can see a difference in myself this week. When the video for Mandy started, I felt that old sadness creeping in. I guess last week I didn't feel it because I knew I would be back this weekend. But now I know I'll be leaving on Monday, so I'm not wanting the shows to be over. And they really seem to fly by quickly. Mandy was again very strong. This was another song where Barry spent the first part of the song looking out into the audience, but then drew back in for the rest of the song. It was almost as if he were looking to the audience for inspiration throughout the night - and as soon as he found it, he performed the song according to whatever he found. At any rate, it was a fantastic performance of Mandy. I Write the Songs continues with the big audience connection. Did Barry leave out that part where he stops to tell the audience that he's had a great time and to come back because he'll be here forever? I don't remember it - it seems that he performed the entire song straight through. He definitely did look out at the audience for almost the entire song. Barry was adorable as he opened Copacabana tonight. The band started playing the music as Barry walked back out on to the stage. And Barry gave us his little skipping dance, and then he twirled around - I loved it! This wasn't the same twirl that he frequently does at the beginning of Copa - this was something totally different. In fact, it was kind of like he was dancing with someone. I've never seen him do that before. Handsome man in a handsome tux. Seriously... Barry looked fantastic last night - tux or not. I flipped through all my photos and just kept commenting on how great he looks. Is this what having a creative dream come true does to you? I want some of that!  I've got to include this shot even though it's really blurry. This is that cute mannerism that I've seen lately, where Barry is smiling with his head cocked to the side. I wish this had been sharp. But even fuzzy it's totally cute. And right after he did this, he hugged himself - hugged US! Makes you want to hug YOURSELF just to try to capture it.  Looking forward to tonight. Can't believe I'm going to miss the Secret Garden, but I guess I'm going to go with my friends to the new bridge over Hoover Dam. Oh, goodness - another bridge to be terrified of... Barry will have to calm me down tonight. Ha! Yeah, like "calm" is the word to use when in Barry's presence!
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