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Paris Las Vegas - July 18, 2010(View photo gallery here)
BB-27
Weekend in New England was awesome. This was the first of several songs where Barry changed his performance. He changed the way he sang the song - he put emphasis in different places. I didn't notice changes in the notes the instruments were playing, but vocally there were changes - some notes higher than what he normally does, for instance. In the past I've noticed if he sang softly or powerfully - I couldn't tell you if he did either this time, because there were enough differences overall to make it seem like a new song. And yet, he really didn't change the song. It was beautiful, though - very beautiful. And Barry has been inserting a groan or a sigh (or both!) at the end of WINE for a while now. But, this performance was - wow! I guess I had the magic seat again, because I was sitting in a great location to get (perceived) eye contact during a lot of the songs. Usually when Barry ends WINE with "the sigh" he seems to be lost in the song, and smoothly slides into it, looking down at the keyboard as he plays the final notes of the song - but not this time. This time he paused before playing those final notes - a deliberate and very noticeable pause - looked straight out into the audience - felt like he was looking right at me (and I'm sure the people sitting around me were getting the same effect) - and then heaved a huge groan/sigh. I swear, I think my heart stopped - and I'm surprised it started again! You know, Barry may say "I've still got it" when people yell out at the beginning of the song - but that doesn't mean much because it happens so often it almost feels scripted. But, as many times as I've seen him perform this song, if he can still knock me out of my seat by doing something that small - yup, Barry, you still got it!! That moment is going down in the memory book! I only have a handful of photos from this show. I'm having a very hard time getting comfortable enough to take them. But hey, at least I took some! We got Who's Been Sleeping In My Bed. There was a nun sitting in the 3rd row - had to wonder what she was thinking during this song - LOL! Barry did a great job with his performance. I think the July 3 performance was the best of the three times I've seen Barry do the song here at the Paris - more attitude. This song just screams for attitude. I did see one great example of it in this performance - during the second verse, Barry looked out at the audience (me in my magic seat again) with an expression on his face that made me feel guilty and I've never cheated on anyone in my entire life!! Now, that's what I call performing a song! I froze in my seat - it took me a couple of moments to recover. So maybe the July 3 performance has been the best overall - but during this one Barry rocked us in more ways than one.
And yes, Barry did use the mic stand. I enjoy that, but not for the reason you're thinking. I like it because of that great rock pose that he does - I caught a good photo of it at the last round of shows. To me, it just goes along with the attitude during the song. Someone told me that at the previous show he hadn't used the mic stand - I would have liked to have seen that - would have liked to been able to compare the two. In my opinion, the Paris show far exceeds the Hilton show in terms of visual effect. I thought the lighting at the Hilton was outstanding, but what I'm seeing at the Paris surpasses that. The colors are magnificent. And the use of lighting to create effects that compliment the song Barry is performing is amazing. It's enough to make me wish I had the means to learn how they do things like that. I also have to say that I think the sound quality is better - not in terms of loudness - but the ability to understand the lyrics that Barry sings, and at the same time experience the fullness of the music. During Our Love Is Here to Stay, I noticed that the paintings behind Barry changed. Well, they've always changed as he motions to each one - but what I mean is, they changed to something different than what I've seen before at other shows. Most (maybe all, memory is fading a little) of them were much brighter - brighter colors than the ones that were displayed before. And the designs on some of them were, uhm...interesting...kinda weird, actually! Someone told me at one of the shows the painting of dogs playing poker showed up! So I guess we're going to have to start paying attention!
Thinking back to all of the songs, it's hard to choose one that was better than the other - most of the songs had moments that were outstanding. For Even Now, it was the ending - it was a killer ending. I guess I've seen enough shows now that I don't get caught up in the emotion of it all quite as easily (well, usually! WINE certainly got me!). Even when Barry pulls me into the song with him, I frequently notice the technical aspects of the performance at the same time. Or maybe it has nothing to do with how many times I've seen Barry perform a certain song - maybe it's a defense mechanism I've built because I got tired of packing so many boxes of Kleenex! Whatever! At any rate, that's what was happening during Even Now at this show. For the majority of the song, I was enjoying the change in the way he was singing it - as with some of the other songs at this show, Barry changed the arrangement (vocally) slightly in several places, put emphasis in places that he normally doesn't, used facial expressions to add to the power of the lyrics. The changes Barry made were grabbing me emotionally - but I was also sitting there in awe of the master at work. As I said, the ending was a killer. Vocally, it was beautiful - it was strong and powerful, and if you can envision sound totally swallowing up everything in the theater...well, that's what it was like. But at the same time, I was noticing just how hard Barry was working - not only working to create that "sound", but working to convey the emotion of the song. I've seen Barry pull that off a few times - it's amazing to me. When the song was over, and Barry moved toward the band, walking backward and bowing until he reached that certain point on the stage where the spotlight beamed down on him, everything else pitch black, and then he took that final bow before the curtain came down - I had to wonder how much of that bow was sheer exhaustion. He couldn't have possibly put anymore into that song than what we saw at this show. After Barry finished Even Now, I have to admit feeling a little disappointment. I had been hearing how he had been doing The Best of Me the previous two nights, and how he had really been on fire the night before. So, I was eagerly looking forward to hearing Barry perform that song - but, unfortunately, he chose not to do it. Bummer. Oh, well...we got a lot of other great stuff to make up for it. Last time I thought the keyboard was in a different position for Nature Boy - and it is. It used to be on the far right side (as you're facing the stage), but now it's been moved closer to center stage. (There's so much detail in this show, I'm never quite sure if I'm seeing something new or if it's just something I've never noticed before!) The keyboard was actually right in front of me for I Am Your Child and Nature Boy - I enjoyed that because I usually can't see Barry well for that portion of the show. Barry sang Nature Boy a little differently, too - really seemed to put some extra emphasis on the "greatest thing you'll ever learn" portion of the song - in fact, he seemed to be very reflective during that portion. Barry continued reinventing the songs during This One's For You. Again, he was very much "performing" the song - not just singing it. He used facial expressions and vocal intonations to bring out certain parts of the lyrics. When he sang "things I should have said", there was so much frustration in his voice AND on his face - it made me believe that he was thinking of a situation where he let an opportunity pass by. Barry was selling his songs all night. I have zero memory of Mandy, other than the purple jacket (which I love!). I guess I was zoned out, realizing how close we were to the end of the show. In fact, I don't remember much (and have no photos to remind me) until Barry reappears after changing into his tuxedo. As Barry rose up out of the floor in his tuxedo, he gave the audience one of his cute facial expressions. But then almost under his breath I heard him say, "Looking good" - well, yes - as a matter of fact, he was!
And what has happened to the oranges and limes behind him? This time I saw pineapples and some other kind of tropical fruit - what was that? A mango? So, has that always been there? Or are they just trying to mess with our heads? Ha! There is SO much detail in this show! Barry smiled and waved with the stars glowing all around him as the curtain came down. It's hard to feel sad when that smile is the last thing you see, ya know?
So... I have no plans to be back for several months. Of course, I've said that before - and the universe seemed to have other plans. And if the universe has other plans, I won't argue!
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