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Paris Las Vegas - September 17, 2011(View photo gallery here)
BB-29  It was a very responsive audience. I didn't see a lot of known fans (some, not a lot), but everyone was really into it. I think Barry was very pleased with that. I like to see it when it seems Barry is feeling the audience appreciation. I know I'm not the type of audience member he likes. Even though I feel more at ease when the audience is somewhat reserved, I'm glad for the livelier audiences that can take up my slack. This was a very good audience, I think - not crazy - just responsive and enjoying themselves. Can't Smile Without You was more light-hearted than silly tonight. Lots of audience members singing along. When it was time for the ballad segment, Barry kind of teased us with a couple of other possible song titles - Tryin' to Get the Feelng Again and Weekend in New England. But he chose to perform the same song he's been doing for a while now. Even Now was excellent. Barry started to reach for the audience, but then reached for the sky instead. It was still that big, stretching reach, though. Excellent long notes. Final note was very powerful. The entire Grandpa Joe segment was full of great performances. Barry seemed a little distant, far away throughout the segment, though - especially This One's For You. I read somewhere that this would have been his grandfather's birthday - if that's true, maybe that had something to do with it. Barry still seemed sad during I Am Your Child. And he seemed very reflective during Nature Boy. Unlike the Friday night show, I really didn't feel all that much audience connection. Maybe I was just sitting in a bad spot or something. There was a lot of audience reaction throughout the night, so maybe I just wasn't sitting in the line of fire, so to speak - ha! His performances were still great, though. During Love Is Here To Stay, when Barry points to each of the paintings and they change to a different painting, I heard chimes being played as each one changed. I definitely have never heard that before. That must be something new. 15 Minutes had a lot of attitude again. Barry is really "finding" this song. I like the way his voice is getting more "rock-like" on it - in other words, he doesn't go into "ballad-voice" as often as he did when he first started performing the song. No, rock voice and ballad voice aren't the same. A performer can possess both voices but they aren't always interchangeable in a song. That's why Marie is a little bit country and Donny is a little bit rock and roll. Both Russ and David did something different with their drum solos. I don't mean separately - it was like something that had been coordinated. Unfortnately, I lack the terminology to explain it. At any rate, the difference jumped out at me. Barry wasn't all that silly during Bandstand tonight. Kye made up for it, though - he was extra silly. Barry was kind of silly at the very end when everyone was heading to the back of the stage. As Keely was dragging him off the stage, he kind of made a sling shot move around Kye and came back around to wave at us as the curtain went down. Mandy had a really strange feel tonight. I don't think it had anything to do with the performance - I think it was just something about me and what I was feeling or seeing or both. There was just something about the way everything looked when the piano rolled forward on the stage - something about the way the spotlights were shining down, and the fog was swirling around. Very strange sensation. Barry's performance was great. This image just keeps sticking in my mind - very odd. Ever look at something and it just looks different - even though you've seen it a million times? That's kind of what it felt like. For that matter, I Write the Songs seemed very "blue". You know, the lighting is a blue glow - it's why I can never get any good photos. But it seemed even more blue than usual. Again, a strange visual image stuck in my head. And again, nothing to do with the performance. While Barry wasn't very silly during Bandstand, he kicked it up a notch for Copa. Oh, and something I haven't been mentioning, when Barry introduces the band, some of them have been dancing a little - especially Chris and Stan. This is the second time this weekend that I've heard Ready To Take A Chance Again over the speakers here at my hotel. Maybe that's supposed to be the theme song for today - Ready To Take A Chance Again.
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