Great show - Barry sounds great, looks great. Of course, he made a joke during the show that things have been wonderful since he discovered Flomax! Uhm... Okay, that's not what I'm talking about. Let's try this again...
How about... Barry's voice can still melt hearts - and those sparkling blue eyes and beautiful grin can still make us weak in the knees.
I sat in the front row for the first time (at the Paris) at this show. I debated long and hard about that - in fact, I almost gave up the ticket multiple times. I remember feeling very uncomfortable in the front row at the Hilton at first, but then I got used to it. This was the same kind of feeling, I think. But Barry is actually closer, even if the stage is a little higher. And there's a lot more light! Funny thing is, the person who sat down next to me was feeling the same way! We were both scared to death. Actually, it was kind of fun. Yeah, if I could have figured out a way to stay seated during CSWY without Barry calling me out, I would have! And yeah, he looks right over your head the entire time - no perceived eye contact there! But other than that, it was kind of fun. I thought it was interesting how much more you can see from the front row than you can even in the second row - more fine details on the stage. Even the performers. And yet, that's such a short distance from the second row where I was sitting the night before. I don't know that I'll ever sit in the front row again, but I'm glad I did it once.
Weekend in New England didn't have quite as much of an impact at this show as it did the night before, but it was still pretty impressive. But the lighting. Tonight I didn't see that beautiful shade of royal purple - instead I saw amber. Still beautiful, but a totally different color. And yet, I honestly believed I saw purple last night. They don't change colors, do they? I have a major curiosity thing going on here - next time I'm going to be specifically looking for that. Also, for the first time, I noticed a guy in the rafters above Barry's head with a spotlight.
Someone did let out a yell during Weekend in New England tonight. Barry wiggled his eyebrows and cut his eyes over at the audience - which made everyone laugh. But then for some reason he looked straight out at the audience and grinned that boyish grin before announcing "STILL got it!". Yes, of course, he does. And always will...
Barry didn't want anyone ruining I Am Your Child, though. Someone let out a shrill whistle as Barry began the song - Barry said, "Not during this song". He said it in a nice way, not like a reprimand - more of a comment that the song deserved better than that. And he's right. And it was one of the most beautiful performances of the song I've seen.
This audience was again a non-fan audience. But very warm and responsive to Barry. No, they didn't give lots of ovations, they didn't stand on cue. But they weren't dead by any means. Strictly from my point of view, I enjoyed the difference - I enjoyed feeling the experience of people who don't have preconceived notions about how they're supposed to react during the show. It's just a different perspective. There's no doubt they loved the show - absolutely no doubt at all.
I think the song that stood out the most of all for the night was This One's For You. It started out with a problem - someone forgot to plug in the piano! Barry was sitting there playing away, but there was no music. He sang the first line of the song, but then sang "The piano's not working!" Then he said, "I'll just do it standing up." Actually, I loved this! We're all used to seeing Barry perform the song behind the piano, but there was something much more personal about this. You know, I've said before that I've been amazed at how a subtle change in a performance can affect the entire mood of the song, can affect your entire perception of the song. I think this is a good example. We're all used to that song being for Grandpa. But when Barry walked out from behind the piano and started singing right in front of us, it changed - instead, we could assign any meaning we wanted to the song. It became very personal. Even though I've loved that segment the way it's been, that change born of a mistake made the song seem brand new. Loved it!
Barry changed the "rock" song of the night. He performed I Want To Be Somebody's Baby. He said it was an "angry" song. Yup, that's one of the reasons I love the song. I really can't choose a favorite between that one and Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed - I think if he did both in one night I would die. Actually, he might, too, considering how hard he works at them! Ha! Barry did a great job with it - and he definitely let the attitude come through. I loved when he sang the line "no more a worshipping fan" - that line was sung with such force you could almost feel it slap you in the face. After the song was over, Barry commented (as he had the night before) about how much he loved doing those songs - and then he turned to the audience and said "I'm too old to be doing this, right?" And then he didn't even wait for anyone to respond - he just came back with an emphatic, "NO!" You got that right!
The Even Now performance was kind of a tie with last night's performance. It was very powerful. If I'm not mistaken, this was the first time that Barry got a standing ovation during the show. There were some aspects of this performance that were stronger than last night's - others weren't quite as strong. The ending is still very powerful and dramatic. And I'm still loving the pounding on the chest to emphasize the pain. Got a shot of that closing note that I mentioned in the last review - for those of you viewing the version with photos, here it is.
I heard something in the music that I've never heard before - for lack of a better way to describe it, I'll call it boogie woogie piano during the sock hop segment. I can't say for sure who was playing it - but my ears kept telling me it was coming from my right, which means it would have been Joey. I don't know if I can trust that or not, but that's how it sounded.
White jacket. Okay, I never comment on the white jacket anymore since my favorite one has gone away. But... At the previous show, I thought I could see something interesting in the material - the lighting hit it a certain way and something caught my eye. But I still wasn't sure. Well, at this show, I made a point of checking it out when he walked up to the trap door right in front of me. The material on the jacket is ribbed - the closest thing I can compare it to is corduroy, the really fine corduroy that you see sometimes. I'm sure that's not the material this jacket is made of - it's just the best analogy I can find since I'm not at all a fashion person. Don't know, don't care - just know when I like the way something looks. At any rate, I thought that looked pretty neat.
Haven't mentioned ANY jackets much since the new show started. I haven't seen any that really caught my eye (not a fashion person, remember!). They're all nice, but just nothing that makes me think "wow". Barry wore one tonight that I've never seen before - not a "wow", but enough to catch my attention. The pattern was similar to the gray one that he usually opens the show in - but this one was a different color. I went to the internet to try to figure out the name of that color - still haven't found it. It has a pink hue, but it's not really pink. Someone else will have to come up with that description.
Something else that was fun from the front row was Copa. I'm still not singing and dancing and clapping - but it was fun feeling the excitement behind me, fun watching Barry's face. Fun watching Barry disappear and reappear through the trap door only inches away from me! Ha!
No big kiss blown as the curtain came down, but Barry gave us a huge wave.
