This show marked my 50th show at the Paris. When I was buying the tickets and realized it would be a "special" show, I decided to treat myself to another front row ticket. I don't really know why a 50th show is special - I saw far more than that at the Hilton - and there are folks that have seen far more shows than I have at either place. It's just a nice round number, I guess. I'll actually get to hit my 200th show since Barry has been in Vegas on my next trip here. Lots of shows under the bridge.
I'm getting over being scared of sitting in the front row - fine time, right? The shows are coming to an end and now I don't feel like I need to avoid the front row. Actually, there are advantages and disadvantages. A lot of people will tell you they don't like the front row, or even the first few rows, because Barry tends to look out over their heads, never really even acknowledges that the front row exists - and that's true. His line of sight is out "into" the audience. He rarely even glances down at the people in the front row. There's always the possibility of handshake, of course. I haven't been lucky enough to get one in quite a while, but there are tons of people that do. At tonight's show he shook a lot of hands - almost the entire center section of the front row.
At the Hilton, one of the things that I found really neat about the front row was that you could hear Barry's footsteps. I always loved that - sounds weird, right? Thing is, there's something about that feels "real". When you hear Barry's boots scuffle on the floor, or you actually not only see but also hear one of his foot stomps, there's just something about it that's kind of an added treat. I know what it is... The show is a big production - and you get so wrapped up in watching the production that you forget the performers really are people. I think that's especially true when there are no glitches at all in a show, when everything goes perfectly. You get wrapped up in this little bubble that's created by the production, and you only see the production, and you tend to forget the individuals who are working their backsides off to create this little escape from reality for you. And that's especially true in the case of Barry's shows - because his shows tend to be extremely complex, so much so that you can't take it all in by seeing one show. In fact, after 50 shows I still don't think I've managed to capture everything that's going on up there. When there's so much going on, it's very easy to miss all the details - and I don't want to miss anything. What's that Aerosmith song? "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" Hearing something like the sound of Barry's boot making contact with the stage floor shakes you out of that little fantasy world for a moment. I like that. I love the production, but I don't ever want to forget that there are people working very hard to create that atmosphere.
Speaking of foot stomps, this was the night for them. We got them more than once. Kind of like the finger wiggles, everyone seems to love the foot stomps. So, we have a guy up there serenading us with a voice so smooth it would melt butter, giving us looks that make us literally stop breathing, and yet we all go nuts over a foot stomp or a finger wiggle. Go figure! Actually, haven't seen finger wiggles in a while - not since the entire front two rows almost went into cardiac arrest last month.
Daybreak had a "don't worry, be happy" tone about it. No, that's not right. There was no gentle "don't worry" aspect to it. Barry was making an emphatic statement - "BE HAPPY!!!"
Alan and Linda were on the front row tonight. They had just got married. Linda was still in her white wedding gown. Barry noticed them and asked if they had really just got married. I was too far away to hear their side of the conversation, but Barry said, "Really?! This afternoon? Why are you at the show? You should be up in your room!"
The audience was polite and let Barry be romantic for Somewhere in the Night - until he unbuttoned his jacket, of course. The thought just occurred to me - what if he didn't unbutton jacket? What if he didn't turn into that side stance and unbutton his jacket and put on those "come hither" eyes? How would the audience react? We're so used to him doing that. But the original recording and the subsequent acoustic version of the song don't have that kind of tone - it's pure romance. I have no idea why that just crossed my mind. I guess just because recently I've been replaying 200 shows in my head and thinking about the changes. Now that Weekend in New England is rarely in the show, and now that he's changed Looks Like We Made It and Copacabana, there aren't really any of those previous outlets for that kind of response. Kind of makes it sound like the audience needs to "go there". I'll admit that I have to smile occasionally when that happens - I mean, it's kind of neat to watch everyone's reactions to Barry. If it happens too often, of course, then it starts to ruin the song for me. I tend to lean more toward the pure romance or the completely silly. If he gets too raunchy, I start getting embarrassed. I remember once at the Hilton - I was sitting front row center, he did the upbeat version of CIBM, walked right up to the edge of the stage and did those BAMs - I could have died from embarrassment!
The lights were incredibly bright during Somewhere in the Night. I've never noticed that before - I mean, not for the entire song. I know I've only been on the front row a couple of times - but I don't even remember that from last week.
There was a medium audience response to Can't Smile Without You. Not the loudest I've ever heard, but certainly not the most quiet. Barry played around with the lyrics just a tad - but for the most part he didn't do anything other than perform the song. Or allow us to perform the song. The audience did continue singing past the chorus - for at least part of the song they continued to sing the rest of the lyrics.
Barry started off the ballad segment with the usual, "I must have a ballad in here somewhere." But then he walked over to Alan and Linda and asked them if they had a request. I couldn't hear if they said anything or not. Barry mentioned WINE and said that was really romantic. He mentioned Even Now. Then he walked back to the piano and turned to face the audience. People were yelling out song names - All The Time came through very clearly above the rest of the crowd. But Barry kind of wrinkled his nose and said he couldn't understand what the audience was saying. And then he went ahead and performed Even Now.
Some aspects of Even Now were really touching and others were kind of far away. Almost seemed as if Barry were trying to decide how he was going to perform it this time. Toward the end of the song, just before the point where Barry gets that pained expression on his face and turns to walk to the back of the stage, he really came on strong. There was a lot of emotion at that point. Tonight's version of the reach was pointed toward the sky, not toward the audience. I think the long note was shorter, too. Still a great performance, just not one of the most moving.
Barry got into his groove with Brooklyn Blues again. He didn't act out the lyrics, though. This time he pretty much just sang through the song. The long note at the end didn't beat out last time - he'll never beat out last time - but it was still really long.
I Am Your Child was very sad for me tonight. I think part of it was Barry - he really had kind of sad expression on his face a he sang. It was beautiful, though. And you could see Barry was into the song. I normally don't take many photos during the song, but what the hey... The show is coming to an end and I'm not going to have many more chances. Besides, "working" is good therapy.
It's beginning to look like This One's For You is the song that's going to kill everyone. I really wouldn't have thought that if you had asked me a few months ago. But it's really been emotional for the past couple of weeks. I'm feeling it, too. And I think I don't like that. If you think about the lyrics, I guess it makes sense, though - considering the circumstances.
Thankfully we had New York City Rhythm to bring up back up again. As always, very upbeat. Barry played air piano for us again, but I snapped at the wrong time and missed the shot. I did get a better closing shot, though.
Barry said he was dedicating Love Is Here to Stay to Alan and Linda. Then as he started the song, he walked over in front of them and performed most of the first verse there. I wasn't at an angle where I could actually get them in the photo, but I did get a shot of Barry singing to them. Don't know if Alan or Linda ever read these reviews, but someone can tell them I have 3 shots for them.
Barry finished the song as he normally does. This performance was romantic, not the roses kind of romantic, more like the spring arrangement kind of romantic. What a goofy description! It means that Barry was romantic with the song, but didn't go too deeply into it.
Actually, come to think of it, that was the tone for the entire night. For the most part he didn't go deeply into any song that wasn't very upbeat to start with.
Barry blew us away with 15 Minutes again. Another excellent rock performance. As Barry did the dialogue before the song, I could hear Mike's guitar - I took a moment to look over at him to watch him play. Since most of the band is in the background 99% of the time, there aren't many opportunities to see them at their craft. I enjoyed watching him finger the chords and even slightly bend the strings. I could actually see that. The lighting isn't good enough to get good photos, but you can see it with your eyes.
Barry maintained attitude throughout the song. There were a lot of strong vocals. Not only does Barry slap us with that "just gimme my shot" line, he's also begun to sing "I'd sell my guts for glory" very forcefully. At one point, we even got a growling voice. And there have been moments at each of the past two shows where there was an emotional "ah" ad-libbed into the song (not something that's on the recording).
Barry has changed his final stance again. This time it was kind of a cross between the fists at the audience stance and the fists in the air stance. So, next to the fists in the air stance, this is my second favorite.
Bring On Tomorrow was beautiful, although it still didn't seem to have the emotion in it that it used to. No, that's not right - there IS emotion. You can see it in this photo. Instead I think it's that the emotion has changed. The romantic air, the "love" aspect, seems to have gone away. I guess one way to describe it would be to say that the character has already begun progressing to the next stage of the CD where he's let fame become his priority and the girl is fading into the background. When Barry walks to the front of the stage, you don't feel that desperation to tell her that it's going to be alright. The words say it, and the mannerisms are *trying* to convey it, but the eyes aren't saying it. Not saying that's a bad thing. It's just another way of performing it, another point of view. Even when he's singing, "Without you it's nothing, why else would I climb", in this style of performance it doesn't feel so much that he's expressing how important she is to him - instead, it feels more like he's trying to convince himself and trying to hold on to something that his heart already knows has become second best. It's really turned into a totally different tone, a totally different interpretation.
Bandstand was a blast. Everyone was having fun up on there on the stage. And out in the audience, too. Tonight I snapped a shot of Barry doing "The Nose".
The lighting for the It's A Miracle reprise is really beautiful. Overall it's blue, but those violet lights really add something to do. See, I really do look at things other than Barry in his tux! (I just don't look at them long)
