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Paris Las Vegas - October 23, 2011(View photo gallery here)
AA-35  So much for romance during Somewhere in the Night! Barry barely got past the first line of the song before he leaned forward and gave us a little finger wiggle. And when he did, the audience reacted as if he'd given us BAMs! Barry got an expression on his face that seemed to be saying, "What is it about these finger wiggles that makes them react that way?!?" And then he laughed, and turned around to look at the backups and laughed again. And that made the audience laugh. We don't know why it drives us wild, either - it's just one of those things... We kind of never got back to romance after that. It was Barry's facial expression that was so priceless - he genuinely looked as if he were completely bewildered as to why we react that way. I can't believe how comfortable I'm getting on the Can't Smile Without You sing-a-long. That's dangerous - someone might actually hear me! Horrors! Well, I'm comfortable until I realize what I'm doing and then I'm not so comfortable anymore. Barry gave us the 78rpm version of the CSWY lyrics at the beginning of the song tonight. But then towards the end, he tried a new approach. Instead of just speaking the lyrics, he yelled the lyrics. "IF YOU ONLY KNEW... WHAT I'M GOING THROUGH!" Funny! Barry didn't really give anyone the opportunity to make a suggestion for the ballad segment. He did again make the comment about "I must have a ballad..." - but when he sat down at the piano he just said, "I still like this one," and he went straight into Even Now. Overall, the song wasn't quite as emotional as it was on Saturday night. When I say that, I mean that I didn't feel as much emotion being projected out into the audience. Instead, Barry seemed to be somewhat withdrawn - the expression on his face looked like there was a lot of emotion going on - but it seemed to be more within Barry and less as part of the performance. Still, it was a great performance. There were moments when he tugged at your heartstrings - one I especially remember was when Barry stood up from the piano as he sang the line about "Even now, when I never hear your name..." - as he sang the "Even now..." part, it really sounded as if his voice broke for a minute - and the expression on his face was so sad. The "anguished face" part of the song was more controlled tonight - Barry was still projecting anguish, but on Saturday night it really came across as totally uncontrolled - like someone just on the verge of losing it. Tonight's performance was more reserved. I don't think there's a "best" way of performing that - I think that has to be left up to the individual audience member as to whether they prefer the more reserved performance or the one that lets it all go. I really love seeing the unbridled passion - I can "feel" it - but at the same time, if every performance were like that, I don't think it would be as meaningful. Anyway, like I said, there did seem to be a lot of emotion going on in Barry - enough that I could see the difference as he moved into Brooklyn Blues. Normally when Barry starts Brooklyn Blues, he's in his "New York" mood - the same mood that you usually see during New York City Rhythm. Tonight he didn't seem to be quite as "up" as he normally is. The music grooved as much as it always does, but that now familiar look in Barry's eyes didn't seem to be there. He was looking at the audience, same as always - but he seemed to be somewhere else. The mood picked up a little when the dancers came forward to do their bit. The long note was fantastic - not quite as long as Saturday, but pretty close.
I Am Your Child was sad tonight - not from Barry, but from me. I just felt very sad during the song. It was a beautiful performance, and so was Nature Boy. The entire segment seemed sad. Don't ask me why. I know there's a reason, I just haven't quite figured it all out yet - can't articulate it. I really feel it when Barry gets to that "what you taught me to be" line - just don't know why. I don't think much has changed in regard to Barry's performance of the song. Nature Boy seems a little less silly lately - although tonight, for the first part of baby Barry, big Barry came up with some pretty silly facial expressions. He got more serious as the song progressed, though. Actually, I think he seemed a little emotional as he took over the live singing part of the song. Speaking of emotion... I never would have thought that This One's For You would be the song to make everyone become so emotional - that has taken me by surprise. But it's consistently the one that starts the tears flowing for a lot of people in the theater. Even Barry seems to be extremely emotional. I find it very surprising, more so for US (the fans) to get emotional during this song than for him. It would kind of make sense for him to get emotional, I guess - I mean, he's using someone or something to serve as the inspiration for his performance - we're just spectators. But... I guess the more I think about it, the more it does make sense that this song would be the one to get to us right now. At any rate, Barry's performance of This One's For You was excellent. He seemed to be a little more distant than he had at Saturday night's now - but, as I said, the ending was very emotional. No matter how emotional Barry gets at the end of This One's For You, he's always happy by the time he gets back out on stage for New York City Rhythm. Watching him come back on stage last night, I remember thinking that it almost seems like NYCR is a kind of therapy for him. Note that I'm saying "seems" - I have no idea what's going through his head. It just that he always dives right into that song, especially if he ended This One's For You on an extremely emotional note. A time or two in the past I've noted that Joey would embellish his part during the chase around the piano. Well, he did that tonight - but I guess Ron W wasn't going to be outdone, because he did the same thing right after Joey! I believe that's the first time I've heard Ron W do that since the show moved to the Paris. Barry played air piano again - and I finally caught a shot of it!  I can't remember where it was, but at some point during the show, Barry actually stuck his tongue out at us. It was totally unexpected. I'm not even sure how many people noticed it - I did and so did the person sitting next to me. We were both laughing. I can't remember what song he was doing, though. Anyway, it was funny. I love those little unexpected things that he throws in occasionally. For the last few shows, Barry has changed the way he enters the stage during the love songs segment. He still walks out in the darkness, but then he turns to face the audience before the spotlights start shining on him. And he has been giving us a silly little wave - one night he even went so far as to say, "Oh, hi!". Tonight, he didn't say anything, but he did do the wave. After he delivered the french kissing joke, we got one of those "I'm fabulous" looks, then he waved us off. The Love Is Here To Stay performance was romantic again, complete with the stroll across the stage. This is the first time I've managed to get a shot that captures that romantic look on his face.  There was some nice piano playing in the background. On Saturday night I think I described it as jazzy. I wouldn't call this jazzy. This was different - ooh, I know - the piano playing had a romantic feel, just like Barry's performance. Ever noticed how still the backups (the girls) are during this song? Well, SOMEONE wasn't very still tonight (ha!) - but usually they are - they look like statues. I've tried a couple of times to get photos of them but it's just too dark. 15 Minutes must be the favorite of most of the fans, based on their reactions. Barry has been doing such a fantastic job with it - I'm not surprised at all by the audience reaction. It may be a different type of music than what people tend to think of when they think of Manilow, but we all LOVE it! Some guy got up at the beginning of the song to go get another beer or something - mister, do NOT walk in front of Manilow fans when Barry's performing a fan favorite - you're taking your life in your own hands! Ha! I've really begun to notice a difference in the way Barry performs 15 Minutes as compared to his previous performances of songs like I Wanna Be Somebody's Baby and Some Kind of Friend. I'm amazed how real this song feels - the attitude feels real - not like a performance at all. It really does feel like he believes what he's singing. He's said himself that one of the reasons he likes the Foo Fighters work is because he can hear the truth in what they're doing. And that's what I'm hearing with 15 Minutes - I can hear and I can see the truth. Those other songs have their own attributes that make them fan favorites - but what Barry is doing with 15 Minutes is completely different. I hope he'll put that song in the shows that he'll be doing after Vegas so that others can see it. Love this shot showing the attitude. No mushy love songs leaking out of this performer! (well, we got the mushy love song next!) Barry did the double-fist-pumping-the-air-in-time-with-the-music thing again to end the song. I think that's going to be the best ending yet. It really accents those final notes of the song.  Mushy love song time... Hey, I love following up an angry song with a mushy love song - sounds like my normal iTunes playlist! As I type this I have Metallica playing in the background! Think I'll follow it up with "Can't Help Falling In Love"! Bring On Tomorrow still had the "affectionate" feel to it - Barry stayed with that method of performing the song tonight rather than going back to the way he performed it on Friday night. I really think I like it better this way. If you're going to sing to your significant other, they should be "significant"! Ha! The performance didn't seem to connect quite as much as it had on Saturday night, but it was still a moving performance. "They told us we're crazy" was back to being a little defiant - or maybe that was just a display of frustration. Yeah, I think frustration is a better word to describe the way Barry sang it tonight. The angle I had wasn't great for taking shots during this song - other than when Barry was at the piano, the lighting washed out all the colors. But got this nice one.  Maybe Bandstand is where Barry stuck his tongue out at us - darn, I wish I could remember. Regardless, Barry was kind of silly during Bandstand tonight. He really got goofy with the way he delivered the lyrics for the opening of the song. He goofed around with the dances again, too. Not entirely sure what happened, but as Keely and Kye were about to start their little solo dance, it looked like one of Keely's heels got caught in a crack in the stage floor. My attention was drawn away from her by the sight of Ron W putting both hands to his face as if he were saying, "Oh, no!". But I looked back at Keely, and other than the fact she was laughing, everything seemed to be fine. She and Kye went right ahead with their dance - I didn't notice any difference that might have been caused by the mishap. The angle I had tonight certainly made for some interesting photos of the slide through Barry's legs. The angle, plus the fact that I was using a new camera that has the ability to take multiple shots, allowed me to take photos of the entire slide. You know how Barry always yells, "WIPEOUT!"? Well, I can state, without a doubt, that Keely didn't wipeout tonight - I got the entire slide from start to finish.
This was also the first time I've managed to get all 4 backups in the same shot during this portion of the show.  After the backups drag Barry to the back of the stage at the end of Bandstand, they do various silly things. Sometimes they pretend to be holding him back. And sometimes he'll run past them and then run back toward us. Tonight Barry stopped further toward the front of the stage than he normally does - very close to where the "curtain" (it's not a curtain, but I don't know what you call it) comes down. I have this series of shots of Keely looking up at it and then with a horrified look on her face trying to get back to Barry. But at the same time, the shots also show Barry looking up at the curtain and he was taking a step back the entire time. He was very, very close to it, though. So I don't know if what I was watching was all performance, or if Barry really was in danger of being hit. If he really was in danger, then.... DON'T DO THAT AGAIN, BARRY! WE CAN'T SMILE WITHOUT YOU! (and if he wasn't in danger, then GREAT acting!)  Mandy was again a killer performance. It wasn't quite as strong as on Saturday night - which might be a good thing because all those skipped heart beats probably aren't good for us. (But man, when they're caused by Barry they sure are fun!) It was a very strong performance. For "the pain is calling", both arms were outstretched, there were tears in Barry's eyes, and the note went on forever. When he stood up to take his bow, he looked quite pleased with himself - and he should be!  Barry did a lot of connecting with the audience during I Write the Songs. But he was just too happy! We were all falling apart and he just kept smiling. Gee, Barry - you don't have to be so happy that you're leaving us! Actually, as the song was coming to a close, he didn't look quite as happy - he probably made the mistake of looking at us! But Barry was happy again by the time he got to Copacabana. Barry did the "ah, sex..." bit during Copa again - and AGAIN, I missed it. I caught the "ah love, ah romance bit" - but missed the last part! Drat! You know, I'm starting to run out of time - I don't have many more opportunities to catch some of these shots I've been wanting to catch! Barry gave us goofy faces again as he stood with his back to the "shirt on acid" and also to the heart made of roses. I have shots of Barry standing in front of the shirt where it looks like he has angel wings. Tonight's shot makes it look like he has angel wings made of red roses. Well... "Heaven sent you, angel of our lifetime..." That song works both ways, you know...  I've got several great shots of Barry waving good-bye. But I'm going to post this one instead. Not ready for good-byes... 
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