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Paris Las Vegas - December 5, 2010(View photo gallery here)
BB-39
I do believe this was the best of the 3 shows this weekend. More energy, more emotion in the songs - like I said, the show started at the top and there was no way it could go back down. When do we get Everything's Gonna Be Alright on CD? I'm getting impatient! Oops - I forgot - Santa/Christmas/naughty or nice. Okay, I take that back. I'm eagerly anticipating the release of that song on CD (insert polite smile here). Uhm, Santa knows what you're thinking, doesn't he? Okay, well - so much for that. Back to being impatient! Actually, I would love to have a live version of this one, too, as well as a studio version. Another one for that wished for show CD that people talk about. It was back to the soft, gentle Barry for Weekend in New England. I have to say, as much as I like the power ballad style, there's just something about Barry's softer voice that sends shivers up and down my spine. While the power ballad leaves me in awe of the talent, it doesn't generate the same feeling as the soft version. Don't get me wrong - I'm not disappointed when I see the power ballad - I love seeing that version. It fills me with pride for Barry, and leaves me mesmerized. But to make me feel the emotions of the song, make me "believe" the song - the soft version does it much more easily. But I enjoyed seeing both versions in the same run of shows.
Barry must have been paying attention to last night's crowd reaction to Looks Like We Made It. He performed the song with the same degree of sexiness, including leaving his eyes open during that last portion. I heard a few squeals in the audience. Yup, it worked... He took us where he wanted us. The audience sang along loudly for Can't Smile Without You. I almost joined in tonight...almost. Actually, don't know why I quit singing along during the show - but I haven't been singing along with CSWY and IWTS for quite a while now. I Am Your Child seemed especially strong tonight during the Grandpa Joe segment. It wasn't emotional to the point where Barry was wiping away tears. But it definitely came across as genuine. Nature Boy wasn't as strong, but This One's For You was very strong. Again, not as emotional as it's been in the past, but very genuine and very solid. Barry and Kye performed Santa Claus Is Coming to Town to start the Christmas segment. I don't think I've mentioned the cute choreography during the song. There are short little dance movements interspersed throughout the song. At the end, Barry and Kye basically dance off stage, and then quickly stick their heads out from behind the curtain again to wave at the audience. I tried to capture the shot, but I couldn't pull it off - wasn't quick enough.
Did Barry say "sweet" girls instead of "good" girls? Are they the same thing? Inquiring minds want to know... No, actually - we don't care - we just all want to get into Barry's place! It snowed so much tonight during the Christmas segment, it was falling on everyone in the first few rows, too. I grabbed a few snow flakes to bring home with me to put in my memory box. I have a little cedar chest where I store streamers, confetti, etc... from shows that were especially memorable for me for one reason or another. This show definitely fits the bill. I decided to take another shot at getting a decent photo of the snow. I think this one turned out better than the one I got at the last show. Of course, you'll be able to see it better when I get the larger versions of the photos up on my website. But you can see individual "flakes" in this shot. Still doesn't do justice to how pretty it is in person.
And, see? I *told* you he was Santa Barry! He must be, because I got my Christmas wish - Barry put Christmas Is Just Around the Corner into the Christmas segment! Or maybe the North Pole Santa just whispered a suggestion into Barry's ear. Whatever! Barry included the song! Needless to say, I was thrilled that I got to see it performed live during this run of shows. It was almost like we got a little hint that the song was coming. As Barry and Kye started Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, Barry said something like, "You know, Kye, Christmas is just around the corner." It almost sounded like a signal to the band that he had decided to throw that song in - kind of like calling an audible in football. I have no idea, of course - it may have been planned from the start. But my heart literally leaped when Barry said those words. Then, as Barry continued with the other songs in the Christmas segment, my mind kind of drifted to what he was doing rather than what he might do... And then I heard the first few notes of Christmas Is Just Around the Corner. I must have been grinning from ear-to-ear. Thank you, thank you, Santa Barry! The Christmas Is Just Around the Corner segment was very cute. It was also different from the Hilton performances of the song. The backups were gathered around the piano in the background (low light), while Barry was up front. But then later in the song the backups came forward to sing with Barry. And they had a little choreography in there, too. At the end of the song, they brought out a little, badly shaped Christmas tree - it looked awfully familiar. Barry said that the tree was kind of pathetic but that it would have to do! After the song was over, Barry told the audience that the song (Christmas Is Just Around the Corner) would be running around inside of their heads for days. Yup, I can vouch for that - I've been singing it all day. River was beautiful. I think this was the most emotional of the three performances. In comparing performances from previous years, I've seen times when Barry's performance of this song was extremely emotional, but none of these performances this weekend were like that. In fact, these had a slightly different tone than what I've seen before. I've been trying to think of the right adjective to describe the tone of the performances - I'm having a hard time. Agitation, disgust, aggravation - none of those are right. Oh, wait - I think I've got it. Resignation - Barry was performing the song as if he were resigned to the state of things as described in the song.
At least, that's what I was seeing. Other audience members may have seen something different - but that's the beauty of the performing arts. Barry gives us the tools - but then we create our own reality with those tools according to what's going on inside our heads and hearts and dreams at the time. And, so I was seeing resignation - I was seeing and hearing someone who had resigned himself to the loss of the relationship, and had given up all hope of it ever working out. And saying that, I can look inside my own head and see why I was hearing what I was hearing in the song. Isn't it neat how Barry can use the melody and the lyrics along with his interpretation of the moment (and that interpretation changes with every performance, by the way - something else I love about him) to give us the ability to create whatever feelings or visual images are the most meaningful to us at the moment? Not only do Barry's performances change at every show, but also what I'm most receptive to is going to change at every show. I think that's where a lot of the magic comes from - when what Barry is emoting in the performance happens to mesh with our current emotional state, that's when you have one of those magical moments that you never forget. Unfortunately, I don't think everyone views the performances as deeply - their loss... Because It's Christmas was beautiful again. I was trying to savor every moment of the song. This was the first show where people actually stayed quiet throughout the song (unfortunately, not true for other songs - I don't know what it is with the people in the audience these days). This group of kids looked much more relaxed about being on stage - I saw a lot of smiles on faces. Funny, funny Barry. He is so funny during the sock hop segment. I think he gets funnier every time. Not only did we get a repeat of the Fred Astaire tap dance, Barry was also trying to imitate the steps of Kye's solo dance! I tried to catch a shot of when Barry pinches his nose during The Swim - but instead it came out looking like Barry had a major migraine - so I won't post it! Ha! Oh, and Barry *really* said "Ow!" tonight during the twist.
I experienced a couple of downer moments during the little Clive Davis video - the show was starting to wind down. I was experiencing Pre-Post-Manilow-Depression. Acronym time - PPMD! Let's see... Pre-Post-Manilow-Depression - is that an oxymoron? Had to look it up... The definition of oxymoron is: "A rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined, as in a deafening silence and a mournful optimist." (don't you hate it when you need a dictionary just to be able to read a dictionary definition??) At any rate, leave it to me to figure out a way to be depressed about the show being over when we were still 4 songs away from it actually being over! But! Barry fixed that problem very quickly. Mandy was a powerhouse. I've seen varying degrees of emotion/passion/feeling in the Mandy/Could It Be Magic medley over the last several years. But this is the first time in a long time that there has been so much feeling that it made me sit straight up. When Barry sang the lyric, "the pain is calling", his eyes were closed, his teeth were gritted, and his fist was clenched. All I could do was think, "Wow!" Excellent, excellent performance! If I could describe Barry's emotional state during I Write the Songs, I would say he was very pleased. That's *my* interpretation. For all I know, he may have been worrying about whether or not he had warm enough clothes for Norway! At any rate, it appeared to me that he was pleased with the show, the audience, and just the night, in general. The performance didn't seem like a performance - there was just a feeling of contentment and "peace" as Barry sang. That's also a good way to keep the audience from feeling PPMD! And, of course, it's totally impossible to feel anything but joy during Copacabana now. It's just impossible. And it's still escaping me as to why I felt just the opposite for the first half of the Paris shows that I saw. Yes, there have been subtle changes in that segment - but nothing huge - nothing that I could say would change my feelings. So, I don't know. It's got to just be the music, the bright, colorful lights - and most of all the huge smile on Barry's face that is there from the moment he appears in his tux until he leaves the stage.
I'm very glad I decided at the last minute to attend these shows. Well, honestly - if Barry hadn't posted about it on MMN, I wouldn't have been here. So, thank you, Barry, for the heads up. It was a great weekend. It's been a great year. In the words of the fans' rewritten lyrics to Sweet Heaven - WE LOVE YOU, BARRY MANILOW! Oh... And not only did Barry gift us with Christmas Is Just Around the Corner during the show, we got to hear it TWICE on our way out of the theater!
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