Paris Las Vegas - December 10, 2011

AA-29



This show has been the best of all this week. I'm sure the final show on Sunday will even top this one. But tonight was fantastic. Barry seemed to be in great spirits. We got great performances - and there was just a little "extra" to everything.

I got a little bit closer to getting the shot I would love to have with the Manilow lights. I still need to be taller - but don't think I'm going to grow any between now and tonight (maybe a little wider, unfortunately). When I get home I'm going to Photoshop out the mic stand. But for now...

The audience response to Barry was deafening. There were a lot of long, loud ovations. I love watching Barry's facial expressions when he gets an audience like this one. His eyes were glistening again during Could It Be Magic - especially as he gestured toward the audience when he sang "Heaven sent you..." I think we would all agree that we're thinking something similar - Heaven sent HIM.

Daybreak had the same tone as last night. Kind of a happy, kind of motivational. It was so cute the way Barry say, "fear, not here" tonight. Well, he's usually cute when he does it - most of the time that line isn't "just" delivered. Most of the time he does it in such a way that emphasizes - the tone of it may change from night to night, but the overall emphasis is almost always there. Tonight it sounded almost like a direct order - "NOT HERE!". Ha! Yes, sir, General Barry, sir! Or should that be Admiral Barry? Oh, no...he gets motion sickness...he can't be an Admiral. Or maybe he was just being Santa Barry - he's been Santa Barry all week, I think. And Santa outranks generals and admirals anyway...

Somewhere in the Night was even funnier than on Friday night. (yeah, I know - it's not supposed to be funny - it's supposed to be a mushy love song) Barry started it out so romantically. Ooh, his voice could have made you melt right there. And he did nothing to spark the audience reaction - well, nothing other than being himself. That's enough! The audience didn't even wait to see if there would be any gestures or anything else before they started going wild. And when those first squeals started, Barry ran with it. Then we got "the eyes" And then Barry laughed. And he had to stop singing for a moment. He used the Justin Bieber joke. Then he tried to start singing, but he started laughing and had to stop again. Then he passionately threw his jacket open and went into sexy mode and the crowd went wild. So, we got like 5 seconds of romance with the song - and the rest was "bad romance"!

I do remember Looks Like We Made It this time. Kind of hard to forget when Barry carried his sexy over from Somewhere in the Night. He may have been singing the new lyrics that sound more like a love song to the audience - but those swiveling hips told a different story. (Barry! Should you be doing that?!)

Barry went back to Even Now for the ballad of the night. As he walked back to the piano, he said, "They're playing A - I think I agree". The audience started cheering even as Barry was playing the first notes of the song. He smiled and said, "Oh, so you know the song just from the intro?" Why, yes! It was an A!!!! If Barry ever does another song that starts in that key, we're going to be totally confused! It was a beautiful performance of Even Now. And again, Barry did a great job of connecting with the audience. And, again, I couldn't bring myself to take photos. At the end, reaching for the audience seemed to be an after thought for Barry. He started out reaching for the sky, but then switched to reaching for the audience.

Brooklyn Blues had it's great groove. The song seems to have taken on a slightly more serious tone this entire week. Not meaning it's not entertaining - it's not that kind of serious. Barry just seems to be "thinking" as he's performing. When he stands up from the piano to sing the lines about "love songs to a princess", the expression on his face is much more serious than it used to be. It's just a different tone - not better, not worse - just different.

So, the long note tonight probably technically wasn't quite as long as last night - but it was darn close. And it was so fun to watch. I've known people who timed the thing with their watch. Okay, I don't do that. But I can tell when it's longer than normal by how much breath I have left at the end of the song. Isn't that totally funny? It's not deliberate. I just realized night before last that's what I've been doing - when Barry takes his deep breath to start the note, I realized that I've been unconsciously doing the same thing. And I realized that when it's a super long note, I'm actually out of breath when he's done. I still had a little breath left tonight - so I know it wasn't quite as long. Ha! But it was long enough - not everyone can get up there and do that!

Barry used his whispering voice for I Am Your Child again. And it was beautiful again. I'm still hearing emphasis on the "taught me to be" parts of the song. Could totally just be my current mindset, but that's why my ears are hearing, anyway. Tonight I felt a little sad. Barry's eyes looked a little sad. Of course, the mood we see from Barry as he performs can kind of create our mood for us. Nature Boy was a little more touching than usual - and I'm not sure why. This time it was something about the tone of Barry's voice, I think. And This One's For You was both beautiful and tough. Tonight I was sitting close enough to see that even though Barry gave the appearance of connecting with the audience, for most of the song his eyes weren't focused in. (man, I love being able to see those things) Occasionally, I saw his eyes come into focus - but most of the time he was gazing off into the distance. Barry really seemed to be selling the last part of the song, after he walks to the front of the stage. There was just something about his mannerisms, gestures and facial expressions that seemed beyond the usual, made it appear that he was really putting a message out there in the universe. I think the combination of the slight distancing of himself from us during the "at the piano" portion, and then the extra dramatic effect while he was standing held my own emotional reactions at bay. The "miss me, too" line did get to me a little, but not as badly as it has been. Instead, my feelings were more toward him - my thoughts were more geared toward what he was feeling. But, of course, once he finished the song, the lump in my throat was huge. And he appeared to be getting extremely emotional again. And that was rough.

New York City Rhythm was very "up", though. Even from the very beginning. Barry gave us more hip movement than usual tonight - it was almost like he was teasing us. (BARRY! We're worried about you!!) But it was fun. The Dancing With the Stars bit was even more exaggerated - it just keeps building every night. Barry was actually quite animated during his piano solo. Lots of grooving to the music, a few funny, wide-eyed faces.

Instead of moving into the Christmas segment, Barry did something different. I actually had forgotten they were going to showcase the winner of the 15 Minutes contest at the show tonight. I'm going to have to come back and post the girl's name properly later, because I don't know how to spell it - I remember her name, but don't know the proper spelling (I do remember she said it was Hawaiian for "Mary"). For now, I'm going to spell it as Malea. Anyway, she's very talented. The first song she did was "Out Here On My Own" - most people in the audience didn't know it, but I most certainly did. It's actually one of my favorite songs of all time. Irene Cara recorded it. The lyrics speak to me, big time - almost as much as the lyrics to All the Time do. Here's a linkto Irene Cara's version. For once, I hope someone did a video when they shouldn't have and puts it up on YouTube - because Malea did a fantastic job. She also did a fantastic job of connecting with the audience. She made direct eye contact, she gestured to emphasize lyrics - just like Barry, she was able to make you feel as if she were singing directly to you. That's a winner. The second song Malea sang was The Trouble With Love Is - looks like that's a Kelly Clarkson song. She did a great job with that one, too. She got a standing ovation. And it was definitely NOT people just being polite because Barry was introducing her. She deserved it.

Then we got to have Christmas again. We lost Christmas Is Just Around the Corner, but got everything else. Kye and Barry were just as cute as ever during Santa Claus is Coming to Town. And Keely and Kye were just as cute during Rudolph. Maybe cuter. I love the way Keely reached over and just almost booped Barry's nose during the song - she stopped just short (unlike the time at the Hilton where she actually hit him! Ha!)

Because it's Christmas was beautiful and touching and poignant. Barry again introduced the song by saying "Christmas is for the children", really emphasizing it. He connected with the audience, looking out at us throughout the song. There were only a couple of times when he seemed to look off into the distance, seemed lost in thought.

I was able to get some decent shots of the kids in the choir, and the kids with Barry. Unfortunately, even at the widest angle I can't fit all of the kids into one photo.

I wish for just this last night they would retract the no professional cameras rule. I don't need the big zoom lense - the smaller one would do just fine - and my regular camera is fine for 95% of the photos I would take. But there are just a few shots that this point and shoot thing can't handle. Oh, well - I know that will never happen - but it would certainly be nice. I'm going to take my tiny point and shoot and maybe I can do something with that - such as getting all the kids in one photo. I've been trying to take photos of the snowflakes with that camera - this one kind of came out okay.

Because It's Christmas seemed to just fly by. When I got back to the room I was wondering if Barry had abbreviated the song - it just seemed as if it had only taken seconds. But no, I think we were just experiencing that time acceleration effect - the more you never want the show to end, the faster it seems to go. I can only imagine how quickly Sunday night's show will go.

We got a total surprise during the Bandstand segment. Barry was making fun of the stupid dances again - and he really was. And then I just happened to pick up my camera at the exact moment he did a mini-BAM. I caught it totally by accident. It wasn't a big fun, and it was definitely meant to be silly. Looked like just a spur of the moment thing on his part. (And again... BARRY!! Should you be doing that?!)

Mandy was superb again tonight. Barry was very emotional. We were getting emotional at how quickly the show was progressing - and then Barry made us get even more emotional with that performance. He literally had tears in his eyes.

Barry's performance was nothing short of magnificent. As he moved into the Could It Be Magic portion of the song, he got even more emotional. Throwing OUR emotion aside (which ain't easy), the performance was a stand out.

I Write the Songs darn near killed me and everyone else, too. The tears were really beginning to flow for a lot of folks at that point. I was doing my best to hold it back. Never mind that finger pinching thing - I had my finger nails about 3 inches deep into my arm in an attempt to try to hold it all together. I did, but forget singing along - I couldn't do it. Barry briefly went back to the way he performed this song at the beginning of the Paris run - where he would stop halfway through the show and say, "Well, I had a good time..." Actually, that might have been a really good idea - I think it broke the emotional thing that was going on for a moment.

Copa was fun and it brought the smiles back. You couldn't feel sad during that part - there was just no way. Barry was very animated as he acted out the lyrics to Copa. He even went so far as to do the "Ah, sex" bit. He didn't do the shocked face part, though. I did take photos - finally.

The trap door worked tonight. It was really funny because as Barry rode it down through the floor he said, "Oh, good - it worked." He said it kind of off mic, so probably not everyone could hear it. It worked coming back up, too. (oh, man - wouldn't that be awful for it not to work and for Barry not to reappear! We'd all be pulling out our screwdrivers!) And Barry gave us some his best funny facial expressions as he reappeared.

The ending was just a blur - too emotional. I "worked" - I made a point of getting some shots I've never taken before, such as when all the backups "give" Barry back to us for his final bows. I'm just going to include an assortment of closing moments - smiles, blown kisses, and all.

I readily admit I didn't handle it too well after the curtain went down. Not too many people around me did. We were all crying like babies. But it's going to be worse tonight.

From Boston to Denver...    Music & Passion    Ultimate Manilow    The Paris    Backups/Band    Platinums    Back Home All photos and content Copyright ©Dana Holland