Tonight Barry opened in that gray jacket that I had commented on once before. It's very nice - looks great on him.
This show didn't have quite as much energy as Friday night's. Everyone put so much into it the night before - including the audience - I'm not surprised! But it was still a great show.
Weekend in New England was incredible. Barry put a lot of emotion into the song, changing around the vocals to emphasize certain parts. It gave me chills in a couple of spots.
Barry was having some trouble with the monitors. He sang the first lines of Looks Like We Made It, but I guess he wasn't hearing what he felt he needed to hear. So, he had the band start over. And then he sang, "There you are, looking just the same as the last time I sang that." LOL! He went on to do a great performance of the song. And he included enough sexy moves to have the audience screaming.
The Mayflower segment wasn't as long tonight - Barry cut some of the songs out. He cut Turn the Radio Up and the They Dance/Hot Stuff medley. But the show was still primarily Mayflower. Barry opened the segment again by changing into his black leather jacket.
Do You Know Who's Living Next Door led into Come Monday - it was like a medley, except Barry performed all of both songs. Barry sang DYKWLND by himself at first. Then the backups came out to the side stage areas - Keely and Kye on the left, Monica and Melanie on the right. They're dressed in typical New York outfits - I mean, the kind of outfits you tend to see people wearing when you see TV spots of the New York streets - long coats and things like that. Kye was carrying a briefcase.
Then as it moved into Come Monday, somehow the backups were no longer wearing coats - they were wearing the new black outfits - kind of casual. I didn't see them take off the coats, so it must have happened while Barry was singing and had the audience captivated. Melanie walked up into the band's risers on the left side while Keely did the same on the right side. They each had a couple of lines from the song. The attention turned back to Barry while Monica and Kye took their spots in the risers. And then they each sang their parts. It was a great way to feature each of them. And each of the backups added their own little flair to the song. It was fun to watch.
Barry's performance of Border Train rivaled his performance from Friday night. He really got into the song, into the music - maybe the lyrics, too. His vocals both nights were extremely powerful toward the end of the song. He put a lot of feeling into it.
The set lighting is beautiful, but dark. The tone fits the concept of NYC. It made it very hard to get photos of the backups, though. Just not enough light.
Freddie Said was even funnier than on Friday night. I had to go back to look at my photos to see the outfits the backups were wearing. Kye changed jackets - I'm pretty sure this is the same jacket that he wore during the 40's segment when they were doing Jump Shout Boogie. The girls were still wearing the black outfits from the first part of the segment, but they all had on the same hats that they wore in that previous 40's segment. I'm going to use "choreography" to describe what Kye does during the song even though it sounds a little impersonal, because he's not dancing in the way you would normally think - it's difficult to describe with just words. As Freddie, he sneaks and slides across the stage - but at times there are definite dance steps thrown in. When Freddie sees the dead body in the shadows, Kye's foot work is incredible as he runs from one side of the stage to the other. I would trip and fall flat on my face within the first 2 steps if I tried to do what he was doing! He's also very good at falling out unconscious on the floor (on in this case, dead) - remember when he used to do it during Love Is A Many Splendored Thing?
The girls play the part of 40's bimbos perfectly. Probably not the best way to describe it. But what do you think of when you think of 40's gangsters and their girlfriends? Sexy outfit (for that time period), fancy hats, high heels, swinging their purse around, chewing gum, etc... Well, that's what it felt like we were seeing - even though they weren't really wearing those outfits, somehow it felt as if they were. So, Keely, Monica and Melanie are standing behind Barry, reacting to the lyrics of the song, and also to Kye's antics. Their facial expressions and mannerisms were hilarious.
When the song was over, Kye and the girls kept running back out to take another bow until Barry finally ran them off the stage. So, it was all extremely entertaining - the audience seemed to love it.
The Night That Tito Played managed to feature every one in a different way. Toward the beginning of the song, Keely and Kye danced in the background. But as the song progressed, and everyone was dancing at center stage, I really noticed Monica and Melanie - they really stood out with their dancing - and not just during the times that they were dancing with Barry. They stood out on their own, even though the attention was drawn toward Barry. Actually, thinking back, they really stood out during Come Monday as well with their dancing.
Not What You See was an even better performance than on Friday night. As Barry sat down to get into old-man mode, he made the comment about it not being hard to do anymore. The lady next to me yelled, "You're not old, Barry!". And Barry responded, "Baby, I *am* old, too."
There was something I found very interesting about what I was seeing with this song, and it really had little to do with the performance. Even though Barry is acting out the part of an old man, and it's extremely believable, at the same time as I was watching him, he seemed to be younger. I have no explanation for that - not even a theory. But I looked at my photos to see if I had remembered it correctly - and I did. Somehow Barry manages to be both at the same time. At any rate, the performance was fantastic.
Sandra was fabulous tonight. I was sitting right in front of Keely and Barry. Keely's performance was amazing - you could feel the emotion, the pain pouring out of her. I looked over and Barry had tears in his eyes as he "narrated". Their performances pulled you right in - you couldn't help but be emotional yourself. It brought back a lot of feelings and memories from my own life.
There was even more emotion in Talk to Me than there had been on Friday night. When Barry yelled "Stop", it didn't scare us half to death the way it did the night before - on Friday night, Kye and Monica had our full attention as they argued at center stage, so no one noticed that Barry had quietly walked out on stage. But even though that part didn't have the same effect that it did on Friday, the rest of the song was stronger. The entire Mayflower segment is like a mini-production. Talk to Me is one of the strongest points in the production as far as telling a story. It's very much a solo moment for Barry. He carries it beautifully. His performance of this song now is very different from what I remember in 2002. Back then he performed the song as if he were angry. Now he performs the song as someone who is very frustrated. I like this better.
Barry started Welcome Home at center stage alone. The backups walked out to the side stage areas wearing their long coats and carrying suitcases. Then they slowly walked to center stage to be with Barry. The song conveys a sense of family. Barry hugged the backups, and they hugged each other. It was an emotional scene. As they ended the song, they all met at center stage holding hands, with Barry in the middle - the same way they normally end the show. It all kind of put a lump in your throat.
Like the night before, Barry ended the show with Mandy/Could It Be Magic and Copacabana. He made a lot of funny faces and did a lot of funny dancing before he came down from the stairs during the Copa reprise.
For some reason tonight, the end of the show didn't really feel like the end - probably because all of the fan club members were anticipating the upcoming Q&A.
