Barry opened in a wine-colored jacket - I've never seen it before. Looked like velvet, maybe? Really pretty.
He had tons of energy - and I don't mean bouncing all over the stage. There was just this energy coming from him. And Barry's eyes had the most incredible sparkle in them. Don't know if you'll be able to tell it from the small versions of these photos, but it was like there was a light behind his eyes that just couldn't be contained. It was like he had diamonds in his eyes.
This One's For You had the most feeling I've seen in that song in a long time, maybe ever. Barry seemed to emphasize every word. The look on his face and the tone of his voice grabbed you. Can't Smile Without You had the same tone, the same feel. I'm really viewing the song through different eyes now - it's taken on new meaning.
Barry knocked our socks off with Weekend in New England - wow! What a fantastic performance! He started it out softly, but ended it as a power ballad - and emphasize power! PASSION is the only word to describe that performance. I think he was really feeling it - at the end, he heaved a huge sigh, almost a groan. This one wins - of all the times I've seen him do this song, this one wins hands down.
Of course, people did yell out during the song. Barry laughed this time and said, "I still got it!" And then he smiled that cute little smile of his.
Looks Like We Made It was a killer again. They had a strange spotlight shining down on the audience for some reason. I thought one lady was going to need CPR after he started the hip action. Oh, and Barry put the thumb back in the pocket and left it there this time - it's cool to be country. :-) (apologies to Barbara Mandrell)
Barry used a lot of facial expressions to sell LLWMI. He still put in the moves that make the young girls (and the old ones) scream, but he really sold the song with his eyes and voice and facial expressions.
The Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again/Even Now medley was even stronger than the previous night. Barry really played to the audience during TTGTFA - he turned and looked out at the audience rather than just playing to his piano the way he normally does. The long note at the end of Even Now was impressive - very impressive.
The long note at the end of Brooklyn Blues was also impressive. Nothing wrong with Barry's voice this week. He sounds great.
Still too dark to get good shots, but here are a couple of the new girls - Melanie is on the left and Shay on the right.
We got more Christmas songs! This time Barry did Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with Keely and Kye. It was as funny as it always is. When Barry and Keely got up to dance, Kye didn't have anyone to dance with, so he danced with the stool! Ha! In the past, Kye has always done a silly voice for his solo part during the song - but not this time. This time he sang in his beautiful, real voice. Keely whacked Barry on the nose again - well, maybe she tapped his nose - then again, he jumped, so maybe she really whacked him! We'll never know!
We also got The Christmas Waltz again. Very beautiful - Kye and Keely waltzed across the stage again, but still too dark to take photos. Besides it being a great song with great lyrics, it was really fun watching Barry get so immersed in the music.
Speaking of music, I kept hearing things all night I've never heard before. For instance, more prominent keyboards - and an instrument I didn't recognize during Brooklyn Blues. Don't know why I was noticing those things, but I did.
Barry still seems to really be enjoying New York City Rhythm. He looks so happy when he's performing the song. The keyboard chase is still there - the guys really poured it on. It's so much fun listening to them play. And there was some extra playing - during the part where Barry starts the little run on the piano keys and all the other guys run around to join in, there were extra notes, a lot of extra notes - I think by Barry, judging from the look on Ron P's face - it was kind of cool. And Barry is still giving us that cute little pose at the end of the song.
Barry pulled out some of his old jokes, such as the way he "moisturizes" before the show. And he made the comment, "You should all come up to my room..." - met by cheers and screams. Barry shook his head and said, "Rhetorically speaking!"
Yup, the tears will be flowing freely at the last 3 shows in December. When Barry sat down on the stool to intro the next portion of the show, he made a comment about the great 5 years and how meaningful it had been. I talked to multiple people after the show. We were all choked up. Even though we know he's not going away, he's going to be somewhere new in only 3 months, it's still very emotional for us. And it struck me - we feel a lot of loyalty toward the Hilton. We love the venue, we love the people. We walk into the showroom and we're greeted by people who know us - they welcome us, they joke with us, they ask us when we're going to come back. We walk in to the buffet and get the same treatment. It's like home. So, maybe that's why this is hard on us emotionally even though logic would dictate that it shouldn't matter.
Anyway, back to the review...
Barry put Somewhere Down the Road back in. Vocally, performance-wise the song was superb. You could have heard a pin drop when the music went away and it was just Barry - he sat there gazing off into space, both hands wrapped around the microphone - very touching.
Barry introduced it as being "kind of a goodbye song". So maybe that set the tone. Of course the song always makes me emotional - it always gets to me - this performance was no exception. But the timing, the comments before the song - such as when he was talking about song lyrics and he specifically mentioned This One's For You - the way he mentioned it, his mannerisms and gestures - all made it more poignant. And the way that he just sat there looking at the audience after he finished the song - he seemed to sit there and hold our gaze forever. It was very memorable and very meaningful.
Ships also took on new meaning. There was a more intense feel to the song. Barry didn't really change his performance that much - it was mainly an emphasis on certain lyrics - such as "We're still here, it's just that we're out of sight." He really put some feeling into those lines.
Mandy/Could It Be Magic was again very passionate. You could see it in Barry's face even when he wasn't actually singing.
Barry started off I Write the Songs by mentioning what a great chorus it is. I've never seen him refer to the song that way. It goes along with what I've been saying all night about he seems to be very happy performing the song right now. From beginning to end, he just seems totally into it.
Copacabana was very lighthearted, on the verge of being silly a couple of times. When Barry was singing the part about Tony flying across the bar, I decided to look over at the backups to see how the new girls were handling the shtick - I wasn't disappointed. They were all looking shocked and horrified. Ha! And at the end of the second chorus when Barry sings "She lost her love", he pouted. Very, very cute.
Barry again deferred "the grab" to Kye. Actually, I like it better this way - it's more fun - to me, anyway. At first I didn't intend to take any photos at all, then decided to try to take a wide angle that got all of the backups in it. Just snapped one quick photo, it was kind of blurry. Kye's facial expressions were hilarious, though.
Barry was dodging the mylar streamers as much as we were - I got whacked on the back of the head by one hard enough to make me jump. Even though it's blurry, I love this shot I grabbed at the end - because of Barry's facial expression and also because of that bright yellow spotlight in the background. I've never seen that before!
Barry did NOT look like he wanted to leave us tonight. We certainly didn't want him to go, either. It's a high you just don't want to come down from.
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