Barry put on another great show tonight. I think last night's show was the best overall, but this was still a great show.
Not many pictures this time - I was sitting a little too far back to get sharp pictures. But I got a few decent ones. I was wishing I had one of those new Canon's with a 20x optical zoom!
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I noticed a couple of things during the opening of the show tonight that I've never seen before - so, now I'm really curious to know if they've always been there and I just never noticed them for some reason. The first thing that got my attention was during the silhouette portion of the opening - just as Kye is finishing up his part and David is starting his, I heard Barry's voice saying "This one's for you, this one's for you, this one's for you" - it had kind of an electronic quality to it. I've never heard that before - has that always been there? The second thing I noticed was David bringing out a big gong (in silhouette) just before the curtain rises. So, has that always been in there?
Christmas Is Just Around the Corner had everyone on their feet again. It's easy to see why it's being successful on the charts. That song is so much fun.
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Instead of Rudolph, Barry put Santa Claus Is Coming To Town back in the show tonight! I'm so thrilled, because I wasn't here when he did it earlier in the week. I love that song! And it's so much fun watching him perform it.
Weekend in New England was again magnificent. Barry puts so much emotion into the song.
Islands in the Stream was popular again. Everyone was standing. I saw no problems with the non-fan attendees (by the way, that was a typo in yesterday's review - I really do know the word is attendees, not attenders!) - I didn't see anyone upset about all the standing, although I heard there were some problems. Guess I was lucky enough to be surrounded by fans this time.
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Memory was also wonderful again. I really like the way he started out so softly. No tears for me tonight, but I think the only reason is because I wasn't close enough to see his eyes. It's amazing how much his eyes convey. He did very little "conducting" tonight, but I think it was because it took him longer to change jackets - and then he had to remove his tie.
At the point where Barry usually does I Made It Through the Rain, he said he didn't want to do that one tonight. He asked for requests - everyone was screaming out. He held the microphone out to someone - I couldn't hear what they asked for. But then Barry said, I have an idea. So he went back to talk to Ron W for a few seconds - then I saw the band all scrambling for sheet music. And we got Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed! That's always one of my favorites - awesome! No microphone stand, but who cares! I just love that song!
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At some point Barry asked us how we liked his new jacket. It appeared to be a brown velvet. Looked great from where I was sitting.
As he was introducing the decades medley, Barry talked about his different decades CDs. Then he said, "But there won't be any more of them - the next one will be original." There was a huge cheer from the crowd. Barry grinned and said, "Oh, you like that?" I like *anything* he does (well, almost) - but I really want to hear this rock and roll CD - I hope that's what the next one will be. At Garry's Q&A during the convention, he said that the next project would probably be an original project - but Barry said it would *definitely* be an original project. I'm not going to review Garry's Q&A - someone else can do that. He was entertaining, as always - he's fun to listen to. I had to stifle a laugh at one point, though - and Garry wasn't meaning to be funny. But someone had asked him about upgrading their computer systems - Garry said they had recently upgraded, but that they'd had a hard time finding someone who knew "which buttons to push." That struck me as so funny - how many times have I heard that over the last 30 years - yeah, right. All you have to do to be a computer professional is push a couple of buttons. And Barry just walks out on the stage and sings a couple of songs. LOL Anyway, I hope someone does post a review of the Q&A, because it was very entertaining.
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Something else that I noticed tonight - and this definitely had to do with where I was sitting... At one point during Looks Like We Made It, the curtain behind Barry looks irridescent, in shades of blue, green, and even purple. But from where I sat tonight, the M frame around the stage was pink and the curtain was an irridescent pink. I've never seen that before.
Some of the lighting effects are much more pronounced from further back. Of course, you also can't pick up on Barry's energy unless you're pretty close - so there's a trade off. I think that's why I'm having a hard time with this review - it's the emotion that Barry conveys that creates my reviews - wasn't close enough to see his eyes, so couldn't "feel" him. I guess that, in itself, is an interesting perspective.
Speaking of that, they showed us the video from his Manchester concert as one of the fan club activities today. Wow! Talk about conveying emotion with his eyes! Even when it's on video! Amazing! They cautioned us over and over that it was "unedited" and just as it was shot. Hey, if that's unedited, we don't need edited - come to think of it, we never need edited. Barry is fantastic just like he is - we don't need any corrections!
New York City Rhythm was great again. The guys were really pulling out all stops on the piano. But the winner this time is - BARRY!
Barry did a fantastic job with Ships again tonight. I heard some great reactions from the audience around me as he turned into the father. More views of spectacular lighting, although his arms-outstretched pose at the end of the song seemed to lose something from the side view. Still looked great, just not as effective.
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The most outstanding part about Can't Smile Without You tonight was the final note - he seemed to hold it out much longer than usual. Barry actually asked the audience to get back up for the song. They had been standing for Who's Been Sleeping, but then sat down. After it was over, Barry said, "Okay, you can sit down now."
Barry had Ron W. come down to stage level again for The Christmas Song. They had placed the "drink" on the piano again - Barry looked at it and said, "What's this? Ice?" Then he looked at it again, looked at the audience and said, "Doesn't it look like someone peed in this?" LOL Then he put it aside and got his regular coffee mug drink that he always has available.
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Barry's rendition of The Christmas Song was beautiful, as it's been all week. Then he came forward to do The Christmas Waltz - he sang it beautifully. He really got into the music again tonight. I thought I might be able to get a shot of Kye and Melanie doing the waltz last night, but there still wasn't enough light. Darn! It just dawned on me what camera setting I should have used to capture it! LOL Oh, well - it's permanently etched in my mind, but that doesn't do anyone else much good unless you know how to do a Vulcan mind-meld. (Trust me, you really don't want to go there.) Then Barry sang River again. Beautiful, as always.
Barry finished out the show as he normally does. Since I was sitting over to the side and further back, I was able to get some shots of the activity up on the platform - not sharp shots, but still... I normally don't get to view that part at all. And talk about confetti! I was covered! Very few of the streamers fell where I was, but there was tons of confetti!
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Barry wished us all a "wonderful Christmas and holiday". And then it was over. At the fan club dinner, they had some of the fans sit on Santa's lap to tell him what they wanted for Christmas - for some reason Santa was never able to repeat what they said! LOL Well, if I had sat on Santa's lap, my wish would have been repeatable.
Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is to be able to see Barry in 2009.
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