Even Barry made mention that this week will be bittersweet. There's a different atmosphere here. The audience was one of the most responsive I've seen since the convention shows. And yet everything seems quieter and a little subdued.
Judging by what I could see of Barry's facial expressions in the smoke photos, it looked like he was ready to come out to meet us. I think he was surprised by the audience reaction. We were really loud at times - I use the word "we" loosely - I'm never loud. But everyone else was, so I didn't need to be. Loud enough to hurt my ears a couple of times - and I blew the speakers out in my car by listening to rock music too loud. So, the audience was REALLY LOUD!
Barry opened in a new jacket - or new to me, anyway. It was mainly black, but had a little red/orange trim - sometimes it looked red and sometimes it looked orange. But he flashed us with the jacket lining once and it was red - so I'm guessing the trim was, too.
The opening medley was different - this was more of a straight forward performance. In the last several shows I've seen, Barry seemed to put a lot of emphasis on these songs - I didn't get that feeling at this show. The biggest difference was Somewhere in the Night - no sexy moves, no sultry looks. Even This One's For You was very straight forward. That's not a criticism - I just noticed that he did it differently.
However, there were plenty of sexy moves and sultry looks in Looks Like We Made It. You know, he could easily sell that song without the moves - but doggone it, I'm going to enjoy it if he's going to do it! Ha! Between what Barry is doing onstage and the audience reaction, well... What was it Barry said once? "You're in the Manilow zone now. And you're mine" Yup, I'm yours... I surrender...
Weekend in New England was beautiful. This was mainly a soft performance - actually everything was a soft performance - it wasn't a power ballad night. Barry's voice was very soft throughout the song, even during the parts where he usually gets very passionate. The ending was also very soft. And I liked it - I really liked the ending. As I've said before, the power ballads make me feel, but the softer versions make me feel more.
We got the full version of Even Now. It's been quite a while since I've seen him perform the full version of the song. Barry performed this one softly, as well. He did move more into the passionate power ballad mode during the last chorus. There was a shot I've really wanted to catch and I was in the perfect place to catch it tonight - but I was so caught up in what Barry was doing that I missed it. It's the expression on his face just before he turns to walk back to his piano - he's not even singing and he's conveying so much emotion. He nailed that note again during the final "even now". He mentioned the dry air a couple of times, and we noticed it a time or two - but not during this song. (and he actually got even better a little later in the show)
I couldn't see much of Can't Smile Without You because the audience stood throughout the song - I wasn't in a position where I could stand. Vocally, it seemed this song was toned down a little, too - not as much emphasis as he's placed on it the last few shows.
Barry put the album cut segment back into the show. He didn't ask for requests - good idea - the audience was very vocal anyway. Barry chose to sing Lay Me Down. Before he started the song, he made a joke about doing a medley of his gestures - and he acted out doing things like his little Copacabana dance. I've never heard him say that before - it was really funny. Oh, now I remember. He got started on that because he said the song was on his Live album - and then he demonstrated the pose from that album cover - and he just went from there!
But then Barry went on into the song. He performed softly, but this song is the winner as far as being emotional. Barry definitely sold this song. He put a lot of feeling into the singing of the lyrics - but he also put a lot of feeling into his piano playing. The singing of the line that starts "Heaven, if you're ready..." was haunting - it really kind of shook me. How can I say this? This was another instance of Barry being able to crawl into my heart and find something that I thought I had hidden away - he's so good at doing that, finding things that I thought I had buried - or even more, finding things that I didn't know existed in the first place. He wants to communicate with the audience? He wants to make us feel? He's doing a darn good job.
Just as the entire audience was about ready to slit their wrists, Barry brought the mood back up with Brooklyn Blues and New York City Rhythm. Both of these were still somewhat toned down from what he's been doing, but the groove was definitely there. And Barry was definitely feeling it. You get the impression that Barry is very loyal to his New York roots - and I think that's great - I'm loyal to my Texas roots even though the rest of the country sees me as a dumb country hick. It's cool to see that New York pride in Barry as he's performing the songs.
Brooklyn Blues had a heavy groove. Barry didn't belt the song out, but the feeling still came through just fine. Same thing with New York City Rhythm - lots of feeling. Still had the chase around the piano - I think the competition was really on tonight between the keyboardists. Ron P. started it off with a run that covered darn near every key on the piano, I think! Joe just built on that, and then when the guys made a second pass, he added in a little more. Ron W. went a different direction with his little solo. But I think Ron P. wins this one. Barry ended the song with a note that beat out the one from Even Now - he did an excellent job on that.
Somewhere Down the Road was next - one of my favorite songs of all time. Without that one and Weekend in New England, I feel like something is missing from the shows. Barry's performance of it was beautiful tonight. It seemed as if he almost missed his little dialogue where he talks about the lyrics and the different meanings and he mentions This One's For You. It comes across that he's as emotional about leaving the Hilton as we are about him leaving. He said something about going to the Paris - and several people in the audience yelled "We're going with you!" That goes without saying - how could we not? I could have retired this month - but if I do, I have to give him up - nope, can't do that - not even an option.
The vocal audience was a little too vocal as Barry tried to start SDTR. The piano started playing softly, Barry was sliding into the mood - and some guy yelled out. I've never seen Barry's concentration be broken like that before - but it was. He turned and said, "WHAT?" The guy repeated what he said, but it still wasn't understandable. Barry kept asking what the guy was saying and the audience finally said in unison "Thank you". Barry thanked the guy for thanking him, but told him to save it for the end of the song. He asked Ron W. to start the song again - and Barry slid right back into the mood within a couple of seconds. That's always fascinated me - I love watching him do that.
And so Barry did a beautiful rendition of SDTR. Funny how some lyrics seem to stick out on some nights and others on other nights. Tonight the lines about dreams calling you away really seemed to jump out at me. But so did the lines about goodbye not being forever. I was in the perfect spot in the audience to get some good shots of the performance, but I was just too drawn in to the song. I did pull myself out in time to snap some shots of Barry blowing the kiss - and I'm glad I did.
The old man part of Ships was especially well done tonight - I haven't seen Barry do it like that in a while. His hand was shaking and everything. Barry also put a lot of acting into the singing of the lyrics - he made it seem that there really was a conversation (or argument) going on between the father and son.
Barry got a little more passionate during the Mandy/Could It Be Magic medley - not too passionate, but more than the rest of the show. He's still wearing my favorite white jacket. Will he take that to the Paris with him??? Lots of talk going around about what it will be like at the Paris - what will the seating be like? Everyone says the stage is really high - will it still be high? If so, will the intimacy of the show be lost? People are being told absolutely no photography - that would be a bummer. And now I have to worry about whether or not he'll take the white jacket with him?? That's almost too much to expect a person to withstand...
He had a smile on his face throughout most of I Write the Songs. I noticed that he didn't turn to the backups and mouth "I love you" this time. Maybe he ought to mouth it to us? Of course, this audience was yelling "I love you" to him all night long.
Copacabana is done entirely on the stage now - no more platform. Works for me. Although some people were disappointed the only person grabbing was Kye. Ha! Guess the tush shake wasn't enough!
A cute moment... During the It's A Miracle reprise, when Barry points to the audience and sings "The miracle is you", Keely pointed at him and mouthed "You!" - and then he pointed at her and mouthed "You!" - and they just kept going back and forth with that. Very, very cute.
Barry lingered as he was leaving the stage tonight. He really stopped and looked around, at the audience, at the showroom. He started pulling his ear monitors out as he was barely stepping into the smoke. It always seems that when he does that, he's getting kind of emotional. I think we're all going to be pretty emotional by the end of Wednesday night.
