Barry Manilow

June 5, 2015

2015-05-28 19.14.00 Now, now. I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t Barry Manilow like…dead? Actually he’s not. But dang is he old. I saw he was coming to town and bought tickets and since my hubby refused to accompany me, I took my friend Cindy instead.

First you have to know that Barry Manilow is who my mom listened to. This means that when I became interested in music, which was back in the 70’s, there was no way for me to access it other than via my mom’s old records. She had Elvis, Barry Manilow, and the Carpenters. I still listen to all of them.

The first thing I noticed was the giant disco ball hanging from the ceiling and then the grand piano adorning the stage. The opening act was okay. Some older fellow thinking he could still be sexy in his later years while blowing a saxophone. We giggled every time he wagged his eyebrows at the crowd and strutted around the stage.

2015-05-28 19.14.30

I kinda felt sorry for the guys playing bass and guitar. They wore sunglasses the whole time even though it was dark which, to me, meant they were probably thinking, “Oh, man. This sucks. How did I end up on the Barry Manilow tour?”

We were pretty much surrounded by drunk seniors. One lady in front of us wore short shorts and a cut off shirt. Now, not many people even in their teens can pull that look off. It was just plain wrong and all kinds of distracting seeing the woman, who was at least in her early 60’s, get up and bounce around in front of us, body parts jiggling everywhere, while she shouted, “Barry! I love you!”

What surprised me the most about the concert was the fact that I literally knew every song the guy sang. Holy cow. He moved around the stage pretty well for an old guy. His hair is…unnatural but it somehow fits him. He must have been sweltering in his jacket but he’s a sequined professional. The people who set up the show brilliantly made use of video to show off his old material so he could catch his breath.

The crowd did a sing-a-long to “I Write the Songs” with on screen lyrics and a bouncing ball and everything. He joked about his age (he was born in 1943 so you do the math) and said he was turning 35 then added, “Just kidding. I’m more than twice than age now. But, I think of it this way, when my grandfather was this old, the best he could do was bring up phlegm.”

While sitting at the piano and singing one of my favorites, Even Now, a rowdy group of ladies in the crowd screamed, “We love you, Barry!” He stopped playing and said, “I’ve still got it.” Then when he was done, he stood up and added, “You’re a romantic crowd aren’t you? I was even getting turned on myself for a minute there.”

https://youtu.be/t9SSyMN75wY

He showed us a video of himself singing Mandy before he’d become famous and I was shocked to see he was actually a hottie. He looked like a Bee Gee or David Cassidy. Sort of. No? Maybe its the hair.

Then he talked about his new duets album and said, “All the old geezers are doing one, but I want mine to be different so I chose to do duets with people who have passed on.” Barry said he wanted to call it “Death Duets” but the studio didn’t like his suggestion and dubbed it “Dream Duets” instead. He showed a video of Judy Garland singing and he joined it. Lovely.

https://youtu.be/c44QO0Lrbi8

2015-05-28 21.45.39 At the end of the show he sang a medley of maybe 20 to 25 songs and again I knew each one. Before he started, he said, “For all of you who’ve been dragged here tonight, this medley is going to be agony.” It wasn’t though. It was awesome. Then he left the stage and I was about to be all sorts of disappointed that the disco ball never came into play. But then he returned for an encore and sang, Copacabana with the whole crowd dancing under the disco ball. People, it just doesn’t get any more senior…er…I mean sweeter, than that.

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Colleen Houck

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Barry Manilow

June 5, 2015

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Colleen Houck