Product: At Blenheim Palace [VHS]
Rating: 5.0
Fantastic!
Assuming this is the same as the DVD version produced by Barry in 2004, it is fantastic! A high-energy 1983 Barry concert to 40,000 people in England, this is absolutely superb. It includes great versions of his songs, kibitzing with the audience, and Barry singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". Of course, I recommend the DVD version, which is the one I have and is more durable than a VHS tape. England LOVES Barry Manilow. The roar of 40,000 people is phenominal!Here is my review from the DVD version, which includes a brief chat with Barry. It is available so hopefully Amazon will put it out there.Wow! Awesome! A young Barry (with a very curly head of hair), performing a high-energy concert at Blenheim Palace in England in 1983 in front of 40,000 people! When they scream, the sound is deafening!The concert begins with Barry bouncing onto the stage singing "Hey You, You're Lookin' Hot Tonight". He rips off his jacket and the crowd goes wild. I had read that he was very nervous about doing this concert. Well, you'd never know it! He continues with "It's a Miracle." God! The audience is going WILD! And this place is HUGE! He kibitzes with the audience about his nose, and then goes into another high-energy song, the very popular Manilownian classic "New York City Rhythm" and the audience is eating him alive!He slows it down with a beautiful version of "Memory," and some props fill in the stage of New York City backdrop scenery, representative of his old Brooklyn neighborhood. He then talks about how he watched American Bandstand after school "when he was a kid" and guess what song is next? --"Bandstand Boogie"! He slips on a white school type jacket and does the boogie with 2 girls in poodle skirts--and can he dance! Man, he's like the Energizer Bunny, boppin' all over the stage.He begins talking about how you never forget your first love and slides into "No Other Love," an absolutely gorgeous song. The audience is screaming so much at first he can hardly compose himself. They adore him! (Hey! Wow! Red vest, white shirt, and RED SOCKS!) "A View From Blenheim" must have been the little instrumental interlude.Oh, he just slid back to the piano and into "Mandy" when I wasn't looking. God! The pure raw emotion in this song! And listen to him flippin around those key changes! What a sneaky little devil. And he just slid back into "No Other Love" for a few words and back to "Mandy".Oooooo! Here comes "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and what a beat! I guess a kind of Conga. And he's dancing backwards across the stage in a white safari jacket! Go Barry! (The safari leisure suit is on the CD cover.) Here come the conga drums! With Barry playing them. Go Barry, again! Awe, Geeze! This clip is out of this world! This guy was born to perform! (As if we didn't know that already!) I never heard him do this one before.He rips off the safari jacket and "Lay Me Down" is next, slow and beautiful. Next, he speeds up with "Some Kind of Friend". After singing the full song, he slides out an electronic keyboard on this one and goes wild on it, then back to singing. This is an extended version and very cool."Can't Smile Without You" is next and the audience has to help whistle it into existence while he plays. Then THEY start singing. Well, when he says he wants to bring somebody up on stage to sing with him, they go nuts. He does a nice duet with a selected-at-random lady from the audience."I Write the Songs" is next, a beautiful song. Many people think Barry is singing about himself as writing the songs that make the whole world sing, but that is not the meaning of the song. It is about the Spirit of music within someone, writing the songs so they come out of them and into the world.As this fantastic evening winds down, Barry sings "We'll Meet Again" to England and then England sings "One Voice," along with a choir of gorgeous angelic sounding voices. (Barry wrote this song. I read that it came to him in a dream.) He runs offstage and runs back for a reprise of "You're Lookin' Hot Tonight" and it's short, but hot!High energy, clear sound and visual, Barry is so clear you often see the sweat on his face, and I'm watching on a cheap DVD player. He puts his whole heart and whole soul into this concert and it is friggin' fantastic! It appears this DVD was actually produced in 2004. Total time is about 1 hour 10 minutes. On a scale of 1 to 10, worth about a 20! Video produced by Barry Manilow in 1984 it says, and the concert was in 1983. Barry was so fired up on adrenaline in this concert, I bet he didn't sleep for a week! He OWNED the Palace that night in 1983!There is also a brief 3 minute or so documentary by Barry, apparently added in 2004. He does not believe he ever played an audience this large since and said this concert was one of his fondest memories. I tell you what, this was sooo high energy. I mean, I am worn out from just watching it! That's all I can say is WOW! I am almost speechless. Call Ripley's Believe it or Not `cause I don't get speechless very often.Seriously, this was one AWESOME concert!