A friend from work and I went to see Barry Manilow on Saturday. I enjoyed his music before, because for some reason it reminds me of being little and riding in the back seat of our Ford station wagon while my mom played his 8-tracks (John Denver does that, too). It's a pretty happy kind of music. Now that I've seen him in concert, though, I am much more of a fan. 


The man is 68 years old and he's still really involved in putting on an excellent show. Like his music or not, Manilow actually has the voice that you hear on his recordings, which is kind of a big deal to me. There's nothing more annoying to me than paying all of that money for a concert ticket and then getting there and hearing a voice that only vaguely sounds the way it did on the recording, and is flat and screaming the whole time (do you hear me, Gwen Stefani?).


Even with some dry throat scratchy type issues (which he acknowledged, and, come on, it's the freaking desert, what could he do?), Manilow sounded great. Yes, I'm pretty sure he's lowered his songs a bit, but the quality of his voice is really outstanding. Plus, I guess he just had hip surgery and he was moving around on stage really well. A bit stiffly, but what do you want? There were even (ugh) some pelvic thrusts. The best part was that while he was singing Weekend in New England, a lady screamed really loudly after he sang the "When can I touch you?" line, and he started laughing so much, they had to stop the song. It was pretty funny.


Also, the obligatory pair of underpants was thrown onto the stage close to the end of the concert, which was hilarious. Really? You think he really wants your underpants? I don't think he's super into chicks, but even if he is, what good are your underpants to him? You realize that some stagehand probably has to get into hazmat gear to pick those up and throw them away, right?


Troublemaker.


Anyhow, if you ever get the chance and you like his music at all, I'd highly recommend going to one of his concerts. It was so much fun and one can tell that he really loves performing. The audience was also outstanding (except you, Miss Underpants) and there was lots of singing along. Even the people with terrible voices got into it, which makes me happy because that's probably the only time they feel un-self-conscious enough to sing, what with being covered up by all of those other people.


Bring earplugs, though. There's a lot of screaming. Also, mind the flying panties. Ick.