Me.
I did.
Why else do you think I'd ask this question.
Anyway... If you were born in the 70s and had a dull suburban parent, you probably heard fair amounts of Manilow in your house.
My mom LOVED this guy: women were so hot for him back in the day.
So I can more-or-less sing his hits from the 70s up to about 82.
I promised myself I'd see him play live before the chase was lost, for nostalgia and a sort of mental promise I made to my ma after she passed away.
Manilow is 71 years old (born before WW2!) and is really showing his age, promoting this as the "One Last Time" tour so I figured it was now or never!
As the tour title implies, he really has slowed down and in rough shape--plastic surgery and wigs just don't cover it.
Never had a great voice, it was creaky and not too on key most of the night, but when he got 'in the pocket' he still managed to pull off his better numbers.
There were also times he was obviously lip-syncing.
He moves around a lot on stage, like way more than necessary esp for someone who obviously has trouble walking.
After performing live for over 40 years you can tell he just is not comfortable being looked at (there's lots of stories about how it is in his contract that venue staff aren't allowed to look him in the face) and he keeps moving around because he doesn't know why people are there to see him perform.
Couple high points:
~He takes a lady out of the audience and serenades her. This is a bit he's always done, and I remember my mom telling me about it when she saw him in the early 80s.
~He dueted with an old tv show video of himself from 1975 singing Mandy which was really good actually.
~I think the crowd fav of the night was Weekend In New England.
~He jokingly called himself a "Mega Superstar Sex God".
~The crowd was about 2/3 full maybe? But really into it, and that made the show feel fun and special.
He was also promoting a cd of duets he did with dead people. REALLY f*cking creepy, esp since a few of them haven't been gone long or are really just legendary giants.
It was at the Coyotes stadium which is really f*cking nice. I don't like big show rooms, but at least this place felt like it earned it's size.
The ending was a like, 30 minute medley of hits, a at least 5 of which really should have gotten the full song treatment.
I spent the whole concert 'live-blogging' it with Ed Masley on a thread on his FB page, which was a lot of fun.
Look it up if you're interested.
I think the only "must see" act left on my list of bands is probably The Clash, and I guess I'll never get that chance.
