Original image by There Stands the Glass.
There was a time when I wouldn’t have crossed the street to attend a Barry Manilow concert. I’m growing increasingly tolerant as I age. That’s why I jumped on the bargain when I stumbled upon a pair of $15 all-in tickets for the easy listening icon’s concert at the T-Mobile Center.
I feared my life partner would scold me for the impulsive and mildly embarrassing purchase. Instead, she revealed she knew all the words to more than a dozen Manilow songs. Her long-repressed fandom delighted me.
We had more fun reveling in recordings of Manilow’s processed cheese in the days ahead of the August 25 concert than we did at the actual event. The concert started poorly for an audience of about 5,000. An alleged comedian opened the show. He was so disastrously unfunny I suspect he may have been a transgressive performance artist.
Manilow was game throughout his 90-minute set, but his rinky-dink sound system and basic shoebox stage was the weakest presentation for a major star I’ve encountered in years. The threadbare casino setup was wholly inadequate for the vast arena. I would have been furious had I paid more than a total of $30.
Renditions of “Looks Like We Made It,” “Even Now” and “I Made It Through the Rain” deserved better. Acknowledging that his oeuvre is derided as dentist office fare, Manilow joked that “as long as there are teeth, my songs will live forever.” Maybe so, but the abysmal production put Manilow’s songs on life support in Kansas City.