CONCERT REVIEW: Barbra Streisand @ Wells Fargo Center 10/8

Bravely, Streisand didn't stick to any listeners' desired script or play list, opting instead to offer a few hits (a warm "People") amongst a majority of self-chosen vocal favorites.

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CONCERT REVIEW: Barbra Streisand @ Wells Fargo Center 10/8

POSTED: Wednesday, October 10, 2012, 1:00 PM

Filed Under: Music Concert Review

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Barbra Streisand comes with significant weight beyond mere vocal prowess. At her start, she was the singular arc between the standard song of the great composers (Porter, Berlin), several of the new cats (Bernstein, Sondheim) its lurch into Hollywood and Broadway and finally the modern Pop era. Without touching upon the rock n’ roll immediately behind her or the British Invasion/California sound to come, she paved her own way with brass and subtlety and the unapologetic authenticity of ethnicity. She was a Jewish girl with a prominent nose and a New Yawk accent and defiantly proud of it all.

With a mix of material schmaltzy and stately (and a voice to match), the Brooklyn-raised Streisand was the new show business, an unstoppable force whose flickering mezzo-soprano vocals and forceful personality could stop traffic.

She may have touched upon soft MOR rock and mildly hinted at disco throughout the ’70s and early ’80s, but the fact that Streisand hardly wavered from her singular direction is astounding, the thing that makes her iconic. The other thing (other than her outspokenness when it comes to Democratic causes and pro-gay stance) that solidifies her stature is how reticent she’s been to sing on stage; eighty one shows since 1963 by her own count.

Therefore at age 70, in possession of most of her range and with a willingness to look backwards (to her upbringing, to songs recorded that went unreleased now on her new album, Release Me) Streisand started her Back to Brooklyn tour in Philadelphia last night at the Wells Fargo Center, not counting the weeks of rehearsal and one three hour blast for 500 friends at the Liacouras Center last Friday. Bravely, Streisand didn’t stick to any listeners’ desired script or play list, opting instead to offer a few hits (a warm “People”) amongst a majority of self-chosen vocal favorites. Maybe she yakked too much, took too many breaks, missed a few cues and added in weird lines about Brooklyn's Jay-Z to the boroughs-themed “You’re the Top” — she’s got to be bugged out nervous about her next tour date at the Barclay Center — but as far as large productions went, this was the grand wazoo and the big mamoo rolled into one glittering prize.

Along with video treks of her rise to fame, and a 1979 mini-documentary interviewing Brooklyn-ers who knew her when, Streisand went back happily in song. From where I sat you could see and hear her age, another source of pride. Hello gawgeous? Yes, she looks great at 70. Her singing? The bell ringing highs on the calming “The Way We Were” were as sharp as the whispered introductory hush of “Being Good Isn’t Good Enough (from Hallelujah, Baby! Her teaming of the boastfully showy “Rose’s Turn/”Some People” from Gypsy with her triumphant Funny Girl moment, “Don’t Rain on My Parade” was heart stopping with its rolling congas and its bouncing reeds and brass (that’s what a sixty piece orchestra can do).

Thankfully though, Streisand showed some vocal wear-and-tear, a grittiness that made her vamp on the second line of Jimmy Webb’s “Didn’t We” coolly jazzy and the reminiscence behind Leonard Bernstein’s “Some Other Time” deeply etched and wonderfully winsome. The way she lowered an octave and rushed the bridge of “The Way He Makes Me Feel” was brilliantly inventive and the manner in which she paired with moodily atmospheric trumpeter Chris Botti on the romantically pensive medley of “What’ll I Do”/”My Funny Valentine” was supple and dramatic without going over the top.

Hearing Streisand pay tribute to those who passed away like her one time duet partner Donna Summer with the four-on-the-floor “Enough is Enough” and her longtime friend and collaborator Marvin Hamlisch on the dreamy “Through the Eyes of Love” were winningly winsome moments without much saccharine. Though the Italian popera trio Il Volo and Streisand’s son Jason Gould were good, even great, I could have done without them. They left less time for Streisand herself.

If this is indeed her farewell tour it would be a pity. With age, Streisand has only gotten better, more of a warmly flickering flame than a firebrand. Then again, in discussing this tour, she reminded audiences of her never-say-never approach to life as well as a newfound appreciation of this city, one she likes so much, she might “start all of her farewell tours here.”

Posted by A.D. Amorosi @ 1:00 PM Permalink | 1 comment

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Comments (1)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 3:22 PM, 10/10/2012

I thought Striesand was terrific as long as I reminded myself she was 70 years old. Let's face it nobody could do Striesand of 20 years ago and the Monday night performance proved it. This is difficult for me to say but I feel I did not get my ticket price value here. The self-serving Jason Gould interruption (especially the overly sentimental video gift from son to mother) was quite overdone and not what I paid big bucks to see. I felt the breaks for Il Volo and the trumpter Chris Botti were fine (even though Mr. Botti's overly long jazz rift was a waste of time for me)but overly long, but again I have to remember she's 70 so maybe she is not physically capable of giving the audience anymore then she did. I found her voice to be much stronger and on key in the 1st quarter of the concert but it did experience some minor difficulties in the latter part of the evening. My wife loved it so I am happy for that but I wish we had just a little more Barbara.

— mystero

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