Oh Barrrrry....

So the 6 of us caught the monorail to the Hilton. E still couldn’t be persuaded to sample the ‘Barry Experience’ but came along for the ride and a bite to eat. ..

We weaved our way through the Star Trek exhibits and the casino and collected our tickets.
After Sandy’s big win and the Bellagio 4’s Stratosphere excitement – seeing Barry just felt like a way to round off the day …no more, no less than that.

Wolfed down some food in the Paradise café – made quick arrangements to meet E later in front of the Bellagio fountains, and then found the Tempo lounge bar for some stiff cocktails.
We reckoned we might be needing them. Sandy, flush from his win, did the honours and we knocked them back like five people about to see the dentist.

Joined the tail end of the queue - all grabbing a free glowstick on the way in, and then, to enter into the spirt of things a little more, we all bought feather boas. (The boys looked very fetching in theirs, I must say…)

The Bellagio 4 were all upstairs but I was downstairs, near the back. No matter – we were all seeing the same show.

Draped my boa around my neck and found my seat. The people all around me were in excited Barry mood so I didn’t dare let on I was doing this for a laugh…and anyway, my feathers were giving me some kind of credibility. I was trying to feel abit 'Copacabana' (but I was also feeling a bit like a fraud)

Made friendly conversation with a couple next to me and soon realised this was a Very Big Deal for my fellow audience members …

Finally, the lights dimmed….and I settled back in my seat.

On the big screen – not kittens and hearts and flowers, or whatever I was expecting….but a psychedelic frenzy of madness . Swirling, pulsating, strange, hallucinogenic ...
Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Two Tribes” began to blast out …

I sat forward. My eyes widened. My heart rate started to shoot up…

What ever trip Barry was on – he was obviously hellbent on taking us with him..

As the music and the madness built to a crescendo –snatches of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz mixed in to the frenzy….
then a piercing unearthly screammmmm…

"It’s Vegas babyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy"…….

I was gobsmacked….

What WAS this???
More importantly…WHO was this man?
Now, I couldn’t wait to find out.

Up went the screen…there bathed in ‘heavenly light’, a golden silhouette …
It seemed like a vision. …

The audience went wild and leapt to its feet. I’m definitely hallucinating I thought to myself.

Barry. The man himself. Looking great.

Slim, lithe, bounding with energy, beaming from ear to ear. If he looked happy to see us – his audience were ecstatic to see him

Almost immediately, Barry had us in the palm of his hand…

Likeable, self deprecating, funny, having the time of his life.
You couldn’t fail to be swept along with him.
It was like an evangelical rally – and the Evangelist had our hearts and souls firmly in his grip.…

And he didn’t let go. Not for one minute.

Billed as the Ultimate Concert –with a huge backing orchestra and 4 fabulous singers- the hits just kept on coming.
I swear I thought I’d never see the day when Barry did the techno version of ‘It’s a Miracle’ – but he did.
And it was exhilarating.

‘I’m still a sex god’ he whooped at the end of it - and you know what –I had to concede – he really was!

The show is a fantastic joyride from beginning to end. He doesn’t let up for a moment.

Hard to pick out the high spots in what felt like a permanent high. I’ll try:

A fantastic medley from the 40s/50s/60s with his singers; a brilliant high energy piano set where 4 members of the band and B took it in turns to seize the piano and pound the ivories one after the other without missing a note; a touching tribute to his father which brought a tear to the eye, (‘get a grip, L ‘ I said to myself ) .

At one point he broke into ‘I see you baby…shakin’ you’re a** ‘

Whaaaaat??????

And even 'Mandy' – which I was dreading…was delivered with the minimum of sentiment.
First we saw that geeky guy from way back when, playing on the big screen.……
Half way through, the picture dissolved through to the man himself finishing the song – just him and the piano in a lone spotlight. Simple. Effective.
Reminding us all he’s never been away.

And ofcourse, Copacabana …Barry suspended over the audience on a flying platform as the whole theatre just went ape s**t Copa-crazy.

Somewhere in the middle of all this I had the strangest feeling …my stomach was churning, my palms were sweaty – oh my god …it felt like love! What’s happening to me??
I must be losing my mind!

I was Manilow- mesmerised and I swear I had to keep pinching myself.

There I was, up on my feet, waving my glowstick and my feathers with the best of ‘em.
Nothing mattered. Not the nose, not the plastic surgery, not the sheer over the top kitschness of it all.
I was lost in the madness.

Whatever it is he’s got – they should bottle it.

He’s a brilliant showman and Vegas is all the richer for having him there.
No. That’s an understatement.
Barry is Vegas.

Well - that’s how it felt that night.

When it was over I wondered whether it was just me feeling deranged with excitement.
What would the others think?

I staggered out in a daze. Sarah1 came and found me. I took one look at her and knew she felt the same. Her big bambi eyes were wider than ever and she was as over excited as I was…

But what about the normally cool Sandy, and our 2 twentysomethings?

Sarah led the way back to the Tempo bar where the others were so high they couldn’t sit down. We were all drunk with euphoria and literally jumping around. Adam pronounced it the best show he’d ever seen. (This was particularly extraordinary as he is well up on all the bands of the moment) .

As for Sandy. …’you know what’, he said ‘Winning $3000 was great – but this was better…’

Blimey.

But! No time to lose! we had to meet E.

He didn’t know what was about to hit him.

Onto the monorail – where we were still too excited to sit down. Sandy immediately dubbed it the Mani-rail as our Barrymania took over the carriage. We fed on each others’ frenzy all the way to the Fountains – singing and laughing and waving our feather boas and glowsticks about. And then berated E for not coming.

I don’t think he was expecting this wave of hysteria – but to be fair – none of us could have predicted it. And we weren’t even drunk.

We gazed at the Fountains. ‘I think Barry walks on water’ I said

‘Yes’, said Sandy …’that’s how it should be in Vegas…Barry rising up in the middle of the Fountains …singing …’ (I’m laughing now just thinking about it …!)

You can’t sustain that level of hysteria - and eventually we all calmed down …(’we’ve hit a Mani–low’ said Sandy ). …

We decided to watch the next Fountain show from Sandy and Sarah’s room and headed into The Bellagio.

Up in their room, while we were gazing at the view, Sandy suddenly produced a fistful of dollars.

‘It’s been an amazing day,’ he said ‘and I want you all to share in the luck’ -and with that he thrust a $100 note into each of our hands.
What can I say.
That’s Sandy. He is what we call in Britain ‘A top bloke’

Excited again, we headed down to the casino. A bride and her bridesmaids passed us enroute – the bride shaking her feather boa at us with a joyous ‘woooo wooooo!'

We shook ours back with a chorus of 'woooooos'.

Only in Vegas can a perfect stranger shake their feathers at you and go ‘wooooooo’ …..and it seems perfectly normal...

Sandy’s instructions were to see if we could add to his 'investment' in us.
Not for him..Just for the fun of it.

So we played roulette in teams and then hit the slots.
Sarah1 was the only one of us who did make a profit – but it didn’t matter. It was great night.

By about 01.30 I remembered E and I had to pack. It didn’t seem possible – but we were heading home the next day. So we agreed to meet the Bellagio 4 for breakfast, said our goodnights and headed back to The Mirage.

Barry had stolen my heart and I was feeling like I had had the strangest of nights.

Flung a few things in my case and flopped into bed.
I was exhausted. ….

As I drifted off to sleep, fragmented moments swirled around in my head....and I swear I could see Barry ....rising up and walking towards me... singing through The Fountains ….