For Barry Manilow Fans.....

[Mishetta]

Just for the record, I have been a HUGE Barry Manilow fan since about 1975. I have seen him many times in concert & also ran into him once (when I was working in Beverly Hills, CA). I was also fortunate enough years ago, to get backstage passes once in Vegas (thru a musician friend), unfortunately for me, that night was Barry's birthday & immediately after the concert, he hopped on a plane to celebrate his b-day in NY with his Mom.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my good fortune with my DIS friends. A couple months ago, I went to buy tickets for the Manilow concert but being that Im married with kids (you Mom's know how it is), I cannot spend $135 on a concert ticket to sit up close, so my friends & I purchased tickets in the nose bleed section. We were going to see him at the Palace of Auburn Hills & they have screens that we can view the concert on. So we purchased our lousy $40 seats & sat 4 rows from the back top wall. Barry looked like a speck of salt on stage from where we were sitting. The 6 of us made the best of it since we were all Barry fans & were just so happy to be in the same room with him!

About a quarter of the way into the concert, a Palace employee came up behind us & offered us tickets to move up closer. We said we'd take them if we could have 6. It was all or nothing. Thankfully, she gave us all tickets to move. She told us an usher would direct us to our seats. So, we started our long descent down a million stairs. We stopped at the next section down & showed our tickets to an usher & they said 'no, you need to go down some more' so, as annoyed as we were (because we were missing the show since we were watching where we were walking), we kept going down more & more stairs. Anyway, to make this story shorter, it turned out that the seats we were given were on the main floor, 18 rows FROM THE STAGE!!! To think we started off sitting aprox 30,000 feet in the air (a mild exageration) in the $40 seats & we were given the opportunity to sit in the $135 seats on the main floor!! We all acted like teenagers, jumping up & down & screaming with excitement!! We had such a good time & we were transported back to a time that we were all young & carefree! It was one of those warm fuzzy moments that we all need from time to time!

Anyway, just wanted to share my good luck story since I just know that today when I go to tell my friends (that didn't come with us), they won't believe the luck we had!

 

[Lisa L from MI]

Thats GREAT Mishetta!!!! My girlfriend and I were at the show also....wasn't he just the BEST!!!!!

We had GREAT seats too...(but we did fork out the 135.00 ) We were in lower bowl just 5 rows up from main floor (on the "short" side of the "oval")

Another funny story......on the way to our section when we just got there....my friend said "look there's Dick Purtan".....sure enough....he was standing outside waiting by the womens bathroom.....I am a sucker for anyone "famous" and we of course went and talked to him....and he signed the back of my ticket!!

 

[Serena]

That is so cool!

 

[Mishetta]

Hi Lisa! Wish I had known you were gonna be there, we could have met!! Did you see the 4 women who had yellow feathers in their hair? We were a few rows behind them. Or we were in the section that Barry appeared from the backstage area (he was escorted by a human chain of about 8 men on & off stage). Another way to describe where we sat was we were in the same section as the lucky girl who got to go up on stage to sing with him (you know, the one who was pulling her top down & had her hands all over Barry?) Oh why couldn't that have been ME???????

And Serena ~ no, it wasn't "cool" it was very "hot!"

Edited to add: Forgot to mention that there was a Barry Manilow look-a-like there. I spotted him as we were entering the corridor to get to our nose bleed section. I couldn't speak at first (since I thought it was "him") & just grabbed my one girlfriend by the shoulder & then she spotted him & she also had a frozen reaction to him until we realized that it was not Barry but a look-a-like. He had his hair like him & he was dressed in a suit & he was really enjoying the attention. I had to laugh at myself because at my age, I was acting like a groupie! Ahh....what fun it was!

 

[Lisa L from MI]

I didn't see the "feather women"......but I know where you were then.....we were to the right of you as you would be looking at the stage.....in the lower bowl right above the "short" section of main floor.....section 126 to be exact.....Someone apparently passed out on main floor right there too...during the first half...not sure if you would have noticed....but it was quite a bit of commotion with paramedics and ushers coming down......

 

[Mishetta]

Missed the commotion of the fan that fainted. Too bad someone fainted but Barry has that effect on me too!

Are there any other Barry Manilow fans out there? I'd love to hear some more "Barry" stories if anyone has any to share!

 

[Lisa L from MI]

We parked at the Post Bar across the street and took the shuttle they have for 3 bucks....dropped us off right at the door and we hopped right on the shuttle right after the concert....It was great doing that.....

Anyway, my point.....there was a guy sitting at the bar that looked just like the guy from the show "Wings"....you know, the longer haired guy.....

 

[Mishetta]

Sent you a PM and wasn't $15 for parking just utterly ridiculous???!!!

 

[my3kids]

How cool is that???? Great upgrade.

 

[Kim&Chris]

Whoa! Very cool story!! Congrats on the good luck

I saw Barry when I was a teenager....I think it was around the time that "Ready to Take a Chance Again" was topping the charts. It was one of the best shows I've ever seen.

Here in Philly, we have a radio station that plays Barry pretty often, so I get to hear all those wonderful songs while I'm in work! In fact, they played "Mandy" just a little while ago

 

[Mishetta]

Barry's shows are wonderful! I don't think anyone can imagine what a show person he is unless they've seen him in concert. The humor is something else too. Plus, all the flash he adds. I got bombarded with long strings of multi-colored confetti at his concert on Saturday night & believe it or not, I'M KEEPING IT!!! It was soooooo cool to see all that color shooting out from the ceiling above the stage. Not to mention the flags that came flying down above the stage while he was in his patriotic moment. The dancing from his tour group were fabulous too. Like seeing a broadway show or a Vegas show. Very entertaining.

 

[CookieGVB]

Good for you! So glad you were able to move up closer.

Someone fainted at the show? He does have that effect on us, doesn't he?

I was picked to sing with Barry, a loonnngggg time ago. I have quite a few other friends who've been up there, too.


I luuurrrrrrvvvvv him!!

 

[Mishetta]

OMG!!!! Cookie!!! You sang with him? You touched him???!!!! He probably put his arm around you!!! Did he sit on his piano & have you stand between his legs???!!! Did he, did he, did he????!!!!

 

[Pin Wizard]

Sounds like you had a great time, Rose!! Congrats on the change in seats! I'm not personally a fan of his, but I used to work with a woman who I swear would have left her husband to marry him. I'm more a Billy Joel fan. I've seen him 5 times. At the meadowlands we were on the floor. I could have reached out and touched his leg when he was walking on the railing! Glad you had such a wonderful time!

P.S. I've seen Toby Keith twice and plan to have him beat out Billy's total!

 

[ckay87]

Just have to stand up and be counted as a fan. 2 weeks since I've seen him in Philly and I miss him already. Have seen many of his shows. Although I never tire of his music, nothing beats seeing Barry live. I mean, you gotta see it to believe it, don't you? He's amazing.

I was irked about the ticket prices for this show. I've always been in the first 10 rows, but this time around I refused to pay the money. Took the lower price tickets, but was surprised at how well we were able to see. From one level up you could see everything.

What did you think of the William Tell Overture? I do not know why, but that was a highlight for me.

 

[DebbieB]

Wow! Congratulations! I heard he does that, picks people from the last row and moves them up.

I saw him in Pittsburgh 2 weeks ago. Great show. I thought the prices were high, I paid $78 + fees for second section in the stands. The Mellon Arena was only about half full. I think they would have been better off charging less and filling more seats.

The best moment was Mandy. When we arrived, I kept saying I can't believe there's not a piano on the stage. I don't want to give it away to anyone who hasn't seen it, but it was a surprise!

 

[holycow]

We'll be seeing him this Friday night...my DH wants to see him again...he does put on a great show !


Holycow

 

[Mishetta]

Ahhhh yes......the secret of the "piano." We also commented on that when we arrived that there was no piano but what a commotion it stirred when it suddenly appeared with Barry playing it!

I also laughed (so hard) & screamed (so loud) when he immitated a "move" that Michael Jackson invented. I won't go into detail but it was cute.

I soooooo envy you HolyCow. You're going to enjoy the show so much. Wish I could hop a plane to FL to catch another show (like I did when I was in my 20's & was following the Bee Gee's around the country! )

If you don't have his new CD already, plan to buy it at the concert. If you buy a program, you get the CD for FREE. We waited till after the show & they were all gone.

 

[PigletsPal]

In just 3 more days it will be my turn to see HIM.............YEAH Ok now for a few ????
How much was the programs............don't want to faint and make sure I have enough $$$ on me.

Did he sing Weekend in New England...................... that is my all time fav. and the last time I saw him he left it out of the show and I was, no wait still very upset about it.............

 

[Mishetta]

Hi PigletsPal ~ yep, Barry sang Weekend in New England. He even did his "commercial" songs which I think he hadn't done the past few times I saw him. Maybe he's throwing in a little of everything this show since it's supposed to be his "last" tour.

Anyway, the programs were $20 with a free CD. But when we went after the concert to purchase it, they were all gone. They offered us another program, which supposedly had many more photo's with NO CD, but we opted not to buy it. I know what's happened to all my programs from past concerts....they are packed away in my basement somewhere.

Tee-shirts were either $20 or $25 (sorry ~ forgot). A mug was $10 & I really can't remember what else I saw there.