Dec 04, 2008 3:55 PM GMT
Someone here just posted a Britney video, that made me wonder how other video & concert performers would rate with RJers. Here's a few I've seen in concert:
Madonna, just last week, Sticky & Sweet Tour, outdoors: Spectacularly energetic with sharp, precise choreography, but also strangely cold & remote, like watching a video that just happened to be on a stage. Her voice also went flat a number of times.
Bette Midler: My personal favorite, she's just out there having FUN, and you can tell it. As much a comic as singer and dancer, her routines are full of silliness and humor, and she can be spontaneous and ad-lib with the audience. She seems so at ease, and just happy to be there with you. You really want to like her.
Cher: Saw one of her last "farewell" shows on the road, so these comments may be moot unless you see her at Vegas. I soon realized that she hardly moved on stage, all the apparent motion being an illusion created by her backup dancers and the set, not what one expects at these concerts. But then I remembered when she & Sonny started in the 1960s, wearing furry vests and singing ballads, totally stationary as was the style then. I don't think she ever really accepted the "cartwheels across the stage" manner of performing.
Liza Minnelli, last year at the Hard Rock Casino in FL: She lost a lot of weight, looked great, so please, no fat comments. A small show, little in the way of sets or lighting, limited backup. A bit overdone on forced emotion while talking to the audience, and "unrehearsed" moments that looked rehearsed and clumsy. Only her voice acquitted her, which while not what it was, still has some of the old magic. A more intimate concert, indoors where it worked.
Your own experiences & comments?
Madonna, just last week, Sticky & Sweet Tour, outdoors: Spectacularly energetic with sharp, precise choreography, but also strangely cold & remote, like watching a video that just happened to be on a stage. Her voice also went flat a number of times.
Bette Midler: My personal favorite, she's just out there having FUN, and you can tell it. As much a comic as singer and dancer, her routines are full of silliness and humor, and she can be spontaneous and ad-lib with the audience. She seems so at ease, and just happy to be there with you. You really want to like her.
Cher: Saw one of her last "farewell" shows on the road, so these comments may be moot unless you see her at Vegas. I soon realized that she hardly moved on stage, all the apparent motion being an illusion created by her backup dancers and the set, not what one expects at these concerts. But then I remembered when she & Sonny started in the 1960s, wearing furry vests and singing ballads, totally stationary as was the style then. I don't think she ever really accepted the "cartwheels across the stage" manner of performing.
Liza Minnelli, last year at the Hard Rock Casino in FL: She lost a lot of weight, looked great, so please, no fat comments. A small show, little in the way of sets or lighting, limited backup. A bit overdone on forced emotion while talking to the audience, and "unrehearsed" moments that looked rehearsed and clumsy. Only her voice acquitted her, which while not what it was, still has some of the old magic. A more intimate concert, indoors where it worked.
Your own experiences & comments?