San Diego recap
Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 9:41 pm
I was lucky enough to attend Burt's Friday, Aug. 27, 2004, performance in San Diego, the first of two open-air Summer Pops concerts with the San Diego Symphony at the Embarcadero on the edge of San Diego Harbor. It was a great night for a number of reasons.
Tickets were hard to come by; if not a sell out, it was close to being one. The San Diego Symphony opened the show with a brief set of light classics and popular songs. At the break, I had the chance to meet Alvina and her husband, who had come from Florida to see the concert for her birthday. She was an absolute delight, regaling me with stories of seeing Burt through the years, including seeing Burt and Anthony Newley together in the early 1970s. She was thoroughly charming and her bubbly enthusiasm for Burt was infectious.
The show began soon after. Burt took the stage in a light gray jacket and trousers and sat down at the piano to play the opening notes of "What the World Needs Now Is Love." The show was basically the same one he's been doing in recent years--a series of jaw-droppingly expansive medleys punctuated by several solo spotlights--but I was pleasantly surprised to discover a number of changes from the last time I'd seen him perform. Burt sang "The Look of Love," which I don't recall seeing before, as well as part of "Close To You." One of the benefits of seeing Burt with a symphony backing is hearing "God Give Me Strength" rather than "I Still Have That Other Girl," which I think he tends to perform with the self-contained band. John Pagano does a fine job with it and it is, in my mind anyway, a superior song to "I Still Have That Other Girl." The band also played more extended versions of both "What's New Pussycat" and "The World Is A Circle," and there was also the nice addition of some wah wah guitar to "The Blob." I hadn't seen him solo in more than a year so some of these changes may be old hat by now and I might be missing others.
Burt was forced to cut the show a bit short to accommodate fireworks in the harbor, so it ended after "That's What Friends Are For" without segueing into the reprise of "What the World Needs Now Is Love." Also thanks to the fireworks, there was no encore, so no "The Windows of the World," but the San Diego Symphony did its part to make up for the omission by performing "Soul Bossa Nova" during the fireworks.
After the show, my friends and I had to wait a while before finally getting backstage. Burt's production manager had told me I'd be on the backstage list, but as often happens, the security guy didn't have that list and wouldn't let us back. We hovered by the stage for a while and were close to calling it a night when I spotted Sue, Burt's tour manager, on stage. She immediately greeted us and brought us back. I had been warned that backstage was likely to a madhouse with Burt's family and friends in attendance and it was indeed quite hectic. I honestly didn't expect to get much of a chance to talk to Burt (I'm not the type to force myself on celebrities), but I had hoped to say hi to Rob Shrock or David Crigger and ask them a few questions. Unfortunately, both had left by the time we got back there, but when we entered Burt's trailer, Sue spotted me and immediately brought Burt over to say hi--"You remember Mark. He does the Web site." I've met him four times now, and while I doubt he could pick me out of a lineup, he's always been gracious and expressed his appreciation of the Web site. He looked relaxed, healthy and amazingly vibrant.
I told him I'd enjoyed the show and mentioned all the emails I'd received about the recent tour of Italy. He said it was fun but hard. I asked him about his solo CD project for Sony UK and he said that he'd recorded four things for it, but it was still a long way from being released. My friend Nichole noticed a Taurus medal on his neck and they talked a bit about astrological traits. Alvina, who was backstage with her husband, joined in the conversation, but then someone tapped Burt on the shoulder and he was whisked away for a photo. I didn't get a chance to take any photos, but Alvina's husband took a photo of me, Alvina and Pam from Cali, which hopefully will find its way onto the site in the near future.
On the whole, it was a wonderful night and it was great to finally meet Alvina as well as Pam.
Tickets were hard to come by; if not a sell out, it was close to being one. The San Diego Symphony opened the show with a brief set of light classics and popular songs. At the break, I had the chance to meet Alvina and her husband, who had come from Florida to see the concert for her birthday. She was an absolute delight, regaling me with stories of seeing Burt through the years, including seeing Burt and Anthony Newley together in the early 1970s. She was thoroughly charming and her bubbly enthusiasm for Burt was infectious.
The show began soon after. Burt took the stage in a light gray jacket and trousers and sat down at the piano to play the opening notes of "What the World Needs Now Is Love." The show was basically the same one he's been doing in recent years--a series of jaw-droppingly expansive medleys punctuated by several solo spotlights--but I was pleasantly surprised to discover a number of changes from the last time I'd seen him perform. Burt sang "The Look of Love," which I don't recall seeing before, as well as part of "Close To You." One of the benefits of seeing Burt with a symphony backing is hearing "God Give Me Strength" rather than "I Still Have That Other Girl," which I think he tends to perform with the self-contained band. John Pagano does a fine job with it and it is, in my mind anyway, a superior song to "I Still Have That Other Girl." The band also played more extended versions of both "What's New Pussycat" and "The World Is A Circle," and there was also the nice addition of some wah wah guitar to "The Blob." I hadn't seen him solo in more than a year so some of these changes may be old hat by now and I might be missing others.
Burt was forced to cut the show a bit short to accommodate fireworks in the harbor, so it ended after "That's What Friends Are For" without segueing into the reprise of "What the World Needs Now Is Love." Also thanks to the fireworks, there was no encore, so no "The Windows of the World," but the San Diego Symphony did its part to make up for the omission by performing "Soul Bossa Nova" during the fireworks.
After the show, my friends and I had to wait a while before finally getting backstage. Burt's production manager had told me I'd be on the backstage list, but as often happens, the security guy didn't have that list and wouldn't let us back. We hovered by the stage for a while and were close to calling it a night when I spotted Sue, Burt's tour manager, on stage. She immediately greeted us and brought us back. I had been warned that backstage was likely to a madhouse with Burt's family and friends in attendance and it was indeed quite hectic. I honestly didn't expect to get much of a chance to talk to Burt (I'm not the type to force myself on celebrities), but I had hoped to say hi to Rob Shrock or David Crigger and ask them a few questions. Unfortunately, both had left by the time we got back there, but when we entered Burt's trailer, Sue spotted me and immediately brought Burt over to say hi--"You remember Mark. He does the Web site." I've met him four times now, and while I doubt he could pick me out of a lineup, he's always been gracious and expressed his appreciation of the Web site. He looked relaxed, healthy and amazingly vibrant.
I told him I'd enjoyed the show and mentioned all the emails I'd received about the recent tour of Italy. He said it was fun but hard. I asked him about his solo CD project for Sony UK and he said that he'd recorded four things for it, but it was still a long way from being released. My friend Nichole noticed a Taurus medal on his neck and they talked a bit about astrological traits. Alvina, who was backstage with her husband, joined in the conversation, but then someone tapped Burt on the shoulder and he was whisked away for a photo. I didn't get a chance to take any photos, but Alvina's husband took a photo of me, Alvina and Pam from Cali, which hopefully will find its way onto the site in the near future.
On the whole, it was a wonderful night and it was great to finally meet Alvina as well as Pam.