The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

A set lasting more than two hours which apart from the usual medleys, Josie James's 'Anyone Who Had A Heart', Donna Taylor with 'Close to You' and the regular encore numbers, 'Any Day Now' and 'That's What Friends Are For', included Josie James again with 'Be Aware', Bill Cantos and 'My Little Red Book' and 'Hush', the latter as one of the three encores, John Pagano with 'This House is Empty Now' and a truly stunning new song entitled 'With A Voice' which even on first hearing was not only beguiling but also uplifting and received the most enthusiastic audience response to a new song I've ever witnessed at a Bacharach concert. Donna Taylor performed 'Falling Out of Love' and 'Mexican Divorce', the latter accompanied by John Pagano on acoustic guitar and the two of them duetted on 'Make it Easy on Yourself' and 'On My Own'. The show featured a guest performance from an American singer and lyricist by the name of Melody Federer and she sang two attractive songs, 'Blanket Of Capes' and 'Bridges', that she and Bacharach had recently collaborated on. Bacharach referred to the Football World Cup with virtually his first utterance and then delighted the sold-out house by taking off his jacket to reveal a white England football shirt with a No.9 on the back! The shirt remained on for the rest of the show and at the end he wished the England team well for today's quarter final against Sweden. The string section and extra percussion of the orchestra couldn't help but give the songs a richer texture and an added emotional depth and hearing them come into their own on 'Be Aware' and 'Wives and Lovers' especially just made me wistful for the days when Bacharach used to feature plenty of instrumental numbers in his concerts. One classic song that was very conspicuous by its absence from the set-list last night and something that has never failed to make an appearance before at all the shows of his that I've attended was 'I'll Never Fall in Love Again'. If Burt has suddenly grown tired of this song then I think it's a shame.

Here's an equally enthusiastic review published in the Guardian which includes a rear view photo of Bacharach wearing his personalised England football shirt. I'm seeing him in Oxford on Wednesday evening which unfortunately clashes with England's World Cup semifinal match against Croatia, so there's bound to be more than a few returns.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.thegua ... p-maverick

I referred to the "usual medleys" in my review above but in fact the 2nd hits medley with the exception of 'Do You Know the Way to San Jose' has gone, so no 'One Less Bell to Answer', 'I'll Never Fall in Love Again' and 'Only Love Can Break a Heart'. And the same fate has met the medley of Bacharach's early hits which used to feature as the first encore.