Barbra Streisand

When: Saturday 1^st June

Where:  O2 (right at the top... wobbly kneed)

Why: I’m not going to dignify that question with an answer

Right, let me just get this out of the way before the rest of this entry: nothing anyone could say against this concert will ever be allowed to stand, from my perspective, because Barbra SANG A YENTL SONG. It was The way he makes me feel, it was epic and a pinnacle of my life’s experience. So there you are. Let’s go on.

After downing four jugs of Long Island iced teas at Las Iguanas, my ma and dearest woman-playlist-loving pal Martin headed in to begin the arduous climb to the very top of the O2 arena, to take our place in the “cheap” seats. We had to sit my mother down straight away as she doesn’t handle heights well, but her love for Babs held her up and got her through.

Barbra is a classy broad. The stage was set with a 60 piece orchestra, the black and white photo montage of her life was playing, and then slowly from the centre of the stage rose a legend in a black sequined pant suit, to a rapturous response from the crowd. She launched into On a clear day from the movie of the same name (see my review for full understanding of this iconically mental film), which was a beautiful way to start. Her voice was as powerful and iconic as ever; a little bit more croaky at the higher end of the register but she has been singing for such a long time. If anything an occasional lovely scratch just gave each song more character, and meant one could appreciate the sheer force of the 71 year old woman standing before you. She launched into some vintage classics and a bit of disco (Enough is Enough), and introduced her sister Rozzi to sing for a bit, who seemed lovely and essentially could make a decent living as a Barbra tribute act.

Rozzi was one of a few breaks in the show which meant that Babs could have a wee sit down – others included a lengthy trumpet solo from guest star Chris Botti (very accomplished, but yawn) and a slightly bizarre offering from Jason Gould, her son (bit of a mama’s boy, but to be fair if your mum is Barbra Streisand then I suppose it’s understandable). The show went on for a good three hours but if you counted up the minutes of Babs-time it would probably come in at about 2. I love her and I’m sure her family and friends are very nice, but I can’t imagine many people would pay up to £450 (NOT me – “cheap” seats remember guys) to see Jason Gould and a random trumpeter.

Another small pause came in the form of a Barbra Q&A, which involved questions such as “How are you so beautiful?” and “I met my girlfriend on a Barbra Streisand forum. Will you ask if she’ll marry me?” from a lovely lady sitting not far behind us (lots of applause, it was a beautiful moment even if Babs did seem a bit disturbed by being upstaged thanks to her own website). Another audience member asked why Barbra didn’t sing any songs from the (REALLY EXCELLENT) Guilty album anymore (Barry Gibb, darling), and Babs replied that she didn’t really “believe in the philosophy” nowadays. Which was bold, as that album holds a lot of her hits. She did throw us a snippet of Woman in love though which was snapped up eagerly by the crowd.

She was very chatty and self-deprecating, explaining that this was only her 93^rd concert ever as she had stage fright for decades. But she’s a natural at simultaneously blowing your socks off in awe at one of the world’s greatest stars, and making a huge arena where you’re sitting approximately half a mile away seem like an intimate venue that you’ve been honoured to be invited to. Not many stars could hold such a huge audience spellbound as they sit and sniff the (colour matching) roses on the little side table by her mic, quietly contemplating life for a few minutes as people shriek “WE LOVE YOU”!! (“... thank you darling.”) I loved the small moments in between songs where she’d tell a little anecdote about her favourite people and the sudden realisation that I was watching BARBRA STREISAND would sneak over me and make me hop with glee. Little things such as quoting On a clear day doing her hilarious English accent were what made the show for me. Big hits such as The way we were (mum was very happy with that one) and songs from Gypsy (Rose’s turn/Some people) contributed too though, and when Babs appeared after the interval in a long red dress with epic shoulder pads and fitted with a CAPE, under a video of genuine hot-stuff Omar Shariff in Funny Girl to sing My Man, I did think I might not ever stop smiling.

I was brought slightly down to earth by a bizarre performance of Bernstein’s Let the garden grow in sort of Earth Song-eco message style with all the family and a full choir (who took AGES to file onto the stage) which even though Barbra was involved was just tedious, but sometimes you have to ignore these flaws, and I was grateful for a pause to level out so that I wouldn’t have to float home. Babs is such an incredible singer, completely owning the emotional heart of every song (except the weird choir one) and making you feel like she’s singing everything straight into your heart. Stunning.

For a few lovely (obviously dodgy quality) videos of Babs, have a look at my YouTube channel.  

Brixpig x