Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I had seen some teasers of this concert on PBS and thought it looked pretty tight, so I was hopeful it would be better than the pretty-good concert Olivia put out in limited release from 2002. MY how she has grown in confidence since then! She was really at ease with ALL of her musical styles here, and with the audience, and with her band.
For those who have seen her live in this century (haha, but quite seriously), you know she has stuck with a particular musicians in her band line-up at guitar & backing vocals & a multi-instrumentalist. Well, they have all improved together over the years, and she splits her vocal duets with all of them plus a video with peter allen (RIP) that is quite dramatic instead of what you'd think (cheesy) -- it came off like a beautiful surreal movie. Step back Babs Streisand, theres a superior mature female vocalist with wider musical range of selection and a purer heart! Olivia is just in her finest form!
Not only do the duets remind you what a skilled duets singer she is -- she has an entirely unique ability to blend her voice with others, always giving them the space to excel while quietly creating the whole landscape on which the feeling of the song sits! But its clear she gets on with the band so well, and they ALL clearly LIKE each other and "Get it" about Olivia, and help support her being the best she can be. You are not watching a concert of a group that is just there to get their paycheck and join the next artist's tour. They are ALL on board just for Olivia, and over the last 8 years, their loyalty has turned up real gold in their performances together. I dont say this because "thats nice" but because it makes for great collaborative music. Add in the lush Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and you have a classic.
You also get to feel the genuine gratitude not only for a fellow Aussie music legend, Peter Allen -- who was married for 7 years to Liza Minnelli before coming out gay in 1974, the year he wrote one of Olivia's definitive songs "I Honestly Love You" -- Their "Tenderfield Saddler" duet here was a big payback, and added just another transcendent dimension to this amazing concert.
But I guess the main thing to point out here is that Livvy is in a really good place, as her recent recordings bear proof. Though oddly, I am saying all of this without any representation on this DVD from 3 of my very favorite Newton-John albums in this concert (Totally Hot, Back with a Heart, and Grace & Gratitude), the show is so superb, you can understand the choices perfectly. She didnt need those 3 albums to still spin out this masterpiece.
For someone with 30 (THIRTY!) top 40 hits in their career, it is easy to become a slave to your past success, merely a showcase for your hits. In fact, thats almost the rule among pop/rock performers. But Olivia has turned that around: Her hits are merely showcasing HER. She has emerged - at almost 60 years of age - as an agelessly powerful singer, writer, interpreter & performer, who is still entirely present, and not at all sheepishly digging up the past. This is really really impressive stuff.
So if you're thinking "Maybe" about adding this to your dvd collection, then I can pretty much promise you, the answer is YES ... you should get it.
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