BARRY MANILOW
Music and Passion
Friday, January 11,
2008
St. Paul, Xcel
Arena
Finally, finally, I am going to see my first Barry Manilow
concert, in fact have not seen him in vegas either. I'm a fan, a fan because he
came into my life, and changed it forever, he may never know this. but thanks
to a man who sings from his heart, my heart was finally reached.I was excited I
didn't want time to go to fast, one of the biggest bonuses of being a Barry
Manilow fan, is that I get to meet other fans, people like myself, who have
found a place in their hearts for this special man. I got to meet Debi
Vandenburg and her husband Scott, Debi is a member of I am Your Child BMFC
Manilow Canada
a fanclub I am Director/Founder of, another bonus since finding Barry Manilow.
We met Michele Thompson from Minneapolis,
who picked me up from the bus depot and all us girls, Debi, Michelle, another
fan from Stl Paul, Lori and myself spent the day of the concert at the Mall of
America. We were all happy to be in the company of other fans, enjoying our
freedom to talk about this man who had worked his magic in our lives. We knew,
we understood! People who haven't experienced, what we have, just don't get it,
but we did, we all did, how exciting!!!
The day went fast, now we were racing to make signs and get
ready. I have seen the DVD Music and Passion, but nothing really prepared me
for seeing the smoke and waiting , knowing Barry was about to walk through it,
then suddenly there he was! "It's a Miracle, the opening medley, can still
see how he moves and pulls us all in to his magic, we did the mandatory screams
and then I felt I wanted to take in everything, What a sight as he moved from
one story, created from the songs to another.
He never ceased to entertain and I never wanted it to end! I
couldn't help but sing along to every song, although I only wanted to hear
Barry, Not myself!
I listened and watched paid attention to every nuance, every
movement, Barry ,his backup singers and his band were there to put on their
best performance ever and that could be felt throughout the stadium and glow
sticks moved all around a huge sea of glow sticks, mind boggling!
Barry gave us his all, he had moments when he just stood
looking out at all of us, as if not believing we were all there, You see that
humility grabs at your heart, so we have to go back, that's all there is to it!
I could see the emotion in his face, and my heart was reached once more.
Then all of a sudden we were under a sea of paper spagetti!
Is this the end, almost but the best was yet to come, Barry sang "They
said we wouldn't make it" and then a song he wrote for us "Forever
and a Day"! How awesome,
Barry Manilow gave us his all, I will never forget it! I
spent 20 hours on a bus to get to St. Paul
and back again, had an amazing time with my new friends and saw a concert
like none I had never seen before.
Time to leave, but not before I spent money on everything I
could, I planned for that!!
Thanks for the memories Dear Friend, I saw you walk back
through the smoke, Shadow Man, but not forever, I will be back!
My sister said "Didn't you try to run up to the
stage"? I realized it never occured to me, in my younger days, it was
something I might have done, but no not to Barry, he doesn't need a crazy
person up there, he puts on the best show ever, he works hard, I wanted to just
take it all in, honour and respect this special talented man!
Thanks to Debi, Scott, Michele and a very special thanks to Barry
Manilow
Dale Allayne Walsh (Pelletier)
Debi Vandenburg, Scott Vandenburg, Michele Thompson