Barry Manilow was excellent. I hadn't seen or heard much of him since TV
variety show days. He was in excellent form with his voice better than ever. At
the Mandalay Bay arena he had a stage set up in the center of the arena which
worked very well, since seats were closer to the stage. Large screens above
the stage also gave a close up look of his face and upper body. He has
written a proposed Broadway show, "Harmony" and also included a couple of numbers
from the show including some cast members. A revolving piano came up from the
stage and he sang some numbers while playing. For other numbers he stood. I
didn't quite know what to expect, but he has a lot of charisma and the
performance was great.
Interestingly, though Manilow is a composer as well as singer, if you do some
checking you'll find he didn't write some of the numbers that he is most
famous for, including his first hit "Mandy," "I Write the Songs The Whole World
Sings," and "I Can't Smile without you." He did write "Copacobana."
----------------my peeves about arena venues--------
Note regarding watching a show in Arena stages such as Mandaly Bay's Event
Center or MGM Grand arena - there seems to be something about arena's that makes
people stand. For unknown reasons most of the audience stood even before
Manilow appeared, and stood up through almost all of his numbers. When the low
rows stand, so does everyone else. The people at the supposed "good" seats on
the floor were forced to stand throughout the performance.
As an over 50-year old with bad knees, I just can't stand. Fortunately for
this performance I had corner seats low to the bottom where we were able to see
without standing. Unfortunately at many of these arena shows, you may end up
having to stand.
Generally speaking these arena venues are horrible places to see shows. The
arenas are huge, and even seats costing over $100, even over $200, are so far
from the stage that you need binoculars to see peformers. Also many of the
seats are hard and sometimes narrow. I took a cushion the last time I went to
the MGM Grand. As a large person, I find some of the seats extremely
uncomfortable to sit in (and possibly impossible for my 200 pound plus body to fit in).
Even skinny people may find the small chairs hard on the rear.
Sometimes the camera work can be good in showing closeups of the actions
since often you are so far from the stage that the performers are only about 2
inches high. Sometimes the camera work is bad, and fails to show facial closeups
or good shots of what is going on. Sometimes the sound systems are poor.
Sometimes a lot of people get up and come and go and block your view or provide
distractions.
Also the layouts of some of these places are definitely a fire hazard and Las
Vegas fire marshals don't seem to be doing their jobs. At Mandalay Bay
wheelchairs and chairs and a large table for a cameraman blocked part of the
emergency exit aisle. I asked an attendant about the emergency exit - questions
such as where it led - and she didn't know. Obviously she'd had no emergency
training. A supervisor was called over to provide more answers. When I pointed
out the obstructing wheelchairs and other objects, which obviously couldn't be
within fire code, she said "We never had a fire." Well hey, it would only
take one. Or one terrorist with a bottle of gasoline to create a panic.
So if you are in one of these packed venues, take a good look at the
emergency exits and plan your strategies. Hopefully no fires or other panics will
occur, but they are not in the best shape should an emergency occur.
Traffic problems occur with these shows. When we arrived at Mandalay Bay we
found ourselves directed away from our normal route to the parking garage,
then tied up in a traffic jam, then blocked from their self-parking garage which
was marked "Full" an hour before the show. We had to park at Luxor and walk.
Another peeve - these shows sometimes start late and sometimes have strange
"opening acts." Barry Manilow started 20 minutes late. Cher had a good Cyndi
Lauper opening act, but Paul McCartney had a strange one of oddly dressed
people. Some people come late to shows to miss the opening acts, but that means
people may be entering your aisle very late in the show.
Lines are immense for bathrooms, food, etc., and during an intermission you
may not be able to get through the line to the bathroom in time.
All in all evaluation of using these arena showrooms for musical acts -- D
Minus. But sometimes our favorite performers are only available at them. I'd
advise avoiding shows in them if at all possible. Sometimes such shows are
filmed for TV and you are better off to wait for that show to appear on a TV
special than to see it live. Of course there is nothing more fun than a live
show. Still I enjoyed seeing Cher's "Final Tour" on TV more than in the MGM
Grand where she was 2 inches high unless I watched through binoculars.
To help - bring your own water, soda, snacks (but watch out for security that
might try to confiscate food or soda), bring your own cushion, bring
binoculars. You can try to look at seating charts before buying tickets and try to
pick the first or second row above the floor, where hopefully you can see
without standing. Aisle seats also give a bit more room. Arrive early to avoid the
traffic jams.
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