Olivia Newton-John Live at the Florida Theatre

This past Wednesday (8:00pm, November 29, 2006) I saw Olivia Newton-John in concert at the Florida Theatre. The theatre is a great venue for Olivia. It's small and all seats are pretty good. We sat on the far right side, third row. The seats were great except when she went to the far right rear corner of the stage, usually to get a drink. The drummer was set up on our side and blocked our view from that angle. Since she only ventured back there to get a drink a time or two it was not a big deal.
Olivia still sounds great. She doesn't have the pipes to hit those high notes but her backup singers fill in nicely. The blend is so good you don't even notice that Olivia didn't hit the last of the notes. Olivia looks good for being 58 but you can definitely see signs of aging compared to last year when I saw her in concert.
She performed the songs that you came to hear including hits from Grease and Xanadu as well as some songs from her latest album "Grace and Gratitude." There were a few songs missing that I love to hear her sing but since I have seen her in concert so many times it's good to have a little different mix. Her concerts really haven't changed much over the last few years. In fact I would say she needs to revamp the production before it starts getting too stale for her fans. She has been touring a lot and as a fan who goes to see her in concert whenever she is close, I can see how it can get monotonous. I finally took my mother to see her this time. Of all the times I have seen Olivia, I have never taken Mom. Being her first time, she loved it and had a really nice evening. She even got an Olivia T-shirt in the deal.
The only distraction for the evening was security. When I pulled my camera out 45 minutes before the concert, a security guard said politely that no flash was allowed. I promised him no flash which is fine by me. I hate people flashing their cameras and blinding me in a concert. Out of respect for those around me, I never use flash during a concert. I just manually change my camera's setting to shoot without it. No flash, no bother. Once the concert began and I began clicking, another security guard came to me and politely said no photos. I explained that I was not using flash and she said OK. Now the first security guard was still standing 10 feet away. Half way through the concert another guard came up while I was taking a photo. This time in a not so polite way. She bent over me and shook her finger saying NO! I explained to her that I was not using flash, that I had explained this to the security guard still standing 10 feet away and he should be able to confirm that I have not used flash at all. He shook his yes at this and she said OK and left. You would think that would be the end but no. Towards the end of the concert a police officer came up to me and told me no flash. I not only told him I wasn't using flash but showed him by taking a few. He said no flash and left. Actually, he was pretty polite about it. Now mind you, there were flashes going off all over the theatre during the whole concert but none from our section. What erks me is that if they would have just watched me take a few pictures they would have seen that there was no flash. Why places freak out so much over camera's is bizarre to me.
For those interested in seeing the dangerous photos, head over to my Flickr site.

And for those interested in some video of the concert, see below.

Xanadu


You're the One That I Want


Hopelessly Devoted


Suddenly


Magic


Have You Never Been Mellow


Physical


Please Mr. Please and If You Love Me Let Me Know


Totally Hot and Twist of Fate


Make a Move on Me


A Little More Love


I'm Not Gonna Give Into It


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