Aussie from Nashville wins all the hearts - concert review
The lights went out inside the Richmond Coliseum to signal the start of the headline act, and 6,191 fans of Olivia Newton-John began clapping before they caught their first glimpse of her. That glimpse came just seconds later. A spotlight revealed Olivia standing alone in the center of the stage, and she looked as beautiful and wholesome as her pictures on albums and in magazines.
Wearing a country-style red dress and gold boots, Olivia began singing in her soft, lovely voice, with instrumental accompaniment at a minimum from shadowy band members in the background.
Flashcubes began popping from the dark ranks of the audience seated near the froFit of the stage. By the time she finished her first song, the stage was fully lighted and she was on her way into a crowd-pleasing hour-long set, Before it was all over, Olivia sang more than a half dozen of her biggest hits, including “Let Me Be There,” “If You Love Me, Let Me Know” and “Have You Never Been Mellow.”
Olivia…look, she really is so good-looking and loves horses and sings with more Nashville than Australia in her voice. And during her Coliseum show last night, Olivia showed she could be as much of a fun- loving entertainer moving to the beat of her music as the sweet and demure country girl singing her soft love songs.
The audience men, women and children ranging in age from the pre-teens to the 50s - by its spirited and sustained applause, seemed to enjoy all her act, the prancing and dancing about the stage. During one song, her band played a funky beat, and one could imagine Olivia singing on stage with Stevie Wonder.
She was at her best doing such love songs as “I Honestly Love You” and also the strong country-rock songs such as “Let Me Be There.” Her skilled band blended a mostly country style of playing and a rock beat, and at no point played so loud as to drown out Olivia’s singing.
As she neared the end of her last song, a man somewhere in the audience let go with a rebel yell of tribute, and the crowd followed up that by giving her a spirited standing ovation. Olivia waved with both arms over her head, bowed and smiled and ran off the stage
Comedian/singer Jim Stafford had given the audience a good, relaxed mood for Olivia with his lead-off act of jokes, imitations, skillful guitar and banjo picking the singing of his catchy songs “Wildwood Weed” and “My Girl Bill.”
Stafford won all the laughs… Olivia all the hearts.