Charlotte Coliseum, NC Physical concert reviews - Charlotte Newspapers

Entertainer Olivia Newton-John Sings At The Charlotte Coliseum

A Review by Charles Johnson

Singer Olivia Newton-John exhorted the Saturday night audience at the Charlotte Coliseum to get physical, but she rarely heeded her own advice.

Although she bounced around the stage throughout most of her 90-minute performance, she danced awkwardly, substituting simple pelvic thrusts for dance steps. After skipping around the two-tiered stage in white shoes, socks, shorts and T-shirt to the propulsive beat of Physical, she looked and sounded winded.

Her four stage outfits also included two sequin-studded minidresses and black spandex slacks topped with an aqua blouse which accented the contours of her reed-thin body.

Like her body, Newton-John's voice was thin. Not even the full, polished arrangements of band-leader and saxophonist Tom Scott could overcome her limited range and lack of passion.

Her breathy, high-pitched whisper carried delicate pop tunes like Have You Never Been Mellow and Magic, but it dwindled away when Scott's seven-piece band of stellar session musicians grew louder on the choruses. Newton-John's reedy voice was no match for the band's crisp, polished arrangements.

For help on the high notes, Newton-John enlisted backup singer Stephanie Spruill. At times it was difficult to tell who was carrying the melody. Throughout the concert, Spruill's soulful harmonies and sweeping range over-shadowed Newton-John's whispered ballads and shrill wails.

Indeed, the concert's most musically inspired moments came during Spruill's lead vocal on the funky Meet Somebody before Newton-John set foot on the stage.

Although Newton-John's saccharine ballads lacked flair, she sang them with an endearing earnestness. On her uptempo rock-flavored numbers, however, she sang without conviction or much understanding of what makes rock 'n' roll.

On Xanadu, You're the One That I Want and Physical, she simulated passion by raising the volume and pitch of her voice to produce a shrill shriek. Similarly, she simulated sensuality by grinding her hips and preening in the spotlight during Scott's abbreviated saxophone solos.

An actress who has appeared in two films, Newton-John concentrated on visually pleasing the audience of about 9,000, many of whom tracked her every move. For most, her fresh-faced beauty mattered more than her pleasant but uninspired music. END

Newton-John: Her multifaceted act sparkles

A review By Lawrence Toppman Of The News Staff

Olivia Newton-John, a sultry chameleon who changes stage personalities as easily as costumes, filled the Charlotte Coliseum Saturday with a voice that has grown sweeter, sassier and stronger with age. At 33 (34 on Sept. 26) she has finally found her niche or niches.

She comes on as the Lady in Black, slinking through a curtain in a silver-fringed minidress, boots and headband. She goes off as the Lady in White, with an endless but torrid Let's Get Physical - does any other rock singer lead her chorus in jumping jacks? - and a virginal encore of I Honestly Love You.

In between she turns giggly. skipping about like one of the Go-Gos on songs from Xanadu, and grave during numbers about dolphins (pro) and pollution (con). She's so endearing that Silvery Rain, a haunting tune she wrote about pesticides, can quiet an audience noisily begging her to Make a Move on Me.

Tom Scott, one of the best reed players in rock, directs her band. He warms up the crowd with bland, agreeable cuts from his new Desire album, but he sparkles most when trotted out for short blasts on the saxophone.

We first meet Ms. Newton-John through family photos, film clips, headlines and album covers projected on a backdrop like a montage from some B-grade '40s movie. Then she blows away the hokum with 90 minutes of pizzazz.Aside from Dolly Parton's Jolene -sung with funky savvy -she sticks to her own hits. But the breathy sparrow of the recording studio turns into a full-throated warbler in person.

She snaps off the high notes in Let Me Be There and If You Love Me, Let Me Know (Mr. Scott providing suitable low harmonies) with few signs of strain. And when she has to flat-out belt You're the One That I Want -dressed this time in black Spandex pants that cover her like a coat of varnish why, she belts.

The show has silly moments. The band imitates Iron Butterfly sourly during Magic, and she ends Silvery Rain she's poisoned by crop dusters by folding up like the waterlogged Wicked Witch of the West in Oz.

Yet, she holds things together. Even in duets with Dennis Tufano, who once sang with The Buckinghams and now stands in for John Travolta and Cliff Richard, she makes you forget her records and believe that what you're hearing is fresh and new.