Newton-John, Scott have tight program
Surprise, surprise!
In what was probably one of the most unexpected turns in at a popular music concert at Rupp Arena, Olivia Newton-John and Tom Scott put on an astonishing tight program of varied pop styles last night before a crowd of 18,000.
Newton-John is best known as an established performer of middle of the-road ballads and soft rock, a musical area that is infamous for stagnated singers and arrangements.
She has however being attempting a metamorphosis of sorts over the last few years by trying in break through to a younger, harder-rock audience.
On the basis of Physical, the popular single and album from earlier this year, she has picked upon a part that crowd. But though she has attempted to update and freshen the music that has been a field day for many a critic, there was nothing to prepare for the shockingly sharp quality of last night’s show at Rupp.
On the basis of her performances on records, television and especially on film Newton-John simply has not being any big deal, promoting a healthy,conservative image too antiseptic to be believed.
Perhaps it’s because she the tours so infrequently that her performing abilities were still basically a secret.
A better explanation is the Newton-John’s show was a meticulously planned and executed program that combined the visual show business flair usually associated with performers of her popularity with a first-rate band headed by the incomparable Tom Scott.
In many instances, performers who appeal to such a wide age range as Newton-John base a show on gaudy, excessive visual props. Although her performance certainly wasn’t without its eye appeal, Ms. John’s entourage limited and contained its theatrics well, integrating them with the music.
The stage included a central pit for the band, with two huge staircases enclosing it, leading to a second level. It was an idea that was clean and functional.
Musically, Newton-John could have been in no better hands than those of Scott and his nine-piece band. In fact, a great deal of credit for last night’s show belongs to the sax player from Los Angeles.
Scott makes no secret of offering his audience a very commercial jazz formula, as his latest alum, “Desire”, attests. Jazz purists may find him annoying, but Scott’s musicianship is first-class all the way.
Last night, Scott’s band was given a boost by such established names in pop jazz as guitarist Buzzy Feiten and ex Crusader bassist Robert “Pops” Popwell.
The group was given a 20 minute opening set which aside from “Tom Cat” a classic composition from Scott’s days with the LA Express came entirely from his new album.
Those who were dissatisfied the all too short set by Scott welcomed the generous playing the band served up during Newton-John’s 90 minute set.
Since Newton John grouped the styles of music she has played over the years to separate segments during her concert, the band was givne enough space to jump from style to style with ease.
Newton-John featured a long segment of country material, the earliest segment of her career, including “Let Me Be There”, Bob Dylan’s “It Not for You” and a very strong version of the standard “Jolene”, which merged into an almost disco arrangement with Newton-John wailing away at high register amid a series of lights rotating around the stage.
More popular were segments from two films in which she started “Grease” and “Xanadu” in both stances, vocalist Dennis Tufano, who had already shined in Scott’s new single, “Sure Enough” played male counterpart in duets of “You’re the One That I Want” and “Suddenly”.
Using “Physical” as a set-closer was predictable, and by this time, antics on stage has achieved a near-circus-like proportion while Newton-John, donning a T-shirt and shorts, led backup singers in Jumping Jacks.
It was amusing comic rebel, whether or not that was the intention.
By Walter Tunis