Pop superstar gives it his all for ‘fanilows’ in Oakland

For a guy whose first No single was more than years ago Barry Manilow performs like he still has something to prove Maybe he s relishing that he has outlasted the majority of the critics who derided his grandiose love songs and old-fashioned showmanship over the years Or maybe he s just showing the fans his fanilows just how much he appreciates them Whatever the reasons he continues to wear the sparkly jackets and belt out the hits at age Manilow is more lovable an entertainer than he ever was The voice is burnished with rougher edges but that sweet sincerity shines through in every number of his The Last Tour tour which brought him to the Oakland Arena for a rousing farewell to the East Bay on Friday July before taking the show to the SAP Center in San Jose on Sunday For about minutes Manilow gave his audience roughly two-thirds of the arena was full exactly what they required mostly hits a minimal good jokes and various nice surprises Backed by a -piece band including a three-piece horn section and three singers Manilow charged out with It s a Miracle and then joked amid the cheering Not bad for a -year-old guy But I still look great don t I This was Manilow s first Oakland appearance in years and if he s true to his word it will be his last To paraphrase his next number Somewhere in the Night the music the magic will end Until then he ll play it over and over again But that s one of Manilow s great skills as a performer he never feels like he s just going through the motions Because he cares about entertaining his audience he can take prosaic pop like Daybreak or Can t Smile Without You and turn them into middle-of-the-road charmers without emerging a sweat He saves his bigger efforts for the songs he can turn into real barnstormers That s what he does with ballads like Looks Like We Made It Even Now I Made It Through the Rain and Weekend in New England With each of those hits he milks the drama like he was standing center stage on Broadway even when he s sitting at the piano There s not just a key change but lighting change pounding drums dramatic pauses and an audience ready to explode when he modulates And explode they do I m glad you still like these songs he explained the Oakland audience You know I used to love the songs that came out of the radio in the s pause for comic effect because the majority of them were mine For this tour selected of the best moments are songs that have been slightly reinvented like This One s for You which takes a love song and re-casts it as an appreciation for a relative In this instance it s for Manilow s grandfather who helped raise him Or Mandy the song that launched Manilow s career We first hear the song in a clip from Midnight Special and then Manilow sings the song from behind the piano and ends up duetting with his -years-younger self The majority affecting number was a lesser-known ballad but a fan favorite All the Time which Manilow played at the electric keyboard and sang merely tenderly and with no razzle-dazzle bombast It s a song Manilow explained about misfits not being misfits around other misfits The bright and blaring show wasn t all ballads Manilow and his trio of spiffy singers swung through two different boogies Bandstand Boogie and Jump Shout Boogie and after playing a little of the Chopin-inspired Could It Be Magic at the piano Manilow turned the song into a Donna Summer-inspired dance mix As the show wore down the concluding songs were inevitable The distinctive brass fanfare kicked off I Write the Songs which ironically Manilow did not write That segued directly into the rousing Copacabana At the Copa which Manilow did write For both numbers everyone was on their feet waving the glowsticks they d been given on the way in Talk about a pop music high Barry Manilow is not only still standing but still dancing joking and hitting particular mighty impressive notes His longevity is outshone only by his enthusiasm and though it wasn t invariably cool to be a Manilow fan he has proven repeatedly through the years and up til now just how much he deserves the title of pop music legend Chad Jones has been writing about Bay Area arts since theaterdogs net BARRY MANILOW The Last San Jose Concert When p m July Where SAP Center W Santa Clara San Jose Tickets - ticketmaster com