Mister D: Thank you so much Mikey…sorry about that lady…LOL And BTW, tell your Ma I remember the June Taylor dancers:-)
Last night in Cleveland, Bette proved to Northern Ohio why she is known as “divine.” To sum up the concert into one word: Wow.
Bette entered the stage as she did at the other concerts (on her horse, Seabiscuit). They started off with “Kiss My Brass/Big Noise.” As soon as she started singing “Skylark”, I thought, “She sounds even better now than she did on her second album.” I probably should note that I was pretty much in shock the whole evening. It was a big blur. BUT the evening will be forever etched in my memory.
From here I’ll just kind of fast forward to the Sophie Tucker part. The people seemed to be kind of out of it for a few of the jokes. For example when Bette did the “Ain’t you got a vase?”, I think I was one of the only people (in my section anyhow) to say it with her. haha But I guess Cleveland people are a little slow on the draw sometimes, especially those Browns fans (I’m a Steelers fan, can you tell?). The Delores DeLago section of the evening was wonderf ul. I sat in awe of her powerful voice. It was really amazing. Bette must have abs of steel to be able to hop around in that fishtail at 58 years old AND belt it out like that. My mom loved the part where they should an arial view of them on the screen. She said that it reminded her of the June Taylor dancers (just a little before my time haha).
The next breath taking moment happened when Bette sang, “Wind Beneath My Wings.” Great stuff. Before The Divine Miss M sang, “The Rose,” she left her stage persona and talked to the people of Cleveland as Bette Midler. She said how much she loved coming to Cleveland and how it will always hold a special place in her heart. She added that she made her first and only live album here in Cleveland (1970-something). In addition to that, she noted that it was around the time the river caught on fire.
All in all it was a wonderful evening and definitely worth the price of admission. If you don’t have tickets yet, what are you waiting for?
