Saturday, November 17, 2012

Let's Get Physical


If you grew up in the 70's and 80's (like me) odds are, you fell in love with Olivia Newton-John. The four-time Grammy award winner and star of Grease and Xanadu performed live last night at the Music Center at Strathmore... my first time ever seeing the beautiful ONJ live in concert.

Newton-John throws quite a show: Her birth certificate may say 64, but ONJ bounces around on stage like someone half her age. At one point, after a slow-version false start, Newton-John managed to perform jumping jacks while singing her 1981 #1 hit "Physical." The audience went crazy!

Music Center at Strathmore (pre-concert)

Any concert at Strathmore is a special event (is there a more beautiful music venue anywhere in the DC Metropolitan area?) but Newton-John performed 16 of her greatest hits, opening with Have You Never Been Mellow and A Little More Love; and wrapping up with one of my personal favorites I Honestly Love You. In between, she showcased her amazing versatility with a country music medley, a duo of ballads and of course some of her classic Grease hits (including You're the One That I Want... sadly minus close friend John Travolta.)

For me, nothing comes close to Physical (can you say sexy?) Charming to no end, Newton-John commented afterwards, "In its day, that song was quite cheeky." There's nothing cheeky about the lovely British-born Australian singer: Her concert was easily one of the year's best.

P.S. I'd be remiss if I didn't comment on the abuse of cell phones before and during concerts. Whether it was the married couple in front of us, booking a flight on their iPhones; or the world's most annoying guy who snapped no less than two hundred photos from a distance with his... cell phones should be outlawed during performances. There's no harm in taking a photo before the show (see above) but distracting your fellow audience members with that annoying glow for the entire duration? Let's just say, that guy was lucky to be several rows away from me.