I'd hardly call it a meltdown. Good for her.
Streisand Has Outburst at NYC Concert
Oct 10 10:07 AM US/Eastern
By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY
AP Music Writer
NEW YORK
It was an evening that elicited tears, standing ovations, raucous laughter and shouts of joy from the audience _ and was just in the first few minutes.
Yes, Barbra Streisand's return to touring after a 12-year absence was the extravaganza that it promised to be. Monday night's show at Madison Square Garden was the third stop of a 20-city jaunt across the nation _ a virtual lovefest between the ultimate diva and an adoring, sold-out, celebrity-dotted crowd.
Streisand effortlessly crooned through a select repertoire of the hits she's amassed during her four-decade-plus career. But night's most riveting moment came during what was perhaps the only unscripted _ and truly uncomfortable _ episode in the three-hour show.
There was Streisand, enduring a smattering of very loud jeers as she and "George Bush" _ a celebrity impersonator _ muddled through a skit that portrayed the president as a bumbling idiot.
Though most of the crowd offered polite applause during the slightly humorous routine, it got a bit too long, especially for a few in the audience who just wanted to hear Streisand sing like she had been doing for the past hour.
"Come on, be polite!" the well-known liberal implored during the sketch as she and "Bush" exchanged zingers. But one heckler wouldn't let up. And finally, Streisand let him have it.
"Shut the (expletive) up!" Streisand bellowed, drawing wild applause. "Shut up if you can't take a joke!"
With that one F-word, the jeers ended. And the message was delivered _ no one gets away with trying to upstage Barbra Streisand, especially not in her hometown.
Once the outburst (which Streisand later apologized for) was over, Streisand noted that "the artist's role is to disturb," and delivered a message of tolerance before launching into a serenely beautiful rendition of "Somewhere." That put the focus back on what the audience came for _ her voice, one of the greatest female instruments of her generation.
Streisand's voice, at once soaring and soothing, doesn't seem to have been affected much by her long layoff from performing.
Earlier in the evening, she seemed to fall short of her full potential _ moments where she once belted a tune she now seemed to simply sing at a steady register. But once the evening progressed, she got stronger, such as for her performance of one of her biggest hits, "People."
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/10/10/D8KLQI6O0.html
SR:God...Where's Robert Smith from THE CURE to help out ???
Yeah Babs..it ***** getting to be an old annoying Yenta and facing the fact that even Paris Hilton has more of a following than you !
I'd hardly call it a meltdown. Good for her.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well AK a lot of the reviewers state although Babs was doing a good job, the show could've done without the Bush sketch and the overblown orchestra...Originally posted by American Knight:
I'd hardly call it a meltdown. Good for her.
Even the Liberal NY Times and Liz Smith agreed with that criticism...
Luv ya babs [img]graemlins/kiss.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/kiss.gif[/img]
I have a close friend who attended this concert and paid quite a hefty fee to be very close. It was a heckler who was calling her deragatory names. Anyone who knows Babs and is a fan knows she is a liberal and with everything going on in the world of course she is going to say something. And the crowd went WILD when the guy was thrown out. Good for Babs!
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