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Platinum Experience |
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Please send your Platinum Experience reports to mark@manilowuk.com it's always great to hear about time spent with Barry and friends.
Platinum - 30th September 2004 In July of 2004 I celebrated my 20th wedding anniversary and my gift from my husband was a platinum VIP pass to meet Mr Manilow himself after the 1st show of his tour, one night live, one last time, on 30th September in East Rutherford, New Jersey. I always knew my husband was the man for me when he arranged our 1st date in 1983, to see Barry perform at the Royal Festival Hall in front of Prince Charles & Princess Diana in aid of the prince's trust. As with most manilow fans all of my trips to the united-states are always planned when Barry is on tour, LA, Vegas, Florida, New York, Wow what jet-setters us Manilow fans are!! My husband purchased the VIP tickets in June and I had 3 months to loose 2 stones in weight, buy an new outfit, have a face-lift and write 10 pages of questions that I wanted to ask Barry, and of course mention the fact that he has cost my husband a great deal of money in the past 20 years! At 6.30pm on 30th September this year my husband and I left the Waldorf Hotel in Manhattan and after a-lot of persuasion finally got a cab driver to agree to drive us to New Jersey, not the easiest of cab-rides across to New Jersey in the middle of the rush hour! The continental Airline Arena in Meadowlands was massive and as our cab drew up outside the entrance I suddenly realized that I was in need of a stiff drink. I made my way to the VIP visitors section and was greeted by Barry's personal security staff, they placed a metal security pass around my neck and told me to follow them, leaving my poor husband to find his seat in the 4th row on his own surrounded by loud screaming American fans. The American fans never cease to amaze me by how much noise they make during Barry's Shows, when I try to explain to them that you can hear a pin drop during Barry performing Mandy at Wembley arena they stare at me in disbelief!! I was taken to my seat in the front row, the concert was centre stage and as I was introduced to the other fans on the VIP package I realized I was the only British fan in the group. The girl sitting next to me was 20 years old and told me that she came into the world with Barry singing in the background, and what a rough time she endured at university because she pinned a picture of Barry on the ceiling above her bed so she could look at him every night! While she was talking to me I suddenly realized that I was old enough to be her mother and that I'd first seen Barry perform almost five years before she was born, but instead of feeling like an old lady I felt very proud that I had been a loyal fan for so many years. Barry seemed to appear from nowhere and as usual looked fantastic wearing a midnight blue suit with a deep pink shirt. He sang all the songs that we have come to love so much over the years and during the show 4 members from the cast of Harmony joined him to sing Every Single Day & Stars in the Night. Elation turned to sadness when Barry confirmed that this would be his last on the road tour. When the show had ended some 2 112 hours later, we were told that we would have to wait for all the fans to leave the arena before we could make our way to the VIP lounge. During this time we were amazed to see how quickly such a wonderful show could be packed up and put into boxes ready for the following night in Massachusetts. We finally made our way to the VIP lounge, and it was lovely to see that they had laid on a small buffet for us and served drinks as we each waited one by one to go into a private room to meet Barry. No one seemed to mind the wait too much as we were kept entertained by large screens all around the room showing Barry in concert. While I waited I asked Barry's PA if there was any chance that Barry would sign an original manuscript of ONE VOICE that I have had hanging in my home for the past 9 years. I had bid for the penciled manuscript in a charity auction and had always wondered if it REALLY was an original? I was very disappointed when he told me not to bring the manuscript in with me, as Barry would only be signing the souvenir programmes from the tour. The room seemed very quiet and tension was in the air because no one was quite sure how they would re-act. The young girl that I had been sitting next to during the show was becoming more & more anxious as we waited for our names to be called. I had seen Barry close-up chatting to fans in past years when I attended the Parkinson show, the Des 0' Connor show and Children in need, but I knew that this was going to be quite different as each person was spending 15 minutes in the room with him engaged in a conversation. It was as they called my name to go in that Barry's PA whispered in my ear that Barry wanted to see the manuscript that I had so carefully taken all the way from London. As I walked down the corridor to the room where Barry was waiting I kept telling myself that I must remain cool and calm and try to put my words together to make a sentence. The room was dimly lit and candles had been carefully placed to give a warm glow to the room. There was a small bar in the corner and a bottle of champagne with 2 glasses. Barry walked over to greet me and in doing so, placed his arm around my shoulder so as an official photo could be taken. It was then that I suddenly realized that I really didn't care that I had not shed the 2 stones, had the face-lift or given a lot of thought to my questions! It was now so unimportant! Barry handed me a glass of Champagne as I told him how much I had enjoyed the show at Blenheim Palace only 3 months earlier. I noticed that he was still wearing the suit that he had walked out on stage in 4 hours ago and still looked amazing! He said it was wonderful how the British fans always gave him such an outstanding welcome on his visits to the UK and asked me if ITV had aired an evening with Barry Manilow? I told him it was being shown the following evening and I would miss it because I was in New York visiting him! He seemed very interested when I mentioned to him that a teacher at my son's school was in fact Christian Arnold, the co-writer of Can't Smile Without You! And the fact that my 14year-old daughter plays his music in her room every night! Barry asked if he could then see the manuscript and I watched in anticipation as he carefully looked at it, a smile came to his face as he told me he did in fact remember that he had written the words and notes of one voice to raise money for charity, phew, what a relief that was!! He signed it "To Lydia, with love Barry Manilow, 2004. Time flew, and before I knew it, my time was well & truly over, as I was leaving, I just had to tell him that although I was blessed with a very happy life, he had somehow made it complete. The whole time I was talking to Barry I noticed that a whole film of photos had been taken on a disposable camera, I can't even recall them being taken at the time, but the camera was handed to me on the way out, I knew I would treasure those pictures for the rest of my life, just as I would those 15 minutes of meeting Mr Barry Manilow! By: Lydia Wolfson
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