Olivia wins with talent and technique, El Paso, TX March 3 1975
By CarolL Viesscas
Olivia Newton-John makes everyone in her audience feel like she is the only one there - despite the fact that there are actually thousands of people around.
She certainly communicated with the thousands that gathered in El Paso Civic Center Monday night to hear her dulcet tones. She sang like she was with a few of her friends instead of many strangers.
It was one of the rare times that El Pasoans gave an entertainer a standing ovation before the concert was over.
The audience talked back to her, shook her hand, took illegal pictures which she didn’t mind posing for, and sang along both with and without her invitation. Best of all, Miss Newton-John seemed like she was enjoying the concert as much as her audience.
She laughed with us at her own jokes. (“I’m sorry my producer isn’t here tonight, but he had a rather bad accident. He fell off his wallet.” Or - “If you think that one’s bad: two peanuts were walking down the street and one of them got assalted.”)
Miss Newton-John sang for every age group and type she had in her audience, including singing two oldies but goodies, “Wilbur, You Are Driving Me Crazy” (While dancing the Charleston) and “Nevertheless.”
When she sang what she called “my first flop record,” “Love Song,” a big hit with the audience, it was easy to see - why she has won four American Music Awards and two Grammy’s this year.
She began her concert with a rousing country beat in her hit, “Let Me Be There,” and continued with other favorites, “If Not For You,” “Country Girl,” “You Ain’t Got the Right,” “The River’s Too Wide.” “If You Love Me, Let Me Know,” her latest hit, “Have You Never Been Mellow,” and a song written by Albert Hammond, who preceded her in concert, “The Air That I Breathe.”