Review of March 1 1976 Norman, OK concert - The Oklahoma Daily

Front Page: Olivia Newton-John sang Monday night before Lloyd Noble Center's largest concert crowd. See review, page 14. (Staff Photo by Roger Ellington)

By Chris Cordogan

Monday evening's Olivia Newton-John concert topped all attendance figures for a concert at the Lloyd Noble Center. The 11,000 plus docile onlookers were treated to a good job of production between local ticket agencies and the Lloyd Noble Center.

The show was reasonably close to its pre-announced starting time and both audio andlighting problems were minimal. Olivia Newton-John sang with a powerful yet very feminine voice that has made her the winner of more recent country music awards than another performer.

I certainly have no qualms relating to her singing ability. She very well may deserve every one of the awards that have been bestowed upon her. My complaint centers around her production crew and the length of her show. I won't go as far as saying that she is a rip-off act, because I'm sure avid fans were pleased with her performance, but I will say that the $25,000 she made for her one hour and ten minute performance was a pretty slick maneuver in itself.

I don't know what Paul Williams' (her warm-up act) cut was, but his show was very short, too, no pun intended. Williams is 5 feet 2 and bases much of his comedy material around his lack of height.

All Newton-John does is sing, and that takes a lot out of a performer because she can't rely on playing guitar or piano like many other performers. She can't relax her pipes for a while, but I think she still owed the audience more than she gave them.

She had a nine-piece backup group which she introduced by first name only, which I thought was tacky. If one is going to introduce a stranger to an 11,000-person audience that audience at least deserves the respect of knowing the person's first and last name.

Her traveling production crew has to be the rudest conglomeration of idiots that I have encountered at the center. Actually, her need for a production crew was not really so important anyway. The stage set was a visual nightmare. She had plastic plants in plastic pots scattered around in obscure portions of the stage, which was key lit by what looked like the little blue lights that airports use to guide planes down the taxi runways. It was a cheap, unattractive set that made me wish I had a taxi to leave in after Paul Williams had done his show.

Newton-John did a selection of songs from a varied group of artists, of course performing the ones that have been her big hits, but she also did an excellent rendition of Dolly Parton's Jolene, a cut from the Bee Gee's terrific Jigsaw album, and also a Willie Nelson song Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain.

Before the Nelson song she asked if anyone knew of the song, obviously unaware that he had directly preceded her at the center.

She drew great applause when she mentioned the song and apologized for not knowing any other of his tunes. Maybe she should pick up a few more, but then on the other hand, maybe she shouldn't especially if she follows him in other concerts around the country. People will realize what an injustice she has done to his music.

There is certainly no denying her natural beauty but as far as getting an insight to her personality - no go. Her bodyguard-boyfriend was an obnoxious clown who denied me the opportunity to speak with her and sprinted her off the stage in what had to be the fastest exit from stage that I've ever seen, to a limo parked behind the stage. However, the traffic outside Lloyd Noble was so dense that her entourage had to wait for a long time before they could leave. I guess there were a lot of people who were in as much of a hurry to leave as she was.

Paul Williams was a totally different experience, both on and off stage. Red vest, blue coat and patched denim jeans were his attirements and his mixture of comedy and singing were his wares. The personable, talented song writer/singer performed all original music, where his short jokes came from I don't know, but I found them entertaining.

It's no big secret that Williams is no great singer but what he lacks in stature and singing ability he more than makes up for with his quick, pleasing wit, excellent writing, and singing intensity. He really puts his all into his performance and no matter what the result, one can't fault a man for that. In Williams' case, his effort provided a superb warm-up for Olivia Newton-John.

Williams did express somewhat of a dislike to playing before as large a crowd as the center had. I really like to play smaller audiences, not more than 3,000 or 4,000. I like a more intimate show because I like to talk with people in the audience. It's hard to do with great big crowds.