Erwin Centre, TX Physical concert review - Austin American Statesman

Backbreaking toil sets the stage for Olivia Newton-John concert

When it comes to getting physical, Olivia Newton-John's road crew does a backbreaking rendition. Before she hit a note Saturday, her 20-member crew and 16 local stagehands hired by the Erwin Center unpacked and set up more than five tons of speakers, stage lights and band equipment from three long bed semi trucks.

For a top entertainer's road crew, setting up a concert at the Erwin Center is like moving into a 16,800 seat vacant home, unpacking more than $1 million worth of equipment, then packing up and moving before you get a chance to fall asleep.

Preparations for Saturday's concert included hoisting 10 four-foot high speakers measuring 134 feet wide up steel cables attached to a 114-foot high walkway. Also up the cables went four speaker horn arrays and four 400-pound trusses with 300 stage lights.

The lights and speakers are held aloft, Newton-John's stage manager Jon Roth said, so they won't obstruct the audience's view.

When fully lit, the center lighting setup a cluster of octagonal lights and pipes so closely resembles something from Close Encounters, the road crew refers to it as the space station. But it wasn't the most unusual effect:
A split movie screen device with a 35 millimeter Xenon gas (like neon) projector had to be set up for a Newton-John grand entrance. The way Roth explained it, Newton-John was to walk through the middle of a motion picture screen, while a film montage of her career played out behind her.

The stage itself had to be assembled from 93 4-by-8 wood and metal stage platforms, each capable of withstanding 5,600 pounds that appeared one of the more mundane tasks of the day.

A number of catering requirements for Newton-John and the crew also had to be taken care of.

Gordon Kelson, the center's stage manager, removed a pink sheet from his files. Look at this, he said. Food ordered for Newton-John's dressing room, included hot tea (Celestial Seasonings, Red Zinger), two packages of Pepperidge Farm cookies, a half-gallon uncarbonated spring water, a half-gallon of cranberry juice, two bottles of French dry wine, six bran muffins and one-half case each of Seven-Up, Coca-Cola and Budweiser.

Meanwhile, the Newton-John stage began to take shape.

My day today goes from 9 a.m. to 1 in the morning, Newton-John's sound mixer David Natale said. This is our fourth show in four days. Last night I got four hours sleep, and the night before I got five. I've been on the road straight since January, and I've only been home six days.

Well, he said, looking up at more than two tons of speakers being hoisted up a steel cable, mixing sound is as much artistry and creativity as a band playing.

Three hours after the concert, the crew lowered and repacked the gear, then headed for Baton Rouge, where they'll do a repeat road crew performance for a concert tonight.

By Richard A. Abrams American-Statesman Staff

Newton-John displays mastery of art form - Review

Somebody should give Olivia Newton-John a break. As an entertainer, she's always been the bane of critics, either too pop or too pretty to earn credit for having any real talent. It's not surprising, therefore, that she would take the only sane alternative left by creating her own medium, and letting the critics come to her.

At the Erwin Center Saturday night, Newton-John's performance resonated with an aura of show biz, without becoming gratuitous or condescending. It illustrated instead that there should be room in the mu-sic business for something in between schmaltzy crooning and ear-shattering guitar solos. That's Newton-John's home terrain, and the degree of professionalism in her show went quite a distance in legitimizing her newfound art form.

During the 11/½-hour concert, two things about Olivia Newton-John became increasingly apparent. First, she is struggling mightily to be considered more than just a dumb blonde who has exercised herself into a seven-digit income with Physical.

Second, her greatest talent does lie in a medium that is at once both musical and visual. By interpreting the tunes she sings, the songs themselves be-come somehow transformed, leaving them with much more range and depth of emotion than their vinyl counterparts.

In content, the show was a greatest hits package in itself, because Newton-John has no new album, only the new single, Heart Attack to promote.

A backup vocalist joined Newton-John on the last song of the regular set, You're the One That I Want. Immaculately choreographed and carefully played out, the song suffered little from John Travolta's absence.

Newton-John bounded offstage, while her backup band continued a vamp around the song's melody line. A few solos later, she was back, clad in white jogging clothes. Everyone knew what was next, and she led the audience in five or six choruses of Physical.

Many of her songs would drive any serious fan of rock music screaming out into the night, but they should realize that Newton-John isn't singing to them at all.

Very simply, one can take her music and her films for what they are - mass entertainment and nothing more. Once accepted on her own terms, Olivia Newton-John emerges undeniably as a master of her art.

By Kevin Phinney, Special to the American-Statesman