Physical Live - FM Fan

Translation from Japanese:

The concert tour to mark the return of activities began amid a whirlwind of applause.

Many fans will remember that when Olivia Newton-John visited Japan in 1981, she said, I won't be performing concerts for a while.

However, I was surprised, as were her fans, when she suddenly began her US tour on August 9, 1982, at Merryweather Post in Washington, D.C., and continued through mid-October.

Perhaps she missed the stage after all. I was able to see Olivia Newton-John's final LA performance on October 8 at the Amphitheater inside University Studios in Los Angeles.

The show started at 7:30 PM, an hour later than her Japanese concerts. It was nice to be able to enjoy a leisurely outing after dinner.

Finally, we arrived at the Amphitheater on the hill and entered the venue, but there were only a few people there. For a moment I wondered if I was too early, so I looked at my watch, but it was already past 7:30 PM. For a while, there was still no sign of anything starting, and it was a little after 8 PM when opening act Tom Scott began playing. The audience was 600 people.

The venue was only about 50% full. After Tom Scott's performance, during the intermission, I was a little surprised when two American men sitting in front of me asked me, Who was that? They had introduced themselves, but it seemed they hadn't even heard me.

After a short intermission, the bell rang and the hall went dark. The audience applauded enthusiastically. I casually looked towards the audience and saw that it had already filled up.

First, slides of Olivia as a child were projected onto the giant screen in the center of the stage. At the end was a snapshot from Stage Door.

The background music of her hit songs changed to live music, and Olivia appeared from the screen. Her costume was a leotard look similar to the one she wore in the video for Move on Me.

She then sang for over two hours, from her debut hit Let Me Be There to her latest hit Heart Attack. The set was brilliantly structured, showcasing a series of country songs.

Olivia's favorite songs and songs from films like Grease and Xanaduwere all grouped together, with other hits woven in between.

After singing Xanadu, a smoke screen appeared and Olivia exited the stage, while Promise played in the air and a video of Olivia playing with dolphins was projected onto the screen.

Amidst thunderous applause, Olivia reappeared and delivered a message about her relationship with dolphins, calling for their protection.

She then sang again. The finale was, of course, her smash hit Physical.

She entered the stage jumping ropes and gave a passionate performance for about seven minutes, at which point something unexpected happened. She called John Travolta, who co-starred with her in the film Grease, onto the stage from backstage, and they performed a duet of Physical. Fans were thrilled.

Her visit to Japan, originally scheduled for early 1983, was postponed until after June, but we can look forward to Olivia's Japan visit, having shown she was still going strong in her US concerts.

Review by Takeyama Tsutomu