Meaningful music
Olivia Newton-John connects with her audience performing old and new songs with depth
By By Mary Sagal, Correspondent
Olivia Newton-John
Friday, Aug. 6. Spokane Opera House
When Olivia Newton-John last toured the United States in 1983, the thought of the Australian songbird performing “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” would have been, well, a bit absurd. After all, it was during that decade she shed the good-girl image Nashville had bestowed upon her in the 1970s in favor of pop-rock videos showcasing her writhing on silk sheets.
But at Newton-John’s concert at the Spokane Opera House Friday night, the most famous song from the Broadway play “Evita” was more than perfect. It was achingly autobiographical. Stunning in a pink body suit and flowing jacket, Newton-John delivered the Perone anthem with a strong and wise soprano voice that pressed honest emotion into lines like “Don’t cry for me Argentina. The truth is I never left you. Not in my wild days. My mad existence. I kept my promise.”
Indeed Newton-John did, pledging at the beginning of her show that the large crowd would hear old favorites and new inspirations. She used “Argentina” as the heart of a performance that linked the shallowness of her pop era with the wisdom of her current songs, music deepened by her new role as a 50-year-old breast-cancer survivor.
The most moving of Newton-John’s new motivations was her tribute to singers and songwriters who died tragically young. Backed by a lone acoustic guitar and harmony from band members, Newton-John sang Paul McCartney’s “Long and Winding Road” for Linda McCartney, The Carpenters “Close to You” for Karen Carpenter, and “Take me Home Country Roads” for John Denver, her former duet partner and close friend. She also sang “The Flower That Shattered the Stone” for the victims of the Columbine High School shooting.
Newton-John’s fans were most engaged in two instances during the beautiful four-part harmony on “Country Roads,” and when she sang solo on hits like “Let Me Be There,” “Please Mr.Please,” and “Don’t Stop Believing.”
The same was true for her voice. On the country tunes she sang clear and strong. On pop hits like “Xanadu” and “Magic,” Newton-John’s voice seemed less sure, more tired.
A notable exception, however, was her performance of songs from the movie “Grease,” in which Newton-John played a sweet virgin in love with bad boy John Travolta. Passing leather jackets out to most of her eight-piece band, Newton-John recruited her entire audience into gang members who sang chorus on “Summer Nights,” a feat that earned everyone on stage a standing ovation.
She also sang “Hopelessly Devoted” and “The One That I Want” as unencumbered as if she were still prancing about the movie set in that famous skin-tight black body suit (which by the way she could easily still wear and look good in).
From her newer recordings, Newton-John sang “Precious Love,” a pleasing country song, and “Not Gonna Give Into It,” a rollicking Latin number proclaiming her deepened reverence for life.
Should Newton-John continue to resurrect her career through recording new music, her best strategy is to pay attention to her concert audiences.
Acoustic, country or otherwise meaningful songs touched her fans. Benign ditties like “Magic” and “Xanadu” are best left as interesting experiments that took place years ago when Newton-John was not yet the depth-filled woman she is today.
More from Olivia’s 1999 Summer tour.