The Saturday Morning (2-For-The-Price-Of-1) “Nobody-Asked-Me-To, But-Here-I-Go-Anyway Concert Reviews: Bette Midler’s “The Showgirl Must Go On”, and Jay Leno’s “Benefit For Iowa Flood Victims”.

(or, Why I Will Never Be A Professional Concert Reviewer…or photographer, for that matter...)

What a way to spend our last night in Vegas! Back-to-back shows, and a night where we eventually returned to our room when most people are having breakfast!

First stop, Caesar’s Palace - The Coliseum. The house that Celine built. We’ve seen Celine, we’ve seen Elton, and we’ve seen Cher. But last night, we finally captured the Bette Midler concert experience. Yowza!

Midler’s show in this grand auditorium is exactly the sort of spectacle you’d expect here in Vegas. Showgirls, state-of-the-art special effects, at least a 16-piece orchestra (lost count after 15 - I couldn’t seem to get my right sandal off – foot too swollen from days of casino wandering…), and ole Bette herself, in all her glory.

This showgirl still does go on and on, let me tell you. The voice soars, the costumes dazzle, and her bawdy humour practically steals the show.

A particular highlight was a send-up number spoofing Vegas past and present, involving the Rat Pack, Wayne Newton, a spectral Elvis from “the other side”, and a lavish Cirque de Soleil-style performance with mermaids. Un-freakin-bee-lee-vable.

Midler retains her cast of “characters”, all the way from her classic 70’s shows – the mermaid that wants to be a star, The Harlettes, and Soph, the salty old burlesque comedian. And yet, with all this, the best parts of the show happened when she commanded the gigantic stage all by herself (and the 16-piece orchestra, give or take a cellist or two), to perform her monster hits.

It was a night we won’t soon forget. And, as a point of general trivia, having seen both Bette and Barry this trip, it was almost like reliving the start of both their careers, when Manilow was Midler’s pianist. Karma chameleon!!

From Caesar’s, we high-tailed it over to The Mirage, to catch Jay Leno’s freshly scheduled benefit concert for the Midwest flood victims. This was an unplanned opportunity we couldn’t afford to pass up on (although affordability is a bloated monster we will have to face come VISA billing time…)

We’ve always heard that Leno was way funnier in person than while doing his nightly monologues, and we would have to concur. As a matter of fact, he was blasted hilarious.

His opening act was a dandy doo-wop acapella group from Orange County, California - The Alley Cats. One member is from Edmonton, just to the north of where we live now in Calgary. Go figure!

The blurry picture at the top of this page is the best one I could snap before the Camera Police sternly shined a flashlight in my eye – photography is frowned upon in showrooms. Yeah, well so is bringing livestock into the theatre, so give me SOME credit at least…

Better run. Checkout time is looming…

Chow for now!!