Last night I had the great pleasure of seeing American crooner Tony Bennett in concert. Tony Bennett has been a successful performer for 60 years and last night the 85 year old performer’s voice still sounded great.
Tony Bennett was backed by a brilliant 4 piece band that comprised of piano, bass, guitar and drums. Whether you’re into jazz or not, when his band played you just had to pay attention and listen. These guys were fantastic. Each musician was given the opportunity to show their skills in their solos during various songs.
Tony Bennett sang many jazz/swing standards such as ‘I Got Rhythm’ but the highlights for me were ‘Shadow of Your Smile’, ‘For Once In My Life’ (yes the Stevie Wonder song), ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco’ and ‘Smile’.
Throughout the show, Tony Bennett shared many stories about his life including one in which the famous comedian Bob Hope asked him what his name was. The response he gave was “Anthony Benedetto”. Bob Hope replied that he should be called “Tony Bennett” and the name has stuck.
At one point during the concert, Tony Bennett stated that he gets offered to play large concert arenas but he always declines the offers because he enjoys playing theatres. He then asked his sound guy to turn off his microphone and accompanied only by his guitarist sang a wonderful version of the classic ‘Fly Me to the Moon’. His performance of this song proved that he still had a powerful voice because everybody at the Regent Theatre, even the people at the back, could hear him sing. Seeing Tony Bennett’s performance of this song was a fantastic experience and one that I will never forget. At the end of the performance, the audience stood on their feet to applaud this wonderful entertainer and with that he said “goodnight“ and a wonderful show was over.
SET LIST
1. Watch What Happens
2. They All Laughed
3. Maybe This Time
4. I Got Rhythm
5. Cold Cold Heart
6. Sing You Sinners
7. Steppin’ Out With My Baby
8. But Beautiful
9. Just The Way You Look Tonight
10. Because of You/Just In Time
11. The Good Life
12. Once Upon A Time
13. Shadow Of Your Smile
14. One For My Baby
15. I Wanna Be Around
16. For Once In My Life
17. The Best Is Yet To Come
18. I Left My Heart In San Francisco
19. I’m Old Fashioned
20. How Do You Keep The Music Playing
21. Who Cares
22. Smile
23. When You’re Smiling
24. Fly Me To The Moon
Official Website
https://tonybennett.com
By STEVE YANKO
