Burt Bacharach is frail now. He is 87 and he looked it as he
hobbled on stage at the Crown Theatre. But sitting at the piano he exuded
authority and freshness, every inch the world’s ‘greatest living composer’ as he
was proclaimed at the 2008 Grammy Awards.
Backed by his band (a slick group including five keyboards,
violin, trumpet and reeds plus a rhythm section) he revealed his legacy: hit
after hit from a catalogue of over 500 songs. For an impressive two
uninterrupted hours the sound track of our lives unfolded, songs that will
forever be associated with someone’s graduation night, that wedding, funeral,
or movie.
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| Bacharach and band at the Crown Theatre |
The opening medley featured iconic collaborations with Hal David
including the bouncy Do You know the Way to San Jose, Say A Little Prayer and a
breathy Anyone Who Had a Heart. The vocals were shared between the sassy Josie
James, the elegant Donna Taylor and the versatile, smooth John Pagano.
Bacharach’s songs are predominantly but not exclusively
breezy and buoyant; the time signature changes and chromatic melody line in What’s
New Pussycat? were a reminder that Bacharach studied composition with modernists
Darius Milhaud and Henry Cowell. And a set of movie classics became darkly
intimate when Bacharach sang solo from his piano. Raindrops Keep Falling on My
Head lacked sparkle, but in the more introverted Alfie a stillness descended on
the audience as the octogenarian mused ‘what’s it all about?’.
The pin drop moment came when Bacharach closed the concert with
the first performance of an unnamed new song with lyrics by Tim Nichols. The
melody was haunting and Bacharach’s voice thick with emotion as he sang: ‘The
day will come when I will have to leave you/ But I will leave the best of me
with you.’
This review copyright The West Australian newspaper 2015.
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