Concert Reviews
Harrah's Atlantic City, NJ
Friday September 8, 2000
By: Erik
It was a great surprise to a lot of David Cassidy fans when they first heard that he would be doing two concerts at the Harrah's in Atlantic City on September 8 and 9. The shows were sold out before they were officially announced. People from all over America and the world had found their way to Atlantic City for this rare event. A group of more than 30 people from the David Cassidy Chat List on Topica had found their way there, including several people from England, Holland, and myself, who's from Norway.
I will say thank you to all the people on the Chat List who did a great job and donated a considerable sum of money to Kidscharities.com, who was represented at the Harrah's with the founder and David Cassidy's wife, Sue.
The concert started at 8 p.m. on Friday. David came in as Johnny Flamingo (his character at the Rio in Las Vegas), and did "Come Fly with Me", "Get me to the church on time", "Up a lazy river", "Luck be a lady" and "Mack the Knife." Lon Bronson's Orchestra and local musicians from the Atlantic City were backing him up. Johnny never mentioned David by name, but referred to him as the guy who was gonna follow him. He also couldn't understand what was the big deal about him. He always thought he was a faggot, but added that he didn't have a problem with that, and that he actually liked the guy.
After an instrumental played by Lon Bronson's Orchestra, David came on as himself. He opened with "I Can Feel Your Heartbeat" and continued with "I'll Meet You Halfway," "No Bridge I Wouldn't Cross" and "Summer Days." In between songs David communicated with his audience, telling them stories and joking with them. There was an excellent two way communication. We all had a lot of fun. David was calling his warming up act, Johnny Flamingo, Frankie (Frankie Reno was the awfully bad singer from his Copa show in Las Vegas). In "Echo Valley 2-6809" the operators words were changed to "I'm sorry. You've reached a disconnected decade." He dedicated his 1990 hit "Lyin' To Myself" to his wife and mother of his son, Sue Shifrin Cassidy, who also co-wrote the song with him. When David was slightly less old (his own words), he liked singing the above the high C. However, if he did, we wouldn't be seeing any more of him that evening, so he said he would have to do a different approach to "Lyin' To Myself", which basically meant that his two female background vocalists were doing the high parts. In "Lyin' To Myself" David also happened to break a guitar pick, according to him for the first time on stage. He threw it out into the audience. "Cherish," "I Woke Up In Love This Morning" and "I Think I Love You" followed. By this time everybody were standing up and dancing. The last two songs were "C'Mon Get Happy" and of course "Rock Me Baby."
The concert did span the whole thirty years of his career. David said that he doesn't do this kind of shows as often as he'd like to, due to his commitment to the Rio in Las Vegas, but he really appreciates it when he does. There were no doubts that he enjoyed himself on stage, like all his fans who were there. The concert lasted about one hour and twenty minutes.
From what I heard for the Saturday show, David as Johnny Flamingo had an accident falling over a speaker on the stage. He held his wrist for a second or two. Luckily there has been no indication that it's seriously hurt. He got right up and continued the song and everyone clapped. The look on his face showed surprise and disgust. Coming out as himself he made fun of Johnny Flamingo being a clutz. He did different jokes the second night.
Thanks to Leigh Noakes for letting us post her photo and to Erik from David Cassidy Fan Site of Norway.
