Concert Review
The Barrow Civic Theatre, Franklin, PA
March 27, 2009
Okay. Do you want to hear about the most wonderful place on earth to have a David Cassidy concert? Well, I'll tell you.that would be Franklin, Pennsylvania, USA. Yup, that's right. Franklin, Pennsylvania. It's a small city about an hour and a half from Pittsburgh and it's wonderful. Franklin is lovely and quiet. It has nice clean streets with all kinds of lovely little shops. A quaint little coffee shop with all kinds of delicious homemade goodies, a free computer to check your email and comfortable couches where you can sit for hours and no one hurries you along..and everyone says hello and is happy to see you. There are crosswalks in the streets where people stop to let you cross. No lie, I swear, they do! (Being from Boston, this completely confused me at first.I couldn't figure out why all these cars where stopping until my friends nudged me and said "they want you to cross"! In Boston people in a crosswalk means 'go faster so you can beat them'.)
And best of all, in Franklin, PA they play David Cassidy music in the streets. You heard me right.in the streets. David Cassidy music. IN THE STREETS. I know, I know! It freaked us out too.
Jane, Christine and I were walking along the street on our way to visit the Barrow-Civic Theatre. We had seen it the night before in the dark and it was awesome. There was a great marquee that said "Only one more day until David Cassidy Live!" and we wanted to see it again in the daylight. There was also a fabulous window display filled with original albums and posters and one of David's white jumpsuits, which we absolutely HAD to see again in the light of day. (Very surreal and emotional and hard to explain.well, for me at least. It was like feeling 12 yrs old and in complete awe and just wanting to stare at it for hours, but knowing I was 49 yrs old and it was just a jumpsuit. But. )
So anyway, there we were walking down the street, enjoying this great city filled with huge signs welcoming David to Franklin, and his smiling face on posters in all the shop windows, when all of a sudden we heard music. We stopped and looked around and then looked at each other to be sure we all heard it and weren't just imagining it in our concert excitement. "Will there come a da-ay, when you and I can sa-ay, we can finally see each other..". Yup, David's voice was actually being piped into the streets! Ahh, it was Heaven. Heaven, Heaven, Heaven.
That evening we got to the theatre about 45 minutes early and the excitement was palpable. We had drinks in the lovely lobby and talked with so many wonderful, friendly people from Franklin and surrounding towns. We bought our commemorative t-shirts--complete with a great picture of David and the theatre's name--and got our programs before going in to see the David Cassidy exhibition everyone was talking about. John Miller, the theatre's manager, had a backroom all set up with the rest of his own personal memorabilia.and there was tons of it. Heaven. I am telling you, this was just the best city! Everyone was having so much fun laughing and chatting and reminiscing over the posters and photos and asking questions to fans who had been to shows before. It was a blast.
John Miller very happily came on stage and introduced David and he came dancing out to great applause. Ahhh..every time, I swear, it's like the very first time. Because I get so excited, I can never remember the exact order of songs .or sometimes even the songs LOL.but I know he sang all my favorites. I do remember he sang Hush and Crossroads, which were hot and wild and the audience loved him. He did an acoustic section, which I adore because it's just David's voice and the guitar. He sang Doesn't Somebody Want to Be Wanted, which I have not heard live since 1972, if ever. It was very special to hear it and I felt so lucky to be there. Definitely in my list of top five memories to keep forever. He talked a bit about John Lennon and Yoko but not very much about anything else really. I do so love when he chats to us, but it was a very hyper night and I don't think he was able to sit still for long. Teri sang Brass In Pocket while we got to hear David play the drums, which I love, love, love! Ahhh..that's in my top five list too!
I Think I Love You felt like it came way too soon and it brought the whole huge house to their feet, dancing and stomping and screaming for more. He left the stage of course, but everyone kept on screaming and stomping and David came back to sing an absolutely soul-wrenching version of Cry, which he dedicated to his dad.
It was a wonderful, wonderful show and we danced and laughed our way back to the hotel with a town full of excited people laughing and singing with us. Something tells me that this won't be the last David Cassidy concert that many of them will attend.
Janie
Boston
