Live in Sydney, The Wet Album
(Mar 11, 2000) - For Streisand fans Down Under, the announcement that Barbra Streisand was coming to two cities in Australia with her "Timeless" concert tour was just about the biggest news imaginable.

In Sydney, "Timeless" was performed at the Sydney Football Stadium.  It's a magnificent outdoor venue and home of the city's professional rugby team. Singing in this splendid outdoor arena marked Barbra's triumphant return to paid open air concerts for the public, the first since her concert tour in the mid-sixties.

The rains wreaked havoc for Barbra and concert promoters during the Sydney dates.  For several days before the first scheduled show, it poured incessantly.  When the big day arrived, fans waited, listened to special concert reports on TV and radio and were finally given the official word at 5:30 PM:  Barbra's first ever Australian concert would be postponed for 24 hours.

But the show did eventually go on. The concert premiered on March 9, a day late. Barbra's Australian opening night went off without a hitch. The clouds held back. The weather was magnificent.  And Barbra gave her first Australian audience a brilliant performance.

Technical Difficulties in Melbourne
(Mar 18, 2000) - Melbourne's Colonial Stadium was the venue showcasing Barbra in Australia's second city.  "Timeless" represented a series of inaugural concerts presented at this new stadium.  Built on the docklands of the city, Colonial Stadium has a retractable roof and was touted as a state of the art facility...perfect for concerts. Or so they said.

Technical sound difficulties in Melbourne were to replace the weather problems of Sydney.  Barbra's first show in Melbourne was marred by significant acoustical deficiencies.  Barbra actually stopped the show in Act 1 to address the problem with her audience.  "Either there are two of me or it's very disturbing", she offered.  However, all problems were fixed by Act 2.  But for the next several days, Colonial Stadium's acoustics was the topic of conversation all over town.

Barbra had a lot of fun on closing night in Melbourne.  She even bantered from the stage with members of the local Australian fan club.  As an encore, Barbra offered "You Don't Bring Me Flowers."  A huge hit in Australia, the number received a thunderous ovation by the Melbourne audience.  Barbra admitted that she wished she had included the ballad in all her Australian shows.

As Hollywood royalty prepared to leave the country, British royalty was preparing to arrive.  An intriguing article in one of the local papers pitted the Queen's popularity against Barbra's and even provided a debate as to which celebrity would garner more press and public attention.  It would prove to be a close race according to the media.

New York Opening Night
(Sep 27, 2000) - Barbra returned home tonight!  She triumphed among thousands of her most ardent fans, family and more show business stars than I've ever seen at one of her concerts.  Her performance was riveting.  Being home, Barbra's performance was pure sentiment.   She was moved to tears during the closing curtain calls...giving us one extra bow and a big surprise - her patented "Funny Girl" time step - to thunderous ovations.  Her renditions included an extra bonus - "Send In The Clowns," an homage to Stephen Sondheim who was in attendance.  Marvin Hamlisch was there, too, taking in "Timeless" from the other side of the footlights for the very first time.  Others in the crowd, and it was a huge crowd indeed, included Ann Hampton Callaway (taking a night off from her starring turn in Broadway's "Swing") who got a very gracious thank you from Barbra for writing the lyrics to her wedding song.  Rosie O'Donnell was there with her video cam, basking as one in a multitude of fans who came to the show to witness Barbra's opening night in New York.  Regis and Joy Philbin were there, too, along with Sarah Jessica Parker, Chevy Chase, Martin Short, Bernadette Peters, Madeline Albright, Eli Wallach ("Nuts") and his wife Anne Jackson, Drew Barrymore, former Mayor David Dinkins, Michele Legrand, Tony Bennett, Penny Marshall, Elaine May, Shirley Jones, Isabella Rossalini, Polly Bergen, designer Donna Karan, columnist Frank Rich and producer Harvey Weinstein.  The list goes on and on.

"My Man" was nailed solid by Barbra tonight.  Her rendition was incredible...heartfelt and riveting with emotion.  Ditto for "The Music That Makes Me Dance" which received a huge ovation from the entire arena.  Barbra's Bon Soir and Basin Street East song set was equally as exciting with some of those in attendance apparently having actually seen Barbra's original cabaret performances back in the 60's.

A Barbra Streisand opening night is special.  This Barbra Streisand opening night in NYC was an event which could not possibly be topped by any other performance with the exception of, I anticipate, her closing night of all time.

New York Closing Night
(Sep 28, 2000) - Barbra Streisand will never sing in concert again. That was the glum realization after tonight's final performance of "Timeless" at Madison Square Garden.  Barbra sang her heart out tonight, over and over again throughout the two hour concert extravaganza.  The audience poured out an amazing amount of adulation all evening long.  A sustained standing ovation which lasted several minutes stopped the show and reduced Barbra to tears.  It was the climax of a thirty-eight year career, ending in her home town,  where it all began.

Barbra's performance of all her classics took on new meaning in an evening full of tears and emotional highs.  No one in the audience wanted it to end.  Barbra promised that this was indeed not the end, but the new beginning of a new chapter of her life.  Each song was a solo farewell to her legions of fans.  Each ballad a keepsake memory for all of us.