Melissa Manchester - twice in 2007!

My love of Melissa Manchester has been well-documented on this blog (here, here, and here).

It turned out that Melissa was performing with the Jacksonville Symphony the same weekend I was going there for a visit. So of course we had to go see her show. It was, of course, a great show, and it was interesting to hear many of her songs performed with orchestral accompaniment. Unfortunately, the average age of the audience was at least 70, if not 75, so there were quite a few people who did not appreciate the amazing talent of Ms. Manchester. She was her usual vibrant, bubbly, wonderful self regardless of the lack of devotion and appreciation from many in the audience. I got more and more incensed throughout the evening that she was not getting the proper respect and adulation from the audience. I think that’s because this was a regular subscription series concert for the Jacksonville Symphony Pops, meaning that many of the people there didn’t know Melissa from a hole in the ground. And the over-70 set found her music too edgy - if it's even possible for Melissa Manchester to be considered hard-edged.

Before her encore, a group of about 20 elderly people rushed for the exits and moved faster than they had since the 1970s. One old women tripped, and in the process of falling down, she brought two other old ladies down with her. So there were three old women on the floor of the concert hall before Melissa performed her encore numbers. I figured these women got what they deserved; you don't leave a Melissa Manchester concert before it's over.

She performed "Midnight Blue," "Through the Eyes of Love (Theme From Ice Castles)," "Don’t Cry Out Loud," and "Whenever I Call You Friend."

Unfortunately, she did not perform "You Should Hear How She Talks About You," "Just Too Many People," or "Just You and I."

It was great to see La Manchester a second time in 2007. She's a remarkable singer, songwriter, and performer.