TOTALLY devoted ... to Bangkok

AUSTRALIAN POP icon Olivia Newton-John was back in Bangkok on Tuesday night for another evening of nostalgic hits that took audiences happily down memory lane.
The 67-year-old, four-time Grammy Award winning singer performed at Royal Paragon Hall at Siam Paragon, her first return to the city after her show at Bitec Bangna in 2012.
“An Evening with Olivia Newton-John” was a truly enjoyable concert, packed with hits and great covers that were delivered with great vocals and heartfelt conviction. The show kicked off with the flute-forward “Have You Never Been Mellow” and continued on with numbers from “Xanadu”, Newton-John’s hit musical film, including “Xanadu”, “Magic” and “Suddenly”.
“Sawaddee ka and kob khun ka!” Newton-John said to loud cheers from the audience. “Hello Bangkok! It’s wonderful to be back and thank you everyone for making us feel so welcome. Tonight, I’ll take you to a musical journey.”
And that’s exactly what she did, travelling back in time to the beginning of her career, when she was labelled as a country singer, with a medley of several country numbers and rounding out the set with John Denver’s classic “Take Me Home Country Roads”, “Please Mr Please”, “Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” and her 1974 country pop hit, “If You Love, Let Me Know”. One of the few stars to cross over from country to pop successfully, Newton-John belted out pop classic “Physical”, her biggest American hit and 1981 Platinum track.
“I’m very proud of this song,” she told the audience. “Because of all the songs I’ve done, this is the only one that was banned!” The ban, she explained, came about as the result of a “sexy” music video with a hint of bromance that raised red flags on several broadcasters in the US at the time, including MTV.
“Compared to what’s on the radio now, it’s a lullaby,” she added, laughing.
One of the defining moments in her career, Newton-John told the fans, was when she landed a nightclub job in London’s Carnaby Street after winning a talent competition in Australia, back in the 60s. “I didn’t want to go to England, but my mother made me and I’m glad she did,” she recalled.
“I was only 16 and one of the songs I loved to sing was this number by this American singer with a sultry, sexy voice. Wanting to sound like her, I started smoking but that didn’t help.” And with that “Cry Me a River” by Julie London was delivered with Newton-John’s characteristically soft and mellow voice.
Newton-John’s personal anthem, Latin beat-clad “Not Gonna Give Into It”, that she wrote during the recovery from breast cancer in the early ’90s was next and got the crowd dancing.
The singer’s breakthrough moment with “Grease” was highlighted with several numbers from the classic musical film, including “You’re the One that I Want”, “Hopelessly Devoted to You”, “Summer Nights” and “We Go Together”. She then dedicated “Grace and Gratitude”, a piano-ridden ballad from 2006, to her supporters, supporters and families.
The canary treated her fans to “I Honestly Love You”, her first worldwide number one hit from 1974, before disappearing backstage, and returning with an encore with Judy Garland’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.
Polished, poised with down-to-earth charm and charisma, Newton-John’s performance was pleasant, fulfilling and every enjoyable. After four decades of a successful career, she is one amongst a few who does not need to rely on the glorious past to engage and delight the crowd.