Yesterday I held a ticket for Olivia Newton-John in concert at a local casino, Pala. I hadn’t seen her in concert in more than thirty years and was looking forward to the evening. My sweetie-wife is not a fan and so this was to be a solo night out for myself.

The Casino/hotel complex is on a reservation and took about 45 minutes to drive to. I arrived early enough to had a quick meal, the largest chili dog I have ever seen at a very decent price, they certainly want your money at the gambling and not the cafe, and then went to the concert hall.

It was well attended, perhaps sold out I am not really sure. Only a few minutes late Olivia appeared on the stage and started singing Have You Ever Been Mellow. I can tell you definitively that she does not lip-synch her concerts. One, from my seat I could see the person operating the teleprompter with the lyrics, two, she was sick and is showed in her voice.

Before she completed the song she stopped, waved the band silent, and apologized to us that her voice was croak-y after catching something overseas and that she would do the best that she could. She launched into her next song, but the sore throat prevented her from getting to the high notes and she again stopped the show, this time letting us know she couldn’t perform. It was clear she was mortified and ashamed by her failure and I felt very bad for her. This is one of the real differences between a performance art and other arts. A writer can polished and edit and even not release a piece if they feel they are not hitting their marks, performance artists  do it live and their failures, even when it is not their fault, are live.

She didn’t send us away, she stayed on stage chatting with the audience, answering questions, and making arrangments with the hotel for photo opportunities. She also promised she would try to come back soon. I stayed for about half an hour of the chatting and questions, then left for home.

This morning the refund notice arrive in my email box, so I am happy the venue acted promptly, but I am sad I did not get to see her show.