This marked her first show at The Garden in 13 years, and it followed her recent concert in London. The iconic songstress was accompanied by a 15-piece band and a conductor.
She began her set with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “As If We Never Said Goodbye” and it was followed by “Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home” and Billie Holiday’s “Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)”
After “The Man That Got Away,” she treated the audience to “Evergreen,” the love ballad from the classic film A Star is Born. She continued with a medley of songs that included “Guilty,” “Stoney End,” “Woman in Love” and her upbeat collaboration with the late Donna Summer, “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough).” She closed the first half of her show with her signature standard “Don’t Rain On My Parade.”
Her Madison Square Garden audience featured former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his wife, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Other celebrity guests included Mariah Carey, Rosie O’Donnell, Whoopi Goldberg, and Tony winner Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen).
“I would like to thank Billy Joel for taking the night off so that you could spend some time with me,” Streisand told the fans, prior to noting that his 112-residency shows that he has played so far at The Garden are more concerts than she has done in her entire musical career.
After a brief intermission, she returned for the second act of her show, which she kicked off with the beautiful “The Way We Were,” as well as a medley of “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” and “Children Will Listen.”
The highlight performance from the second half of the show included a witty parody of Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns,” which she dedicated to our “Commander in Chief,” President Trump. The crowd was evenly divided among Republicans and Democrats and she extended her gratitude to the Republicans for coming out tonight, yet she had warned the Republicans in the audience to “cover their ears” for a couple of minutes. “It’s hard for me to contain myself,” she said, prior to belting out “Send in the Clowns.”
Midway through the song, she reminded the Republicans and fans of President Trump to “cover their ears.” While this new parody of “Send in the Clowns” was lacking bridges, she kept on delivering newly written but clever verses that were well-received. “That was meant to be a funny song, but what is going on isn’t very funny,” she admitted.
It was followed by “Walls,” the title track of her latest studio offering, as well as the song “Happy Days Are Here Again,” which is also featured in the new collection.
For her encore, she returned to spread some love and unity with “What the World Needs Now Is Love.” She commended the audience for singing along to this song, as well as for lighting up their cell phones in the air and waving them. She closed her set with a controlled and impressive rendition of “Alfie.”
The Verdict
Overall, Barbra Streisand put on a terrific live show at Madison Square Garden. She had the crowd with her every step of the way, and she appeared comfortable on stage. With the exception of “Papa, Can You Hear Me?” she performed all of the fan-favorite songs. Her music is timeless and it will never go out of style. Her live set garnered an A rating. Hopefully, she will perform again soon at The Garden and the wait will be much shorter than 13 years for her return.
