Valli in Vegas–Still Rockin’ the Crowd!
November 30th, 2005After seeing Jersey Boys on Broadway just a couple of weeks ago, what better way to end the month than to see the real Frankie Valli in concert at the Luxor in Vegas!?!?!!
Somehow, we landed Front Row, Center tickets! Yikes!
Since we had a bit of time to kill before the show began, my husband & I headed to get something to drink. Guess who we see right there, live in the casino? Yeah, Frankie Valli, himself! My husband goes up to him, raves about him, they shake hands, & tells Frankie that his wife (yeah, me) is one of his biggest fans. I acted like a 14-year old tongue-tied idiot–told him how great he was, how fabulous Jersey Boys was. As the show began, he nodded to us as we were sitting right in the front row!
The band, the four young back-up singers/dancers (are they the 4 Seasons??), then Frankie appeared on stage after a montage of pictures on a screen and instrumental versions of the 4 Seasons hits played in the background. After opening with “Grease” and following up with “Our Day Will Come”, the hits just kept coming–one right after the other: “Opus 17″, “Swearin’ to God”, “Who Loves You”, “Oh What a Night”, “Sherry, Walk Like a Man”, “Save it for Me”–the guys just kept belting out the hits! The crowd went nuts! Standing ovations & cheers went on & on.
Between all the hits, Frankie talked a bit about how Jersey Boys started in La Jolla and how it’s made it to Broadway. He told everyone how the Broadway show tells the story of the 4 Seasons that not many people may have heard before.
Following another standing ovation, Frankie, the backup guys, and the new band walked off stage–came back to more cheers & rocked on–singing Rag Doll & closing with the usual show stopper, “Let’s Hang On”.
The band? Wow! Looks like Frankie’s musical director for about 20 years, Robbie Robinson, has formed a new band. These guys truly rocked the house! I couldn’t believe how much fun these guys were having on stage!! The audience was having fun, too–as we were all singing along to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and so many other tunes.
Maybe it’s the energy from Jersey Boys, maybe it’s the new band, maybe it’s Frankie as a great showman…I’m not sure what the formula was on stage on Sunday–but it was one of Frankie’s best shows–ever!!
