PERFORMANCE

Dans son édition du 9 décembre 1978, le mag anglais MUSIC WEEK revenait sur les concerts d'ONJ  "sold out" au Rainbow Theatre de Londres ! j'aurai tué père et mère pour y assister !! 

Olivia Newton-John : Rainbow 

IT'S THE classic story — local girl makes good, and returns in triumph. Olivia Newton John appearing at The Rainbow in North London demonstrated that it is something that can happen to any aspiring lady singer — producing the necessary fairytale ingregients are there. 

Olivia's Rainbow concerts received non-too-ecstatic reviews from the Fleet Street press — one critic went so far as to say that she sent the entire theatre to sleep. What one can't deny is that every concert was a sell-out, with no shortage of people standing. And her opening night was memorable for the standing ovations she achieved. 

Maybe it was a disappointment for some that she hadn't drastically changed her style. Her appearance in Grease obviously gave her a lot of leeway in which to do that. As it was, she stuck with the familiar numbers, occasionally  throwing in the odd number from her new Totally Hot LP. 

It's difficult to understand why numbers like I Honestly Love You and Please Mr Please flopped over here and yet were huge US hits. 

There was a brief glimpse of the early style of Ms Newton John, via If Not For You and Banks Of The Ohio, and an update with Hopelessly Devoted To You and You're The One That I Want (duelled with Labi Siffre). 

Olivia has the knack of making stardom seem within anyone's reach, but that is not to underestimate her talent. She's safe, she's soothing and she's showbiz. 

CHRIS WHITE

TOTALLY HOT 

L'album TOTALLY HOT fait son entrée dans le classement des meilleures ventes de 33t en Angleterre à la 52ème place !