PHOTO

 

 

COUPURE DE PRESSE 

2001 Newton-john concert was nothing short of magical 

Springfield News-Sun 26 Aug 2022

By Merle Wilberding Dayton attorney Merle Wilberding is a regular contributor. 

 The recent death of Olivia Newton-john followed her 30-year battle with breast cancer. I had read that when cancer had first attacked her in 1992, she transformed her initial shock into a spirit of healing that empowered her to be a strong advocate for women with breast cancer. She urged them to live their lives with compassion. 

She continued that compassion when her breast cancer returned in 2013 and again in 2017. It finally took her life. 

 Newton-john was born in England and had moved to Australia as a young girl. She started performing at a young age and had many hit songs. Over the years, Newton-john was given many awards and honors, including four Grammys. They will always be her lasting legacy. But my best memory of her was when she performed at the Victoria Theatre on September 13, 2001. 

 As a part of her 30 Music Years Concert Tour, she had just performed on Sept. 10 at the Jackie Gleason Theatre in Miami, Fla. 

The next day, suicide hijackers crashed four airliners into the Twin Towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, and a field in Pennsylvania, a national disaster that took the lives of almost 3,000 people. 

 In Dayton, I remember hearing fighter jets screaming skyward out of Wright-patterson Air Force Base as they patrolled the skies. No commercial planes were permitted to fly anywhere in the United States. It was a very ominous time for everyone. 

 Meanwhile, Newton-john’s tour was celebrating her many great hits, including “Summer Nights,” “You’re the One That I Want,” “Physical” and “Xanadu.” Plus, she was still riding the wave of her role as Sandy in “Grease,” a movie with an original budget of $6 million that grossed more than $400 million, and had produced one of the best-selling albums of all time. 

 She had previously committed to perform in Dayton on Sept. 13 at the Heart-to-heart Gala for the Kettering Medical Center Foundation to be held at the Victoria Theatre. 

 Conscious of her own health battles, and conscious of her commitments, she was determined to make it to her next concert. Since she could not fly, she drove from Miami to Dayton and arrived in time to perform. 

 Her performance was mesmerizing. The Victoria Theatre was sold out. I remember how thrilled I was to even be in the audience, and how especially thrilled I was to have seats close to the stage. 

 Newton-john walked out to a standing ovation for her mettle and grit in even making it to Dayton. She then opened her concert to a hushed audience as she spoke from her heart about the understanding, sympathy and respect she had for the victims of 9/11 and for all Americans. The love in her heart spewed out to the audience. It truly was a Heart-to-heart experience. 

 That concert will always be a special part of Newton-john’s legacy, as she endeared herself to the minds and hearts of our community. 

 And for that one evening, the Victoria Theatre became a very special place; a mystical place filled with awe. It was Xanadu.