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| Tony Bennett @ the Mountain Winery (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
Saratoga’s
Mountain Winery has to be one of the best and most beautiful venues in the Bay Area to see a show, and last night was no exception. In fact, with temperatures reaching the low 90’s earlier in the day, the night couldn’t have turned out better as it slowly cooled down on the mountain for the arrival of the 91 year-young, and 19-time Grammy Award winning crooner,
Tony Bennett as he graced the stage. Only a day earlier, Mr. Bennett was at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco where the city was dedicating “
Tony Bennett Way” in his honor just outside the hotel. Luckily, he made his way south to Saratoga this evening to celebrate with us in the South Bay, and to continue his tour supporting his last release,
Tony Bennett Celebrates 90 (iTunes).
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| Tony Bennett and his Quartet (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
The Tony Bennett Quartet, made up of Tom Ranier on piano, Marshall Wood on upright bass, Harold Jones on drums, and Gray Sargent on guitar, kicked off the evening promptly at 7:30 to warm-up the crowd for about 30 minutes with Donna Wood joining them on vocals after a song or two. Just before 8pm, the band introduced Mr. Tony Bennett to the stage. With a slow and deliberate walk, the legendary Bennett took his place at center stage with giant applause from the audience and with a smile from ear to ear, recognized the adulation and launched into “Watch What Happens.” Although Tony wasn’t as spry on his feet as he might have been in years past, his voice sounded unbelievable. Literally, I found myself throughout the night amazed that he was hitting
and sustaining the notes that were coming from the speakers. As I was only a handful of rows from the stage, I watched intently on his breathing, mouth movements and microphone position — thinking to myself, ‘my god, how is he doing this? He’s got to be lip syncing!’ — but those thoughts were completely and utterly off base. Tony Bennett’s still got it, and he’s the real deal. He’s a legend for a reason, and I was in complete awe while taking in the show. His vocals were crisp, resonant, and amazingly strong, especially considering his age!
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| Tony Bennett (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
Although Tony spent much of his time near the edge of the grand piano, he did wander around the stage to highlight the other members of the quartet as they were given chances to solo. And justifiably praising them during and after brief moments to shine. Somewhat surprisingly, Tony didn’t spend any time reminiscing or telling stories from years-gone-by in between songs. As I’m sure we’ve all seen in the past, as performers age, they tend to spend more time in between songs, in part, to give their voice a break and to stretch out the time spent on stage. But Tony wasn’t bothered by any of that, and let the songs do the talking throughout the night. The only break he needed was to take a few sips from a glass of water positioned on the piano in the second half of his set, and of course, to bask in the applause from the audience; the intensity of which grew throughout the night to the point where it felt like for the last 4-5 songs, we kept getting up from our seats to give Tony and the band standing ovation after standing ovation.
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| Tony Bennett, Tom Ranier (piano), Marshall Wood (bass) (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
It’s hard to pinpoint any real highlight from his set, since all of it was just incredible, but obviously, “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” had the biggest crowd reaction for obvious reasons. Other personal favorites included “Stepping Out With My Baby”, “I Got Rhythm”, and his closer, “Fly Me to the Moon” which ended his 80-minute set. You can find the full setlist from the evening below.
What a night and an absolute treat to see the legendary Tony Bennett! Be sure to check out his
tour dates if you’re reading this from outside the Bay Area, and follow us across social here:
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