Review: Barry Manilow charms Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd in final Indianapolis concert

He emerged from a beam of bright white light, sporting a fuchsia jacket and a charming grin.

"Good evening. I'm Barry."

Oh, we know.

As a young millennial, there are four very specific pop culture moments I associate with Barry Manilow : The 1993 episode of "Murphy Brown" that included a performance of "I Am Your Child." The 2003 "Fanilow" episode of "Will & Grace." That scene in 2008's "Hellboy II" where the titular character and the blue fish guy sing "Can't Smile Without You." And then, more recently, the pandemic-times cover of "Copacabana" by Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl .

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Take a moment to appreciate the diversity of references in that paragraph. Barry Manilow has been in everything from your mom's favorite CBS show to a Dark Horse Comics movie. It's called range .

How could we not know Barry Manilow?

While Friday night's Gainbridge Fieldhouse show was billed as his last in Indy, my understanding is that he's not giving up touring altogether, he's just slowing down a bit. The guy just turned 81. It makes sense.

You'd expect a performer his age, who's been touring as rigorously as he has for as long as he has, to sound a little different than they would on the album. Pitch and tone can change, you can get quieter and more easily fatigued. That was not an issue here. There didn't seem to be a moment when he was struggling to hit any particular notes, and he had great vocal agility. Manilow made it look easy.

The evening was a quasi-retrospective that included at least five wardrobe changes and everything from commercial jingles to massive hits like "Mandy" — all with a tight 88-minute runtime.

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Speaking of the jingles: I'm a self-proclaimed pop culture fiend (hence the job title) but... which one of you was going to tell me Barry Manilow wrote the State Farm jingle ? Yeah, the one you're thinking of. Like a good neighbor...

And here I was, just a few paragraphs ago, yapping about Barry's impact without even knowing he wrote some of our most ubiquitous jingles. Shame on you AND me!!!

With the Band-Aid jingle stuck in my head, I couldn't help but marvel at the kind of career Manilow has built.

"The first time we ever played Indianapolis — I can’t believe I’m gonna say this — was in 1975. That’s 49 years ago," he told the crowd. "And I still look fabulous! And so do you!”

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This many years in, I'd expect him to be able to work a crowd. He was a delight; high-energy with no shortage of self-deprecating quips. (My favorite was when he joked about the omnipresence of his music in elevators and dentists' offices: "As long as there are teeth, my songs will live forever!")

I have two small gripes. I wish the setlist were a bit more organized. He dedicated "This One's For You," to his grandfather, who he said was the first person to recognize and encourage his talent, and played us a recording of his grandfather encouraging him to sing "Happy Birthday." At the end of the song, he was practically doing a call-and-response to the recording of his grandfather's voice asking him to "Come on, sing it."

I was still misty-eyed when he quickly switched gears to "Bandstand Boogie," the hopping and popping theme to TV's "American Bandstand." Emotional whiplash.

He also took a moment to talk to us about the upcoming presidential election, which elicited a few gasps and groans before he made another self-deprecating joke about how he should mount a campaign. He didn't make any endorsements — told people to "vote (their) conscience" — but he urged everyone in the audience to make their voices heard.

And then he launched into "Let Freedom Ring," complete with a choir and a giant American flag projected on the screen behind him. Now, I'm not going to knock a message of unity and civic participation (if you're not registered, you can find out how at vote.org ). But it just felt like a bit much, and I saw several people around me turn to the person next to them like, "What is happening right now?"

In another quick switch of the gears, the lights went down and we watched a clip of Clive Davis introducing a performance of "Mandy" on "The Midnight Special," circa 1975. Manilow then came back onstage and treated us to a double-feature of "Mandy" and "I Write the Songs," the latter of which he invited the crowd sing to with him. I often wax poetic about the power of live music as a convener of people, but moments like that are beautiful, and I'm always very happy to be a part of them.

He stepped offstage, the lights went dark, and for a moment, it seemed things were coming to an end.

And then it happened.

Checking 'Copacabana' off my musical bucket list

If you read my review of the Beach Boys show from a few weeks ago, you'll remember that I showed up for a good time, but really only wanted to hear one song. Same thing applies here. I needed to hear "Copacabana" live.

What do I love so much about it? This song's got everything: Desire. Drama. Death! Life lessons. Without any visuals — just the audio, no feathers or anything — "Copacabana" is an experience. Campy. Silly. Fun.

He hustles back onstage. "Anybody want to hear 'Copacabana'?"

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Based on the crowd's reaction (a massive collective scream), I wasn't alone. Whoever assembled that setlist knew what we were here for. And they made us wait almost the whole show for it.

After the first verse, he's hamming it up: "Oh, love. Oh, romance."

At some point (it was all a thrilling blur) he and his backup singers all make more wardrobe changes — he's back out in a glittery jacket with a feather-like fringe and lots of multicolored sparkles, and his backup singers are in feathers. It's everything we wanted.

"Thanks for all the years," he says, winding down and launching into a reprise of "It's a Miracle." There's a confetti cannon and a wild ovation. The kind of sendoff you'd expect.

The very last line he sings to us: "The miracle is you."

Barry, to this crowd, for the last 88 minutes — and the last handful of decades — the miracle has been your music, and the way you make people feel. And on Friday night, you made fans in Indianapolis feel special, one last time.

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Contact IndyStar pop culture reporter Holly Hays at holly.hays@indystar.com. Follow her on X/Twitter: @hollyvhays.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Review: Barry Manilow charms Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd in final Indianapolis concert