Which Concert: July 4 Portugal
Posted by Ana Apolinário on August 19, 1998:
Here is the translated version of the portuguese review on-line:
I confess that before I went to see Whitney Houston in concert I looked in some of the reviews from her first concert in Germany. A different voice that could no longer reach those high notes that had made her a superstar, was the main aspect I retained.
I came in the arena wondering on who would I see on stage: the diva Whitney Houston used to be or a diva changed by the years?
In spite of the German reviews I was hoping to see the diva she used to be. But the reviews were confirmed: I didn't recognized in Whitney the voice that used to send chills up my spine. I saw a Whitney that, changed her earlier songs in order to show her lower vocals, the only ones she seems to perform in perfection.
Even more disappointed I became when, as she was presenting her band, she shout: "I Love You Spain", an unforgivabble mistake that was energeticallty booed by the crowd. No one expected her to be proficient in Geography, but the least one could expect was for Whitney to know where she was performing.
The concert began with an half an hour delay due to the live
transmission of a soccer game for the France World Cup. At 10h30pm Whitney Houston made her entrance singing "I'm Every Woman" and bringing her daughter by hand. Following was "So Emotional" after what she < explained her absence from the stages for nearly 6 years.
The next song was "All The MAn That I Need" followed by a completely new version of "I Wanna Dance With Somebody". By the way the lack of songs performed in the original version were one of the worst aspects of this concert.
In "Saving All My Love For You" Houston was more adventurous, trying to
hit some, badly pitched, high notes.
Following was a medley of "Nobody Loves Me"/"Didn't We Almost HAve It All"/"Where do Broken Hearts Go"/"Say You Love Me" in which Whitney Houston tried to disguise the lack of high notes with some vocal acrobatics.
After singing "Queen Of The Night", in which she was joined by her daughter and nice, Whitney Houston left to change outfits, leaving the stage to her brother Gary Houston, who gave an extraordinary performance of "Change The World", even more stunning than his siester's.
When Whitney returned she performed "Endless Love" with her brother (one of the concert's best moments) and a medley of Diana Ross songs.
The folowing moments were devoted to gospel, where the diva seemed to be
much more at ease.
And the moment to introduce her band came, and with it the diva's big mistake, when she confused us with our spanish neighbors. After someone finally informed her where she was, she tried to apologize saying a joke and shouting "I Love You Portugal". But the error had been made and the
crowd was angry.
However when Whitney began with her world smash hit "I Will Always Love
You" the crowd calmed down and began to sing along, after what the diva
said goodbye to return about 10 minutes later to sing "Step By Step"
This was a concert that finished to soon, leaving an insatisfied crowd
that was expecting much more from the diva Whitney Houston"
I have a few comments to make about this review:
- People didn't understood what hapenned when Whitney said "I Love You
Spain". What hapenned was that a spanish fan, who was in the front rows came forward and showed her a strip saying "We Love You Nippy, When will you be back to Spain to do a concert". Whitney read the strip out loud and replied "I love you Spain, And I hope I'll be back real soon". Therefore she didn't mistook Portugal for Spain.
- Her voice wasn't all that bad, and her rendition of "Saving All My Love For You" was one of the best I've ever heard. And she managed to hit that final high note with chilling perfection.
- Last, but not least, I think the only bad things about this concert was it being held at an outdoor venue, and its lenght. I really must agree it was too short.
Nuno