September 2, 2004
Author: TONY GERMANOTTA, THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

These days, a lot of rock stars are turning to standards as they age. Tony Bennett never left the genre, and if Wednesday night's performance at Christopher Newport University is any indication, he's also never going to age.

For an hour and a half, Bennett, the last of a breed of classic crooners, took a sold-out audience through the pages of the Great American Songbook. It was also a trip through his six decades of performing because many of those songs only became standards after Bennett recorded them.

Backed by a crackling four-piece combo, the 78-year-old pulled no punches. He whispered smokily through the soft ballads and swung hard through the rest.

The concert opened the school's new Ferguson Center for the Arts, and the 500 or so attendees were the lucky ones who were able to grab every $125 seat within 18 minutes of them going on sale last month.

Bennett describes himself as a musical storyteller. His buddy, the late Frank Sinatra, once called him "the best singer in the business."

Others simply refer to Bennett as a living treasure.

He has more than a dozen Grammy Awards on his shelf, including one for lifetime achievement.

And he even managed to capture the MTV-age audience with an "Unplugged" performance that bridged generations.

That's tough billing to live up to night after night, but Bennett obviously loves performing.

He opened his set with "Watch What Happens," a bouncy song with a bridge that has humbled lesser lights. "The Best is Yet to Come" was next, a boast Bennett more than backed up.

Toward the end of the show, he praised those who built the intimate, wood-paneled venue, describing it as among the best in the world.

"They don't build theaters like this anymore," he said. "This is a true concert-hall theater. That's magnificent."

And he urged any city father in attendance to "just make sure this never becomes an insurance company."

Sprinkled throughout the evening were such Bennett classics as, " People," "Luck Be a Lady ," "Cold, Cold Heart," "All of Me" and one he describes as his own personal prayer to end war: "If I Ruled the World."

Bennett joked with his audience that he was the Britney Spears of his day, selling millions of records. He then drew the audience to its feet as he hit the powerful final notes of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."

Throughout the night, he took chances with phrases and held notes so long that audience members likely ran out of breath for him. He even turned off the mike and sang "Fly Me to the Moon," unamplified, with just the guitar to back him.

As he belted out the phrase, "Fill my heart with song, let me sing forevermore," you found yourself murmuring, "Yeah." And hoping he'll somehow be able to pull it off.

Copyright (c) 2004 The Virginian-Pilot