Frank Dryden Anzalone faxed us this article he wrote after a St Louis concert four years ago.
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When the name Frank Sinatra comes up in any conversation today, someone is bound to ask, "Isn't he dead?" Yet, on the night of Oct. 21 at the New Kiel Center, in St Louis, Ol' Blue Eyes proved once again that he is very much alive.
Similar to any Frank Sinatra concert these days, the concert at the Kiel Center had its share of pre-concert worries. Maybe he would cancel. Maybe, as happened in Richmond, Va., he wouldn't make it through the entire concert. If he made it through the concert, there's always the chance he would let his 78 years show and forget the words to a classic song he had been singing for the last 55 years.
Yet, Friday evening when Sinatra stepped on stage to a standing ovation, he put all doubts to rest. When Sinatra glanced at the band leader, Frank Sinatra, Jr., shouted "Hit it!" and belted out "I've got the world on a string!" he assured his faithful followers that he was still the greatest male interpreter of America's popular songs.
the concert did certainly attract its diverse share of followers, from an elderly lady in a wheelchair to a grade school girl forced to attend the concert by her parents. Sinatra, despite nearing his seventy-ninth birthday, still had enough appeal to draw a crowd of 15,000, all paying up to $79.25 per ticket.
Why would anyone pay close to $80 to see a 78-year-old grandpa sing songs nearly a half century old? After all, even though he still has some pipe left, the Sinatra of today sounds no where near the Sinatra of the Paramount Theater days of the 1940s. But, does that really matter? In today's society, we are so quick to tell people what they can't do, we often overlook what they can do. The fact remains, even after a comeback in the mid 50's, another comeback in the mid 70s and a two year retirement, Sinatra still remains, "king of the hill." The fans of today see more than an old washed-up lounge singer, They see "The Voice," the singer who will go down in the record books as the voice of the twentieth century, who touched such a diverse audience so deeply for so long.
Sinatra didn't let these fans go home with any doubt. He san 14 songs in an hour. These were not just any songs, but were vintage Sinatra. From old classics like, "All or Nothing at All" and "Come Rain or Come Shine," to Sinatra anthems like "My Way" and "New York, New York," Ol' Blue Eyes took St. Louis on a musical journey displaying all the knowledge that his 55 year music career had obtained. If Sinatra is through, then he did a great illusion act. He still had the intimate facial expressions that carefully illustrated the lyrics, the undeniable Sinatra swagger and, when a big song demanded it, Sinatra still had the voice that could sustain notes longer than many of today's top vocalists.
When all was finished, my friend Kevin looked at me and said "You know, that was better than I thought it would be!" "That's funny," I said, "because that's the same statement people have been saying about Frank Sinatra throughout his long career."