Barbra Streisand, the consummate entertainer who said she'd lost her zest for performing, strode onto the stage Friday night for her first paid concert in 22 years, receiving a standing ovation as she crooned "Everything's As If We Never Said Goodbye."
A sellout crowd waited impatiently for an hour Friday, then roared its approval as Streisand opened her long-awaited return to the concert stage.The audience cheered as she sang, "I Don't Know Why I'm Frightened." The cheers rose to a roar with the lyrics, "I've Come Home Again."
"I'm a little nervous. Forgive me," she told the audience after the opening number.
"I can't believe I'm actually back here," she said to a captivated audience who watched her bask in the lights.
Streisand noted it had been 30 years since she was an opening act for Liberace a few blocks away at the Riviera Hotel. The audience applauded as a photo of a younger Streisand and the late pianist were flashed on screens around the MGM Grand Garden.
A long list of celebrities joined 13,105 ticketholders at the new MGM Grand mega resort for what some considered THE event of New Year's Eve.
A second concert was presented Saturday night.
Security was extremely tight at the MGM Grand Garden, the arena adjacent to the 5,005-room hotel which opened Dec. 18. Nine airport-style metal detectors were set up to check concertgoers.
The New Year's Eve show was delayed nearly an hour, mainly because the crowd had to pass through the metal detectors.
The two concerts were expected to earn Streisand millions, although no one would confirm a dollar amount.
Streisand's manager, Marty Erlichman, has said she will earn more in the two nights than any entertainer or sports figure has earned in Las Vegas. Former heavyweight boxing champion Buster Douglas is believed to be the highest-paid athlete for any Las Vegas event, making $20 million in his unsuccessful title defense against Evander Holyfield in October 1991.
MGM officials and those in the Streisand camp refused to confirm or deny that Streisand's pay would top that $20 million figure.
Plans to film the concert for later use were dropped late Wednesday. Streisand released a statement saying the nine cameras would have interfered "with the audience's ability to see and fully enjoy the concert."
Two stands selling pricey souvenirs did brisk business throughout the week. Items ranged from $15 coffee mugs to $25 programs to $100 limited-edition sterling silver key chains.
The MGM Grand received more than a million phone calls in the 24 hours after the Streisand tickets - priced at $50 to $1,000 each - went on sale Nov. 7.
The 26,210 tickets for shows Friday and Saturday night sold out in hours, and the resort received up to 12,000 calls a day for the next two weeks, MGM spokesman Tom Bruny said.
Streisand last performed in a paid concert at the Las Vegas Hilton in 1971. She told The Associated Press two years ago that she quit performing because she became scared and shy.
"I got a notion in my head that I would forget the words," she said at the time. "And then I forgot the words. I wasn't enjoying it. It was too frightening for me."