Hilton crowd can’t match Julio’s passion

Monday, May 10, 2004 | 8:22 a.m.

Julio Iglesias seemed out of sorts Thursday during the first night of his three-day engagement at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Perhaps the Latin heartthrob, who will be 61 in September, was a little sluggish because of jet lag from traveling to so many concerts.

Or it could have been the lateness -- the show began at 10 p.m.

Someone suggested it was the demographics.

Julio has said he feeds off the energy of the audience. It inspires him.

But Thursday night those in attendance were, for the most part, cool and unresponsive.

A person who has been to eight Julio concerts noted that many of his performances are heavily attended by younger Hispanics, fans who know his Spanish music by heart and sing along with him as they scream and express their adoration for a singer who has been thrilling the ladies for almost 40 years.

But Thursday night's audience was made up mostly of Anglos, and most of them seemed to be retirement age and older -- and they were largely reserved, generally unmoved by Julio's fervid romantic songs. It could have been the late hour.

There was a smattering of Hispanics among the 1,200 or so fans, a handful of whom (females) shouted out their love, causing him to flash his perfect smile and reply, "I love you too."

On a number of occasions, Julio pointed his hand-held microphone toward the audience, expecting them to sing the words to his songs.

But there was near silence each time.

The most enthusiastic reaction of the evening was when Julio took time to acknowledge the United States military.

"For tonight, let us think about the soldiers, the men and women, fighting for us overseas," He said.

The audience applauded enthusiastically.

On one occasion, at the urging of a backup singer, the audience rose en masse and applauded and attempted to sing the words to a song, but there was not a lot of enthusiasm in their response.

Finally, as if for the first time realizing the demographics were not what he may have expected, he asked how many Spanish fans were in the audience.

There was only light applause.

Once, when he failed to get a response when he aimed his microphone at the audience, Julio sarcastically asked if everyone was Chinese, not particularly diplomatic for someone known for his charm and diplomacy.

There was, in fact, at least one Asian person in the audience -- a thin, frail, elderly male who clutched Iglesia's program to his chest as he left the theater and declared that he enjoyed the show.

Perhaps the fans were not more involved in the performance it was because almost all of the songs were in Spanish, and the Anglos were unfamiliar with the words -- but audiences all over the United States have flocked to hear Julio, knowing most of the songs would be in Spanish.

Julio's charisma generally transcends language barriers.

There were a couple of numbers in English, "Let It Be Me" and Patsy Cline's "Crazy," which was written by Willie Nelson (who, coincidentally, was at Sunset Station on Saturday). Nelson and Julio had a hit duet, "To All the Girls I've Loved Before," which Julio did not perform.

Or the reluctance to sing along with Julio may have been because the fans weren't too familiar with the songs. Some of them (including "El Bacalao") were from his most recent album "Divorcio," and perhaps too new to know by heart.

For whatever reason, the stoicism seemed to bother Julio.

It sucked some of the energy out of his performance. As the evening wore on he seemed to be going through well-practiced motions.

In the end he abruptly said thank you and good night, barely an hour after taking the stage. Most thought the ending was the traditional ruse to get more applause, expecting Julio to walk back into the spotlight for another song or two during the encore.

But Julio was finished.

Julio is one of the world's great vocalists. There was nothing wrong with his singing. Overall the show itself was excellent -- the tango dancers, five backup singers and five-piece band created the feeling of a much larger production.

While Julio may have been hot on opening night, the audience was not.