Lorie Line played the Bismarck Civic Center once again with a show on Saturday Night. As you can tell from the photo, Stacy and I had really good seats: just four rows back, with a great view of Lorie’s keyboard. That lady sure can play! I don’t know how many of you are fans of Christmas at the Minneapolis Dayton’s from years past, but she used to play there back in the ’80s. I never made the connection until the first time I attended the show here in Bismarck.

I’ve been a Lorie Line fan since my wife and I started dating. She’s extremely talented, her husband does a great job as the emcee, and the production is always top notch. This year’s show was really good…but it was nowhere near the high standard they’ve set in years past.

One downside to the show is that gospel singer Robert Robinson is no longer touring with the group. That man’s voice could draw tears from the hardest of hearts! Hearing him sing carols like “Oh Holy Night” “What Child is This” is enough to make your knees weak. I wish him well in whatever his current endeavors may be. The bright side is that his replacement, soprano Kelly Smith. She’s definitely a worthy successor to Mr. Robertson.

Another element missing from this year’s performance is a trademark Lorie Line feature. She comes out with a legal pad and asks the crowd to belt out requests. She then sits down at the piano and makes an impromptu medley of the list! It seems that someone always yells “Spongebob Squarepants” but there are also requests like “Inna Godda Da Vida and other challenging tunes. We kept waiting for this part of the show, but it never came.

I don’t get it…this show’s theme was supposed to be “The Traditions of Christmas” but I didn’t really feel the Christmas spirit by the time the show was over. It was certainly a great performance by everyone, yet really didn’t capture the fun and sparkle that one normally gets at a Lorie Line concert. My favorite show of hers happened to be themed, “My Favorite Things.” This one, however, didn’t really seem to have a theme. Hopefully things will be back up to that sky-high standard next year.

One neat thing they did this year was during the part of the show every year when the kids come up on stage and sing. They have a photographer that takes a hi-resolution picture, which they post on the Lorie Line website for people to download the next day. They also had the whole crowd sing “Silent Night” along with the orchestra. They record it at each performance and make it available online as well, for 99 cents. That’s a good way to get people to go to your website! I wonder what I could post here…

If you have an opportunity to see Lorie Line this Christmas season, don’t pass it up. Don’t let my comments about not living up to last year’s show stop you: I doubt anything could match it. I do hope, however, that Lorie brings her legal pad with her the next time she comes to Bismarck.