
The charity tour that got off to such an unpromising start when Barbra's fans threaten to boycott it because they considered themselves cheated into believing that her 'farewell' tour had already taken place, has just made its third stop in New York.
After 20 years of pause, Barbra Streisand sang again in front of a packed auditorium, at the Madison Square Garden but, this time, her performance will go down in history for something else than her brilliant vocal skills.
Just like at the previous two locations, the diva interrupted her concert midway to perform a comic sketch, in which she and a Bush impersonator start a conversation meant to portray the president as a bumbling idiot. The moment was not funny in itself, as the singer and the actor both stuck to their line on the prompter. Neither was what followed immediately, as fans got to see Babs in a posture they never had before.
In what turned out to be the most embarrassing bit during the three-hour concert, Streisand could take no more of a person that wanted to hear her sing and not do stand up comedy. As a matter of fact, the entire crowd was getting a little bored of the sketch that wouldn't end, but it was one fan in particular that really got on Barbra's nerves.
'Shut the f**k up! Shut up if you can't take a joke!', the diva yelled into her microphone, for the noise and the booing to stop. For a couple of seconds, total silence reigned in Madison Square, after which the singer quickly wrapped up the sketch and returned to what people paid for: singing.
After the concert, Barbra apologized for speaking without thinking she might offend somebody. But she did deliver her point: 'the artist's role is to disturb'. And
that she did...