I didn’t own a single Cher single or album, yet somehow she has been omnipresent in my awareness of music. As a child I remember the tweeness of “I’ve got you babe”, but also the darkness of “Bang Bang”. I had never seen her live, this was my chance.

The tour had started  in Toronto in June 2002 and would continue onward for a record-breaking 326 shows, ending in Los Angeles in April 2005. The final show was performed at the Hollywood Bowl, in where Cher made her first concert appearance with former husband, Sonny Bono. Cher explains the longevity of the tour was based on asking her manager to continue to add dates because of the audience reaction. The tour was originally slated to end with the Australasian leg in the Fall of 2004, however, an additional North American leg was added in January 2005.She concluded, “I really didn’t want to stop.”

Just occasionally a concert becomes an event, a spiritual occasion. That happened tonight. This was a big arena show, and I am not fond of arena shows. It takes something special for an artist’s personality, and music to fill them, but Cher did just that. She was nothing if not confident in her introduction

“Ladies and gentlemen, and flamboyant gentlemen. Boys and girls and children of all ages. Welcome to the Cher-est show on earth. This is the official beginning to the Cher show. And all I have to say is, Rhianna, Beyonce, Britney, ‘follow this, you bitches”. Its a bold challenge for a 58 uear old woman- but she delivers.

A lavish set, and an even more lavish dancing troupe and backing band physically filled out the stage, her music completed the job , transcending  five decades. Her opening cover of U2’s “”I still haven’t found what I am looking for” sets the agenda, she isn’t a woman who is  finished yet even if it was billed as her “Farewell Tour”

Yes there was a liberal dose of nostalgia in the form of her sixties hits with liberal use made of on screen vintage film footage, with “Gypsies Tramps and Thieves” and “Its in his kiss”  particularly joyous romps. But it was a 1990’s cover, of Marc Cohn’s “Walking in Memphis” which was the  surprise showstopper.

It tells the story of a 1985 trip that Cohn, then a, struggling songwriter and singer, took to Memphis to overcome a bout of writer’s block. After visiting the church where former soul singer Al Green was preaching, Elvis Presley’s former home of Graceland, and a small nightclub in nearby Mississippi, as well as wandering various streets of downtown Memphis, he found the inspiration for this fabulous song.

It is a marvellous narrative which Cher makes her own and brings alive, it becomes her story and her homage to the town and music, in turn becoming ours. It brought the house down, the applause rolling back and for the along the arena floor then washing up the terraces before ebbing back again for what seemed like an eternity

“Love Hurts” was a heart wrenchingly poignant performance for a woman who has known more than her fair share of romantic heartache, and the closing “if I could turn back time”, echoed the sentiments of an entire audience as Cher rolled back the years with this collection of songs. As the show wound up it dawned on us that after a lifetime on the road for this 58 year old  her years of touring may really be coming to a close- and I can say that I saw her live.

Vocally she was  a match for any woman  I have heard live, for stage presence she was peerless.

I am often asked which is  the best/my favourite concert of the several hundreds I have attended, this is right up there with the very best.

Setlist

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

One by One

Taxi Taxi

Love Is the Groove

Love One Another

Gayatri Mantra

All or Nothing

I Found Someone

Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)

All I Really Want to Do

Half-Breed

Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves

Dark Lady

Take Me Home

Love Hurts

West Side Story

After All

Walking in Memphis

It’s in His Kiss

Strong Enough

If I Could Turn Back Time

Encore:

Believe