East Anglia was honoured to have Tina pay her first ever visit to the area for a two night stint at Ipswich Town’s handsome football ground for her Foreign Affair tour(also known as the Foreign Affair: European Tour 1990) It supported her seventh studio album Foreign Affair (1989) and  was Turner’s first stadium tour and only reached European countries. Overall, it was attended by approximately three million people—breaking the record for a European tour that was previously set by The Rolling Stones at the time.

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Her touring band included the extrovert  Tim Cappello (born May 3, 1955),  an American multi-instrumentalist, composer and vocalist. primarily known for his saxophone work supporting Tina Turner . Star guitarist was John “Music was my first love” Miles  with trademark blonde hair as side man.

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I wasn’t familiar with her back catalogue beyond her hits, but when you have had hits like her that doesn’t really matter.

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Dressing like no  51 year old you were ever going to see in Suffolk she stormed onto stage as if she had just walked of the “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome “ set seemingly as  Mad Maxine, but still the “Queen of Rock n Roll”.

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Was this the best time to see her? I suspect that  would have been in the late 60’s, but commercially her  1984 multi-platinum album Private Dancer which contained the hit song “What’s Love Got to Do with It”, and  won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year was still high in the public consciousness and featured strongly amongst the evening’s songs.  Her stagecraft was impeccable, her voice strong and her back catalogue now boosted by contemporary hits as well as her sixties material.

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The opening “Steamy Windows” was perfect for a stadium surrounded by the town’s redlight district, but the evening really ignited around “We don’t need another hero”, dramatic, bombastic and grandiose, electric fans blasting Tina’s tousled hair, she transported us to a different, other worldly place, as great singers do, segueing into “Private dancer”. Somehow Tina transported us from the sweeping landscapes of the Australian  desert to an intimate  private booth in a lap dancing club for the Mark Knopfler penned composition. Knopfler had previously complained about the Jeff Beck solo on her recording, this night, John Miles did a fine job.

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There are some classic songs where only the original artist will do. Hearing Tina bark out “NutBush City Limits” was one of “those” moments where rock n roll history is lived out before your very eyes, “Proud Mary” similarly.

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Only a handful of the thousands of artists whom I have seen perform live have earned legendary status before my eyes, Diana Ross, Cher, Tom Jones, Robert Plant, The Who, amongst them, for this performance Tina joins them.

Setlist

Steamy Windows

Typical Male

Foreign Affair

Undercover Agent for the Blues

Ask Me How I Feel

We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)

Private Dancer

I Can’t Stand the Rain

(Ann Peebles cover)

Nutbush City Limits

Addicted to Love

The Best

I Don’t Wanna Lose You

What’s Love Got to Do With It

Let’s Stay Together

Proud Mary

Encore

What You Get Is What You See

Show Some Respect

Better Be Good to Me

Be Tender with Me Baby