CHER // FIRST DIRECT ARENA, LEEDS
Where’s Your Granny Tonight? – Cher (73) is Still Turning Back Time in Leeds
CHER PERFORMING AT LEEDS FIRST DIRECT ARENA - 30.10.2019
PICTURE BY: | JOHN HAYHURST PHOTOGRAPHY @SNAPAGIG.COM
★★★★☆ (4/5)
I’ve seen no end of classy septuagenarian artists in the last 18 months still banging out their hits on UK stages – the Rolling Stones, Bryan Ferry, Mavis Staples and now I’ll add Cher to that ever-growing list. The biggest stage set up I’ve seen in this building, which means that there are only a few rows of seats on the floor for the VIP’s to share, they have paid over £200 for the privilege - so good luck to them. It is a big Las Vegas style show with a backing band in the shadows and a team of dancers that run around the stage in a variety of outfits matching whatever Cher chooses to wear for each brace of songs. That’s my only con against this superbly pro entertaining show, the endless costume changes. I lost count and couldn’t help but feel that a little less conversation and a little more action would have been good, after all Elvis didn’t need to do that so why does Cher feel the need to have more than 5 wigs and outfits in a night.
Opening from the skies as she descended on a platform dressed as a Roman goddess with a toga styled shimmering outfit and a matching bright blue wig. Under the toga was a roman dress and natural skin coloured body stocking. She did look stunning and visually you would never suggest her to be much over 50, only her hands gave it away.
‘Woman’s World’ and then straight into ‘Strong Enough’ which kept those dancers on their toes as they tried to keep up with the routine in their centurion outfits complete with shields and other accessories.
However, after the 1st two tracks we are asked to sit down and listen to a monologue of sorts, which detailed amongst many things, her initial rejection of the role in Witches of Eastwick due to her not being sexy enough – cue massive crowd reaction. This is all a little pantoesque especially with the “Where’s Your Granny Tonight?” comment and at ten minutes went way over its used by date, but it served a purpose as a break from the hi energy dance routines before starting them all off again.
Clever use of film projections whilst Cher gets changed into her next outfit, even enabling her to sing with her late husband Sonny (he was obviously on film) on everybody’s favourite karaoke duet ‘I Got You Babe’.
The middle portion of the show celebrated Cher’s films: she performed the title track from 2010’s Burlesque wearing the same outfit she sported on-screen and then further set and costume changes for the Abba tribute section, as Cher has released an album of Abba tunes called Dancing Queen, so it was apt that she did a few, and not just as a nod to her role in the 2nd Mama Mia film. Although I would have preferred to hear Dancing Queen itself, Waterloo, SOS and Fernando will have to do.
More costume changes and speaking over several video scenes about her influences in music – mainly Elvis and Hank Williams, before Cher emerges to sing Marc Cohn’s ‘Walking in Memphis’ against a backdrop of a pretend Beale Street.
Then we change again from the nostalgic to the raucous and incredibly sexy part of the show, that black revealing outfit and wig for If I Could Turn Back Time were on and even the back of the stage had turned into a ship with cannons set to stun.
Current Whitesnake guitarist Joel Hoekstra pulled off a huge guitar solo and it felt like we were back in the hair metal glory days of the 80’s with Cher launching into a cover of Michael Bolton’s ‘I Found Someone’. I couldn’t imagine any other 73yr old managing to pull that outfit and song off, but she did truly Turn Back Time at that point, and we all needed a break before she came back to do that autotuned mic big No1 from all over the world – ‘Believe’. A track that is unbelievably (see what I did there) 20 years old and still sounds weird and robotic, but that was then and this is now – several decades have flown by and Cher still manages to perform a full on Las Vegas style show for the masses and they love her for it.
Personally, I’d have liked a bit more live music and less of the videos and costume changes, there was no ‘Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves’ – but I guess that’s all probably a bit too non-PC these days!
The tour is called ‘Here We Go Again’ and there’s no reason to suggest she won’t be doing it all again in a few years’ time.
SETLIST: | CHER : First Direct Arena, Leeds – 30.10.2019
· Woman’s World
· Strong Enough
· Gayatri Mantra
· All or Nothing
· The Beat Goes On
· I Got You Babe
· Welcome to Burlesque
· Waterloo
· SOS
· Fernando
· After All
· Walking in Memphis
· The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss)
· I Found Someone
· If I Could Turn Back Time
ENCORE:
· Believe