Cher's farewell tour is excessively entertaining spectacle

By TIMOTHY FINN
The Kansas City Star

Cher went through a dozen costume changes during her stop at Kemper Arena on Tuesday.

Musically, the statistics weren't that impressive: 17 songs in less than 90 minutes for a show that averaged $60 a seat. But a Cher concert isn't only about the music the same way a Super Bowl isn't only about the football game or Mardi Gras isn't only about the zydeco.

Instead, Tuesday night's "Living Proof" extravaganza at Kemper Arena was about everything Cher: her gaudy and lavish costumes, her ever-changing hair, her svelte body, her long and colorful career, her young and sexy dancers and, by the way, her music, which is usually about looking upward into the redemptive light.

After some aged video shots of Cher as a young girl out and about with her mother, the star entered the stage in typical diva fashion: from above, in a slow descent on a monstrous chandelier/platform, wrapped in a rhinestone cape that covered a shimmering genie ensemble. Her first song was a cover -- a deep-dish disco version of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."

After that, as her seven dancers pranced around in natty prehistoric furs, she easily segued into one of her own tunes, "Song for the Lonely," from her "Living Proof" album.

When that was done, she ran back stage for the first of a dozen costume changes -- into a brick-red ringmaster hat, coat and tails and, as if she needed the effect, a long black riding whip. After declaring this her farewell tour, she issued a crass challenge to "J-Lo and Britney": "Follow this if you can," she said, adding a raunchy expletive for her competitors.

The rest of the show wasn't always as provocative, but it was usually very entertaining, even when it looked like Cher was obviously lip-syncing or like she wasn't fully into the moment.

The deft choreography went well beyond the dancing and the never-ending stage spectacles, which included plenty of gymnastics and aerial feats from her dancers plus some other effects (like the eternal flames burning among the musicians).

The video screens were busy, too, telecasting footage from all over Cher's life. At times it felt like she was triumphantly conducting, directing and producing her own wake and funeral.

The video clip that got the biggest response (and that made the woman next to me weep softly) was of Sonny and Cher singing "I Got You Babe," first as newlyweds, then as divorced pals on David Letterman and then again as husband and wife in grainy black-and-white footage from the mid-1960s.

After that, Cher came out in a furry vest, striped bell-bottom hip-huggers and a wide gold belt and reprised some of her older hits: her cover of Dylan's "All I Really Want to Do" and then some of her prime '70s camp: "Half Breed" and "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves."

After a long montage of Cher's film career -- from "Come Back to the Five and Dime..." to "Tea With Mussolini" -- she emerged in a fluorescent-white wig, tight bell-bottom jeans and a snug white blouse and performed "Shoop Shoop Song" from another of her films, "Mermaid."

Later, for two of her more over-arching anthems -- "Strong Enough" and "If I Could Find Someone" -- she wore a black, see-through spandex thing that confirmed what already seemed obvious: Even at 56, Cher looks A-OK in thong underwear.

Her finale was "Believe," the song that rejuvenated her career three years ago. Though it came as no surprise, the crowd lustily devoured the entire spectacle: the unrepentant, throbbing disco-hymn, the high-flying dancers, Cher doing the diva thing -- sparkling like a flash of silver-plated tinsel in a bright-red wig.

If you've ever seen Springsteen perform "Thunder Road" or Aerosmith do "Dream On" or the Stones do "Gimme Shelter," you know what kind of response "Believe" aroused, from the floor to the rafters: unbridled euphoria. Follow that if you can, anyone.

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To reach Timothy Finn, pop music writer, call (816) 234-4781 or send e-mail to tfinn@kcstar.com.