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She Can Turn Back Time
By: Tammy Paolino, Asbury Park Press. July 17, 1999 pg. F-5
Cher takes audience on a trip down memory lane
Let's get one thing straight right up front. The only tattoo visible onstage Wednesday night at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel was on Cyndi Lauper's ankle.
When Cher, whose name is nearly synonymous with tatoos, pranced around in her infamously outlandish and revealing costumes - eight over the course of her 90 minute set - there was not a tatoo to be seen, thanks to her fleshtone body stocking.
OK, now that we've covered the important stuff, this is what you need to know about Cher's current concert tour in support of her phnomenally successful, disco-driven album, 'Believe' : Whether she's dancing, strutting, singing, vamping or chatting with her fans, Cher is the stuff.
From her entrance rising like a Phoenix on a giant tower from the rear of the stage, to her last gyration of her finale encore, Cher wowed her audience in a manner few performers could ever hope to emulate.
Cher, who has reinvented herself more times than we can count, took her audience on a wild, funky, fashion-frenzied ride spanning the course of her 35-year entertainment career.
The 'Believe' tour is so much more than a mere concert, it is a multimedia event worthy of any Broadway stage. Coming from a woman who has fine-tuned her performing style in Vegas, as well as in videos, award-winning films and decades of television appearances, this is not surprising, but it is delightfully fun.
Body paint, inflatable lava lamps neon afros, burning torches on wheels, even Father Time on stilts-this show had it all.
Throughout the night, Cher was joined onstage by a capable five-piece band that seamlessly followed her transitions through material ranging from early '70's nostalgia ("Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves") to '80's pop hits ("I Found Someone," "If I Could Turn Back Time") to the new synthesized disco tracks off the new album.
But the band definitely took second fiddle to the exciting and talented troupe of Gen-Y dancers who, dressed in costumes nearly as outlandish as their diva, added a delightful theatrical touch to the proceedings and also kept the action going during Cher's many costume and wig changes.
And oh, those costumes. Cher first came onstage - meant to resemble a sort of Medieval grotto - dressed in bronze harem pants and a lion's mane of red curls. Un-apologetic about her lack of a romantic mate at age 53, Cher launched the show with a cover of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," turning into an anthem. "As you can see," she said slyly, fingering the flame-colored wig, "I'm older and wiser now, I'm dressing down and I've got sensible hair."
A highlight of the evening was Cher's medley of the songs that first launched her solo career - "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves," "Dark Lady" and "Half-Breed." While she sang, a giant video screen flashed some of the funniest scenes from "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour."
But undoubtedly, the biggest goosebump momet came when Cher, dressed in her diva best in what appeared to be a trademark Bob Mackie special, crooned the love ballad "After All." The love song, sung in a duet with her keyboard
player, was accompanied by a video chronicling Cher's evolution from Sonny Bono's straightman to Oscar-winning actress.
The message was touchingly apparant - the one person Cher has been able to count on throughout her tumultuous career has been Cher. She was dedicating the song to herself.
If some other startlet were to do this - Barbra Streisand, say - it would have seemed an ego trip. With Cher, it was a fitting ode to survival.
The sold-out show was opened by another flamboyant diva - a blue-haired Cyndi Lauper who got fans going witha funky set including two versions of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and a fun cover of "Disco Inferno." Unfortunately, traffic was moving so slowly into the sold-out arena parking lots that many fans missed Lauper entirely.
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