Cher. One name, but it’s all there. The music, the sets, the over-the-top-visuals, the talent, but most of all, the staying power, decade after decade. That was in full force Sunday night at Fiserv Forum as she delivered all she promised—and oh, so much more—within 95 minutes that was, in many ways, the most retrospective of her past tours.
As the curtain fell to the floor, the capacity crowd roared and jumped to its feet as Cher descended “from above”—dressed like a Valkyrie with flaming red hair claiming her territory with the show’s opener, “Woman’s World.” Her 10 dancers surrounded her in gladiator costumes as the rules of engagement were quickly established. Her subjects were officially enthralled, continually dazzled by the amazing theatrical displays surrounding the music of the night.
There’s Cher riding atop “an elephant” singing the moody, Indian-sounding “Gayatri Mantra.” Then, there’s the Cher-in-a-strip club singing “Welcome to Burlesque” (from the movie of the same name), which had all the effects of a major Broadway show. What else, right? “This is it,” she said in reference to the current tour. After a stop and her classic half-serious sideways stare, she proclaimed, “this is it.” But this is, after all, Cher. And there were a number of “Living Proof” farewell T-shirts—from 2002. Uh-huh.
Can she really be almost 73 years old, looking and moving and singing so incredibly well? That was most evident in her touching homage to former partner and mentor, Sonny Bono, in a medley of ’60 hits, featuring “I Got you Babe” and “The Beat Goes On.” As a rear screen projection played the black-and-white “music video,” it’s striking to note that the Cher of 2019 looks like the big sister of the 19-year-old up on screen. Only now, she’s in glittery, high-fashion bell bottoms still with the signature straight black hair. There was even reference to Sonny with the rocking guitar instrumental of Bono’s early hit written for Cher, “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),” which felt more like a heavy metal concert than, well, Cher.
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Nothing goes better together musically than Cher singing the songs of ABBA (from her 2018 appearance in the film, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again). It became an audience sing-along to the medley of such ABBA hits as “Waterloo,” “SOS” and the touching “Fernando.” Cher has an incredibly diverse catalog of material with a career spanning more than 50 years, but it was the encore, “Believe,” that speaks to all in attendance. That hit (hard to believe) is 21 years old, but one thing is certain: Cher goes on and on and on.
Opening for Cher was Nile Rodgers and his reformulated band, Chic, in a rare appearance. Best remembered for much of ’80s disco-elegant, strings-and-horns infectious dance beats, Rodgers and his eight-piece band were in top form as they ran through 50 minutes of the very best of Chic: “Dance Dance Dance (Yowsah Yowsah Yowsah),” “I Want Your Love,” “Le Freak (C’est Chic),” and the Studio 54 anthem that made the band, “Good Times.” Rodgers himself mashed it up with some impressive rapping vocals taken straight from Sugarhill Gang’s 1979 sampling of the Chic hit with “Rapper’s Delight.” Thanks to Rodgers and his band, the party was just getting started.
