Cher concert never had dull moment

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, January 27, 2005

Maybe it’s the Hollywood influence, or maybe it’s just the soul of an entertainer at work.

Whatever the case, Cher on Wednesday night – like Bette Midler about a month earlier – put on a performance that will stand in very exclusive company among shows at the Everett Events Center for a long time to come.

Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald Cher opens her concert in front of a packed audience at the Everett Events Center on Wednesday night.

She opened the sold-out concert with U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” which she has called her good-luck song.

Maybe once she finds it, her farewell “Never Can Say Goodbye” tour will actually end.

It has become a long-running joke, but the day the curtain closes for good on her nearly three-year tour will be a sad one.

The 58-year-old Cher covered 30 years of music and film in a stunning display that was exquisitely executed and hugely entertaining even when she wasn’t onstage. The crowd always had something to watch.

One moment, it was dancers flying around the stage – literally, in some cases, as suspended performers swung on streamers hung from the rafters – the next it was taped interviews and clips of Cher’s wide-ranging career.

“The actors don’t consider me an actor,” she said in one interview clip. “Singers don’t consider me a singer. And gay men consider me their best friend.”

That last bit prompted cheers for the self-deprecating star, who often jokes about her flashy wardrobe.

Much of it was on display as she flaunted through more than a dozen costumes, seemingly changing into a new one for every song. You’d think she had a NASCAR pit crew backstage dressing her.

She wore a tall, feathery, black-and-red headdress for her 1966 song, “Bang Bang.” She then slipped into the requisite multicolored flared jeans and straight black wig for a run through her hits “All I Really Want to Do,” “Half Breed,” “Gypsies, Tramps &Thieves” and “Dark Lady” from the late 1960s and early ’70s.

But the clothes were only part of the spectacle.

There were touching moments, including a complete video version of her trademark 1965 duet, “I Got You, Babe,” with then-husband Sonny Bono. The couple had a bitter split in 1974, but made up in the following years. Bono died in a skiing accident in 1998.

The video montage blended performances over the years, from their earliest renditions to the couple’s final recital on “Late Night With David Letterman” in 1987.

Fans later enjoyed snippets of Cher’s movie career, from 1983’s “Silkwood” to 1999’s “Tea With Mussolini.” A bit from her Oscar-winning performance in 1987’s “Moonstruck” drew the biggest cheers.

All in all, the night was exactly what a farewell show should be. It reminded fans of Cher’s past and gave a taste of what we’ll miss once she’s gone.

It’s been joked that only cockroaches and Cher will survive a nuclear holocaust. I don’t know if all that’s true. But if it is, those cockroaches are in for a hell of a show.

Columnist Victor Balta: 425-339-3455 or vbalta@heraldnet.com.

Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald

Cher opens her concert in front of a packed audience at the Everett Events Center on Wednesday night.

Farewell tour

Who: Cher

What: “Never Can Say Goodbye” farewell tour

When: Wednesday night

Where: Everett Events Center

What else: The crowd of 8,287 broke an arena concert attendance record. Second is Rod Stewart on April 3, 2003, with 7,515 people.