Stuff.co.nz, New Zealand
Feb 6 2005
Cher bliss in NZ
It may be her farewell tour, but Cher is going out with a bang, not a
whimper, writes Michelle Hurley.
She’s the queen of camp glamour who longs for a spell on a ranch. An
unabashed narcissist who has melded five decades of stardom with a
lifelong commitment to left-wing politics. A woman who has reinvented
herself more often – and more successfully – than Madonna. She’s Cher
– inimitable, trashy and more durable than a Toyota Hilux – and she’s
coming here.
It will be Cher’s first – and final – performance in New Zealand and
her concerts in Auckland and Christchurch this month promise to be
wildly over-the-top, with myriad costume changes and special effects,
a sequined cross between Liberace and Cirque du Soleil. And, aside
from a tricky moment where Cher scales down a chandelier in the
middle of belting out her dance anthem “Believe”, she promises no
lip-synching. “It’s absolutely 100% the full show,” she says from her
ocean-view Mediterranean renaissance mansion in Malibu.
The two New Zealand shows are at the tail end of what is billed “The
Farewell Tour”. Cher then heads to Australia before returning to the
US for the tour’s final – and 325th – performance at the Hollywood
Bowl in Los Angeles on April 30. So after three years, more than 3000
costume changes and playing in front of more than 3 million devotees,
it’s finally about to end.
“I’ve had a great time doing it, babe,” she says in her soporific
slow drawl. “I couldn’t have done it if I hadn’t enjoyed it.” It’s
helped by the tour having “a real family atmosphere, nobody complains
and everybody gets along”, with much of the crew having worked for
her for years.
It’s been five decades in the spotlight for the daughter of a
French-Cherokee mother and Armenian father, born Cherilyn Sarkasian
La Pierre in 1946. She first came to our attention in the 1960s and
’70s via her hit songs and The Sonny and Cher Show, the TV show in
which she starred with then-husband Sonny Bono before spending much
of the ’80s being famous largely for her Bob Mackie-designed Oscar
gowns in which she most closely resembled a black and white peacock
(this was in the decade before the stars hired stylists, although
Cher still delights in giving the Academy a non-verbal f-k you in her
choice of attire). About this time she also earned her stripes as a
serious actress, appearing in Silkwood, The Witches of Eastwick, Mask
and the one for which she got the Oscar nod: Moonstruck.
And of course, there was her return to the top of the pop charts with
the nuclear-powered dance track “If I Could Turn Back Time”, helped
along by the video to accompany the song, where she flaunted her
rock-hard bod to thousands of ecstatic sailors on a US Navy
battleship.
It’s this indifference to being cool or tasteful, along with a
propensity to speak her mind, that has won her so many fans, but when
asked how much of her success is down to doing whatever the hell she
wants, she gives a perversely modest answer.
“You know, I think it’s mostly to do with luck. It’s some sort of
timing. I know people a lot more talented than I am that just never
really made it,” she says before laughing. “And I know people a lot
less talented that have made it to everyone’s genuine surprise.”
Luck, timing – and a formidable work ethic. By the time she wraps up
this tour, Cher will have spent close to three years on the road; an
insane amount of time to spend touring but one she justifies by it
being her last world tour. “I think you get to the point of
diminishing returns and this show is really good, so I wouldn’t want
to come back and not be as good as the last time. It’s hard, but you
make a commitment to it and just do it.”
At least the touring takes her mind off the fact that George W Bush
is still in the Oval Office, despite Cher’s best efforts to help oust
him. She spent weeks campaigning for John Kerry, in what was often a
hostile political climate for celebrities who hitched their wagon to
the Democrats. “I was terrified to speak out, but then I just thought
I have to do it, I have to speak my mind.”
When she found herself on the receiving end of derisory comments from
radio shock-jocks, she put the boot on the other foot and told them:
“Yes, I’m getting on this programme because I’m me, but just because
I’m a celebrity doesn’t mean I don’t get to have my basic American
rights to speak my opinion.”
And if George gets too much, there is always New Zealand to escape
to. Yes, Cher has seen The Lord of the Rings, and as a result, thinks
New Zealand is “the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen”, even if it
was digitally enhanced. While here, she is on the hunt for “a little
piece of property”, preferably by the ocean. “Though don’t worry, I’m
not planning on asking for a lot of land, just a tiny little bit. I
think it seems a bit over the top to come in and buy a gigantic piece
of property in somebody else’s country.”
And when the tour finally finishes, what’s next in the life of the
galactic superstar? “The only thing I know I’m going to do when the
tour finishes is I’m going to go work on a cattle ranch for a while.”
Er, why?
“It’s just something I’ve always wanted to do.”
For it seems the plastic-fantastic, super-groomed one has another,
earthier side. “When I was young, I ran everywhere, I climbed the
highest trees, I played baseball and football – I was a real tomboy.”
Even now, she says, she’s clad in old sweat pants, ugg boots and
T-shirt, with no make-up and her hair in a ponytail. “I like it.”
So will we see tomboy Cher on show? “Oh no,” she laughs. “I still
enjoy glamming myself up for my shows, it wouldn’t be any fun for me
if I just came out in a pair of old jeans and a T-shirt.”
And don’t the fans expect it anyway?
“I think they do, and they won’t be disappointed.”
Cher plays North Harbour Stadium, Auckland, on Sunday February 20 and
Westpac Stadium, Christchurch on Tuesday February 22. Tickets
available from Ticketek.