Simply the BEST!

What can you say about Tina Turner that hasn't been said before? Well, this is what I can say: I WENT TO SEE HER IN CONCERT LAST NIGHT!!!!!

(*significant* happy dance pause here)

Here's the thing about Tina: she gives a kick-ass show. She lights up the stage all by herself. Granted, she isn't quite as frenzied a dancer as her four "flowers" (her term, not mine, sorry) are, although their moves are strictly Tina's dance moves.

Yes, they did the rapid-butt-shake; yes, they did the arms-extended-360-turns; yes, they did the dizzying-head-flip (yes, I was exhausted just watching them!), and more! Whenever Tina joined them in the more energetic dance moves, the crowd went crazy.

It was a love fest. We loved her. She loved us. We chair-danced within an ounce of our lives. We sang - the entire crowd at the United Center sang - WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT? at the top of our lungs and Tina loved us for it! We sang our hearts out for BETTER BE GOOD TO ME, PRIVATE DANCER and SIMPLY THE BEST, too. It was wonderful.

Before the concert actually started, we heard this big "Eeeeee!!" coming from down on the main floor. Oprah had arrived, and was making her way to her seat. The ladies in front of us lent us their binoculars, with which I saw Steadman, a whole lot of hands holding camera phones, and the top of Oprah's head (I think).

During the intermission, we heard an even bigger "EEEEEE!!", from a bit closer to us. We hung over the railing to gawk at Tom Cruise on the level below us, signing autographs for those lucky schmucks who happened to have seats close to his private box. (These photos are proof that I was standing close enough to Tom Cruise to holler out his name with a bunch of other middle aged women, causing him to turn his head, look at us, and wave meaningfully at us... If you can't see him clearly, then buy me a better camera phone!!)

The sets were beyond cool. Her basic set had two storeys with staircases that people jumped on, flounced down, or draped themselves upon, depending on the song. At one point, this half steel cage thing came down, guys were acrobatically fighting in it, the screens were showing clips from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, and Tina comes out in her alien queen looking costume to sing WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER HERO, with some totally huge scupted practically naked man standing behind her just looking pretty, while pyrotechnic flares went off behind them. Yeah, that's showmanship!! :D

At the end, when she was singing NUTBUSH CITY, she had run over to the edge of the stage, where there was a kind of circular rail. Next thing we knew, a long section of the stage lifted up and became a huge arm that swept her out into the audience, and she kind of hung over that rail, communing with her fans and pointing her mic at them, encouraging them to join in the "Nutbush - Sing it Again" chant.

Okay. I've got to say something about sensuality here. It's no secret - Tina oozes sensuality, sexuality ("it's physical, merely logical"). Last night, watching her in her many spangly skimpy outfits, seeing video images of her costumes over the years, watching her and her women dance so provocatively, whether live or on video, listening to some of the lyrics, I had the feeling that this was a celebration of the total woman, in all her glory. Woman are sexual creatures, women have beautiful bodies, and the celebration going on last night - while sexual - was not untoward or vulgar by any stretch of the imagination. It was provocative; it was empowering; it was playful; it was fabulous. And I feel better for having experienced it.

It should come as no surprise that the best moment of the night was PROUD MARY. That was her final song, except that she came back and sang two encores. Wow. Even though it was originally CCR's song, you can't think of it without thinking of Tina Turner. And, yes, she did it nice... and rough!! It seemed like they made it last 10 minutes long. The crowd went crazy when she did a long dance to it with her four dancers. We sang for her, we cheered for her, and we hollered long enough when she left the stage for her to come back and sing a little bit more.

Unquestionably, PROUD MARY was the highlight of the night. Here's a clip of her performing it at the 2008 Grammys with Beyonce. I dare you to watch without singing or dancing along!


Yeah, girl, you should be proud! Tina, I love you! Thank you for my Quality Friday!