Cher

George, his mother and I went to see Cher at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace yesterday. We bought the tickets months ago as they were selling out fast. All three of us were excited and hyped and ready to go. Finally, the day has arrived.

First off, the show was absolutely fantastic. Cher is how old now? 61 years…43…24? Who knows? And who cares?! All these so-called stars of today can’t even hold a candle up to this woman. The audience was ecstatic. Here we were from all walks of life. Young, old, the die-hard fans and dressed up drag queens in-between simple looking folks. They all came from Anytown, U.S.A. and all over the world, to see this phenomenon called Cher. And she knew it. She knows she’s the shit (her words) but never takes herself too serious. This was a fun show. She admitted that she had to work even harder here as the Las Vegas audience is a tough one to get excited. And excited they were. Towards the final numbers, she had everyone go wild and dancing in the aisles.

While it was definitely one of the best shows we’ve seen on the “Strip,” there were a few things to gripe about. She was fashionable late, but that was expected. However, the transition phases between sets were far too many and dragged out to long. These were used to switch props on stage and to give Cher time to change into her many fabulous costumes. During these breaks we were treated to video clips, emphasizing the many highlights in her career. Cher is also famous for her outlandish outfits and that too is expected when one sees her shows. But paying the high ticket prices that all of us did, we would have rather seen more of her live on stage than some canned old footage projected on a giant screen. Her die-hard fans didn’t seem to mind and basically fainted every time at the first tone of some oldie, but goodie song. Fortunately, her fantastic dancers, acrobats and the incredible live band helped tremendously to bridge some of the dry spots.

Was it necessary for her to change a hundred times just to sing one song, only to vanish once again into the closet to get ready for the next transformation? Granted, phenomenal transformations, but still...

But still...

Still...we forgave her. It was Cher. She was amazing. Even with a few mishaps here and there. Including her rendition of “Love is a Battlefield” and “I will Survive.” Why would she sing Pat Benetar and Gloria Gaynor songs? Didn't we come to hear Cher's songs? It didn’t matter. The crowd went nuts.

She made up by singing many of her favorite hits. “ I Got You, Babe,” “Half Breed,” “If I Could Turn Back Time,” “Believe,”…

It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime extravaganzas. Something like this, someone like her will never come again. You’d better enjoy it now while you still can and suck in every little essence that is Cher. After all these years, one can’t help to be still amazed by her. After the show has ended and the Colosseum emptied, people were still ecstatic.

Do you believe in life after…? Nah…let’s not go there. Believe this though…Cher will live on forever.