Dolly is a legend - there's no doubt about it. Not my style of music, but the wife wanted to see her, so we both went.
The concert was very good. We had heard that she lip-synchs some or perhaps even all of it. From where we sat, we couldn't tell. If she was, she's good at it, if she wasn't, she's still got a great voice. I like to think it's the latter.
I was thrilled she did a few covers that I like - Bod Dylan's 'Don't Think Twice, It's Alright', Bon Jovi's 'Lay Your Hands On Me', and one of my all time favourite songs from my all time favourite band - 'Shine' by Collective Soul, of which she did a bluegrass version.
She did a couple of knock out vocal numbers with precious little or no musical accompaniment - 'Down By The Backs of the Ohio' and 'Little Sparrow'.
Of course she did some of her better known songs: 'Jolene' which I have always hated, and later in the show, 'Islands In The Stream', 'Working 9-5', and 'I Will Always Love You'.
She did a couple of songs from her new 'Blue Smoke' album. It is interesting that during these songs, the image of her singing live wasn't projected on the giant screen - so if she was lip-synching at all, it could well have been during these songs.
She played many, many instruments during the show, including the sax, recorder, organ, guitar, banjo, harmonica and a few instruments that I have no idea what they are called. There were times when I thought she wasn't playing them because she was over-acting the action.
Dolly did the entire show - it was split into two halves with a brief intermission. She chatted a lot, sometimes a little too much, but she is such a personality that she kept the audience in the palm of her hand. She is quite a witty lady, many of the jokes being about herself, in particular about her boobs and her money.
She said she has no intention of retiring, so if she IS miming the show, she's can go on for ages.
