AFTER nearly four years away from the stage, pop diva Miley Cyrus brought Dolly Parton back to the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in the most fitting way—with a story, tears and the opening notes of Parton’s 1973 classic hit ‘Jolene’.
Cyrus returned to perform for her first of two shows amid the release of her latest album ‘Bass Persuades’.
During her October 16 concert, Cyrus paused to remember her late godmother, who passed away last August 25 at the ripe old age of 80.
According to People magazine, as her band prepared to launch into Parton’s signature song, an emotional Cyrus told the crowd that she had only ever watched ‘Aunt Dolly’ perform live at the Hollywood Bowl.
Miley recalled declining her godmother’s invitation to join her onstage at the popular venue because she wanted to experience the concert from the audience.
Just as Parton’s fans seemed to accept the answer, she then opened her show with ‘The Best of Both Worlds’, the theme song of Disney Channel series Hannah Montana, before telling the crowd that her goddaughter was sitting among them.
The concert comes as Miley enters a new chapter of her career with her 10th studio album, which was released on Sept. 18.
Before performing ‘Jolene’ in honor of Parton, she brought back to mind having a supernatural experience with her late godmother.
“I actually have a Dolly mannequin in my bedroom. She gave it to me for Christmas, and it’s dressed like her, it’s built like her, and when I was by myself, I actually took my phone, and I played ‘Jolene’ for her on video just holding it up to the mannequin and lit a candle,” she recalled.
During the show, Cyrus also revived classics like ‘The Climb’, ‘We Can’t Stop’ and ‘Party in the U.S.A.’ as she opened up about finding “balance” in her personal life after being uncertain as to whether she wanted to continue performing live.
“For me, performance can’t be everything, because the curtain closes and the lights go down and I have to go back home and be happy with who I am,” she told the crowd while introducing ‘Something Beautiful’.
“And I really appreciate you all honoring that and respecting and celebrating and supporting and encouraging me finding this balance in my life where I can really have everything that I ever wanted,” she added.
Talking more to herself, she said she’d asked herself some “tough questions” before coming out on stage and noted that a few years ago, she wasn’t sure that live performances were something she “wanted to dedicate and devote herself” to.
Miley went on to say she’s learning to strike a balance, and earlier in the day, she adopted a new fish named Balthazar and was happy to say she was “equally (as) excited” about the fish as she was about the show.
ia/xf
