Dolly Parton at Live at the Marquee in Cork in 2008. Picture: Miki Barlok
NOT even a leaky roof could dampen Dolly Parton’s show at the Marquee on Saturday night. “Hell, I always wanted to die on stage in front of a crowd,” she said as she fluffed her hair and side-stepped a puddle.
The iconic country and western star proved she’s a consummate professional from the tips of her frosted wig down to her perfectly manicured toes.
From the opening number, Two Doors Down, to the encore of the bizarrely-titled Jesus and Gravity(one lifts her up, the other holds her down), Dolly had the audience stompin’ swayin’ and singin’ for the two-hour show.
She led into almost every song with a little anecdote about her childhood, or a self-depreciating joke. She’s a wonderful storyteller and conjured up images of her grandaddy’s preaching tent in Tennessee, transporting us into Dolly’s world, where mamas make coats out of love and women gotta protect their men from hussies with flaming locks of golden hair.
She played a generous amount of songs from her latest album Backwoods Barbie, like You Don’t Know Love From Shinola, but it was the section in the second halfof the show where she launched into Here You Come Again, followed by Islands In the Stream and then gave the crowd 9-5 that the magic happened.
We whooped, we hollered, we twirled our overpriced pink cowboy hats and we worshipped every glitzy piece of her.
And the songstress in her 60s looked incredible. The tiny waist, the gravity-defying bosoms, the shapely legs, and the alabaster skin — it’s all very impressive. But in the end, it is the pure power and shy sweetness of her ageless voice that truly captivates and proves that, despite the artifice, this lady is a natural.
And an acappella, bluegrass, finger-clicking rendition of Do I Ever Cross Your Mind performed with eight of her male singers was another highlight.
The only negative was the rather obvious teleprompter plonked above the heads of the front row. Still, when everything else was damn-near perfect, I guess we can let a little memory-nudge slide.
