THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Beginning and ending her show with the song "Light of a Clear Blue Morning" the weather was not ideal, with a hard rain ending the night. Workin' from 7 to 10, our "Backwoods Barbie" belted song after song. She did a good job of covering past hits from "Jolene" to "Islands in the Stream" with many tracks of the new album, Better Day, in the mix. The video for the current single, "Together You and I," was shown with people holding hands across the country; the audience followed suit.

Her cover songs were a big hit with the crowd such as Collective Soul's "Shine" and The Beatle's "Help!" She was full of stories stating that her husband hated her version of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven." She promoted her upcoming new movie, Joyful Noise, by previewing gospel tracks "He Will Take You Higher" "He's Everything." She even rapped to show costar of the film Queen Latifah and thing or two.

There was no mention of the recent T-shirt controversy at Dollywood ( where a lesbian was reportedly told to turn her "Marriage is so gay" shirt inside out ) but she is not one for politics: "There are enough boobs in the White House." She also admitted she has had a few "foreign affairs" herself in the past.

The jokes kept coming as she talked about her large family and being related to her "horny hick" parents. It was nice to see Parton take a load off and sit down to play "Coat of Many Colors" with the harpsichord. She continued to switch between instruments such as a recorder and a saxophone. Although some of this seemed to be enhanced along with her voice in places, she brought the house down with an a capella "Little Sparrow." A costume change after a quick intermission brought Vegas to Chicago with a sparkly red pantsuit that she shimmied in up and down the stage in before returning for an encore of "I Will Always Love You."

Several past hits were missing, such as "Baby I'm Burning" and "Two Doors Down" so these tracks could have been substituted for the multiple cover songs, although "River Deep Mountain High" added high energy to the show..

Parton, 65, delivered a polished lively show that many will remember for years to come. She's an entertainer first and foremost and for her fans that's never a total bust. Text and photos by Jerry Nunn