Her first of two sold-out nights leaned on new material from Bass Persuades, with an emotional tribute to her godmother along the way.
Miley Cyrus broke down in tears on Friday night (Oct. 16) at the Hollywood Bowl while paying tribute to her godmother, Dolly Parton. It was the first of two sold-out shows at the venue, and the second is on Sunday, Oct. 18. Parton died on Aug. 25 at 80, after what a rep announced as a "brief battle with cancer."
Before the tribute, Cyrus told the crowd why she had wanted to play the Bowl. The only time she had seen Parton perform there, she had wanted to sit in the crowd and enjoy the show like everyone else. Parton opened the night with The Best of Both Worlds, the Hannah Montana hit, and then told the audience that her goddaughter was sitting among them. Cyrus said nobody had known she was there until then.
Cyrus turned that story into a point about Parton:
"This memory is gold to me. Me and Dolly, we are eternal."
She added that she would see Parton again: "And I'm going to see her again, and I can't fucking wait because I miss her." Then she sang Jolene, the song where, according to the Variety review, she felt most at home.
Getting back to the main stage meant a walk through the crowd from a B-stage in the middle of the stands. She then sang Wrecking Ball while holding a heart-shaped frame with Parton's image. "That was Dolly's favorite song of mine, so I had to bring her with me," she said. The walk had been hard on her: "But it is a lot for me and it is a little bit overwhelming."
The night leaned on new material. The show opened with Orbit, Different Religion with opener Model/Actriz, and Bass Persuades, from the album that topped the Billboard 200 for one week. Because she has performed so rarely, nearly half the songs on the setlist were live debuts. So far this year she has removed Cyrus from her stage name, putting her in the company of single-name legends such as Madonna, Cher and Beyoncé.
Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne joined her on the B stage for Do You Realize?? and then Karen Don't Be Sad. For the two-song encore she played Let's Get Married, then Flowers, where she updated a lyric for the night: "Started to cry but then remembered… I sold out the Hollywood Bowl!"
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