NZ Rock'n'Roll History

Northern Advocate, Monday, December 9, 1985

TURNER TORNADO WOWS THOUSANDS

We don’t need another hero – a heroine called Tina Turner will do just fine.

Ask the uncountable thousands who packed Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium on Saturday night.

They’ll tell you. One-and-a-half hours of such live, legendary energy (not to mention live, legendary legs) has the force of a tornado and the potency of a powerful stimulant.

It is powerful enough to set off fireworks. It can keep faces smiling, singing or roaring with approval. And it leaves a most satisfying, sated aftertaste. So it was on Saturday as the lively veteran entertainer of almost 30 years ruled for one night in New Zealand (what does she mean “I Might Have Been Queen”).

Shapely and petite on stage-but larger than life on a giant video screen suspended high above – she sang and danced her way rough a repertoire that included old standards and new classics and one or two surprise covers. The list reads like an all -time smash hits chart: “Show Some Respect”, “I Might Have Been Queen (Soul Survivor)”, “River Deep, Mountain High”, “Nutbush City Limits”, “I Can’t Stand The Rain” and “You Better Be Good To Me”.

A costume change into feathers and fishnet stockings led to a stunning, haunting rendition of “Private Dancer”; followed by a burst of “Mad Max” – complete with onscreen shots from the movie – with “One of the Living” and “We Don’t Need Another Hero”.

“What’s Love Got To Do With It” (what a showstopper), “Let’s Stay Together”,”Help”, and “Proud Mary” (”nice and rough – I’ve been doing this song a long time, and the longer I do it … the better it gets”) completed the main part of the show. And how do you follow an act like that?

With an encore of “Steel Claw”, the twist-and-shout classic “Let’s Dance”,a superbly appropriate cover of ZZ Top’s “Legs” and Bruce Springsteen’s’ “Dancing In The Dark” to wrap it up.

This was no ordinary show. It was a spectacle of majestic proportions, and a sound experience that lifted recorded songs out of the realm of plastic and vinyl into the real world of flesh, sweat and physical presence. Justice could not be done without mentioning the brilliant backing musicians who generated much of the powerhouse production: Bass guitarist Bob felt,key boards player and vocalist Kenny Moore, guitarists-vocalists James Ralstoh and Jimmy Lyon, drummer Jack Bruno and sax and keyboards player Tim Cappello, an energetic character on stage and a muscle showman in his own right.

Mention should also be made of the 40-minute rock-steady reggae set by New Zealand’s own Herbs, providing the warm-up to the main event.

The band’s pumping rhythms had much of the crowd swaying and bobbing early in the piece, earning warm, enthusiastic applause in return. But the night belonged to Tina Turner.

Earlier in the evening, in a special backstage presentation.Festival Records announced her “Private Dancer” album had gone quadruple platinum in New Zealand.

It was like starting the evening on a high note and not coming down. Later she warmly thanked the fans for “helping me make my comeback”.

The cheering and thunderous applause should have left her in no doubt: Tina Turner – singer, movie star, shapely 47-year-old grandmother, rock’n’ roll queen and hard-working
heroine – can come back here any time.-A.A.B.