This all singing, all dancing, hit song fest just gets better and better, year after year.
What a show! What a production!
Elvis may have officially left the building, but Bill Cherry, for one, does a mighty job of looking and sounding like The King, who would have turned 90 this week.
And he’s up last, after we have been thoroughly entertained by tributes to Cyndi Lauper, Stevie Wonder, Cher, Tina Turner and Freddie Mercury.
Each year, the artists championed in Legends in Concert is slightly different.
The staging this time around is the best it has been … and that is really saying something.
The concert kicks off with a lively opening, recalling The Jonas Brothers’ Celebrate.
It involves eight colourful, finely choreographed dancers (four male and four female) and two impressive back-up singers.
With positivity and ditz, high pitched Nellie Norris takes to the stage with multi-coloured wig and four different gowns to belt out five Cyndi Lauper winners.
They include I Drove All Night, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Time After Time, True Colours and She Bop.
With her are constants that shine, namely a superb five-piece band, a slick video backdrop (a massive centre screen and one on either side of the showroom).
In this case, on screen is the real Cyndi in her prime, while Norris does her thing so well, in front of us.
The lighting design too is a feature most worthy of mention, not just in this opening act, but throughout the evening.
Sporting a broad smile, sunglasses, a rich blue kaftan with prominent gold highlights and a surfeit of matching hair beading, Billy Buchanan is the next to serenade us.
Poised and polished at the keyboard, he charms us with Stevie Wonder’s Superstition, I Just Called, Part Time Lover and Sunshine.
He stands tall with Master Blaster, a reggae nod to Bob Marley, seeing off his set with For Once in My Life, which Wonder recorded when he was just 18.
It is a great sound.
Sex on a stick is Annika Weaver as the incomparable, raspy voiced Cher.
Oh, the look – flowing hair, knee length black boots, black leather jacket and revealing black body suit with cut outs. It makes you go weak at the knees.
The energy is palpable as she Turns Back Time and then launches into to a Gypsy/Half Breed medley.
Shoop Shoop follows, before she brings an audience member onto the stage for a duet of her chart topper with Sonny, I Got You Babe.
A costume change to a barely there silver ensemble with tassels and headdress sees her out with Believe.
After interval, the big hair is alive and flowing with Lori Mitchell-Gay in the guise of the glorious Tina Turner.
Resplendent in red, before switching to a fetching, short silver gown that highlights her toned legs, she immediately wins us over with the up-tempo Disco Inferno.
From River Deep to The Best, Private Dancer to Proud Mary, the vibe is buoyant, the musicality embracing and infectious.
Sunnies, attitude, tight white pants, a white Champion t-shirt and a look-at-me yellow leather jacket bring Fernando Castro strutting onto the stage as Freddie Mercury.
His is another offering with winner, after winner, after winner.
I am a massive fan of Bohemian Rhapsody and so much more of Mercury’s material.
It is all there – Another One Bites the Dust, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Under Pressure (with the Cyndi Lauper lookalike).
Castro closes with We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions and doesn’t hold back. Yet another triumph of sound and spirit.
Elvis’ stagger (and patter) is on display and how when Bill Cherry gives The King such a soulful rebirth.
In sequined white jumpsuit and carrying silk scarves of many hues, he has women swooning.
2001/See See Rider begins proceeding. Burning Love and Love Me follow.
The almighty Suspicious Minds is a massive crowd pleaser, before we Can’t Help falling in love with Elvis all over again.
There is an unmistakable magic that comes with the Legends in Concert.
It is glittering array of talent that delivers a two-hour show as good as any that can be found in Las Vegas.
And I am not just speaking about the headline acts, but the band, the back-up singers and the agile dancers.
Legends in Concert is playing at The Palms at Crown until 25th January, 2025.
For tickets, go to https://www.crownmelbourne.com.au/entertainment/live-shows-and-concerts/shows/legends-concert
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