Dolly Parton's Better Day Tour Rocks the Hollywood Bowl

SheWired Editor Tracy Gilchrist was granted access to the Hollywood Bowl (a legendary venue) to watch Dolly Parton (a legendary voice) take the stage this past Saturday night.

“Dubbed the “Dollywood Bowl” for the weekend, the country / bluegrass / pop sensation” wowed a crowded house that “included celebrities, country music and bluegrass aficionados, Dolly impersonators and a massive contingent of her LGBT fans.”

Gilchrist goes on to recount the blissful 2.5 hours spent under the stars at the Bowl, proudly celebrating its 90th season, while Dolly, “clad at first in a form-fitting white dress with sparkling fringe and later a yellow pedal-pusher length pantsuit with more sparkling fringe -- held the packed-to-the-walls Hollywood Bowl audience enrapt as she sang, fiddled, tickled the ivories, plucked the banjo, told tale of her humble beginnings and cracked self-reflective jokes laden with the irony that she is at once fully aware of her camp sensibility and fully sincere about it.”

A veritable national treasure whose big heart is matched only by her cup size Parton played to thousands of willing acolytes under a star-lit Hollywood sky performing everything from her signature songs including “Jolene” and “Nine to Five,” to new tunes off of her latest release Better Day, to a bluegrass / gospel medley that included The Beatle’s “Help,” Collective Soul’s “Shine” and Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.”

If shimmying from one end of the stage to the other and wielding no fewer than eight instruments at the tender age of 65 weren’t enough, Parton at one point devoted a rap to her Joyful Noise movie costar Queen Latifah.

Parton even endearingly poked fun at her signature look: “At one point, the multi-Grammy winner even gave a shout out to her plastic surgeon, who was presumably in the audience.”

Find out more about the Hollywood Bowl and it’s amazing history. Get tickets to upcoming events and schedules, too.

Don’t miss Dolly Parton’s Better Day tour. Tickets are on sale on her official website.

7/27 – Prior Lake, Minn.
7/28 – Chicago, Ill.
7/30 – Wallingford, Conn.
7/31 – Vienna, Va.
8/2 – Durham, N.C.
8/3 – Alpharetta, Ga.

10/7 – Cedar Park, Texas*
10/8 – Tulsa, Okla.*
10/11 – Biloxi, Miss.*
10/14 – Valdosta, Ga.*
10/15 – Clearwater, Fla.*
10/16 – Sarasota, Fla.*

*New tour date