Tina Turner, dead at 83, gave her last Cincinnati performance in 2000. Here's the review

Jeff Suess, Cincinnati Enquirer
Updated ·2 min read
Tina Turner, from a performance in California in 2000.
Tina Turner, from a performance in California in 2000.
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The inimitable rock singer Tina Turner, who died Wednesday, May 24, at age 83, performed three shows at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum.

The 2021 Rock and Rock Hall of Fame inductee was an opening act for Lionel Ritchie on May 27, 1984. The next year she was center stage for her “comeback tour” on Aug. 25, 1985.

Her last Cincinnati concert was again with Ritchie – this time he opened for her – on May 28, 2000, when the arena was known as Firstar Center.

Here is the concert review by Enquirer contributor Jay Webber from May 30, 2000:

‘Ageless Tina Turner makes time stand still’

Sunday night’s festivities at Firstar Center marked a phenomenal farewell and perhaps the beginning of a triumphant return.

Tina Turner, the inimitable rock diva of the past four decades, is reportedly ready to quit touring this year. If so, her final Cincinnati appearance was a memorable one.

Covering her entire career, from “A Fool in Love” to her current single, “When the Heartache Is Over,” Ms. Turner’s show certainly raised the bar for sixty-somethings. Dancing for 125 minutes with the energy of one half her age and singing with the power she made famous a generation earlier, it is as though time has stood still for Tina Turner.

One of Ms. Turner’s greatest legacies, as evidenced by the crowd Sunday night, will be the diverse appeal her music has had. “Private Dancer,” “Proud Mary” and “The Best” all transcend age, gender, race and social status. Everyone in the packed arena wanted to dance to “We Don’t Need Another Hero.” Seemingly all sang along with “River Deep, Mountain High.”

The show did everything on grand scale, from the 12 backing musicians and vocalists and the $110 souvenir jerseys to the three-story stage with flames shooting to the rafters. The first encore, a wild “Nutbush City Limits,” found Ms. Turner carried over the audience by a crane.

That crane ride was her fans’ best view of Tina Turner of the evening. It may also have been their final memory of her live career. If so, she certainly went out in style.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Revisiting Tina Turner’s 2000 Cincinnati concert