This show was mind-boggling in many ways. For one, it was the first show on the tour. Those shows usually suffer a few obvious bumps, glitches and mishaps. Not this one. Second, Turner is in her 50th year of live performance, yet she still has the endurance, durability and enthusiasm of performers much younger than she is. She also knows how to choreograph a spectacle.

I won't completely spoil the encore for anyone going to the Oct. 8 show, but there was a moment where she was atop a somewhat narrow strip of runway at least eight feet above the crowd in the first 20 rows. Dancing. In high heels. No kidding.

Earlier in the show, when she and her dancers and background singers were ripping through "Jumping Jack Flash," the large screen behind her showed footage of Turner singing the same song with Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones about 30 years ago. The juxtaposition was enlightening: Someone in that picture isn't what he used to be. Turner, on the other hand, has evolved quite nicely.

The show lasted about 150 minutes, including a 30-minute intermission. She played about everything any fan - casual or devout - would want to hear. She opened with "Steamy Windows," then "Typical Male" and "River Deep." By night's end she'd performed "Better Be Good To Me," "Private Dancer," "What's Love Got to Do With It" and "We Don't Need Another Hero."

She brought with her a five-piece band, two background singers and four young female dancers who looked like they jumped out of a Victoria Secrets catalog. No big deal. Several times, Turner jumped in line and danced along with them. Her voice, too, sounded strong. And it got ample support, from guys in her band and her backup singers, including Lisa Fischer, who took over "It's Only Rock and Roll" so the headliner to execute another wardrobe change.

Turner also hired the Ninjas, a muscular all-male acrobatic/dance troupe (she knows her audience well) that included Jesse "Justice" Smith, one of the biggest human beings I've ever seen. He plays a role in the Mad Max/"Another Hero" number, and he looks like he could put Shaquille O'Neal on a Ritz cracker and eat him.

Her stage was loaded with features: video screens, stairs, runways, hydraulic lifts, scaffolding. A couple of times flashpots exploded - as if she needed them. This was an extravaganza, a Vegas show on human-growth hormones.

Parts of it were a little odd, though. During "Better Be Good To Me," the Ninjas choreographed a beat-down on a security guard (not a good image for what's happened around here recently). Later, during "Goldeneye," the dancers wielded handguns during a dance number.

To start the second set, Turner sat with some of her musicians at the front of the stage, unplugged style, and rendered a slow-burning, bluesy version of the Beatles' "Help." Very nice. Two songs later, she ripped through a smoldering cover of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," then a funky, soulful cover of Ann Peebles' "Can't Stand the Rain." She knows how to change pace, too.

She reprised more of her famous covers, including Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love," and more of her own hits, like "The Best." She ended on a roll.  Before "Proud Mary," which ended the first set, she introduced everyone on stage and tipped her hat to her sound engineer and road manager and a few others. And after the last song, the video screens rolled credits, too, like at the end of a movie. Her encore: "Nutbush City Limits" and "Be Tender With Me, Baby."

I saw Turner out at Sandstone about 10 years ago, and I swear she was more energetic this time than she was back then. I understand why so many fans -- especially women her age or near it -- are infatuated with her and all that she represents: strength, survival, longevity, success -- someone who has earned on her own every scrap of legend and praise that comes her way. None like her will come this way again very soon.

| Timothy Finn, The Star

Setlist: Steamy Windows; Typical Male; River Deep, Mountain High; What You Get Is What You See; Better Be Good To Me/Won't Get Fooled Again; Acid Queen; What's Love Got To Do With It; Private Dancer; We Don't Need Another Hero. Intermission. Help; Undercover Agent for the Blues; Let's Stay Together; I Can't Stand the Rain; Jumpin' Jack Flash/It's Only Rock and Roll; Goldeneye; Addicted to Love; The Best; Proud Mary. Encore: Nutbush City Limits; Be Tender With Me, Baby.