Last chance to see Cher on farewell tour

Cher is coming to Ireland and the UK to perform some of her last shows.

The pop superstar will be here in May as part of her Farewell Tour.

She will play seven dates – in Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield and London.

This will be fans’ final chance to see the 57-year-old singer in concert.

She has decided to bow out “before rust sets in” and concentrate on her film career.

“There’s a time for everything and I think this is the right time to stop,” she said. “This show is the best I’ve ever done and I want to leave on a high.”

The star, who has been performing since the age of 20, said she was getting too old for life on the road.

“Deciding to stop is partly an age thing,” she said. “The only person I know of my age who’s still doing this is Tina Turner. I’m doing things on stage that would choke a girl of 20.

“It’s not the performing that’s hard, it’s the going from place to place, always travelling and staying in strange hotel rooms every night.

“I’ll still be around, it’s not like I’m going to leave the universe – I just won’t tour again.”

The Farewell Tour may also be one of the last chances for fans to see some of Cher’s outrageous outfits.

She said: “It’s fun for me to dress up, it’s part of who I am. I guess I won’t get a chance to wear them so much after this but I won’t be throwing them out.”

The mammoth tour began in the US in 2001 and the star has played 202 shows there, including six sell-out gigs at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

It set a new record as the biggest US tour ever by a female artist, playing to 2.2 million people.

The show won three Emmys after it was screened on TV to an audience of 17 million Americans.

Cher said of her return to the UK: “I toured so long in America I wasn’t sure I would make it overseas. I’m very proud of this show and I wanted to share it with all my UK fans”.

The tour dates are:

May 8 – Dublin, The Point

May 9 – Belfast, Odyssey Arena

May 11 – Glasgow, SECC

May 14 – Birmingham, NEC Arena

May 17 – Manchester, MEN Arena

May 19 – Sheffield, Hallam FM Arena

May 21 – London, Wembley Arena