Cher Celebrates Cher with 'Here We Go Again Tour'

Most artists don't seem to be at the peak of their powers six decades into their careers. Then again, most artists don't have a six-decade-long career. But most artists aren't Cher.

The Goddess of Pop, The Comeback Queen, and patron saint of the farewell tour, Cher is back out on the road–after saying "never again" first in 2002, then again in 2014–with her aptly named "Here We Go Again Tour" in support of her most recent album of ABBA covers, one that was born out of Cher's involvement with last summer's unlikely blockbuster, "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again."

One of the things that has come to define Cher's storied career is how she has mounted successful comeback after successful comeback, defying the odds time and time again, always coming back bigger, better, and–naturally–with a different outfit. But despite her storied, successful, and long careers on stage, screen, and TV, she spent the majority of her career fighting to stay out of the boxes that the male-run industry seemed dead set on keeping her in.

In a sexist, ageist industry, Cher has continued to be the exception to every rule, reaching new career heights with each milestone birthday: by 21, she had sold 40 million records; by 40 she won an Academy Award; she scored her first Grammy win in her 50s; and in her 70s, she had her first number-one album on the Billboard Top Albums Sales chart. And Cher's "Here We Go Again Tour" is a celebration of everything she has ever been and continues to be: the best entertainer of her generation, sure, but also–for the vast majority of us–the best entertainer of our lives.

Now 73, Cher looks and sounds decades younger and she knows it. "I only have one thing to ask you," she said near the top of her show at Boston's TD Garden on Sunday. "What's your granny doing tonight?"

The concert is, more or less, a version of the same show she's been doing for years now–one made up of elements from her famous Farewell Tour, as well as 2014's "Dressed to Kill Tour "and her most recent Vegas residency, "Classic Cher." It's the best parts of a whirlwind career, a career that flashes before our eyes in 15 songs, 9 costumes (all designed by Bob Mackie, of course), and 90 minutes.

Despite Cher famously saying that she's not the biggest Cher fan, her affection for these songs is palpable, not only because of her uncommonly strong vocals–she lets it rip during "I Found Someone" and "If I Could Turn Back Time"–but in the way that she savors each phrase, each key change, and each lyric as if she hasn't been singing the same songs for decades.

"I Got You Babe," where she duets with a video of Sonny, is always a tender moment no matter how many times I see her do it, and the concert's first three songs– "Woman's World," "Strong Enough," and "All or Nothing"–are about as exhilarating as any live concert could be. I will also never tire of seeing Cher skip across the stage in her "Turn Back Time" black wig, leather jacket, and sheer bodysuit. And then there's the encore of "Believe," a song that could repeat over and over ad infinitum and I would still want more.

But with all the video montages and costume changes, the evening feels just ever so slightly light on music. Cher's 15-song setlist has gotten a little shorter over the years–I'd estimate that most setlists clock in between 18 and 21 songs–so I couldn't help but feel disappointed that some of her best material, "Song for the Lonely," "Dark Lady," "Take Me Home," "The Way of Love," "Just Like Jesse James," and "Heart of Stone" were left out in favor of a forgettable number from "Burlesque" and three ABBA songs from her recent "Dancing Queen" album. But given that that album is the reason for this tour, it's hard to be that mad about it.

Cher is a force of nature, and her "Here We Go Again Tour" is a vital celebration of pop music's greatest diva. Whenever I feel like I'm "standing on the edge of nowhere" or unsure if there's really "life after love," I remind myself of one thing: Cher's still around.

And as long as there is Cher, there is hope.

For more on Cher's "Here We Go Again" tour, visit her website.