TINA TURNER, BETTE MIDLER And The Night Down Under Turned Up

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Bootleg Betty
You’ll Have To Use Your Imagination! OMG! Just Try!
By Mister D
May 27, 2023

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Well. you’ll have to stretch that frail little brain of yours. Get it cracking and popping!, Imagine the year, 1980, Australia,  St. George Leagues Club, Tuesday, December 2, 1980. It’s just after 8 PM. when Tina Turner started a new European Tour. This tour was the one right before her huge comeback in 1983-1984 for Private Affair.

For this 1980 tour, Ms. Turner invited Bette Midler as a guest to her show, Of course, Bette had released her debut movie The Rose, about the 8-day demise of a rock and roll icon. The movie was brutal and the rock music was true to its core with Miss M showing off a new voice and performances that jumped off the screen, And her acting showed a huge range of emotions and behavior from witty humor to gut-wrenching sadness, Bette was nominated for her first Oscar, but Lost to that flying nun, Sally Field. If you ask me, Bette had PTSD, and that is the reason she turned down, Sister Act,

So Bette Midler goes to Tina’s show, and I think you know how much she liked it from the clip below where she hosted the first MTV Awards

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Well. Tina Turner had come to the finale of the show and said she had a surprise guest she screamed out that it was Bette Midler and the spotlight showed on Miss M and Tina invited her onstage to sing Bob Seger’s Hollywood Nights with her.

Bette was a fan of Bob Seger’s and sang his song Fire Down Below in The Rose with a bunch of groomin’ drag queens, impersonating Bette, Barbra, Mae West, and Diana Ross (Sylvester). The scene is one of the few lighthearted scenes where Bette seemed to really enjoy herself.

Bette Midler in The Rose: Singing with Impersonators of Mae West, Babs, Bette, and Diana Ross (Sylvester)

Climbing onto the stage, Midler joined Tuner to finish the show together. The club owner, Robinson, said the atmosphere was electric when Midler was identified. “It was one of those rare moments. You had to be there. I’ve never seen an audience react the way they did,” he said. “It was a big night all round!” Robinson declared.

Unfortunately, there is no film of that particular performance out now, but I bet one day it’ll be found. I found a video of Tina’s performance a few days after the Bette/Tina one, and that band was so loud and rock and roll, I would have given all my teeth just so I could see it. Okay, here’s Tina singing her finale of Hollywood Nights

Tina Turner: Hollywood Nights 1980

The last part of this story was that it was Bette Midler’s birthday party that night and Elton John was there. too. and he told Tina he was going to Bette’s party and asked Tina to go with him. At the party he got Tina and Bette to sing The Bitch Is Back. And I would say that was a Divine Rock and Roll Evening