Miley Cyrus Debuts 'Bass Persuades' at Hollywood Bowl — SkimNews
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- Miley Cyrus performed the first of two sold-out Hollywood Bowl concerts on Friday in support of her album 'Bass Persuades,' playing a nearly two-hour set where nearly half the songs were live debuts.
- Cyrus was joined by Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne on the B stage for 'Do You Realize??' and their collaboration 'Karen Don't Be Sad,' and by opening act Model/Actriz for 'Different Religion.'
- Cyrus became visibly emotional during a 'Jolene' cover dedicated to her late godmother Dolly Parton, telling the crowd she feels Parton's presence 'more than she could be when she was here.'
- Cyrus let the audience carry vocals on her biggest hits 'We Can't Stop' and 'Party in the U.S.A.,' with Coyne reemerging with balloons spelling 'Fuck Yeah Hollywood Bowl.'
- The show drew 18,000 fans across its two nights, marking Cyrus's first major concert run since her 'Bangerz' era global tour began in 2013, with only two fan-only shows in LA and Paris in the intervening years.
- Cyrus, now 33, framed the night as a balance between public performance and private life, telling the crowd she needs to keep 'giving yourself that pressure and polish to create something beautiful.'
- Model/Actriz served as both opener and featured collaborator on the synth-pop track 'Different Religion,' appearing during the opening run of the set.
Why it matters: Cyrus's choice to lean into opaque new material while handing her chart-toppers to the crowd reframes what a legacy pop star's homecoming looks like in 2026, with 18,000 fans across two nights validating the gamble. Her Dolly Parton tribute — delivered as a choking-back-tears 'Jolene' — turned the biggest pop stage in LA into something closer to a memorial than a victory lap.
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