Diana Ross Brings ‘Timeless Classics Tour,’ Family and Joy To The Hollywood Bowl (Live Review)

‘By Tamara Palmer

“You know I’m 81, right?!” Diana Ross asked the Hollywood Bowl audience on Jul. 26., the second of two nights at the iconic venue where she was performing a two-hour-plus, 33-song concert as part of her “Celebrating Timeless Classics” tour.

Ross began with the perennial Pride anthem, “I’m Coming Out” and the blockbusters of the Supremes (“Baby Love,” “You Can’t Hurry Love,” “Come See About Me” and “Stop! In The Name of Love”), later blessing the audience with lively solo favorites like “Love Hangover,” “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand),” “The Boss,”  “Upside Down” and “Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To).”

She sang with extraordinary vocal command and control that alternately roused and hushed the 17,500-capacity Bowl, evidence of taking wonderful care of her voice throughout all the years. She gave her fans four elaborate costume changes into gorgeous, beaded gowns, starting with a black and white dress, moving into a riveting red number, then flowing gold and white frocks.

Ross began to sing “Endless Love,” her 1981 smash hit with Lionel Richie, by herself, then shared that she hoped her daughter would duet with her.

“I wanted Tracee [Ellis Ross] to sing this with me, but she wouldn’t do it,” she said.

Actress and now travel show host Ellis Ross then joined her mother and started singing, “I love you,” until she got flustered and admitted, “Mom, I can’t!

“My mom said I have to get over my fear of singing with her on stage,” Ellis Ross admitted to the audience. “I sang in a movie, I’m a big lady in this world. And when I get next to her, I’m five-years-old!”

Being in the next Garden box seats over from Motown founder Berry Gordy, 95, and longtime Temptations manager Shelly Berger, 86, and watching them enjoy the concert was a wonderful and unexpected side quest for this writer. The song that Gordy stood up and sweetly swayed to was her cover of Spiral Starecase’s 1969 song “More Today Than Yesterday.”

Ross acknowledged both Gordy and Berger were in the house when her and Gordy’s daughter, Rhonda Ross Kendrick, came onstage to sing with her.

“They couldn’t get you better seats?” Ross joked, addressing Gordy. (He had excellent seats.)

“Because of that guy, I wouldn’t be here without him!,” she added seriously.

“And neither would I!” said Ross Kendrick.

“I just blew you a kiss!” Ross told Gordy.

Actor and now caviar maker Evan Ross later brought his wife Ashlee Simpson and their two children Jagger Snow Ross, just shy of her 10th birthday on July 30, and four-year-old Ziggy Blu Ross onstage for a sweet, non-singing moment. While Jagger didn’t shy away from the attention, smiling and dancing, Ziggy preferred to hide his face in one of the giant $125 Diana Ross folding fans that were sold in the merchandise tents, which also touted numerous t-shirts, a baseball jersey, a poster set and a tote bag carrying the name of a 2021 song called “If the World Just Danced” that was a part of the evening’s set.

The surprise of Ross concluding the show with a cover of Gloria Gaynor’s undying 1978 hit “I Will Survive” was enhanced by the rap lyric that she and her four stellar backup singers added at the end, a refrain of success from DJ Khaled’s 2010 posse cut, “All I Do Is Win”: “Every time I step up in the building, everybody’s hands go up — and they stay there!”

Ross returned for a two-song encore: “The Best Years of My Life,” from 1993’s Forever Diana: Musical Memoirs, and “Thank You,” from her 2021 self-titled album. Post-encore, Ross gathered her musicians, singers, production manager, booking agent, security and other members of her touring company to take a family photo onstage. She professed her gratitude to them after months on the road. Before performing in the United States, Ross embarked on “A Symphonic Celebration Tour” of the United Kingdom, which saw her sing with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra in London, the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Glasgow.

“First of all,” she said to her tourmates, “I really, really, really want to thank you all for being with me like this. Can you see me? I want you to really hear me. We had some challenges, we made it through. It was fantastic and I really, really love you so much!”

Ross isn’t taking much time off of that touring schedule  — she’s got two dates in Northern California coming up in mid-August, stopping at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga on Aug. 16, followed by a free performance on Aug. 17 at the Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco. Now in its astonishing 88th season, Stern Grove switched to a lottery system to distribute tickets this year, and according to an email sent to people who did not win the Ross lottery, 169,783 people competed for 10,000 tickets.

According to Pollstar Boxoffice Reports, Diana Ross has amassed a total gross of $77.6 million over the course of 318 shows dating back to 2000. This includes a recent gross of $476K this past June at Co-Cp Live in Manchester, U.K. promoted by AEG Presents.

As of this writing, Ross has eight additional U.S. shows planned in 2025, starting Oct. 21 at DPAC in Durham, NC and concluding on Nov. 8 at The Venue at Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, CA.

“I never want to retire, guys!” she told her tour family on the Hollywood Bowl stage. “They’re going to have to drag me off the stage. I really love you!”