Dolly Parton, The 02

With her overripe lips and indefatigable bosom, Dolly Parton looks like a Barbie doll fending off advanced middle age. But her charm is as genuine as her bits are fake, and she’s always got a self-deprecating quip to hand. “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap”; “If I hadn’t been a woman, I’d have been a drag queen”; “The higher your hair, the closer you are to God”—these are just some of the gems you’re bound to hear at her June 27-8 show at The O2.  

Dolly certainly has a mouth on her: she can belt out country rompers like 9 to 5 just as easily as she can croon despairingly in Jolene or I Will Always Love You. Get past the garish make-up and the brassy persona and you’ll hear something truly distinctive: Dolly’s sometimes delicate, sometimes steely soprano voice.