THERE is indeed life beyond the Thunderdome band it would seem that Tina Turner is determined to live it to the full. By rights, she should be settling into comfortable cabaret dotage, but instead the Acid Queen returns to Dublin after a six year absence with a full blown stage show and a still pristine voice - and those pins which she struts around on look nothing like her last legs.

The stage for last night's gig was set up in front of the Hogan Stand, giving the capacity crowd in the new stand and on the pitch a perfect view of rock's glamorous granny as she celebrated her golden years. It was all vary spectacular, very smooth and very shiny, but sometimes it felt like we were being given a glimpse into the boudoir of a middle aged madame, but were not allowed to get close enough to rummage around in her dresser.

Familiarity feeds contemporary pop, so it was no surprise to hear cover versions of John Waite's Missing You, Al green's Let's Stay Together and Robert Palmer's Addicted To Love among the many musical set pieces. The band was big and bold, the backing singers sexy, and the sax player blew The Chippendales away with just one blast from his brass instrument. It was all a bit of a tease, but if Tina Turner can still rock out at 56, then why can't she be allowed to steam up the windows a bit too?

Movie themes and advertising jingles provided more moments of familiarity, with Golden eye and We Don't Need Another Hero conjuring up contrasting video images of James Bond and Mad Max and What's Love Got To Do With It becoming a self referential theme for a self made heroine. Simply The Best, however, was little more than an inadvertent reminder to buy the RTE Guide on the way home.

River Deep Mountain High provided an early glimpse into bygone days, but it no longer seemed like Tina Turner's song, having long since become a live staple of every singer from Celine Dion to Karaoke Kate. However, no one can do Nutbush City Limits quite like Tina, so it was a fitting, partly autobiographical and to the story of Anna Mac Bullock and her long lasting legs.

In lesser hands, this concert could have been an embarrassing attempt at self glorification, but in Tina Turner's hands the glory was already there. All she had to do was polish it up and put it on display.