Dolly Parton's Glastonbury show wins newspapers' front page acclaim

http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2014/jun/30/dolly-parton-national-newspapers

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Dolly Parton is the star of today's national press. Pictures of her performing at the Glastonbury festival appear on six newspaper front pages this morning.

The singer is centre stage in The Guardian, The Times, The Independent, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Daily Express.

But the editors of red-tops clearly think a woman of 68, despite her outstanding reception among the young festival-goers, did not quite warrant top billing.

The Daily Mirror manages a small blurb picture and gives her a fine show on Page 3. The Daily Star also has a page 1 blurb image with a lame pun, "Dolly gets her big hits out". And its page 7 features another one, "Dolly good end to the mudfest."

Metro has a front page picture of the crowd with inside coverage that accuses the signer of miming: "Fans go mud for it but did Dolly diddle us?"

The Sun, the paper that usually makes so much of celebrity, relegates Dolly to page 16 as the lead item of its Bizarre spread. The report, "She's a doll", makes no mention mention of miming and is upbeat about the success enjoyed by the woman described as the "vast-bosomed superstar."

The claims about her having mimed are raised, but largely dismissed, in most adulatory reports. She gave a "storming performance" (Times); she was "the undisputed queen of Glastonbury" (Telegraph); and gave "a performance that surely calls for a redefinition of the word 'crowdpleaser'... ridiculous, yet sublime" (Guardian).

The Mail's Jan Moir dismisses the very idea that "the ultimate professional" was miming, praising the "pint-sized, knickerbocker glory of a woman, the perfect synthesis of the synthetic and the skittish."

There are several headline references to "Hello Dolly" and "Dazzling Dolly". Most of the puns are predictable, as in "Dolly good show" (Mirror).

The Express thought "show stopper" Dolly merited a leading article: "How fantastic that a lady of 68 should be such a hit with people a third of her age. In the words of your own song Dolly, we will always love you."

And the Mirror's editorial referenced another of her songs: "Every generation loves a country music star who works longer than 9 to 5".

But can you believe that the Mirror also uses the phrase "the American songstress"? I think that awful cliché predates Dolly herself.