As the world mourns the loss of Dolly Parton, we look back at the magical 2011 night she brought rhinestones, bluegrass, and Jolene to Bournemouth.
The American icon Dolly Parton brought the Smoky Mountains to the South Coast.
In the words of the Bournemouth Echo reviewer at the time, "It's like waking up to find that someone's re-built the Statue of Liberty on the West Cliff."
It captured the disbelief that swept across the Bournemouth International Centre as the Queen of Country arrived on the South Coast.
Dolly Parton was only five feet tall, but her talent and rhinestones loomed larger than anything they all saw that day.
The fans who packed the arena knew they were seeing something special on September 7, 2011. With a fiddle in hand, she walked onto the stage and began singing Better Day, and the audience were immediately enamoured.
As her hair gleamed under the lights, she sang her '70s pop hit Baby I'm Burning and delivered a roof-raising rendition of her bluegrass classic Little Sparrow with an a cappella vocal.
Between songs, Dolly shared stories of her poor upbringing, preacher grandfather and Tennessee mountain home to make the arena feel more like a front porch.
Her band played banjos and harmonised as she segued from Rocky Top and Coat of Many Colours to triumphant covers of Stairway to Heaven and Help!.
The roof lifted when she strapped on her guitar and launched into Jolene, a reminder of her decades-long hold on the charts and her fans.
For Dorset fans, the encore of I Will Always Love You remains a powerful memory.
She once said her songs opened the door to every dream she had. Hearing her sing them on the South Coast remains part of the region's musical heritage.
The world has been robbed of its brightest sequin, but memories of that sparkling, spine-tingling, spectacular night at the BIC will now stand forever as a legacy to the greatest country star there ever was.
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