Miley Cyrus cries honoring Dolly Parton at Hollywood Bowl debut: 'We are eternal'

Miley Cyrus made her Hollywood Bowl debut on Friday, October 16, and turned part of the night into a tearful tribute to her late godmother, Dolly Parton. Parton died in August at 80 after a private battle with cancer, and Cyrus told the crowd the Bowl was the one place she had ever seen the country icon perform live.

"So many reasons I wanted to perform at the Hollywood Bowl, above every single one of them is that I only got to see Dolly Parton live in concert one time in my entire life," Cyrus said. "It was here."

She added that she spent years imagining herself beside the icon. "Now, I spent a lot of time backstage and… if she was playing the show, I'd be standing right beside her in a matching costume."

Cyrus also recalled attending a Parton show at the Bowl and asking to stay anonymous in the crowd. "Dolly, I don't want to perform tonight. I just want to sit in my seat and watch the show like everybody else," she said. Parton had other plans: she introduced Cyrus as "my goddaughter" and opened with "The Best of Both Worlds," the Hannah Montana theme.

Parton, a longtime friend of the Cyrus family, performed at the Bowl in 2011 and 2016 and welcomed the "Flowers" singer backstage. Days after Parton's death, Cyrus described their "most sacred moments" as private — "behind the stage, beneath the glamour & between our hearts."

Me and Dolly, we are eternal

"Like so many things Dolly did that I didn't understand at the time, sitting here with you all right now, feeling her all around me [and] knowing that she's right here beside me — everyday, all the time," Cyrus said.

She closed the tribute with a promise. "This memory is gold to me. Me and Dolly, we are eternal. Nothing in this life could ever tear us apart. And I'm gonna see her again. I can't f***ing wait 'cause I miss her." At the time of the loss, Cyrus wrote that she would "always love her and want to make her proud."