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Variety Plus Icon Click to expand the Mega Menu Plus Icon Click to Expand Search Input Variety Plus Icon Read Next: Human-AI Indian Music Label Raagverse Launches With ‘Janaa Hai Toh Jao’ (EXCLUSIVE) Home Music News Oct 19, 2026 5:09am PT Miley Cyrus Fires Back at Criticism of Hollywood Bowl Concert and Considered Not Doing Second Show: ‘It’s Hard for Me to Stand Up Here’

Miley Cyrus has responded to criticism of her comeback Hollywood Bowl show on Friday night, telling the audience at Sunday’s concert that she almost didn’t come on stage.

Cyrus told the Sunday crowd that performing “does not not come as natural as it once did,” but the two Hollywood Bowl shows were “more to me than an experiment.”

“That is absolutely not what this is,” she added. “This is not an experiment of you. This is an experience for me. And you all make the experience possible.”

Cyrus ended her monologue by revealing that she nearly bailed on Sunday’s show, but decided to push through for her true fans.

“Before I came out for ‘Orbit,’ I already told myself I wasn’t going to come on stage, I was going to run away,” she said. “But never would I leave you all sitting in these seats, unfulfilled from a show. So I can take a lot, but one thing I will not stand is any question about where my heart is when I’m on the stage. I am fully present.”