No one ever believed that those were Cher's farewell tours, did they? What were there — two or three of them? (For those keeping score, 325 concerts witnessed by more than 5 million people from 2002 to 2005.)

Well, she's coming back to Target Center on June 11. That's because Cher has a new album, "Closer To the Truth," which comes out Tuesday. So she's put together the 49-city Dressed To Kill Tour for North America, starting in March.

The day before the official release of her 26th album, her first in nearly a dozen years, Cher appeared on the "Today" show about her return to the road. The singer, 67, admitted she doesn't like the mechanics of touring but said her fans make it worth all the hard work.

"The road is horrible, but the concerts are great," she told Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie. "I understand why guys in bands tear up hotel rooms and throw TVs out the windows, because it's a very lonely place. The only time you have fun is at the concerts."

Jackson lawsuit trial is nearing end

After nearly five months of testimony, much of it focused on the mental and physical health of one of the world's most celebrated entertainers, the Michael Jackson wrongful-death case moved closer to a verdict Monday as the judge read her instructions to jurors. The Jackson family's attorneys will give their closing arguments Tuesday, followed the next day by lawyers for concert producer and promoter AEG. On Thursday, the Jacksons' lawyers will do their rebuttal. Jackson's mother, Katherine, and his three children sued the entertainment firm, saying it negligently hired Dr. Conrad Murray, the Las Vegas doctor who administered a fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol to help Jackson sleep. At the time, the King of Pop was rehearsing for a 50-concert engagement in London, possibly to be followed by a worldwide tour.

obituary: Jackie Lomax, a British rock singer and guitarist who recorded with his Liverpool neighbors George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr but never achieved the stardom that many had predicted, died Sunday while visiting the Wirral, a peninsula on the Irish Sea near Liverpool. He was 69 and lived in Ojai, Calif. The cause was cancer, said Peter Purnell, chief executive of Angel Air Records, which plans to release Lomax's most recent album, "Against All Odds," in January. Lomax, a soulful singer, was well regarded on the Liverpool rock 'n' roll scene of the early 1960s. Brian Epstein, the Beatles' manager, began managing Lomax in 1966, when he played with a band called the Lomax Alliance, in the United States.

Jackson

staff, News Services