Cyrus's live performances have been noted for combining theatrical pop staging with a vocal style influenced by rock and country music. Reviewing a 2010 performance at the House of Blues, Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times described Cyrus as a capable rock singer with considerable vocal power and a rough quality to her voice, and noted that the concert included covers of songs associated with Joan Jett, including "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", "Cherry Bomb" and "Bad Reputation". During the Bangerz Tour in 2014, Alexis Petridis of The Guardian contrasted the production's elaborate visual spectacle with an acoustic portion of the show, writing that performances of Bob Dylan's "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" and Dolly Parton's "Jolene" highlighted the earthier qualities of Cyrus's voice and her background as a Nashville performer. A 2015 Los Angeles Times review of the Milky Milky Milk Tour similarly credited Cyrus's live performances with adding force and emotional intensity to material from Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz, particularly its ballads.
Cover songs have become a recurring feature of Cyrus's live repertoire. Her 2012 Backyard Sessions included versions of "Lilac Wine", "Look What They've Done to My Song Ma" and Parton's "Jolene"; the latter continued to appear in her subsequent concert sets. Reviewing her first live album, Attention: Miley Live (2022), Dani Blum of Pitchfork attributed Cyrus's effectiveness as a cover performer to the strength and texture of her voice; seven of the album's twenty original-edition tracks contained complete or partial covers, including "Jolene", "Nothing Compares 2 U" and "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)".
Cyrus's performances have also attracted controversy and extensive media attention. Her performance of "Party in the U.S.A." at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards prompted criticism over her outfit and the use of a pole as part of the choreography. She faced similar controversy after performing "Can't Be Tamed" on Britain's Got Talent in 2010, during which she simulated a kiss with a female backup dancer. Cyrus defended the performance and rejected the resulting criticism.
Cyrus received widespread media and public scrutiny following her performance of "We Can't Stop" and "Blurred Lines" with Robin Thicke at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. Wearing a flesh-colored latex outfit, Cyrus used an oversized foam finger as a prop and twerked against Thicke during the performance. The performance generated extensive media coverage; contemporary reviews characterized it as both a "bad acid trip" and a "trainwreck". The provocative imagery continued on the Bangerz Tour, where Cyrus entered the stage by sliding down a large tongue-shaped slide and incorporated elaborate costumes, props and sexually suggestive staging.
Alongside the attention surrounding her stage image, Cyrus increasingly incorporated rock standards and reinterpretations into her live performances. In January 2019, she performed Temple of the Dog's "Say Hello 2 Heaven" at I Am the Highway, a tribute concert for Chris Cornell at The Forum in Los Angeles. Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times wrote that Cyrus's performance demonstrated her suitability for the tribute, highlighting the raspy and blues-influenced qualities of her vocals.
At the 2019 Glastonbury Festival, Cyrus performed a set that combined her own material with covers of Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black", Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog", Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters", Parton's "Jolene" and Nine Inch Nails' "Head Like a Hole". She also brought Billy Ray Cyrus and Lil Nas X onstage for "Old Town Road". NME described the appearance as a rock-oriented reinvention of Cyrus's stage persona and praised her vocals and stage presence, identifying the "Old Town Road" collaboration as a notable moment of the festival.
Cyrus's cover performances received renewed attention in 2020. Her version of Blondie's "Heart of Glass" at the iHeartRadio Music Festival circulated widely online and was subsequently released to streaming services. For MTV Unplugged Presents Miley Cyrus Backyard Sessions, she performed songs by artists including Britney Spears, The Cardigans, Pearl Jam, The Velvet Underground and Jackson Browne. Rolling Stone observed that her series of televised and streamed covers had drawn significant online attention and praised her ability to reinterpret songs from different genres. At the Save Our Stages festival that October, she performed The Cranberries' "Zombie" and The Cure's "Boys Don't Cry".
In February 2021, Cyrus headlined the Super Bowl LV TikTok Tailgate, a pregame concert held for invited healthcare workers. The performance featured guest appearances by Joan Jett and Billy Idol and combined Cyrus's songs with covers including "Heart of Glass", "Bad Reputation", "White Wedding", "Head Like a Hole", "Rebel Girl" and "Jolene". The prevalence of covers and rearranged versions of her own songs was subsequently documented on Attention: Miley Live, her first non-Hannah Montana live album.
In March 2023, Cyrus released Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions), a Disney+ concert special in which she performed eight songs from Endless Summer Vacation, including "Flowers", "River" and "Jaded", as well as "The Climb" from her earlier career. An expanded version aired on ABC in August 2023 in conjunction with the release of "Used to Be Young".
Cyrus marked her 31st birthday in November 2023 with a private performance at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. The show included the first live performance of "Flowers", a cover of Journey's "Faithfully", "Used to Be Young" and "Jingle Bells". At the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2024, she gave the first televised performance of "Flowers". During the performance, Cyrus altered the lyrics to acknowledge having won her first Grammy Award earlier in the ceremony. Rolling Stone described the performance as a showcase for her gravelly vocals and noted its visual and vocal references to Tina Turner.
In July 2024, Cyrus co-hosted the Gucci Summer Celebration at Chateau Marmont and performed a slowed-down, jazz-influenced arrangement of "Flowers" during the private event.
During the promotion of Something Beautiful in 2025, Cyrus favored a series of smaller-scale appearances rather than a conventional tour. In May, she held an intimate TikTok listening event at Chateau Marmont for approximately 100 attendees, performing new songs including "End of the World", "Easy Lover" and "More to Lose", as well as "The Climb", which she had not performed publicly for several years. Cyrus also performed "More to Lose" on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on May 22, marking the song's live television debut with a stripped-down arrangement.
On May 30, Cyrus made an unannounced appearance at an album-release event at 3 Dollar Bill in Brooklyn, where she performed "Easy Lover". On June 2, she performed "More to Lose", "Easy Lover" and "Flowers" during another surprise appearance at Bemelmans Bar inside The Carlyle Hotel in New York City. Paper described the performance and Cyrus's other small-venue appearances of the period as a shift toward more intimate live settings. On June 4, Cyrus held an album signing at Rough Trade in New York and surprised attendees with a live performance. She appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon later that day, and an interview with Cyrus on the Every Single Album podcast was released the following day.
