Review: Craig Eriksson. Photos: Jason Rosewarne
Last night we attended Cyndi Lauper’s sold out Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour at Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne with special guests The Veronicas. Fans of all ages came along dressed up for the ‘farewell show’ in their Tulle skirts, coloured wigs and glitter shoes, ready to have fun and party.
Cyndi Lauper is like no other and is an absolute crack up with her unique sense of humour, tales and stage antics. Throughout the show the audience was completely captivated from start to end listening to her wonderful catalogue of music, storytelling and jokes. Cyndi is so authentic and has a certain warmth as she candidly shares many of her and her family life stories with her fans.
I’ve loved Cyndi since the early 80s with her distinctive punk-like look, bold and quirky personality, powerful voice, ever-changing hair colours, flamboyant style of fashion along with her unique and infectious blend of pop songs and ballads. This music takes me back to the time of bluelight discos, parties and later at nightclubs during my late teens and twenties. We owned her records and cassettes and watched her video clips and listened to her music on the radio. Good times!
The Veronicas opened tonights show and we really enjoyed their set mixing it up with some of their own music like IN MY BLOOD, UNTOUCHED, 4EVER, YOU RUIN ME and TAKE ME ON THE FLOOR and also sang several covers by powerful women artists such as opening with Stevie Nicks EDGE OF SEVENTEEN, Pat Benatar’s LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD and Bonnie Tyler’s THE BEST. This warmed up the crowd beautifully ready for Lauper.
Cyndi Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, activist and actress born in Brooklyn, New York City, U.S. Lauper’s album She’s So Unusual was released in 1983 and went gangbusters. This album launched Lauper’s career with standout hit songs like Time After Time, All Through The Night, She Bop and of course the 80s anthem, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Overnight, CL became a household name and was adored by millions around the globe. Throughout the 80s, she had countless number of hit songs and they just kept coming like True Colours, I Drove All Night, Money Changes Everything, When You Were Mine and Change of Heart. Over the years, she has mixed things up playing many genres such as pop, dance, blues, rockabilly, jazz, country and has covered many artists.
The lights dimmed and Blondie’s song ONE WAY OR ANOTHER played over the PA while a large backdrop screen displayed highlights of Cyndi Lauper’s career.
Cyndi and her 7-piece band emerged on stage and opened with the energetic SHE BOP, with a cannon shooting coloured confetti over the audience. The crowd erupted and were up and out of their seats straight away, singing and dancing along to this iconic synth-laden classics. Cyndi even played a recorder solo towards the end of the song. By popular demand by Australian fans, she performed THE GOONIES ‘R’ GOOD ENOUGH and the cinematic backdrop showed bits and pieces from the Goonies film. The Prince cover, WHEN YOU WERE MINE followed and was stunning, with the purple stage setting and strobe lighting creating a very atmospheric mood. This song showcased that CL’s voice remains as strong and soulful as ever.
Cyndi talked to the crowd in between songs and told tales about her family life growing up in New York and how tough it was for women back then and the daily challenges they were faced with. She mentioned the reason she chose the next song was because there were no songs on the radio about women drivers (laughed). This led into I DROVE ALL NIGHT. It was a killer, high energy version and was definitely a crowd favourite and showcased CL’s four octave vocal range. The stage backdrop pictured mainly night driving along various highways and roads and visually looked incredible.
Cyndi has a 7-piece band consisting of a percussionist/wind instrumentalist who was brilliant, keyboardist, drummer, lead and bass guitarists and two backing vocalists. They were all dressed in black and white which made CL stand out in her colourful outfits and wigs. She made several costume and wig changes throughout the show.
The intimate, mid-tempo and soulful WHO LET IN THE RAIN followed with the visuals displaying torrential rain creating an incredible backdrop. CL went off stage for a costume change and then as the band started playing IKO IKO, Cyndi rose up from the stage floor but only up to her wasteline and then clumsily (deliberately) climbs her way up onto the stage in a red dress, yellow wig and large yellow frills on her sleeves and had the crowd in fits of laughter. CL puts on a steel washboard vest and played it during the song. Slapstick comedy at its finest!
This comedy continued on and off throughout the evening. During another part of the show in between songs, the visuals displayed her backstage making a costume change with her crew rushing to get Cyndi into a different outfit, do her make-up, fit on another colourful wig and fuss over her. It was hilarious!
The funky Wanda Johnson cover FUNNEL OF LOVE followed which showed CL’s versatility as this song was rockabilly. She talked more about growing up in NYC and her neighbours. A fan yells out “stop talking and sing” and CL responded saying “this is not a bang bang show” and went on to say that she likes to humanise her shows so fans can gain an understanding of how her songs came about. This led into the raw and emotional SALLY’S PIGEONS about abortion rights. The Frankie Lane cover I’M GONNA BE STRONG continued the theme of women empowerment and fundamental rights, encouraging women to unite and take a stand for equality. During SISTERS OF AVALON, the backdrop visuals of the ocean and clouds looked incredible and the lead guitarist played a wonderful solo. Much to the crowd’s delight, CHANGE OF HEART was another highlight and was a soulful banger. Australian artist, Tones and I joined CL on stage for TIME AFTER TIME, which was a little clumsy due to no rehearsal but thankfully the crowd sang along while waving the lights on their phones creating a sea of lights. The Brains cover MONEY CHANGES EVERYTHING was fantastic and showcased the incredible musicianship of CL’s band and the energy she displayed for a 71-year old blew my mind.
The encore was SHINE where Cyndi and her band were all dressed in black and white. Cyndi started the song on the main stage and then made her way through the crowd to the B stage situated in the middle of the arena. I noticed there were four electric steel fans situated in each corner of B Stage and a red X in the middle of the stage. Lauper took out a coloured scarf, stood on the X and waved the scarf above her head during TRUE COLOURS. The four fans created a tunnel-like airflow that made the coloured scarf hover above her, creating majestic twists and turns. A very cool effect! Back to the main stage for the final song GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN. The Veronicas came out and joined Cyndi and the band and they were all dressed in white clothes with red polka dots with the stage backdrop also displaying white with red polka dot visuals, designed by Yayoi Kusama, who currently has an exhibition at NGV in Melbourne. Once again, a cannon shoots red and white confetti over the audience and the atmosphere was electric. It was a sight to see!
Tonight felt like one big party and celebration of Cyndi Lauper’s stellar career spanning 40-plus years. Listening to Cyndi sing these iconic timeless songs highlighted the fact that her music still remains just as popular and strong today as it did back in the 80s. Impressive!
SET LIST:
Video Intro of CL’s career with Blondie song One way Or Another.
She Bop
The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough
When You Were Mine (Prince cover)
I Drove All Night
Who Let In The Rain
Iko Iko (Sugar Boy and His Cane Cutters cover)
Funnel of Love (Wanda Jackson cover)
Sally’s Pigeons
I’m Gonna Be Strong (Frankie Lane cover)
Sisters of Avalon
Change of Heart
Time After Time (with Tones and I)
Money Changes Everything (The Brains cover)
Encore:
Shine (performed at B stage)
True Colours (performed at B stage)
Girls Just Want To Have Fun (with The Veronicas)
