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Cyndi Lauper says goodbye to touring with heart, color and powerhouse vocals: Review
BRISTOW, Va. – In the nine months since Cyndi Lauper launched her Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour, she's birthed a worldwide arena run and an October premiere date for her long-gestating 'Working Girl' musical.
She's also been rightfully crowned an inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this fall and remained a staunch advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and women's issues, raising $200,000 through fan donations during the tour for her Girls Just Want to Have Fundamental Rights Fund.
In other words, Cyndi has remained Cyndi – indefatigable, loyal and bracingly authentic.
The final leg of her final tour kicked off July 17, this time hitting amphitheaters, with a slightly modified production from her arena run. Lauper, a seemingly ageless 72, will say goodbye to the road – but not to music – with a two-night stand at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles Aug. 29-30.
At Jiffy Lube Live amphitheater in northern Virginia July 24, Lauper uncorked a generous mix of classics ('True Colors,' 'Change of Heart') and album tracks ('Who Let in the Rain,' 'Shine') with her well-honed five-piece band anchored by drummer Sterling Campbell and percussionist Mona Tavakoli.
But her storytelling between the music also riveted those willing to stop scrolling through their phones to listen.
There is a direct through line from Lauper to Lady Gaga from a theatrical standpoint. Unlike Gaga, also currently captivating fans with her sublime Mayhem Ball tour, Lauper has never been a dancer, aside from her unbridled arm waves and hip swings first captured on the cover of her blockbuster 'She's So Unusual' debut more than 40 years ago. She uses her bold fashion – wig changes from blue to canary yellow, outfits from ruffled trains to polka dots – and gale-force voice to sell her drama.
Cyndi Lauper tells fans 'you write the book'
While it is endlessly amusing to watch Lauper cavort through the opening 'She Bop' (hilarious to recall the song was considered risqué in the '80s) as fans are blasted with rainbow confetti and dance with abandon during the underappreciated 'The Goonies 'R Good Enough,' the songs where Lauper flourishes are ballads.
Her rendition of Roy Orbison's 'I Drove All Night' is an exhale of yearning. But Lauper sharing her story of how being an outcast in high school shaped her is what garnered the most applause: 'This is one chapter in your life. You get to write the other chapters … you write the book,' she said in her staccato New York accent.
A highlight of the two-hour show was her riveting performance of 'Sally's Pigeons.' Following a deep, detailed story about her family, growing up in Queens and the neighbor who inspired the song, Lauper stood under a lone spotlight, singing the first verse of the song a capella. Close-ups of her face on the long-paneled screens behind the stage captured every facial contortion as she poured her emotion into the poignant ballad.
More: Lady Gaga thrills at theatrical Mayhem Ball tour kickoff: Review
Cyndi Lauper has mastered mixing fun with philosophy
Lauper's Carole-Lombard-meets-Lucille-Ball kookiness has always been part of her charm.
She can blast her voice to stratospheric heights on her version of Gene Pitney's 1964 hit, 'I'm Gonna Be Strong,' gather her band and two backup singers for a sprightly skip through 'Iko Iko' or ask the crowd to hold up their phones to 'make a community of light, in case it gets really dark' for the eternally tender 'Time After Time.'
Opener Jake Wesley Rogers joined her for a vigorous rendition of 'Money Changes Everything,' the pair slinging lyrics between them and laying on the stage floor to pound out emphatic notes before an encore that, of course, included 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun.'
Through it all, Lauper's mixture of street-smart philosophies delivered with candor and undiminished vocal prowess cement her standing as a hall of famer far beyond a music museum.
