I recently watched Let The Canary Sing, the documentary about Cyndi Lauper’s meteoric rise to fame, her impact on the music industry and pop culture and her ongoing activism. It was a reminder of just how tenacious and talented she is and at the same time, I learned a few interesting things about the icon that I hadn’t known before along with insights into how some of her biggest hits came about.
Her debut album, the aptly named She’s So Unusual, was released in 1983 and became the first debut album by a female artist to produce 4 top-five hits: Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Time After Time, She Bop and All Through The Night. The album also earned her a Grammy for Best New Artist. Fun Facts: the album cover was shot in Coney Island by renowned photographer Annie Lebowitz; the dress Cyndi is wearing is from a thrift store where she used to work while the soles of the shoes on the back of the album have cutouts of a Van Gogh Starry Night print that Cyndi glued on and are now at the Smithsonian.
On 3 June this year, she announced the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour, a 23-city headlining tour across North America, including her hometown of NYC at Madison Square Garden. This is her first major tour in a decade. I have been fortunate to see her live several times: as part of her annual Home For The Holidays shows (a star-studded evening that benefited LGBTQ homeless youth), as an opening act on Cher’s Dressed To Kill Tour and her headlining performance at the World Pride Opening Ceremony in NYC in 2019.
At each of these performances, she commanded the stage and showed that her vocal prowess has not diminished one bit. And the MSG show was no different. It had everything that I expect from a Cyndi show: a bunch of wigs, fabulous costume changes (and even some negligee!), entertaining stories (with her signature “but I digress”), rolling around the stage, killer vocals and lots of rainbows. The show was also a perfect way to cleanse the lingering stench of bigotry and hatred from the MAGA rally that had taken place at the venue a few days prior; indeed, Cyndi asked the audience to imagine a giant pink cloud covering the whole venue to counter the hatred.
In addition to all of the aforementioned fun and excitement, Cyndi also surprised us by bringing out none other than Sam Smith to join her on Time After Time, a song which Sam covered in 2021 for their live album, Love Goes: Live at Abbey Road Studios. Definitely one of the highlights of the evening. It would have been great if she’d performed a couple of songs from her 2008 album Brink Ya To The Brink but it was amazing to hear so many of her hits so a few omissions can be forgiven.
The complete setlist was as follows:
She Bop
The Goonies 'R' Good Enough
When You Were Mine
I Drove All Night
Who Let in the Rain
Iko Iko
Funnel of Love
Sally's Pigeons
I'm Gonna Be Strong
Sisters of Avalon
Change of Heart
Time After Time (with Sam Smith)
Money Changes Everything
Encore:
Shine
True Colors
Girls Just Want to Have Fun
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