Astonishing singer shows true colours

 

 

God bless Ms. Cyndi Lauper.

Whether or not you wanted to be her in the eighties, it's hard to find fault with the woman now -- an artist who has maintained her integrity and vision for the entirety of her career, whose individuality and consistent message of acceptance and love has not waned since she first appeared on the worldwide radar, her multicoloured hair announcing that she was not a carbon-copy cutout pop star.

Wednesday night, the ineffable Lauper brought her True Colors tour to Burnaby's Deer Lake Park, a tour whose stated purpose is to raise awareness and tolerance for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community.

The concert featured stand-up comedy by Rosie O'Donnell and Queer Eye For The Straight Guy's Carson Kressley, along with performances by Joan Armatrading, Nora Hendrix, Vancouver's Sarah McLachlan, legendary party band the B52s and, of course, the iconic, brassy, Lauper.

Following a stand-up performance by O'Donnell in which she dissed her former View co-host Elizabeth Hasselback, talked about her deceased mother, friendship with Madonna, and generally waxed poetic about acceptance, Lauper came out, clad in a high-waisted skirt and corset, her bleach-blonde hair shining in the setting sun.

"I'm kind of like your wicked aunt," announced Lauper, who came out to introduce McLachlan.

"I sensed an apathy in the GLBT community, and so we started this, because I am for human rights. And I've always been for human rights. For everyone."

The fantastically eclectic crowd, clad in everything from sparkly brassieres to camouflage shorts, gave a roar, and with that, McLachlan, absent from Vancouver stages for so long, came out, looking ethereally beautiful and not a day older than her Lilith Fair-leading days.

Performing just six songs, McLachlan showed few signs of fatigue, delighting many in the crowd who had nursed themselves through crises with her seminal '90s album, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy.

After McLachlan came some rather pro-forma stand-up from Kressley, and then, the band that dares you not to dance, the B52s.

In fabulous form, and having the grace to play fan favourites like Roam, Love Shack and, delight of delights, Rock Loster, the gorgeous and gaudy B52s ensured that the celebratory mood of the crowd kept afloat.

By the time Lauper hit the stage, the crowd was a massive throng ready to dance.

Lauper did not disappoint, opening with Change of Heart and making her way through She Bop with barely a Brooklyn-accented-word escaping her lips.

As the sun dipped finally behind the trees, the astonishing Lauper, with her equally astonishing voice let forth a rip-roar of fan favourites: I Drove All Night, Girls Just Want To Have Fun (with Rosie O' Donnell on drums) and, for her encore, the tear-jerkingly appropriate ensemble performance of True Colors.

Then, just to top the evening, Lauper and McLachlan sang Time After Time.

What struck most, beyond Lauper's voice, was her choice in artists -- neither overwhelmingly gay nor straight, the acts on hand represented a culture that respects humanity, artistry, and, true to Lauper's unshaken integrity, just wants to have fun.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008