Cyndi LauperThere are a lot of 'units' in attendance tonight: brightly coloured feathers in feral, hair mascara-streaked locks, The Goonies t-shirts and rah-rah skirts. My plus one declares, “Well Cyndi is the OG unit!” She has a point. Our people-watching is interrupted by support act Max Sharam. Her make-up is poorly applied (channelling Gaga's current look?) and those baggy, flesh-toned stockings with an abundance of glitter do her no favours. As for that red, twin-peaked headpiece: Madonna called and she wants her Blond Ambition World Tour-era cone-bra back. After introducing a song that she says is “for girls, primarily”, a heckler yells out, “NO SHIT!” to Sharam. It's not going well and we only got here early thinking Sharam's Coma single was that masterpiece of the same name by the OG Pendulum (not the Australian/British drum'n'bass group).
Returning to Australia to mark the 30th anniversary of her barnstorming She's So Unusual debut by performing the album in full, Cyndi Lauper is amongst the crowd from midway through The Brains cover/album opener: Money Changes Everything. Lauper's flaming red Medusa dreads are seen bobbing about as she careens in front of the front row. Her designer black leather corset ensemble is not something you'd encourage many 60-year-olds to get about in, but Lauper looks terrific. This music demands two keyboard players, one of whom is the spitting image of Kath & Kim character Kath Day-Knight-ish behaviour. When said keyboardist removes some wrist bling after a couple of songs, it's very Day-Knight. Girls Just Want To Have Fun emphasises how much Hayley Mary from The Jezabels wishes she were Lauper. “You gotta understand,” Lauper implores in her Queens, New York drawl, “this isn't really The Carol Burnett show.” She's not just funny, Lauper's banter is guffaw worthy and she probably speaks more than she sings this evening. “After I won the Tony [2013 Best Original Score for Kinky Boots]... I thought it would be nice to do this [kind of intimate show],” Lauper shares and it really is the ideal setting in which to showcase unique talents. Of course Lauper continually references Miley Cyrus' recent 'Twerkgate' and even recites some of Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines lyrics with disgust (the date rape ones). We learn Lauper recorded She Bop in an isolated room while topless and tickling herself (you know that giggling bit?) and it's these insights into her lyrics and what inspires her as an artist that make this show so memorable. She performs All Through The Night holding a single strip light up to her face and then exchanges this for a hand-held mirror ball for the second half of the song – there are a lot of grand gestures in Lauper's show and her “mad Sicilian dance” is quality.
Lauper's sassy, rambunctious persona is tremendous, but her ballads break collective hearts. Just when we thought Time After Time was exquisite, Lauper closes her encore with True Colours. Demonstrating pure talent and the responsibility she feels to stay true to herself as an artist, while encouraging us all to be courageous enough to fly our freak flags, Lauper is “beautiful like a rainbow”. Our tear ducts have been well exercised.
