Cyndi Lauper
House of Blues
August 11, 2010
Better than: staying home and watching American Idol: Blues Edition.
Looking spry and awkwardly fashionable, pop icon Cyndi Lauper hit the stage last night at House of Blues looking to educate her fans about the value of the blues.
"I've been wanting to make this new album for eight years," Lauper told the crowd at the outset, referring to her recently released effort, Memphis Blues. The record is all blues all the time, with very little in common with the light pop confections that Lauper is best known for.
Yet Lauper's take on the blues does hold true to one aspect of her career: polish.
Songs like "Just Your Fool" and "Shattered Dreams," are so perfectly
executed in a live setting that they might have well been featured on some blues version
of American Idol. Not a note was out of place as Lauper demonstrated her
incredible vocal range and surprisingly nuanced delivery.
Her love
for the blues is obvious, but listening to her turn "Crossroads" into a
slightly burlesque, white-boy rock song is kind of like listening to
Neil Diamond's utter destruction of "God Only Knows." Diamond understood
nothing of the Beach Boys' complex harmonies or Brian Wilson's warped
vision. To Diamond, the song was meant to be beaten into submission,
overpowered by drama and angst.
Lauper's goal is admirable, although her cajoling of the crowd to "go
google" various blues performers got old pretty fast. And are Cyndi
Lauper fans the only people in the world who don't know that "all rock 'n' roll comes from the blues"?
Nonetheless, the band and the crowd proved to be incredible patient as Lauper
proceeded to sing just about every song off the new record before
thrilling the multi-generational throng with those damn hits from the
'80s. But, hey, "Change of Heart," "Time After Time," "She Bop" and, of
course, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" sounded great and Lauper put as
much effort in those warhorses as she did the blues material.
As Lauper closed the show with another new song, the crowd exited
promptly, out into the incredible hot night, to hop into their cars just
in time to hear that the Rangers had blown a five-run lead to lose to
the Yankees.
Talk about the blues.
Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias: At 57, Lauper still looks pretty damn good. Sporting a
nappy red-headed wig and striped tights, Lauper was the cougar of my
dreams.
Random Note: A very interesting crowd filled the venue to 3/4 capacity. A
lot of mother/daughter singalong action took place, along with the
expected alternative contingent dancing and singing along
to the hits.
By The Way: Funny line from one of the "ticket brokers" in front of the
venue last night: "Hey, move that bicycle off the sidewalk. This ain't no
parking lot. This is my office."
