Lauper & Co. show a diverse crowd that rock cred knows no age limit

Oh, to be young enough to consider Cyndi Lauper, the B-52’s, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and Andy Bell of Erasure “retro acts.” For those of us who came of (musical) age in the 1980s, these were defining artists, as contemporary to our ears as any hit first released on iTunes.

Of course, we know rationally that’s not the case. Of the songs performed at last Sunday’s sweltering True Colors concert at Superpages.com Center, the most recent single to claim a Top 10 spot on the pop charts was probably the B-52’s 1990 hit “Roam,” and another of their tunes that got the audience on their feet, “Rock Lobster,” came out more than a decade before that.

In other words, most of the songs played were older than many of the fans listening to them. And yet, none of that seemed to matter. Because those musicians, each in their way, helped define rock: Bell’s pulsing synth-pop; Jett’s high-energy, female-empowered garage band sensibility; the New Wave rhythms of the B-52’s; and Lauper’s infectious, inimitable pop sound.

Lauper made three appearances during the show (not counting her two encores), sometimes stepping into the audience to engage with the crowd. Each time, she was met with thunderous applause, even when it was just to preach a little about the need to vote and the benefits of equality for all.

With so much talent onstage, this portmanteau concert — which clocked in at just shy of five hours, including a performance by opening act Lili Haydn and a hilarious comedy routine from Wanda Sykes — was dense with modern classics. There were, naturally, many new songs peppered among the anthems (some of them, like Jett’s “Naked,” deeply enjoyable), but the music really began to prick up the crowd’s ears with “A Little Respect,” one of the iconic songs of the gay community (and on which Bell’s live vocals exceeded expectations — he hit the high falsetto repeatedly).

After that, the roar of enthusiasm couldn’t be silenced: on “I Love Rock n’ Roll,” “Crimson and Clover,” “Love Shack,” “She-Bop,” “Change of Heart,” “Time After Time,” and of course, “True Colors,” the finale encore when Lauper was joined by everyone on stage in a “kumbaya” moment of mutual understanding and hope.

Cyndi Lauper works the audience by flashing a rainbow flag, left; Joan Jett and the Blackhearts crank up their garage band ethic with an energetic set, right. - BRYAN AMANN/Dallas Voice

That may sound corny, but the True Colors Tour is sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign and PFLAG, and is targeted at the gay community. So perhaps the most refreshing aspect of the show was the incredible diversity of those assembled. Straight couples who appeared barely out of their teens sat alongside bears and twinks who cuddled and walked arm in arm with nary a disapproving glance. Families of rednecks and lesbians (OK, sometimes the same thing) stood to dance along with “Light of Day” and laughed at the flirtatious camp of M.C. Carson Kressley, who vamped between set-ups and even commandeered a “$37 margarita” from one star-struck fan.

Acceptance, tolerance and rock n’ roll. Can’t beat that.



This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition June 27, 2008.