Cyndi Lauper Sings the Blues
August 3, 2010
Adrienne Arsht Center, Miami, FL
Written by Kate Dingle
“The blues is the basis for everything you hear today.”
– Cyndi Lauper, August 3, 2010
Riding high on the success of her 11th studio album, Memphis Blues, Cyndi Lauper brought her new, old, sound to Miami Tuesday night for an intimate evening of stories, history, and most of all, music. This was a blues show, but fans were not completely denied of the things that we all know and love her for. She still wore the off the wall outfit and she still showed off her rough around the edges personality that you can’t help but fall in love with. But when she unleashed her voice, what she was wearing became irrelevant.
As Lauper cruised through a good portion of the Memphis Blues track list, listeners seemed a bit surprised that she wasn’t pulling out her older material. But as the show progressed, she continuously emphasized how important this record is to her and how important the blues is to music, stating that, “We’ve had the dumbing down of America already, we don’t all wanna be idiots. You gotta know where you came from to know where you’re going.” How right she is.
Although the performance was full of songs many did not know, Lauper made sure to still have fun with the crowd. She wasted no time before she danced her way through the orchestra level, stopping only to stand on a seat or two so everyone could see her. She would tell funny stories about being in college or her family and would stop mid-sentence and say “there really is no point to this” and continue on in a completely different direction. Fans didn’t seem to mind. And why would they? They were getting a sneak peak into the mind of a music icon. She even took the time to poke a little fun at the Sunshine State; affectionately clumping Florida into the “tri-state area” with New York and New Jersey.
It wasn’t until the encore that she gave (some) of the fans what they came to hear. Included were: “Change of Heart”, “Who Let The Rain In”, “True Colors”, and (of course) “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”. Even though some may have been a bit disappointed that Cyndi Lauper’s performance was less “poppy” than they had hoped, the overall feeling from concert goers seemed to be anything but blue.
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