Within 10 minutes of appearing on stage, Cyndi Lauper has sung about masturbation, played a tuneless recorder solo, accidentally hit a crew member with said instrument, and given a rambling speech about wrestlers, the Goonies and how, after more than 40 years in music, this will be her last tour. “I figured if I was going out,” she says while sporting a mint-green wig, “I’d go out with a bang.”
That’s certainly one way to describe the approach to the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour, Lauper’s first (and now final) arena shows since 1987. The tour began last year in North America, although that time on the road hasn’t reined in the chaos: the show is all over the place. Along with the incident involving the recorder, Lauper is plagued by technical difficulties, poor sound that buries her voice beneath an admittedly slick band, an uneven setlist, dodgy costumes, and her own garrulous monologues.
For anyone else it could be disastrous. But as Lauper begins another anecdote about a breakup with boyfriend and the movie Poltergeist, she wins you over with her charming and squeaky New York drawl. “I’m only talking to you because I don’t want you think that all this is bigger than you and me connecting,” she says.
When things align, the show is excellent: material from She’s So Unusual is a highlight, Lauper’s still impressive voice punching through her fizzy cover of Prince’s When You Were Mine, then delicately caressing the soft, pillowy Time After Time. There’s moving vulnerability in an a cappella take on Fearless, revved-up passion during I Drove All Night, soaring euphoria in the new age strum of Sisters of Avalon, and a poignant performance of True Colors staged alongside a version of artist Daniel Wurtzel’s Air Fountain installation.
It’s just enough to distract from the mess – but then again, Lauper has often left slick perfectionism in the hands of her peers. During her final and most famous song, the aim of the night becomes clear: even at 71 years old, this girl just wants to have fun.
• At the O2, London, on 11 February; then touring.
