Music: Cyndi Lauper

Published on Friday 17 October 2008 22:49

CYNDI LAUPER CARLING ACADEMY, GLASGOW

ALTHOUGH Cyndi Lauper has sustained a musical career for over a quarter of a century, she is not a regular visitor to the UK, so there was great anticipation to see the 2008 incarnation of the performer most will remember as the explosion in a paint factory who screeched Girls Just Want To Have Fun.

Her current album, Bring Ya To The Brink, casts Lauper as a dancefloor diva and, unexpectedly, it is a role she suits, producing the most seamless numbers in this ragbag of a set.

But despite her regular forays out front to commune with the crowd and her witty quips ("I suffered for my art and now you have to"), she still appeared to be holding back, lacking the free-spirited energy of her younger self and even looking oddly distressed at points.

Something wasn't working, and it could have been any number of factors. The sound in the venue was particularly poor, so she was never going to be able to show off her extensive back catalogue (who remembered that Lauper had had so many hits?) to its best advantage. But her arrangements were also a touch eccentric, with some of her best loved pop songs performed on lap steel guitar with a seeming lack of conviction.

The touching Time After Time lacked sensitivity and emotional resonance. Money Changes Everything at least had the performance energy but, acoustically, sounded like a din. Girls Just Want To Have Fun was spun out to an entirely fun-sapping degree and a solo True Colors was not the intimate parting gesture it could have been. Though the accompanying crowd singalong was sweet and affectionate, Lauper sold herself short.