Blondie and Cyndi Lauper
17th April 2017
Vector Arena, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Doug Peters.
For many New Zealand fans of the 80’s post-punk/new wave era – tonight’s double headliner was the show of the century. While Blondie was last on our shores in 2012 (playing with the seminal The Stranglers), it was the first time for Cyndi Lauper. And while Christchurch may have seen her close out the show, tonight Auckland saw Lauper open it.
Bounding onto the stage dressed in a black pant suit with multi-coloured rings down the sides and covering her hat almost ‘pearlies’ style, Lauper looked in fine form. She has recently released her country covers album ‘Detour’ so it was no surprise that she kicked off her set with a cover of Wanda Jackson’s ‘Funnel of Love’; Lauper’s New Yawk accent certainly giving the song a new twist.
Smiling, Lauper tells the audience of how playing with her hero Blondie is a bucket list item; and with that Deborah Harry made her first appearance of the night, joining Lauper on ‘She Bop’. Harry may have been referring to the lyrics on a piece of a paper but she rocked it none the less in a silver mini skirt and bee themed top. Not to be outdone Lauper broke loose with a recorder, adding an interesting component to the song. “I used to see them in CBGB’s when I was just starting out” Lauper tells us as Blondie exits to rapturous applause.
She may be in her sixties now, but that isn’t going to hold Lauper down. ‘I Drove All Night’ saw her toss herself backwards over a crate, legs in the air, waving to the audience; next she was on a small revolving platform as she sang a beautiful version of the Skeeter Davis song “The End of The World’. Lauper loves the banter and as such regales us with a story of travelling to Nashville and dealing with no water and a cockroach – all the while referring back to a picture of Dolly Parton in her room. The story culminated in bringing the audience around to her next track ‘Witness’; originally written when Lauper was in her first band Blue Angel.
During ‘Rain on Me’ Lauper showed she still has a rebel streak in her as she pushed over the mic stand while making her way to the other side of the stage. Upon finishing the song and having an audience member yell something indiscernible at her she promptly replied “I don’t know what you said – but shut the fuck up!”
Lauper had started out in fine form, her voice strong and clear but towards the end of the set she was obviously beginning to struggle. Lauper began the track ‘You Don’t Know’ from her 1996 album ‘Sisters of Avalon’ and then promptly stopped the band before going into the first verse. “I’ve forgotten the first line!” she exclaimed, the audience giggling, however it soon turned into something a little more awkward when it became clear that Lauper really had completely forgotten, resorting to having her guitarist Alex Nolan not only google the lyrics, but play the opening lines to her a couple of times over Nolan’s phones speaker. The episode must have rattled Lauper as she later turned her attention on a couple of the band members – evidently unhappy with some of their playing.
As it was very obvious we were coming up to the end of the set, you could feel that the audience were just itching to hear those big tracks. Closing with a cover of The Brains ‘Money Changes Everything’ which saw Lauper go crazy, the band soon came back to deliver an encore of those big hitters. Sadly however Lauper let the audience sing most of ‘Time After Time’. But just when you thought it was all over and Lauper and the band had left for the second time – she popped up once again and sang a (shortened) acapella version of ‘True Colours’ – hitting the high notes long and hard and proving that despite some hiccups she is still a force to be reckoned with.
After a quick reshuffle – the lights dimmed and the venue was filled with the sound of bees, red spotlights zooming over the tops of the audience. The band quickly took their respective places before the queen bee herself strode out to what felt like a stadiums worth of cheering; Deborah Harry wearing a giant black apron with the words ‘Stop fucking the Planet’ emblazoned across it in glittering silver – which matched her sensible, but still fabulous shoes. A headdress made up of two giant bees adorned her head and she grinned at the audience before absolutely belting out the opening lines to ‘One Way or Another’ sending the audience into a frenzy and the security guards into action to stop some exuberant patrons from running up to the front.
And that ladies and gentleman is how you kick off a show!
The sound of a phone ringing over the speakers had Harry asking “Hello Auckland, is that you? It’s Blondie calling” before ripping into their cover of The Nerves ‘Hanging on the Telephone’. Blondie has a new album about to drop in May of this year entitled ‘Pollinator’, and it features a host of big name guest artists. Tonight we were treated to a few of the new tracks, the first being ‘Fun’ which saw Cyndi Lauper (now wearing a funky Adidas Track suit) join Harry for a wondrous duet, their voices melding together beautifully. Later track ‘My Monster’ written especially for the band by the infamous ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr will also be one to earmark when the album hits shelves.
Harry had by now ditched the apron and headdress and looked stunning in a pure white pant suit which complemented her dead straight platinum bob. Harry is 71, but she shows no signs of taking her foot off the pedal just yet, working the stage from left to right and often busting a few moves along the way. Her version of ‘Rapture’ complete with rap at the end was phenomenal – even more so when she followed it up with the opening verse and chorus of the Beastie Boys classic ‘Fight for your Right’.
Blondie as a band has seen a few changes over the years but witnessing both Clem Burke on drums and Chris Stein on guitar was an absolute pleasure, the two of them proving that they still have just what it takes to put on a world class show. The addition of young blood in the band in the form of Tommy Kessler who was the epitome of the rock n roll guitarist complete with swagger and blistering solo’s as well as Matt Katz-Bohen on keyboards and keytar (yes a keytar!) took this version of Blondie to the next level.
Harry kept the chit-chat to a minimum, preferring to graciously thank the audience, crew and fellow musicians for their time and effort instead. She did however mention that she had been planning to go bungy jumping in New Zealand again like she did “years ago, when I was young and foolish”.
Heading into the second half and new tracks from Pollinator were interspersed with some of the masterpieces including a raunchy cover of ‘Atomic’. Closing the set on the well-known ‘Heart of Glass’ complete with giant disco ball and scorching solo from Kessler, Harry and the band bid the audience goodnight. Of course an encore was inevitable, and the band returned with yet another new track and finished with the 1979 hit ‘Dreaming’.
This may be the last show of this leg of the tour, but one thing is for sure. The bitches are definitely back.
Were you there at Vector Arena for this superb double header? Or have you seen Cyndi Lauper or Blondie live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Cyndi Lauper Setlist:
- Funnel Of Love [Wanda Jackson Cover]
- She Bop
- I Drove All Night
- The End Of The World [Skeeter Davis Cover]
- Walking After Midnight [Patsy Cline Cover]
- Rain On Me
- The Goonies R Good Enough
- You Don’t Know
- When You Were Mine [Prince Cover]
- Money Changes Everything [The Brains Cover]
- Time After Time (Encore)
- Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Encore)
- True Colours (Encore)
Blondie Setlist:
- One Way Or Another
- Hanging On The Telephone [The Nerves Cover]
- Fun
- Call Me
- My Monster
- In The Flesh
- Rapture
- Fight For Your Right [Beastie Boys Cover]
- Fragments
- Long Time
- Atomic
- Gravity
- Heart Of Glass
- Too Much (Encore)
- Dreaming (Encore)
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