Blondie & Cyndi Lauper – Vector Arena April 17, 2017

 

Perhaps there really is a fountain of youth. Recent veteran performers now in their 60s and 70s (Springsteen, Raitt) seem to be improving with age, rather than deteriorating. That certainly can be said for Blondie’s performance at Auckland’s Vector Arena last night.

Infused with some additional energy thanks to a swag of songs from their new album, Pollinator, Debbie Harry and Blondie rocked the house like it was 1977.

Whatever tonic Harry and company are on, they might want to share it with Cyndi Lauper.

The squeaky-voiced 80s pop star opened the evening with an uneven performance marred by some questionable singing and memory loss.

Lauper has a new album to flog as well…the Nashville-recorded, country cover collection, Detour. She began with a feisty version of Wanda Jackson’s Funnel Of Love then dedicated She Bop to “all you wankers out there”. Debbie Harry, almost unrecognizable, strolled on to duet with Cyndi on the onanistic ditty, providing the first highlight of the evening.

But then I Drove All Night sounded a bit lifeless, with Lauper struggling to stay on key and the ultra-sad The End Of The World didn’t really generate much pathos as Cyndi stood still on a rotating platform singing the 1962 Skeeter Davis hit.

After a run-through of Patsy Cline’s Walking After Midnight, Lauper launched into a long, rambling story about her stay in Nashville. It was entertaining at times, but could have easily but half as long.

The set reached a low point when Cyndi signalled for the band to stop playing after singing the intro to You Don’t Know. She had forgotten the words to the first verse and called on guitarist Alex Nolan to Google the lyrics for her on her phone. To be fair, Cyndi has a plausible excuse…””I thought about Trump and got so upset!” she joked.

Her version of Prince’s When You Were Mine was cool, but her over-the-top reading of Money Changes Everything, complete with a bit of writhing on the stage floor, was unconvincing.

The encore featured the expected hits, Time After Time, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and True Colors…which was sung mostly by the audience.

After a brief interval, Blondie came charging on, guns blazing with two of their best rockers, One Way Or Another and Hanging On The Telephone, with Cyndi returning the favour, joining in on vocals.

I’ve seen Blondie a few times over the past 15 years or so, and they seem to get better and better. Debbie looked and sounded fantastic on this night and the band had plenty of energy.

Much of that energy was generated by drumming dynamo Clem Burke, who pounded those skins like a teenage Keith Moon.

The band played a good number of tunes from their new album, Pollinator, but wisely mixed the new with the classic, keeping the audience engaged.

Highlights include Call Me, with Debbie purring the lyrics while the Vector transformed into a 70s disco. Also notable was In The Flesh, from the first album and Rapture.

Actually, Rapture  was the highlight of the night with Debbie’s cool rap morphing into an extended guitar-driven freakout by Chris Stein. To make it even better, they then kicked right into The Beastie Boys’ (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party). Awesome!

Heart Of Glass closed out the set and they returned with the only misstep of the evening.

The crowd was revved up for more classic Blondie, but they countered with Too Much, a fine track from the new album, but not quite what the people wanted.

The next song, Dreaming, fixed that situation nicely and all went home happy.

Marty Duda

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Veronica McLaughlin:

Cyndi Lauper set list:

1. Funnel Of Love
2. She Bop
3. I Drove All Night
4. The End Of The World
5. Walking After Midnight
6. Witness
7. Rain On Me
8. The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough
9. You Don’t Know
10. When You Were Mine
11. Money Changes Everything
12. Time After Time
13. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
14. True Colors

Blondie set list:

1. One Way Or Another
2. Hanging On The Telephone
3. Fun
4. Call Me
5. My Monster
6. In The Flesh
7. Rapture
8. ((You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)
9. Fragments
10. Long Time
11. Atomic
12. Gravity
13. Heart Of Glass
14. Too Much
15. Dreaming