True Colors Tour Ties in Music and Politics • Posted 06/29/08

Taking in the True Colors Tour 2008 at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, CA, I was struck by how much more forceful the political message was this year. Maybe it's because California has recently permissed gay marriages and a counter amendment is already on the state's November ballot. Maybe it was because the show was the same day as the San Francisco Pride parade and the emotions were already running strong. Or maybe it was because tonight Cyndi Lauper was on a tear. During a break in the show, she delivered a powerful, gripping sermon about getting involved, knowing what you're voting for and then voting.

However you chalk it up, the message was loud and clear. Gay-related sponsors, LOGO, American Airlines, and of course, the Human Rights Campaign, were on hand to rally the gays to political action. Volunteers were gathering "pledges to vote" from the audience. After you pledged, material was sent to you on all the ballot items in the November election, from your district selectman up to a 411 on the presidential candidates. Apple's iTunes also delivered 15 free songs cards handed out at the venue entrance, featuring the artists performing on the tour. Last year's cd compilation was woefully buried by a September release date (the tour was in June) by which point, it was effectively forgotten.

The set was a bit more involved this year. There was a sliding curtain that covered the stage with the True Colors 2008 tour logo and the stage itself was arched in an array of stars. The back drop behind the stage was covered in words from "gay" "lesbian" "black" "white" "green" "transgender" "asian" and so forth, bearing a message of equality which was reinforced late into the night, when the word Equality showed up against the background in a hazy purple.

Cyndi Lauper took the stage, pulling back the curtain while launching into Change of Heart and then climbed a replica Statute of Liberty to greet the crowd. The highlight of her set was an impossibly haunting and spare version of I'm Gonna Be Strong and the classic Time After Time with an a capella intro of the track Lyfe from her new album Bring Ya to the Brink. While she was more talkative this year, she also seemed a little more tense overall, and several of her songs seemed to stop abruptly with a flick of her hand towards the band. They gamely put up with her spitfire attitude, even when she berated her keyboard player for not playing her the key for the next song.

The new material fit in great with her classic tracks. Rocking Chair, despite being a weird cat-lady kind of song, actually came across as a solid live tune. She sang Set Your Heart, which she debuted last year on tour, from the middle of the audience as if she was determined to reach out to everyone. And Into the Nightlife was a pure disco tune. She pulled out an acoustic version of Erasure’s Blue Savannah by way of leading into a rocking I Drove All Night.

Carson Kressley was tapped to host the True Colors Tour 2008. His early introductions were peppered with dirty but completely lame, predictable jokes. But as the crowd warmed up, so did his delivery. During the set change before Cyndi Lauper, Carson had a good 20 minutes to keep the crowd spirited, and it was then that his talents brought fore. He managed a number of good jokes on the gays, shot t-shirts into the crowd (including one pulled from his crotch) and interacted with people in the audience. He also found two older gentlemen in the crowd who were getting married since the change in California regarding gay marriage.

Leading into Cyndi Lauper, the B-52’s have the energy of twenty-year olds but let’s face it, the band is collectively pushing 60-years old and the average age of the crowd isn’t far behind. It was a still a party. They revived all the old moves straight out of 1982 with Mesopotamia and rocked an amazing version of Private Idaho. Some of the new material fit seamlessly (Ultraviolet and Hot Corner) and some of it fell flat (new single Funplex and the bland Love in the Year 3000). The setlist was too heavy with new songs, most of which failed to energize the crowd. But they finished with the one-two punch of Love Shack (with a ripping extended guitar solo in the middle) and ever-buoyant Rock Lobster.

Wanda Sykes' set was riddled with swears as she covered the temperature in Phoenix, the TSA and gay cruises. If the material was a little generic, her delivery more than made up for it. She used an old line "If you don't believe in same sex marriage, then don't get married to someone of the same sex" and stumped for the crowd to support gay marriage by voting.

Whatever possessed Andy Bell to sign up for the True Colors Tour this year, show up in a track suit and sweat to the oldies (in this case, Erasure songs) is beyond me. Andy's voice is usually heavenly but pitch problems and oddball set up gave the entire performance a work-out video feel from 1981. He looked out of shape and a bit winded as he danced, shimmied and jivved (including, lord save me, the Robot) in front of a generic True Colors back drop that covered the stage. For 30 minutes, it was just Andy doing the worst Erasure karaoke imaginable. The set included two tracks from his solo album Electric Blue and reworked Erasure hits heavy on the bpm.

Cyndi Lauper came out and sang the duet Early Bird with him at the end of his set. Cyndi’s voice was out of this world and she gamely shimmied up to Andy and pretended there was nothing strange about the whole thing.

The openers, the Puppini Sisters, were a cover act cross between the Andrew Sisters and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Got a earful of Crazy in Love (Beyonce), Heart of Glass (Blondie) and their finale was Walk Like an Egyptian (Bangles). Also did Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. Nice voices, 40’s style dresses but my attention wandered two songs in. The crowd was into it more than I.

The entire ensemble came out at the end of the night sporting enormous balloons for the crowd, and then launched into a haphazard Everyday People and the show closer True Colors. The musicians were kind enough to keep the politicizing to a minimum at that point, respectfully letting the music be the message. Even so, the political agenda of the tour was in full force, powerfully highlighted by the equal rights agenda on the November ballot.