Music
Cyndi Lauper sings the blues, fails to see the irony at heavily secured Queen's Park show
Why, Cyndi, why?
Cyndi Lauper entertained/bored thousands of fans last night at Queen's Park, singing the blues. It was a bit of a snooze-fest for a free Saturday night concert that's supposed to kick off Pride festivities for so many this weekend.
While I love listening to the blues in a small club setting, this performance (largely a collection of blues cover songs) wasn't exactly what many were expecting. And it's possibly the last thing Toronto needs to hear at the very location just one week ago where G20 riot police on horseback charged crowds of innocent protesters and bystanders.
There were unexpected security checks, which led to a line-up that snaked around at least half the park. And that was just to get into the fenced-off area where the stage, food and drink vendors were.
Many ended up shut outside two-metre-high fences (oh, the irony) and had to watch and listen from afar. There were plenty of police around, but they mostly looked bored without their riot gear.
Those that braved the lineup and made it past the security check early enough were treated to a spirited set by local band Dragonette before Lauper was to hit the stage at 9 p.m.
Then we waited. And waited.
The crowd began chanting "Cyndi! Cyndi!" but lost momentum after a while. Lauper finally graced us with her presence just after nightfall, at about 9:20 p.m., introducing us to her band before she began to sing.
Then came the letdown. After two songs in, she went on a bit of a tirade about how the blues is where it all began. But the crowd grew restless. Girls just wanted to have fun!
For fans of Cyndi Lauper who missed this show, you can catch her at an in-store at 2:30 p.m. at Indigo Books and Music. Ask her if she still knows how to have fun.
Photos by Roger Cullman Photography.
Discussion
34 Comments
Sort By Oldest First / Newest First
Subscribe
Author fails to use his journalist skills and becomes, instead, a big drama queen. Man, you only waited for 20 minutes for Lauper to come on. Yet you describe the wait as being unreasonably long by writing: "Then we waited. And waited." Please describe facts as they actually occurred.
Nice photos, Roger, though. Maybe you should stick to taking pictures.
That doesn't leave many options.
Commenter fails to see irony in Cyndi Lauper singing the blues at metaphorical ground zero of much grief last weekend, while simultaneously not being aware of said grief.
Commenter fails to see irony in own obtuseness.
The music was a bit of a letdown, but the vibe in the park was chill and just what the city needed after last weekend. It would have been better without the fence and had the vendors been spread out more, a la Afrofest. I also caught Chaka Khan and part of Macy Gray set last night at Dundas. Macy, in particular, was awesome.
Yes, some people left a few songs in, but for us who stayed, it was an amazing performance. And after the blues set, she sang all her big hits, so we didn't miss anything. I guess you left before the fun started.
As for Cyndi Lauper singing the blues. Can a girl just have some fun?
Give her a break. If she wants to sing the blues she can sing the blues. How many times in her life has she sung those old hits like "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"? She's probably performed it oh about 25,000+ times.
If you are a true Cyndi fan, then it wouldn't matter what she sings.
Besides, what's wrong with the blues?
Poor planning, and just an effort to profit off of booze. I have never seen an event at Queen's park with such a large booze area. I imagine not everyone in the beer tent area was drinking so it was such a waste to have to check people's ID that "might" want to drink and check everyone's bag (btw, not just taking away booze, but, also bottles of water...so you have to pay more $$ to stay hydrated inside the beer area). I can understand doing this at the downtown stages where they are in a parking lot and have limited space but there is no reason to have such a huge beer tent and not have any spots directly in front of the stage for non-drinkers.
I really hope they get their act together if they use Queen's Park in the future. Take the lead from Afrofest as others have mentioned, much better organized (even there though some issues with tight spacing of food vendors)
The line-ups were well over half an hour (possibly an hour or more) for those who arrived just before Cyndi Lauper hit the stage. And there were line-ups to <i>exit</i> the fenced-in area for those who got bored/fed up with hearing her sing the blues after 45 minutes.
If the fences and security at Queen's Park isn't ironic to you, perhaps you should listen to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironic_(song)" target="_blank">an Alanis song</a> if you want to argue about misuse of the word ironic.
I'm not advocating for one or the other, just saying that you probably need an "area" to define a "licenced area."
In Canada, we spell it with two 'c's by the way. It's proper, which is why James Bond has a Licence to Kill.
Cindy gave her all and I enjoyed her performance immensely. She truly is an artist and not afraid to explore different genres. An true artist doesn't rehash old material ad nauseum. Kudos to Cyndi...for her work in the gay community and for her trueness to self!
@Sue - a march is not about entertainment.