True Colors Tour 06/10/08
I went to the True Colors tour stop in Chicago on the 10th. Just finished writing my report about it last night though, so here it is, behind the cut, as it is a few pages long.
True Colors Tour
At the Chicago Theater
06/10/08
I arrived at the Chicago Theater a bit late, and so missed the first act of the True Colors Tour. True Colors tour is an event organized by Cyndi Lauper to benefit the Human Rights Campaign (http://www.hrc.org), PFLAG, and I think another organization that tries to bring about equality, mostly regarding gay rights. I guess there was a True Colors tour last year too, but this year there was an added focus on the presidential election and encouraging people to vote. I went to see The B52s, but I was glad to also be supporting these organizations. before going to my seat, Before I got to my seat, I stopped at the merchandise area and purchased two B52s t-shirts for myself, and a B52s hooded sweatshirt for my little brother.
The first band I saw play were called The Cliks. I hadn’t heard of them before, but I really liked them. Their sound is reminiscent of Team Dresh, and also a bit of The Smiths (which kind of makes sense as at least some of Team Dresh were influenced by The Smiths). I only heard about one or two of their songs, but it was enough to make me want to buy their CD. Next Carson Kressly (sp?) from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy walked on stage. He was acting as a host for the evening and in between bands, he came on stage and talked to the audience, making jokes and so forth. I never watched Queer Eye, but I knew who he was. He was funny, and in a way, seemed like he could be Buddy Cole’s little brother. Carson talked about being mistaken for Suze Ormand due to his new haircut, and he joked that now his checkbook is somehow totally balanced and he’s free of credit card debt! He also flirted with a couple of guys in the audience, and hopped off stage to someone who was on a cell phone of an audience member (making fun of the outdated cell phone the person had, saying that it was the one they used in Clueless). Then Tegan and Sara did their set. I wasn’t familiar with them either, but I thought that they were cool. Sara introduced one of their songs as being about the tours they did 8 years ago on Greyhound buses and how she hated what she was doing, they both got sick, her girlfriend wasn’t supportive of her career, etc. and in the middle of this Tegan goes, “Okay, great, while you’re talking, think about which one of your songs you want to cut, we’re running out of time!” They also discussed gay marriage, being Canadian, wanting to see Oprah, and being on the news here after Sara fainted in the middle of their set at Lollapalooza last year.
There was an intermission after Tegan and Sara’s set, and so I went to the lobby again, bought the CDs they had on sale by The Cliks, and Tegan and Sara. I also picked up a True Colors tour shirt, and got a special pass for 15 free downloads from iTunes by any of the bands that played that night. Unfortunately, I lost it. But oh well. I wandered around the lobby a bit and saw the tables set up by HRC, PFLAG, and whatever the other organization was part of the tour. I guess they were having people register to vote and giving out info about their organizations.
Shortly after I returned to my seat, Cyndi Lauper walked on stage and talked to us about why she started the True Color tour and the organizations that are a part of it. She talked about injustice, the importance of voting and getting your voice heard, the crappiness of Fox News, and how you’ve got to sometimes not listen to the media, but go find your own information because knowledge is power. She said she wasn’t going to tell us who to vote for, “cause that ain’t ethical”, but she encouraged all of us to pledge to vote with HRC or PFLAG, because then they’ll send out newsletters via email with info on all the candidates and then we can make up our own minds about who to vote for. She seemed really cool. Cyndi Lauper introduced Rosie O’Donnell. Rosie talked to the crowd, sort of as a stand up routine, but she also discussed some things seriously. She talked about being gay, her kids, the presidential race, her mom’s death (she died when Rosie was nearly 11) and trying to find out who her mom was as a person, music, depression, filming A League of Their Own, and becoming friends with Madonna. I was a fan of her talk show and so it was cool getting to see her in person. She had a lot of smart, funny, and touching things to say.
Carson came back on stage after Rosie was done, and then it was time for The B52s. I saw them once before, ten years ago, and I had a fun time, but I think there was something more enjoyable about this performance. They played a mix of songs from their new album, Funplex, and their older songs. At the time I went to the concert, I hadn’t listened to Funplex, so I’m not totally sure if I remember everything they played. I think that that began their set with “Pump”, and their might have been a second song after that, but I kinda don’t think so. Fred commented, “it’s time to take a trip back in time,” and I knew that the next song had to be “Mesopotamia” - which it was. I really like that song, so I was excited that they played it. Then Kate said to Fred, “You’re a ho!” and Fred goes, “No, you’re a ho!” and that went on for a bit before Fred added something about, “well then let’s go to Idaho!” and they played “Private Idaho”. After that, Fred left the stage, and I guessed that meant that Cindy and Kate would be singing Roam, as Fred doesn’t sing on that one. Kate encouraged everyone to get up and dance because, “we are a dance band!” People were very excited about them playing “Roam”. Cindy and Kate followed that up with another song without Fred. This one was a new song called, “Juliet of the Spirits”, I really liked it. Just quickly I want to comment that Kate looked really lovely, like a mermaid, actually. She had her long wavy red hair down, and then she was wearing this shimmery mermaid like blue/green dress. Anyway, after that song, Fred re-joined them and maybe that’s when they sang the song “Hot Spot”? Before another one of their new songs, Fred asked the audience, “have you ever pondered what love would be like in the year 3000?” and he asked a couple follow up questions to that before they played, “Love in the Year 3000”. This song has the very extremely awesome part in which Fred imitates a robot talking. Seriously, that is so amusing! They played “Loveshack” as their second to last song, though oddly enough, it seemed like a lot of the audience were unsure of what the song was during its opening, and only stood up once Fred started singing the opening line. I can’t tell which response from the audience was bigger - “Loveshack” or Roam, but I’m thinking it was probably “Loveshack”. Their encore was “Rock Lobster”. There were probably more songs, but I’m not remembering what they were. I was a little disappointed that they didn’t play my favorite of their songs, “Channel Z”, but it’s okay. I heard them play that one the first time I saw them. It was a great set they did this time around too! I love watching them perform, they seem like they have so much fun singing and dancing (and playing their instruments on some songs - Cindy played the bongo drums and Fred played the cowbell).
Carson came onstage one last time and did a bit more comedy stuff. Among other things, he had a really funny bit about Lumnesta. He said that when he goes on flights he just takes one of those, and then the Disney music starts playing and the butterfly (from the ads) comes in through the window and he’s fast asleep. But, when he gets a pilot that likes to talk a lot, then he has to try and coax that butterfly back, which sometimes leads to him running through the aisle going, “come back butterfly! Come back!” I don’t know if you had to be there, but it cracked me up. Then the final act of the night was Cyndi Lauper. Prior to this concert, I only knew a couple of her songs, but hearing more of them at the concert, and seeing her perform, turned me into a fan. She’s really cool. She started her set with “Change of Heart”. I’m not sure what all songs she played, but the ones she definitely played were - “Rocking Chair” (joined by Rosie O’Donnell as a backup singer/dancer),” Into the Nightlife”, “She Bop”, “I Drove All Night”, “Time After Time”, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” (joined again by Rosie, but this time as a second drummer). I think that “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” was the last regular song. The first encore was something about a train to which Cyndi sang a ccapella, well, accompanied by her clapping, and our clapping along in a train like rhythm. Then she sand Time After Time. I feel like she did a second encore though too, but I don’t remember what it was, unless that was the second one, and the first was girls just want to have fun? In either case, I figured that the show still couldn’t be over because the name of the tour was” True Colors”, thus it must be one of the songs in her set. When she came back onstage she was joined by everyone else who performed that night, plus some large - but in different degrees of largeness, colorful balloons that got thrown into the crowd. Cyndi lead everyone in a version of the Sly and the Family Stone song, “I Am Everyday People” or is it just called “Everyday People”? And then Cyndi said, “this used to be my song, but now it’s everyone’s” and they sang a group version of “True Colors” in which some of the singers from the other bands took turns singing parts, and then everyone would join in together. It was nice.
Backtracking to the middle of Cyndi Lauper’s set, she told a story before playing “She Bop”, about how that song got her into a lot of trouble, which made her mom upset, but then she reminded her mom about how she (her mom) got into a lot of trouble herself. Case in point, one day her mom set their living room on fire while praying to St. Jude (she had a candle lit). Cyndi came home from school, found this out and told her mom that maybe they ought to fire St. Jude and start praying to St. Anthony, the saint of lost objects, or as she said, lost causes. A few days later Cyndi went to church to pray about this and she walked by a bunch of statues of the different saints. She stopped in front of the one of St. Jude and went, “St. Jude, you’re fired! We’re getting a different guy, see that guy over there? (points to a statue of St. Anthony) That’s St. Anthony, we’re goin’ with him!” So then she went and prayed, did a couple of Hail Mary’s and some prayers she made up herself, and then she fell asleep. She likened this to the Madonna video for Papa Don’t Preach, though she pointed out something like, “but I ain’t doin’ nothing werid with those statutes!” Though she did note that when she first saw the video she was like, “she had the same experience!” Anyway, when she woke up, she found out that the church was locked and thus she was locked in it. She looked over at St. Jude and was like, “can’t you take a joke?! I’m sorry!” And finally, a priest came and unlocked the doors for her, telling her he didn’t think anyone was still inside. The midst of telling her story, one of her band mates was trying to let her know that she was taking too long with telling the story, and she just kinda laughed and was like, “I know, I know, I’m taking too long!” It was funny.
True Colors Tour
At the Chicago Theater
06/10/08
I arrived at the Chicago Theater a bit late, and so missed the first act of the True Colors Tour. True Colors tour is an event organized by Cyndi Lauper to benefit the Human Rights Campaign (http://www.hrc.org), PFLAG, and I think another organization that tries to bring about equality, mostly regarding gay rights. I guess there was a True Colors tour last year too, but this year there was an added focus on the presidential election and encouraging people to vote. I went to see The B52s, but I was glad to also be supporting these organizations. before going to my seat, Before I got to my seat, I stopped at the merchandise area and purchased two B52s t-shirts for myself, and a B52s hooded sweatshirt for my little brother.
The first band I saw play were called The Cliks. I hadn’t heard of them before, but I really liked them. Their sound is reminiscent of Team Dresh, and also a bit of The Smiths (which kind of makes sense as at least some of Team Dresh were influenced by The Smiths). I only heard about one or two of their songs, but it was enough to make me want to buy their CD. Next Carson Kressly (sp?) from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy walked on stage. He was acting as a host for the evening and in between bands, he came on stage and talked to the audience, making jokes and so forth. I never watched Queer Eye, but I knew who he was. He was funny, and in a way, seemed like he could be Buddy Cole’s little brother. Carson talked about being mistaken for Suze Ormand due to his new haircut, and he joked that now his checkbook is somehow totally balanced and he’s free of credit card debt! He also flirted with a couple of guys in the audience, and hopped off stage to someone who was on a cell phone of an audience member (making fun of the outdated cell phone the person had, saying that it was the one they used in Clueless). Then Tegan and Sara did their set. I wasn’t familiar with them either, but I thought that they were cool. Sara introduced one of their songs as being about the tours they did 8 years ago on Greyhound buses and how she hated what she was doing, they both got sick, her girlfriend wasn’t supportive of her career, etc. and in the middle of this Tegan goes, “Okay, great, while you’re talking, think about which one of your songs you want to cut, we’re running out of time!” They also discussed gay marriage, being Canadian, wanting to see Oprah, and being on the news here after Sara fainted in the middle of their set at Lollapalooza last year.
There was an intermission after Tegan and Sara’s set, and so I went to the lobby again, bought the CDs they had on sale by The Cliks, and Tegan and Sara. I also picked up a True Colors tour shirt, and got a special pass for 15 free downloads from iTunes by any of the bands that played that night. Unfortunately, I lost it. But oh well. I wandered around the lobby a bit and saw the tables set up by HRC, PFLAG, and whatever the other organization was part of the tour. I guess they were having people register to vote and giving out info about their organizations.
Shortly after I returned to my seat, Cyndi Lauper walked on stage and talked to us about why she started the True Color tour and the organizations that are a part of it. She talked about injustice, the importance of voting and getting your voice heard, the crappiness of Fox News, and how you’ve got to sometimes not listen to the media, but go find your own information because knowledge is power. She said she wasn’t going to tell us who to vote for, “cause that ain’t ethical”, but she encouraged all of us to pledge to vote with HRC or PFLAG, because then they’ll send out newsletters via email with info on all the candidates and then we can make up our own minds about who to vote for. She seemed really cool. Cyndi Lauper introduced Rosie O’Donnell. Rosie talked to the crowd, sort of as a stand up routine, but she also discussed some things seriously. She talked about being gay, her kids, the presidential race, her mom’s death (she died when Rosie was nearly 11) and trying to find out who her mom was as a person, music, depression, filming A League of Their Own, and becoming friends with Madonna. I was a fan of her talk show and so it was cool getting to see her in person. She had a lot of smart, funny, and touching things to say.
Carson came back on stage after Rosie was done, and then it was time for The B52s. I saw them once before, ten years ago, and I had a fun time, but I think there was something more enjoyable about this performance. They played a mix of songs from their new album, Funplex, and their older songs. At the time I went to the concert, I hadn’t listened to Funplex, so I’m not totally sure if I remember everything they played. I think that that began their set with “Pump”, and their might have been a second song after that, but I kinda don’t think so. Fred commented, “it’s time to take a trip back in time,” and I knew that the next song had to be “Mesopotamia” - which it was. I really like that song, so I was excited that they played it. Then Kate said to Fred, “You’re a ho!” and Fred goes, “No, you’re a ho!” and that went on for a bit before Fred added something about, “well then let’s go to Idaho!” and they played “Private Idaho”. After that, Fred left the stage, and I guessed that meant that Cindy and Kate would be singing Roam, as Fred doesn’t sing on that one. Kate encouraged everyone to get up and dance because, “we are a dance band!” People were very excited about them playing “Roam”. Cindy and Kate followed that up with another song without Fred. This one was a new song called, “Juliet of the Spirits”, I really liked it. Just quickly I want to comment that Kate looked really lovely, like a mermaid, actually. She had her long wavy red hair down, and then she was wearing this shimmery mermaid like blue/green dress. Anyway, after that song, Fred re-joined them and maybe that’s when they sang the song “Hot Spot”? Before another one of their new songs, Fred asked the audience, “have you ever pondered what love would be like in the year 3000?” and he asked a couple follow up questions to that before they played, “Love in the Year 3000”. This song has the very extremely awesome part in which Fred imitates a robot talking. Seriously, that is so amusing! They played “Loveshack” as their second to last song, though oddly enough, it seemed like a lot of the audience were unsure of what the song was during its opening, and only stood up once Fred started singing the opening line. I can’t tell which response from the audience was bigger - “Loveshack” or Roam, but I’m thinking it was probably “Loveshack”. Their encore was “Rock Lobster”. There were probably more songs, but I’m not remembering what they were. I was a little disappointed that they didn’t play my favorite of their songs, “Channel Z”, but it’s okay. I heard them play that one the first time I saw them. It was a great set they did this time around too! I love watching them perform, they seem like they have so much fun singing and dancing (and playing their instruments on some songs - Cindy played the bongo drums and Fred played the cowbell).
Carson came onstage one last time and did a bit more comedy stuff. Among other things, he had a really funny bit about Lumnesta. He said that when he goes on flights he just takes one of those, and then the Disney music starts playing and the butterfly (from the ads) comes in through the window and he’s fast asleep. But, when he gets a pilot that likes to talk a lot, then he has to try and coax that butterfly back, which sometimes leads to him running through the aisle going, “come back butterfly! Come back!” I don’t know if you had to be there, but it cracked me up. Then the final act of the night was Cyndi Lauper. Prior to this concert, I only knew a couple of her songs, but hearing more of them at the concert, and seeing her perform, turned me into a fan. She’s really cool. She started her set with “Change of Heart”. I’m not sure what all songs she played, but the ones she definitely played were - “Rocking Chair” (joined by Rosie O’Donnell as a backup singer/dancer),” Into the Nightlife”, “She Bop”, “I Drove All Night”, “Time After Time”, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” (joined again by Rosie, but this time as a second drummer). I think that “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” was the last regular song. The first encore was something about a train to which Cyndi sang a ccapella, well, accompanied by her clapping, and our clapping along in a train like rhythm. Then she sand Time After Time. I feel like she did a second encore though too, but I don’t remember what it was, unless that was the second one, and the first was girls just want to have fun? In either case, I figured that the show still couldn’t be over because the name of the tour was” True Colors”, thus it must be one of the songs in her set. When she came back onstage she was joined by everyone else who performed that night, plus some large - but in different degrees of largeness, colorful balloons that got thrown into the crowd. Cyndi lead everyone in a version of the Sly and the Family Stone song, “I Am Everyday People” or is it just called “Everyday People”? And then Cyndi said, “this used to be my song, but now it’s everyone’s” and they sang a group version of “True Colors” in which some of the singers from the other bands took turns singing parts, and then everyone would join in together. It was nice.
Backtracking to the middle of Cyndi Lauper’s set, she told a story before playing “She Bop”, about how that song got her into a lot of trouble, which made her mom upset, but then she reminded her mom about how she (her mom) got into a lot of trouble herself. Case in point, one day her mom set their living room on fire while praying to St. Jude (she had a candle lit). Cyndi came home from school, found this out and told her mom that maybe they ought to fire St. Jude and start praying to St. Anthony, the saint of lost objects, or as she said, lost causes. A few days later Cyndi went to church to pray about this and she walked by a bunch of statues of the different saints. She stopped in front of the one of St. Jude and went, “St. Jude, you’re fired! We’re getting a different guy, see that guy over there? (points to a statue of St. Anthony) That’s St. Anthony, we’re goin’ with him!” So then she went and prayed, did a couple of Hail Mary’s and some prayers she made up herself, and then she fell asleep. She likened this to the Madonna video for Papa Don’t Preach, though she pointed out something like, “but I ain’t doin’ nothing werid with those statutes!” Though she did note that when she first saw the video she was like, “she had the same experience!” Anyway, when she woke up, she found out that the church was locked and thus she was locked in it. She looked over at St. Jude and was like, “can’t you take a joke?! I’m sorry!” And finally, a priest came and unlocked the doors for her, telling her he didn’t think anyone was still inside. The midst of telling her story, one of her band mates was trying to let her know that she was taking too long with telling the story, and she just kinda laughed and was like, “I know, I know, I’m taking too long!” It was funny.