I’ve never been a fan of pop music. Don’t get me wrong; I love upbeat, catchy songs with a good pop hook. My bigger problem is that I see too many pop artists who feel like merely a figurehead for a corporate writing team. But Cyndi Lauper (OFM‘s cover artist for August) is different. Besides the fact that her aesthetic and even her music style has always felt like it was splashed with touches of my favorite genre, punk rock, there’s also the fact that the documentary Let the Canary Sing made it clear how much of Lauper’s personality goes into every song. So I was excited about the chance to catch Lauper at her farewell tour when it stopped into Fiddler’s Green earlier this week.
Opening the show were DJ Tracy Young and singer/songwriter Jake Wesley Rogers, both of whom are openly queer, demonstrating Lauper’s legendary allyship towards the LGBTQ+ community. I had never seen a live DJ set in a concert setting before, so I didn’t have much to judge it on. But Young put on a really energetic set, including a great dance remix of Lauper’s “Time After Time.” Rogers was flamboyant and energetic and really connected with the audience, and his running joke about this being his first date with the crowd went over really well.
Then came Lauper’s set, which kicked off immediately with my favorite song, her classic masturbation anthem “She Bop.” With her wild blue hair everywhere and an outfit with absurdly big shoulders, she sang her heart out at the first song and instantly connected with the audience. Not every artist from the ‘80s has kept their voice as clean as it was forty years ago, but Lauper’s is still as powerful and beautiful as it ever was. She then quickly transitioned into “The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough” with a fantastic light show behind her, with the screens displaying clips from both The Goonies and her music video.
Lauper spent a good amount of her set telling stories about her life and career and, normally, such long interludes would annoy me. Yet, somehow, Lauper managed to keep the audience on the edge of their seats, even when going off on tangents. And, at times, she reminded us of the importance of women’s rights in 2025 and the fact that it wasn’t that long ago that women couldn’t own their own bank accounts or credit cards. You could also forgive the time taken for all of Lauper’s elaborate costume changes, because she looked fabulous every time.
Lauper brought Jake Wesley Rogers out with her to perform “Money Changes Everything” as the last song before her encore, and Rogers and Lauper fed off each other’s energy in an amazing way, leaving us all stunned at the performance of one of her most overlooked singles. She then abruptly said goodnight to everyone, but it was clear she wasn’t done as she still hadn’t done “True Colors” or “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” yet, the latter of which the tour was named after. Obviously she was coming back.
During the encore she did a tear-jerking rendition of “True Colors,” her tribute to the LGBTQ+ community, and, towards the end of the song, she pulled a giant progressive pride flag—an up-to-date one complete with the intersex symbol—out of the floor and waved it high in the air for everyone to see. The show featured elaborate art from a number of renowned visual artists, but she made sure to highlight Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who she partnered with for the art behind the closing song “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” The stage and everyone’s clothing was awash with white and dotted with red dots, which was a gorgeous way to finish off the show.
Over the years, I’ve come to be skeptical whenever an artist announces a farewell tour, as many artists go back on their word and tour again. So it’s hard to tell if Lauper’s insistence that this will be a farewell tour will be something she sticks to or not. But, if this was her farewell to Denver, it was a truly spectacular one, and one that I will never forget.
Featured Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Cyndi Lauper
