The True Colors Tour* was quite possibly the best concert I’ve ever been to see. No, it WAS the best damn concert I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been to quite a few concerts. Carson Kressley (famous from “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”) was the M.C., Rosie O’Donnell did stand up (as well as play the drums during “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”), the band lineup was The Clicks, followed by Tegan & Sara, followed by THE B-52′S, and ending with Cyndi Lauper.
So The Clicks. I honestly had never heard this band before, but I sure as hell am buying a CD now. Their lead singer has such an amazing voice (especially, I have to say, in the duet she performed with Cyndi Lauper) and the bass player has more presence than any bass player I’ve ever seen – I could barely take my eyes off the woman. They were truly spectacular, I highly recommend giving them a listen.
Tegan and Sara. One of my favorite bands ever (though Laura had never heard their stuff before) – they played so well I had goosebumps during their entire set. They also did completely new and different arrangements of the songs they played, and I’m hoping a b-side comes out so i can snag those. It’s rare that I’m in goosebumps for every song a band plays – but they managed just fine.
Let’s talk about how The B-52′s have been one of my favorite bands since I was a wee baron. I never thought I would see them perform live – so their part of the show was my favorite in that “I can’t believe I’m seeing this band live!” way, and in the “holy crap I can’t believe they’re rocking so hard!” way as well. They played “Roam” – which is my favorite song of theirs, and of course “Love Shack,” “Mesopotamia,” as well as a few songs off their new album (if you haven’t heard the G-Spot song, you really need to get the CD, it’s hilarious to hear that man singing about visiting the g-spot).
Cyndi Lauper was, of course, in true form. She’s still an 80s pop star, but her new music is, while still poppy, really damn good. There was this one dance beat she played that got the ENTIRE audience – which had a lot of blue hairs as this was a casino show at the new MGM Grand down at Foxwoods. I’ve seen Cyndi once before – I won tickets to see her and Joan Jett by drinking about 30 bahama mama shooters at Diva’s one night (I had help) and my father and I went and both agreed she’s an amazing performer. She was even better this past Friday night, I would still go see her even a third time I think.
By the way, while the casino and restaurants at the new MGM Grand in Connecticut are totally small, lame, and wicked overpriced (compared to Las Vegas, and to Mohegan for that matter), the concert hall there has AMAZING sound. It was never TOO loud, everything was perfectly balanced, and the seats were pretty comfy to crash in during dance breaks. I’d definitely go see a show there again, but next time I would eat elsewhere before the show.
* I’m pimping the HRC webpage for the tour because Cyndi Lauper must have mentioned H-R-C-dot-ORG about 20 times during the show, reminding everyong to go register to vote. We also watched a lovely video about gay marriage, which I’m betting they have on their website. Oh yes June is totall queer month, right? So I’m passing on the message – if you’re not registered, then GET registered, because this is a very important election. Putting aside gay rights or war in Iraq or social security and everything else people seem to be so worried about, we have an impending food apocolypse that’s actually very real, and will be something to worry about way before I’m retiring and finding out their is no social security check for my generation…