Cyndi Lauper / Eddie Money Concert 12-28-86

What Is This?
I was asked by many about my musical influences when making stamps and asked to share some of the stories behind the concerts I have seen. I have been to 1200+ live concerts (all national touring bands/singers with albums, not local club bands or tribute/cover bands, have seen plenty of those too) and have saved every ticket stub and backstage pass (when I had one) and kept notes (like a journal) on every show I have ever seen. So from time to time I will scan in the ticket stub from a show I saw (going in no order, skipping around) and talk a little about the show and my opinion. All information property of dA--stamps/dA--bogeyman (me). This is entry#12.

The Concert:
Cyndi Lauper
Eddie Money (Opening Act)
December 28, 1986
Lakeland Civic Center, Lakeland, Florida (USA)

Just So You Know:
Cyndi Lauper had released her second album 'True Colors' and this was her tour to support it ("True Colors World Tour"). Cyndi Lauper's 'Cyndi : Live In Paris' HBO concert special would be recorded on this tour. Eddie Money was touring in support of his 'Can't Hold Back' album.

Personal:
Cyndi Lauper was all over the radio and MTV at this time and my friends and I thought she was cute/hot at the time. I had seen Eddie Money before and liked his music so when the concert was announced I picked up tickets. I ended up going with my friends Michael and Juan (Juan was an exchange student from Spain, had never been to a concert and loved Cyndi Lauper). Michael and I chipped in and bought Juan a Cyndi Lauper concert t-shirt, tour program and tour button (he had very little money). There were plenty of Cyndi Lauper and Madonna wannabe dressed teen and preteen girls at this concert (which was the 'in' style at the time).

The Live Concert (Opener):
Eddie Money opened up the show and he came to rock the house. His set was 'hard rock' and he was in good form on this night. He opened up with "No Control" and that set the tone, the crowd was on their feet and singing along. Eddie spoke very little in-between songs and was very energetic going from side to side of the stage on every song and really getting the crowd into his music. Big crowd pleasers were "Two Tickets To Paradise", "Baby Hold On To Me", "Think I'm In Love", "Wanna Go Back", "Where's The Party?" (great crowd sing along during that song) and "Shakin'". Eddie came back for one encore ("Take Me Home Tonight") and during the chorus a woman says "Be My Little Baby" - Cyndi Lauper had come out on stage for the encore with Eddie Money and did that part of the chorus much to the delight of the crowd. Eddie rocked for about an hour and the crowd was very happy with his set.

The Live Concert (Headliner):
There was a very short intermission in-between sets (about 10-15 minutes) and the lights went out and Cyndi Lauper and her band opened their set with "Change of Heart". Cyndi looked sweet with her long red hair and a bright one piece green dress on. She went straight into her second song without saying a word (which was "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough", theme song to THE GOONIES movie) - Cyndi was dancing around and singing and in the middle of the song the top part of her dress fell down revealing her breasts for a micro second - she pulled her dress up immediately as the crowd laughed a little and she smiled and shrugged and kept singing and dancing. Cyndi spoke after the second song (apologizing for her dress dropping, explained it was a new dress and never wore it during a concert before) and welcoming everyone to her first world tour. She also wished everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Cyndi's band was very tight and played her music perfectly during the show. Cyndi's set was more mellow then Eddie Money's but did have lots of dancing and the crowd really enjoyed it. The teen and preteen girls screaming in-between songs was amusing at first then a little painful LOL. Cyndi also spoke about her involvement with the "USA For Africa" song (she sang a lead vocal on 'We Are The World') and her involvement with professional wrestling (WWF, she was a manager at the time). Big crowd response from "All Through The Night", "When You Were Mine", What's Going On?" (Marvin Gaye cover tune), "Time After Time", "Money Changes Everything" and "She Bop" (although I am sure all of the girls singing and dancing to that one had no idea the song is about female masturbation). Cyndi came back for two encores (well two and a half really) - first she sang "True Colors" perfectly - then she did one verse and chorus of the 'Pee-Wee Playhouse Theme' (which she had recorded for the TV show) in her Betty Boop voice like she had recorded it - then she closed her concert with "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" (she randomly chose like 8-10 girls from the crowd to come up on stage and dance along with her and the band as they did the last tune) - let's just say every girl at this sold out concert lost their voice singing along with that song and well, me and my friends did too LOL. Cyndi Lauper and her band played for about one hour forty five minutes total. All-in-all Cyndi put on a great performance - she was very playful and girly when she spoke in-between songs (not annoying 'girly' but cutesy 'girly'), danced to every song that was danceable, was emotional and serious during the ballads - and everyone loved the show singing the chorus of "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" out the concert doors and into the parking lot after the show was over.

Check out my 'Concert Memories' dA gallery for more of my concert musings da--stamps.deviantart.com/gall…