Thursday, June 21, 2007

True Colors: Feather boas, glitter, balloons adorn gay-themed concert for civil rights

True Colors: Feather boas, glitter, balloons adorn gay-themed concert for civil rights is making its way around North America. Mike and I had a chance to check it out last Friday at The Borgata in Atlantic City. Various performers are at the different stops, the concert I saw had Cindy Lauper, Erasure, The Dresden Dolls, Gossip, Debbie Harry (see my "Confession" about her as the last entry) and Margaret Cho. I didn't have my camera with me for the first half of the concert as I thought they were banned. But when I saw that everyone was shooting the concert, I went back to the car at intermission to get it. It's amazing how this rule has really relaxed in the past years. Fuji F100, not the best camera, but great in low light.
It was great to see Erasure after a ten year absence since I last saw them. They really hit their mark by singing hits like "Respect," "Oh L’amour," and "Chains of Love."Sporting short lavender-coloured hair, the sprightly Lauper sprinted from end to end of the stage throughout her hour-long set, delivering her best-known ’80s hits for an enthusiastic crowd."Time After Time," "Goonies R’ Good Enough," "Money Changes Everything," and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," were among the favourites that kept the audience on their feet.But she kicked off the set sporting orange hair, big hat singing "I have a Hole In My Heart that goes All the Way To China" Mike and I bought seats which were located behind the General Admission pit, but we quickly realized that the people standing had a much better seat than us and we joined them for the last half of the concert. During Intermission when I was in the garage getting my camera, I ran into about a dozen people I hadn't seen in a while, including a couple that I hadn't seen in about a decade. OMG raunchy comedian Margaret Cho - wearing pigtails, a minidress and fishnet stockings - took the stage between acts with sexually explicit jokes that took no prisoners. She skewered the U.S. government, the Pope and the Christian right as she hammered home the theme of the evening, equal rights. One of the wilder moments involved Cho donning a wig, assuming a Chinese accent and the lesbian persona "Maureen" for a rap duet that bragged about the magnificence of her nether regions."My peach, my clam, my cookie/ Everybody wanna get their hands on my tookie," she rapped. (Do Not Play This At Work)
The grand finale brought everyone out on stage to sing ABBA's "Take a Chance On Me" Closing the show singing her signature song, True Colors. From left to right here are the people I recognize: Margaret Cho in the red dress, the Dresden Dolls (they were amazing), Cydni, back-up singers, Carson Kressley, back-up singers, then The Gossip. Missing Debbie Harry who probably high tailed it to her home in NYC.
At the end of the concert Cyndi announced that next year will be bigger and better and hoped we would all be there to join her. I know Mike and I will be, won't you join us?
OK: if I had to confess about something, I would say that Debbie Harry's set was forgettable. She may have sang one old hit, but the rest was from her new album. The songs were terrible and I was longing to listen to Yoko Ono instead. I also thought it was funny how she played to the crowd, shaking hands and telling them she loved them. Everytime I saw her in NYC at an event, she often skipped the red carpet, and ignored her fans lining the street. I bet that will change now that she has a CD to promote.
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