WORTH A LOOK: ****1/2

WHERE: Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith

WHEN: 30/6

SETLIST: Funnel of Love; She Bop; Heartache By The Number; I Drove All Night; End Of The World; Walking After Midnight; I Want To Be A Cowboy’s Sweetheart; You Don’t Know; When You Were Mine; Money Changes Everything; Misty Blue; Time After Time; The Goonies ‘r’ Good Enough; Girls Just Want To Have Fun (duet with Matt Henry); Fearless; True Colors.

‘It’s never too f***ing late to do what you want to do.’ 63-year-old Cyndi Lauper is three songs into a set which mixes her latest album of country covers interspersed with her career hits, focusing in particular on debut breakthrough LP She’s So Unusual.

• Read on for details of the best Prince tribute we’ve yet seen

And she is. We missed her Sunday headline slot on Glastonbury’s Acoustic Stage (choosing instead the anthems of Coldplay on the Pyramid) but there are crowd singalongs aplenty here not least a beautiful Time After Time and heartfelt True Colors.

Olivier Award winner and Kinky Boots star Matt Henry opens tonight’s show for the woman he calls ‘the boss’ who co-wrote the current West End smash in which he stars. His eight-song set predominantly features tracks from his Red Flare album, which he had a hand in writing. It is the synth-heavy and danceable Love Is Taking Over included there which bangs as hard as 80s covers he performs You Can Call Me Al and Love Is A Battlefield, which he dedicates to Orlando.

Henry reappears for a joyous Girls Just Want To Have Fun as one of many Lauper encores in a set packed with highlights. She’s So Unusual includes Prince cover When You Were Mine and Cyndi’s tribute to the Purple Genius is the best we’ve yet seen.

She says: ‘He was one of those people who only come around once. I was lucky enough to rub shoulders with him and he was always kind to me. I will always miss checking out what he was coming out with. He was always so innovative. A big light went out in the world. One of many lights to go out this year.’

Cyndi is almost apologetic in explaining her reasons behind her new Detour album but its content makes for an interesting counterpoint to the big hits spanning 30 years, as does Henry’s set.

We suspect we missed a Glastonbury treat but that tonight, with its added kinkyness, was even better.

• Main picture via Facebook courtesy Cyndi Lauper. Cyndi’s world tour continues. Tickets here.
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