Cyndi Lauper

Milwaukee’s weekend-long LGBT celebration has always emphasized music and celebration over parades and politics, and in recent years PrideFest has secured entertainment lineups that rival any other pride event in the country. This year’s might be the most impressive yet, featuring an opening-night performance from one of the biggest LGBT icons in the world: Cyndi Lauper. The “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” singer’s loud fashion sense and fierce individualism made her one of the biggest cultural sensations of the 1980s, but over the past two decades Lauper has recast herself as a tireless gay-rights advocate. Lauper’s latest album is last year’s Bring Ya to the Brink, a return to up-tempo dance-pop after years of indulging her acoustic and adult-contemporary leanings.