But it didn't require any squinting of the eyes or ears to see she's still the defiant, effortlessly sexy, charismatic Cherry of that pop heyday.
Barely standing still throughout her hour-plus on stage, her dancing just added to the venue humidity as the music dipped into her past hits but married it to her present - the thrilling trip-hop throb of last year's Blank Project album with RocketNumberNine, the outfit of Brit brothers Tom and Ben Page who backed her on stage on drums and keyboards.
Early on, the hour-plus set came dominated by the challenging Blank Project tracks, big on menacing atmospheres and sharp-angled electronics.
Songs like the opener Across the Water which segued into the strobe-scorched title track, as well as Spit Three Times were all highly reminscent of Massive Attack, the Bristol outfit which loom large in Cherry's musical family tree.
Cherry noted influential reformed Bristol post-punk band The Pop Group were also in playing in Auckland last night (at the Kings Arms). The band's drummer Bruce Smith was her first husband and the father of her first child, the pair having been in short-lived punk-funk outfit Rip Rig & Panic together.
Some of the more tribal beats behind the likes of Weightless had something a bit RR&P about them too.
Elsewhere, the show did hit some dull spots - unrecorded new song Bullshit was indeed fairly whiffy.
But any momentum loss was soon regained with those old hits. The live rendition of Manchild, showed it be a 80s pop rarity - one which has aged gracefully.
A reworked Buffalo Stance in the encore had RocketNumberNine's electronics nicely frazzling the hip-hop scratch and samples of the original.
And best of all, possibly was Woman, her riposte to James Brown's It's a Man's Man's Man's World, given an emotional delivery by the singer.
"But I'm the kind of woman that was built to last," she first sang when it was released in 1996. Nearly 20 years later came the terrific live proof.
*Yes the Paradiso Spiegeltent is very festive. But based on last night's experience, the main venue for the festival's contemporary music acts (which play at 9.30pm after the cabaret circus Limbo) is also a sauna in disguise and it seems its window and doors won't be opened in case excess decibels leak out.
Inside, its floor has steps that are impossible to see in the dark, should you wish to wander from your seat in search of fresh air or refreshment mid-gig. So if attending on a crowded night, take care. And possibly a fan and a torch.
