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Yahoo!I’d been waiting 30 years to see Donna Summer live—to hear her, dance with her—and Thursday night a couple hundred others and I finally got to cross off “see Donna Summer” from our collective must-do list. Unsurprisingly, the performance was great, in spite of the shocking loss of Michael Jackson—a long-time friend of Summer’s—just hours earlier that day.
At 60 years old, Summer still sizzled, changing into five different costumes during the course of the night. She joked with the crowd about her weight, but between her smile, cheekbones, and flawless skin, the singer simply radiated beauty.
Like most, I didn’t come to the Chumash to hear new Donna Summer music. It’s tough not to appreciate that now, some 26 years after “She Works Hard for the Money” first infiltrated our ears, Summer still is writing and recording. Yet her attempts to stay contemporary don’t quite measure up to what came before. What these new tunes do is make us re-recognize just how good the oldies are, and how many songs Summer has given us that combine groove, feeling, sadness, and love so exquisitely. In other words, she should be happy to sit back and ride that disco carpet until the end, because even today it’s easy to see that she’s created some of the best dance music America has to offer.
In particular, when the notes for “On the Radio” or “MacArthur Park” started, Thursday night’s crowd went wild, proving that some 30 years later, these songs feel as vital and crucial as they did when Jimmy Carter was in office. These songs matter, and we’re lucky to have their original life-giver around to belt ’em out, with a voice that still is an unmistakable combination of sexy and sad, petulant and soulful. And though it may be shocking to some, I’m actually relieved that Summer didn’t bust out a version of “Love to Love You Baby,” in all its orgasmic cooing glory. It would have been uncomfortable for all of us—Summer included. (I did play it when I got home, though.)
By night’s close, Summer’s music felt less like a live event and more like the perfect soundtrack to summertime. Here’s hoping that when she’s 80, she’ll still be belting out “Hot Stuff,” “Bad Girls,” and “Last Dance” for all the world to see. No doubt I will pay to see it again, bad knees, blue hair, hearing aids, and all—and I promise to still be up and dancing.
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What a mediocre review for such an amazing show. I too was at this show, and lets set the record straight Derek. That show was SOLD OUT. There were no hundreds of fans, there were thousands. She has released an album last year that took 17 years for fans to wait for, which has 3 #1 Dance hits on this same record last year, which knocked off the likes of Madonna, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake. (check your facts at billboard or perfectbeat.com). The album after charting during its debut, hit at #19 earlier this year, almost 8 months after it's release. The fans rushed the stage as she did her encore of "Last Dance" and roared for an encore way after the lights went up. And her troop of dancers made constant contact with the audience with a greeting of thundering applause every time. Ms. Summer is indeed a 60 year old woman, but that voice with new and old material made the walls of that casino shake. She is no fool, and knows her material well, and wont be pigeonholed into an oldies act; you may want to look elsewhere for an act stuck in the past Derek. It's not a thing Donna Summer has EVER been into. And as far as your "funny" (sounded more weird and misplaced in your review) regarding "Love to Love You, Baby",the woman is a pro. She has never been one to be a Norma Desmond of music, attempting to recreate someone or something she's not. That's the past Derek. Donna Summer is not one to rest on past victories. You should have checked out her last album "Crayons".Time moves on. It sounds like you haven't.
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paulybara (anonymous profile)
July 6, 2009 at 11:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I ment no disrespect to the reviewer, I appreciate and understand his opinion. I just want to share mine too. I apologize if my response was too harsh or charged, it wasn't intentional. I was just so thrilled Ms. Summer performed so many songs from her latest release.
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paulybara (anonymous profile)
July 6, 2009 at 8:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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