Regarding the Donna Summer concert in Hollywood

[Editor's note] You can add another name to the list of Divas I've experienced live. Last night, my gal pal Michelle and I had the gaygasmic pleasure of seeing the incomparable Donna Summer! Performing at the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, the great disco diva showed no signs of slowing down as she took us back to the magic of the 70s. Donna and her supple voice were in top form and delivered a disco party like none other.

Admittedly, Donna ranks in the second tier of Divadom in my book-- joined by Liza Minnelli and Stevie Nicks. (The first tier is reserved for Tina Turner, Bette Midler, and Cher). But Donna was no second banana last night! Her mix of classic tunes and new songs left nothing to be desired.

The concert itself was a roller coaster of emotional ups and downs. It started off rather slow with a song from her last album aptly entitled "The Queen is Back" and followed up with "Dim All the Lights." Both of which she performed in an exquisite floor-length purple sequin gown with matching gloves.

She then sang another song from Crayons entitled "I'm a Fire" and bonded with the crowd over her daughter marrying a Cubano. That really got the crowd going and she said that she wished everyone looked like the beautiful people of Florida.

What followed after that will haunt me for the rest of my days. In what can only be considered an unfair miscarriage of justice, Donna invited three chicks from the audience to sing "On the Radio" with her on stage. Picked from the front rows, of course, they were on stage faster than you can say, "Love to love you, baby." Mind you, I was the one sitting there in 4" platform shoes and white polyester pants! Adding insult to injury, Donna then made the whole audience sing Happy Birthday to one of the chicks. To say that I was beyond jealous is putting it delicately.

After a quick wardrobe change, Donna came out and sang a stripped down version of "Let it Be Magic" and another new song she wrote whose name escapes me. Following that, she came out in a stunning red pants suit, holding an umbrella and singing the opening lines of "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)." This is probably the first time I lost my cookies that night. Growing up a wee young chap, I used to sing that song into my toothbrush all the time-- BOTH her and Barbra's parts... TMI.

Following that, Donna really kicked up the cheese factor by about a thousand when she paid tribute to the late Michael Jackson. She sang his favorite song, "Smile" and got so choked up that she had to step away from the mic to wipe her tears. All the while 6 luminescent pictures of MJ were flashing behind her.

The rest of the set list was really a blur of "I feel Love," "MacArthur Park," "Bad Girls," "Hot Stuff," and "She Works Hard for the Money." Naturally, with so much epic disco my sense of time, space, and reality became dizzied and blurred. Then came Donna's pièce de résistance: her "Last Dance." Done as an encore, Donna came out in a beautiful red gown, backed by an array of digital stars and those legendary first notes of the song. By this point I was so feverish with delight that I skipped ahead 12 rows and proceeded to yell (not sing) but yell the lyrics of that song with Donna and about 6,000 other equally-feverish fans.

In short, saying that the concert was like good sex is an understatement. By song and concerts end, I felt like rolling over and lighting a cigarette. At one point in the night Donna said that it was very difficult to be a Diva these days. Judging from the masterful way she made us need her, I can tell you that she hasn't lost her touch.

Donna Summer's "Last Dance"