The Donna Summer Tribute Site

Fan Reviews 

Universal Studios, Orlando Florida
March 27, 2004

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As promised, I have a few eyewitness reports from the recent show in Orlando, Florida. A couple of the guys even sent in their pictures. (Thanks to everyone who wrote in!)

Take it away guys:

 

Julio

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Here are some photos from Donna's show at Universal Orlando last night. I am a bit ticked off that the photos turned out a bit blurry and a bit dark. Seemed to me the spotlights on Donna were a bit low in intensity, so I tried my best. The show was similar to the one on VH1... MacArthur Park, This Time I Know It's For Real... then WHAM! The Once Upon a Time prelude plays and just it time for it to pick it, it turns into a glorious rendition of Could It Be Magic! Then I Feel Love, My Man's Medley, Enough is Enough (with Mary Ellen), On The Radio, I Will Live For Love, She Works Hard For The Money, then 4 dancers joined her for this point on. She even did a little dancing with them, including a bit of 'salsa', then Bruce introduced the band. She came out to do Bad Girls/Hot Stuff in a rather unique outfit with names from her songs on it! The dancers also sported shirts with some Donna song names on them. Then at the end, she did You're So Beautiful, and finally Last Dance. The show lasted about 1hr 20 mins. The audience was quite enthusiastic, and she was loving every moment of it. She even did 2 encores of the last moments of Last Dance! the crowd didn't want to let go. It was FUN FUN FUN!! Another magical, mystical night!!!

-Julio 

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Adrian

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Wow! where do I begin ? She was on fire ! the concert was just awesome. The crowd was in the thousands - maybe more..... the show began with several Mardi-Gras dancers throwing beads for 30-minutes -- NON STOP. I have never seen so many beads tossed -- the louder you screamed "Donna" -- the more beads were tossed.... and then she appeared in a gorgeous pink & purple beaded gown .... she looked incredible ! The show opened with MacArthur Park, This Time I Know It's For Real...... she then spoke for a while, telling the crowd to dance and sing --you own me tonight, you pay me very well and I thank you......then the intro to Once Upon A Time started -- then it blended into Could It Be Magic, then I Feel Love.

She then shocked alot of the long time fans when she said I am gonna take some of you guys back a little --your gonna love this!! (we thought Love To Love You !! ) .She did the entire My Man Medley---- OH MY GOD ! IT WAS JUST FABULOUS ! I had never seen her do that. On The Radio was next, then the cute and now extended skit about the red Ferrari, which led to Enough Is Enough . DREAM ALOT'S THEME ( I Will Live For Love) was next, all you can hear were people saying this sounds better than the CD -- Her voice was so intense during this song .


COSTUME CHANGE !! 

She went and dried off - it was hot. Then came back in a tight black dress an all of her songs were printed all over the dress in silver glitter -- BAD GIRLS across her chest....... boldly, then can dancers and she did the Bad Girls & Hot Stuff Medley. After that, You're So Beautiful & Dim All The Lights. The dancers returned for Hard For The Money in which halfway through the song they broke out into a salsa routine --and yes!! Donna salsa danced whirled and was twirled by the dancers-- the place went crazy!!!! She then tried - yeah tried - to say good night and thank you, as she was walking off stage -- the park was roaring -- "More-More - More !!" Of course she played them -- "one more??? really ?? OK--If you insist..... LAST DANCE, LAST CHANCE" -- You could hardly hear her because all of Universal Studios was singing with her. She did a nice long version of LAST DANCE. The crowd was soooo crazy -- she did 4 encores to the ending .This was one of the most amazing concerts of hers I have been to.... wish you could have made it.......

-Adrian

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Johnny

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Well what can I say that you haven't already heard?

The concert was SPECTACULAR! She looked AMAZING. Her close-ups on the big screens (2 on stage - 2 others at the Twister ride site where people stood like zombies staring at the screen) captured her beauty and intensity. sometimes I felt as if I was staring at a "live" version of the "Live and More" Cover Album - know what I mean? She simply looked stunning and so gracious.

Her smile, her eyes, her hair (it was long and flowing).

The crowd (we) went wild when she first appeared on stage and sang MacArthur Park. She seemed genuinely touched by the overflowing show of affection that the audience poured to the stage. She effortlessly went from one hit to another. Could It Be Magic/ This Time I Know Its For Real/ Dim All The Lights/ Enough Is Enough (Here she went on this story about being in love with a man with a red Ferrari and the subsequent disappointment she suffered when he asked her for money - but the manner with which she told the story demonstrated her gift for musical comedy. She was soooo funny and gracious. We all laughed at her expressions and heard others talking about how surprising it was to find her so endearingly funny.) Bad Girls/ Hot Stuff. But I particularly surprised when she sang 2 new songs from The Journey : You're So Beautiful and I Will Live For Love - this last one sounded to me like "musical poetry". Her gestures and fierceness with which she approached the lyrics stunned me greatly - her voice - clear and impeccable reaching those high notes in the middle of the high tempos, it was simply "magical". She kept smiling saying "I Love You Back" in almost every song... Needless to say, we didn't want the concert to end. You could tell the audience WAS IN IT WITH HER - we didn't want her to "let go of her".... I thought it was very interesting her second choice for the dress that she wore in the second half of the performance ; Tight black and silver (perhaps a bit too tight for her full figure) but, the dress had the names of several of her songs all over it. Across her bosom "Bad Girls", underneath Hot Stuff and you could read Love (with a heart) To Love You Baby, Rumour Has It, The Deep and so on. Very "clever" and sexy. You could tell she was proud of that dress.

As an interesting side note. I parked the car with the valet parking at the studios thinking that it would be the best idea. When the show finished and I went to pick up the car the line was endless!!! We stood on line for approximately 30 minutes (unheard of for Valet parking) and people were getting upset. But then the parking supervisor said out loud that the backlog was due to Donna Summer's concert! They didn't think that many people would show up all at once for the concert! We started applauding and chanting her name...

Well Cathy I don't have any pics but I am very anxious to see them on your site.

It was a magical/beautiful/exciting evening with Donna Summer. I hope she will manage to do more shows - I think she needs to experience first-hand the love and appreciation we all have for her art and music. 

-Johnny

 

Bobby

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This was posted on the Endless Summer board:

Let me just first say..... work it Donna.... she is alot of fun!!!

I will write a full report and tell you all about it.... got some pics too.... GRIN!....but in short she looked great.... sounded great (of course!!).... No news of a new album or anything of the sort..... BUT she did sing "I Will Live For Love".... this was the highlight of the show for me.... I had goose bumps.... Donna fans would have been soooo proud..... my fourteen year old son and my boy friend... (who once crushed many (Grrrrr!!!) of my favorite and very rare performances of her on video!!!).... both thought she was great.

<snip>

Donna I love ya.... you are such a great performer.... I am very excited and wait very eagerly for your future recordings.

Then by email he added:

It was a great show..... I loved the way she did Live For Love.... when she sang the part "the poet must have known......"...she brought the tempo down and then back up.... I wish it was that way on record because it really has a great punch. The dress she wore when she first came out was very classy.... great color for her and draped over her booty-licious perfect.

-Bobby

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