Customer Reviews

A Hot Summer Night ...with Donna [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Originally released in 1983, this is a 90-minute video of a show that was recorded live at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. The full track listing is Macarthur Park, Love Is In Control, Unconditional Love (with Musical Youth), Romeo, Don't Cry For Me Argentina, On The Radio, Woman, One Night Only, Stop In The Name Of Love, a medley of (a) Dim All The Lights (b) Sunset People (c) Bad Girls (d) Hot Stuff, followed by Last Dance, She Works Hard For The Money, State Of Independence. This is very much the post-disco Donna, the pop singer and chanteuse, as attested by the absence of her earlier disco hits like I Feel Love. Donna maintains the interest throughout and it must have been a memorable concert.

This concert recording is well worth the effort to find, as it contains some very rare live versons of Summer's 80's work.

During her 1983 tour she bascilly had 2 new albums out (She Works Hard For The Money, and Donna Summer), and another album recorded but not yet released (I'm A Rainbow). See my reviews of all of these recordings.

Here is the breakdown of songs included on the set list from these albums;

Donna Summer; Love Is In Control, State of Independance.

She Works Hard..; She Works Hard..., Women, Unconditional Love.

I'm A Rainbow; Romeo, Don't Cry For Me Argentina.

Cats Without Claws (from 1984); Forgive Me.

Romeo was also released that year on the soundtrack to Flashdance, and was added to the set list by requests from fans early in the tour. Don't Cry For Me Argentina, was also part of her 1981 greatest hits Tour, and became a show highlight, and to me the read here is the best. A short verson of her mega-hit opens the show (MacArthur Park), and On The Radio and a stellar Last Dance are also featured. A 4 song medly represents the landmark Bad Girls album, and contains Dim All The Lights, Sunset People, Bad Girls and Hot Stuff.

Since the late 1980's, Donna has returned to doing her Greatest Hits as the basis for her live shows, and her concerts to this day have become a giant celebration, with the venues becoming huge dance halls. This concert gives us a rare view of what Donna had hoped to achieve in a decade domintaed by Madonna, and Prince.

Those that have criticized this concert recording on this page obviously don't really know Donna's performing history.

She is without doubt one of the greatest voices of all time. If you don't think so, listen carefully to the first several bars of an original recording of "Dim All the Lights" and tell me who else comes close! For that matter, her entire "Bad Girls" 2 disc album was the absolute zenith of the Disco Era, and won unprecedented accolades from even those music critics who had always dripped nothing but disdain for everything disco.

That said, however, her live on-stage performance presence always did leave something to be desired (can you say rather wooden) UNTIL her "Live and More Encore" (1999) era.

In addition to finally leaving other personal issues behind, her work performing on the theatrical stage just before that 1999 "comeback" combined to truly make an amazingly astonishing difference and improved her concert stage work to true brilliance.

Regardless, her voice has ALWAYS been beyond phenomenal.

I was actually in the audience at the taping of this Hot Summer Night concert at the Pacific Amphitheatre back in 1983... if you watch it, look for the extremely tall guy (I'm 6'6") in the audience wearing a very bright red jacket...you can't miss me... lol

The first exposure I had to this concert was on the 'Endless Summer: Greatest Hits' video which featured three of the tracks from this tape and I wasn't too impressed by them. Donna seemed quite bored at times singing 'MacArthur Park', although she did seem a bit more involved when performing 'Last Dance' and 'On the Radio' but still Donna didn't seem to be at her magical best so I wasn't expecting much from this (but I still bought it anyway 'cause i'm such a fan) but boy was I wrong! 'MacArthur' was the first track and it was probarbly a bit daunting for Donna at the start of a performance so that's maybe why she didn't seem as involved. It's when performing her new tracks (new as of 1983 that is) that she really shines. 'Unconditional Love' and 'She works hard for the money' Donna performs with all her usual brightness and verve. For 'Romeo' Donna runs up into the audience and she takes on an Evita like persona for her rendition of 'Don't cry for me Argentina' and the grammy winning 'Forgive Me' is a definate highlight. The band are good to and Donna introduces them all at one stage. The show is almost stolen by the backing singers Mary and Dara (who happen to be Donna's sisters) who are a delight as they sing and joke about with each other. Donna makes a few jokes about being black which nowadays may be considered un-PC and the dance at the beggining does seem very dated. Other than that this is a great show from the Queen of divas and I look forward to someday seeing the 'Live and more ENCORE!' VIDEO (which is unavailable in the UK format).

There was never a doubt that Donna Summers could sing. However, we get her putting on a wonderful show this Hot Summers Night.

LIVING IN FT LAUDERDALE with all age groups, this concert or footage makes it on the screen from time to time and the viewer's look at it in aw,..wondering where they could buy the tape. a very good performance..!

It would be awesome if they would release this on DVD! True Donna Summer fans would purchase this if it were! I definately would!!!

A Hot Summer Night ...with Donna [VHS] by Donna Summer, Nathan Alford

AFTER LONG LONG TIME,I FINALLY GOT IT, IN A SMOOTH TRANSACTION

Donna Summer has never really been able to define herself in the video era. In the pre-video 70s, she was easily the top pop female artist with powerful vocals and a full repertoire of disco-pop styling. But in the video era, where fashion and dancing are more important than vocals (Madonna anyone?) Summer clumsily moved from rag-tag Wanderer (1980), to funk queen (1982), to weary waitress (1983). Her vocal versatility was difficult to carry over to the video world where image is everything. This disparity is apparent in her live concerts as well. In the 1983 concert tape, "A Hot Summer Night", shot at an SRO concert in Costa Mesa, CA, Summer tries a bit of Vegas showgirl with sequine-covered gowns, rock diva, and Evita(!). Sometimes Summer tries a Bette Midler camp, telling naughty anecdotes in breathy Mae West tones, and sometimes she's Cher, eager with that audience participation. While the concert tape is never dull, it's a shame that Summer didn't stop playing the chameleon and recognized that she could have a very strong image of her own. END