Arts & Entertainment
Sounds from the stage
LaBelle, Warwick spice up season along with local queer favorites
For overall star power it would be hard to beat 2011, but there are still many highlights slated for the coming months on the D.C. concert scene. Just don’t forget to save some money for your night out with Madonna — tickets are on sale now for her September shows; Sunday night is sold out — and a rumored Cher tour.
Tonight (Friday), out singer Tom Goss performs with Potomac Fever, an a cappella pop ensemble from the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, at the Atlas Performing Arts Center (1333 H Street N.E.). This performance is part of the Intersections Arts Festival. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at intersectionsdc.org. The Intersections New American Arts Festival runs through March 11 with a wide variety of performances.
Young the Giant, whose powerful song “Cough Syrup” was just featured on “Glee” will be performing at the 9:30 Club on March 11 at 7 p.m. The 9:30 Club (815 V Street N.W.) has tickets available online and at the onsite box office.
The Gay Men’s Chorus presents an all male version of the infamous and untamed musical “Rocky Horror Show” March 16-17 at 8 p.m. and March 18 at 3 p.m. All performances are at the Lisner Auditorium (730 21st Street N.W.). Tickets start at $20 and can be purchased at gmcw.org.
Out singer/actor Will Gartshore brings his show “All The King’s Men: Broken Ballads with a Stiff Upper Lip” to the Round House Theatre Silver Spring (8641 Colesville Road in Silver Spring) March 19 and 26. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at roundhousetheatre.org.
For the club music lovers, legendary DJ Junior Vasquez returns to Washington after a long absence on March 24 to spin at Cobalt at the Official Queer Prom After party. Gay DJ Alyson Calagna, pioneer of the “Omtronica” sound, will also be spinning at Cobalt April 14. Cobalt is at 1639 R Street N.W.
Girlyman, who most recently has been co-writing songs for Margaret Cho’s upcoming CD, will be back in the area again on April 28 at 7:30 p.m. at the Birchmere Music Hall (3701 Mount Vernon Ave, Alexandria Va). Tickets are $33.70 and are available at ticketmaster.com.
Patti LaBelle (Image courtesy Strathmore)
Grammy-winning legend Patti LaBelle once again takes the Strathmore stage (10701 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda, Md.) March 30-31 at 8. Tickets are available at strathmore.org.
D.C. Different Drummers, an organization for local LGBT musicians, has its spring concert March 31 at the CHEC Auditorium (3101 16th Street N.W.). For tickets and more information, visit dcdd.org.
Special Agent Galactica (aka Jeffrey Johnson) starts a twice-monthly engagement at Black Fox Lounge (1723 Conn. Ave. N.W.) March 23 and will perform from 6 to 9 p.m. on the second and fourth Fridays of each month thereafter. The pink-haired one is mixing live singing with lip syncing these days. Details are at pinkhairedone.com. Admission is free.
Joan Osborne brings her “Bring It On Home Tour” with Lera Lynn at The Birchmere Music Hall (3701 Mount Vernon Avenue, Alexandria, Va.) April 4 at 7:30. Tickets are available for $35 at birchmere.com. Look for Osborne’s new blues album of the same name out March 27.
Out singer Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls will be making two appearances with Kaia Wilson in the area this spring as she promotes her new solo album, “Lung of Love.” On April 11, she plays Ram’s Head on Stage in Annapolis (33 West Street, Annapolis, Md.) and on April 13, she’s at IOTA Club and Café (2032 Wilson Blvd., Arlington).
Out singer Anthony Rapp, best know for playing Mark Cohen in the musical “Rent,” will sing with his “Rent” co-star Adam Pascal at the Birchmere Music Hall (3701 Mount Vernon Ave, Alexandria Va.) on April 15 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $39.50 and available at birchmere.com.
Out comedian Wanda Sykes brings her show back to the U.S. from Australia and will open the newly renovated Howard Theatre as part of the grand reopening weekend for the theatre April 12-15. Tickets are not yet available. For more information, visit wandasykes.com or howardtheatre.org.
The legendary Dionne Warwick will be the headliner for the 2012 Spring Gala at the Strathmore (1701 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda Md.) on April 21 at 9 p.m. A 2012 Spring Gala Package begins at $500 per person and includes a tax-deductible contribution to the organization, the gala dinner, concert and after party. Contact the Sorelle Group at 202-248-1930 for information on how to reserve gala ticket packages.
Merriweather Post Pavilion (10475 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia Md.) has its first show of the season on May 11, at 4:30 p.m. with the fourth annual M3 Rock Festival Official Kix off party featuring local favorite band Kix. The festival then continues the next day with Enuff Z’nuff, In the Pink and Let There Be Rock! If you’re ready to party like its 1989, then get your ticket (starting at $45) at ticketfly.com.
Gay favorite Robyn opens for Coldplay at the Verizon Center (601 F Street NW) July 8-9. Tickets are at ticketmaster.com.
Celebrity News
My evening with Madonna
Gay icon headlined the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam
Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers and Photo Editor Michael Key will be on assignment in the Netherlands through Aug. 10. They will be covering World Pride in Amsterdam.
AMSTERDAM — Madonna and 6,000 of her closest friends celebrated World Pride at Amsterdam’s AFAS Live concert hall early Sunday morning. I was fortunate enough to be one of them.
Madonna last Wednesday nearly broke the internet when she said on social media in Dutch that “I got somethin’ I wanna talk about,” referring to an opening line in “Danceteria,” one of the tracks on her “Confessions II” album that has received rave reviews since its July 2 release. The track has been on near constant replay on my playlist since I first heard it.
— Madonna (@Madonna) July 28, 2026
MISTR — a telehealth platform that offers free access to PrEP, Doxy PEP, STI testing, and long-term care that has organized Madonna’s Club Confessions shows in the U.S. and the U.K. — later confirmed the rampant speculation. I woke up on July 30 to an email in my inbox from MISTR and the World Pride Music Festival PR team that said I was on the press list.
Madonna was indeed going to headline the World Pride Music Festival that Jake Resnicow and Insomniac produced, and I was going to be there. OMFG!!!!
The gay icon had one more surprise in store.
The Dutch internet on Saturday once again broke over speculation that Kylie Minogue was going to appear alongside Madonna. I was getting ready to leave our hotel in Amsterdam on Saturday night when I saw a video of the two of them together.
“Madonna is now teasing Kylie Minogue on her social media … she may be one of her ‘special guests’ tonight,” I wrote in a text to Washington Blade Editor Kevin Naff at 8:46 p.m.
“Have fun! This is turning into the gayest concert ever,” he responded.
I arrived at AFAS Live shortly before 11 p.m. My press contact walked me and two other Dutch journalists into the venue’s cavernous main room known as the Black Box. We made small talk for a few minutes before I started to walk around and listen to Josh Harrison who was on the decks.
Madonna was scheduled to take the stage at 1:30 a.m., but she is known for being late — she is Madonna and she does what she wants. Hayla, a British singer, and Bebe Rexha are among those who performed ahead of Madonna. Thousands of sweaty men — including a group of Australians next to me who were eagerly awaiting Kylie’s anticipated appearance — packed the Black Box and were dancing, anticipating what was to come.
MISTR CEO Tristan Schukraft at one point came on stage and declared Madonna was indeed in the building. The moment for which we were all eagerly waiting finally came shortly before 2:30 a.m.
“Mother is here and this is gay heaven,” said Madonna when she took the stage.
Stuart Price, who produced her “Confessions on a Dance Floor” album in 2005, manned the decks during Madonna’s set.
She opened it with “I Feel So Free” from “Confessions II.” Madonna then sang “Bring Your Love” and “Danceteria” to which this reporter — and everyone else — sang along.
Madonna then teased a surprise before she began to perform “Love Sensation.” Kylie soon appeared on stage. It was nearly too much for my fellow partygoers from Australia. It was indeed the gayest concert ever!
Madonna and Kylie performed “Love Sensation” together. They then sang “Hung Up” and “Sorry” from “Confessions on a Dance Floor” to round out the set that ended shortly after 3 a.m.
Madonna and I share the same birthday — Aug. 16 — and I would like to think she and Kylie gave me an early birthday present. In all seriousness though, it was an amazing night for me and for everyone else who was fortunate enough to be there.
“On the dance floor I feel so free,” says Madonna in the opening of “I Feel So Free.”
For those few precious hours at AFAS Live I did not think about the Trump-Vance administration and the myriad ways it is destroying the U.S. I did not think about the National Guard troops deployed to D.C. I did not think about the pointless wars that continue to ravage Ukraine and other countries around the world. I simply lost myself on the dance floor and celebrated an icon who has always stood with my community.
Thank you, Madonna.
The Petal Release Party and Drag Show was held at Spark Social on Friday, July 31. Performers included Tiara-Missou, Labianna and Darcy de la Cuadra.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
Celebrity News
Madonna headlines World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam
Kylie Minogue made surprise appearance alongside gay icon
AMSTERDAM — Madonna on Sunday headlined the final night of the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam.
The gay icon took the stage shortly before 2:30 a.m. local time (8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday) during Club Confessions, a set that MISTR, a telehealth platform that offers free access to PrEP, Doxy PEP, STI testing, and long-term HIV care, organized.
“Mother is here and this is gay heaven,” said Madonna when she took the stage inside Amsterdam’s AFAS Live concert hall that can hold up to 6,000 people.
Stuart Price, who produced Madonna’s 2005 “Confessions on a Dance Floor” album and “Confessions II,” which debuted on July 2, DJed the set.
Kylie Minogue made a surprise appearance. She and Madonna performed a new remix of “Love Sensation” from “Confessions II.”
(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)
“Throughout my career, I’ve always supported efforts to fight HIV and AIDS, and that fight begins with education and access,” said Madonna in a MISTR press release. “With MISTR, (CEO) Tristan (Schukraft) is expanding access to HIV prevention and sexual healthcare for everyone. Through this work, he’s helping preserve and strengthen LGBTQ+ spaces while investing in the communities and culture that have long sustained us.”
Minogue in an Instagram post thanked Madonna, Price, Schukraft, and MISTR.
Madonna appeared at The Abbey in West Hollywood, Calif., in April. Madonna in June celebrated Pride month with a pop-up performance in New York’s Times Square.
Jake Resnicow and Insomniac produced the World Pride Music Festival that also featured Bebe Rexha and Paris Hilton, among others.
“Pride has always been about bringing our community together,” said Resnicow. “At a moment when too many people are being told to hide or make themselves smaller, gathering openly, joyfully, and without apology matters more than ever. I couldn’t be prouder of what this festival brought to life in Amsterdam — one dance floor, completely free.”
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