Music & Concerts
Gospel diva Sandi Patty bids D.C. farewell with hit-packed concert
It’s a bittersweet period for fans of gospel legend Sandi Patty who brought her “Forever Grateful Farewell Tour” to Takoma Park, Md., last weekend
Sandi Patty brought her ‘Forever Grateful Farewell Tour’ to the D.C. area last weekend. (Washington Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)
It’s a bittersweet period for fans of gospel legend Sandi Patty, who brought her “Forever Grateful Farewell Tour” to Takoma Park, Md., last weekend.
Though her bread and butter and greatest fame was among white U.S. evangelicals, she never shunned gays (which is more than we could say for Anita Bryant) and though always careful to never say anything too overtly supportive — she’d rocked her base enough with an early ‘90s divorce and paid a huge price for it — she’s had gays in her camp for years and never batted an eye at her legions of gay fans.
Returning to the same church (Sligo Seventh-day Adventist) where she wrapped her “Everlasting Tour” last year at this time, Patty — this was the 70th show of her 120-city tour slated to wrap with a San Juan cruise in early 2017 — pulled out all the stops and delivered her most elaborate stage show since her “Le Voyage”-era shows circa 1993.
In recent years, most non-seasonal Patty concerts have consisted of her singing to tracks while longtime pianist Steve Potts accompanied her (though “Another Time Another Place Tour” vet Jay Rouse has been with her the last couple years). On a lucky night, the church choir would back her on a few numbers. But for this show, Patty has a four-piece band, several family members doubling as backup singers (including husband Don Peslis and son Jon Helvering), the five-man “popera” group Veritas and on many if not all nights, a choir as well. The lighting and video, featuring many classic Patty career clips, is also far more elaborate than in recent years.
Only a curmudgeon would balk at the set list which featured a robust array of Patty classics such as the tender “In Heaven’s Eyes,” gospel barn-burner (and Patty concert staple) “Yes God is Real,” sing-along classic “Love in Any Language” and, of course, “We Shall Behold Him,” the 1982 GMA song of the year that was Patty’s first big hit (though she’d made her major-label debut in 1979).
While some may lament that too many classics like “Upon This Rock” or “Let There Be Praise” were glossed over in mere seconds in several lengthy medleys, it covered a lot of classic ground the same way it’s done at a Janet Jackson concert. Sure, if somebody like Bruce Springsteen took this approach, it would sound like a groan-inducing sellout or lounge act, but since so many of Patty’s most-loved songs are stylistically similar and feature rafter-raising (and vocally taxing) climaxes that make Celine Dion’s material sound positively reserved, it made sense to take the medley approach. Especially effective was a few lines of “The Day He Wore My Crown” added to the “Via Dolorosa” medley since the spring leg of the tour and a duets medley that found the jaw-droppingly talented Veritas guys standing in impressively for Larnelle Harris and Wayne Watson on Patty’s classic duets.
Sandi Patty’s farewell tour is her most elaborate concert production since the early ’90s. (Washington Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)
Although it’s nice to see material from Patty’s latest (and she claims final) studio album “Forever Grateful” included such as “Anthem of Praise” and “All I Gotta Do,” perhaps a better choice for the latter slot would have been a medley of “Face to Faith,” “Willing to Wait,” “Someone Up There Loves Me,” “Pour on the Power” and maybe “Somebody Believed,” those tear-it-up gospel numbers Patty was always so great at delivering. Or maybe even an alternate praise medley with second-tier hits like “Shine Down,” “King of Glory” and “Come Let’s Worship Him.” Oh well — when you have a 35-year body of work to pull from, you can’t cover everything. The only legit complaint was that the choir wasn’t high enough in the sound mix and got lost more often than not.
Patty was in resplendent voice throughout. At 60, her robust soprano sounds as booming as ever. She does sound different than she did 30 years ago — there’s a heavier body to her timbre than there used to be but for me it’s a handy tradeoff. She may have had a more bell-like clarion purity to her vocals back then, but there was also a slight brassiness to her upper register that, to my ear, has been calibrated by age. She said in a pre-show Q&A session that wanted to go out on top and not be one of those singers who hung on too long. Ehhhh, I see what she’s saying but hate to see her hanging it up when the money notes are still so gloriously there.
I’m hoping, of course, that she’ll pull a Cher or Tina Turner on us and after five or seven years of home life and grandkids realize she misses the thrill of the crowd, or at least the pull of the studio. Even when eschewing her trademark high notes on lower-key albums like “Simply Sandi” or “Christmas Blessings,” Patty is always compelling. While it left many fans cold, the latter, a 2014 release that was her jazziest effort ever, made for enticing evidence that she might be wholly compelling and convincing doing non-seasonal material in that vein. A stool, a little jazz combo, some standards — she could totally pull it off.
However if she is content to raise heirloom tomatoes or teach (which she will be doing) or whatever, she has more than earned the right having spent 35 years schlepping around the country. Her oeuvre is a staggering body of work, especially from, oh, say 1981-1993, a particularly white-hot decade-plus that stands the test of time the same way the Beatles canon or the Beethoven sonatas do.
Patty was peerless because she was the right artist at the right time with the right voice and the right drive with access to the best songwriters, producers (especially Greg Nelson) and arrangers at a time when she enjoyed a nice, long run before the internet started eating savagely into budgets and major record labels.
Sandi Patty with (in back from left) Scott Lawrence and James Berrian of the group Veritas and her son Jonathan Helvering, a gifted singer in his own right. (Washington Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)
And nobody ever talks about this, but her heyday also happened to be when big was in. It’s no coincidence that “Dallas” — and everything’s bigger in Texas — was the biggest show of the ‘80s right at the time Patty was belting out “We Shall Behold Him” and “Upon This Rock.” The planets aligned and she didn’t just hit the gospel music zeitgest, she was it. And yet — another oft-missed point — you never felt bludgeoned by her. As an adult, I’ve come to admire her tender moments like “There is a Savior” and “O Calvary’s Lamb” to a degree approaching the big stuff.
Her career eventually self-corrected to the point that she was by the 2010s probably about where she would have been anyway had her divorce from John Helvering — whose mug is curiously whitewashed from the tourbook and flashback photos, though he was at her Ohio concert two weeks ago — not wiped the luster off her ‘80s dominance (she never won a Grammy, had an RIAA certification for gold or platinum or filled an arena on her own after that). Personal travails notwithstanding, it coincided with a period of artistic experimentation on albums like “Find it On the Wings” and “These Days” that didn’t always fully jell. But of course you expect that in any lengthy career. Her lowest lows artistically were never egregious. There was always something to love on every album.
But for a moment last Sunday night, it might as well have been 1986 or 1988 again and Patty held court in all her glory. For us long-time total geek-out fans, she has enriched our lives immeasurably.
SET LIST
1. Anthem of Praise
2. Praise Medley
3. MEDLEY: Agnus Dei/A Mighty Fortress/All Hail the Power (Veritas)
4. Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee
5. Love Will Be Our Home
6. Farther Along
7. The Prayer
* testimony
8. In Heaven’s Eyes
9. MEDLEY: Upon This Rock/They Could Not/In the Name of the Lord/How Great Thou Art
INTERMISSION
* Star-Spangled Banner video montage
10. I Can Only Imagine (Veritas)
11. The Lord’s Prayer (Veritas)
12. Love in Any Language
13. All I Gotta Do
14. Yes, God is Real
15. MEDLEY: Another Time, Another Place/More Than Wonderful/I’ve Just Seen Jesus
16. Revelation Song
17. MEDLEY: The Day He Wore My Crown/Via Dolorosa/The Old Rugged Cross
18. We Shall Behold Him
19. It Is Well With My Soul
20. How We Love (Beth Nielsen Chapman cover)
* In the In-Between was performed at a pre-concert Q&A session
Music & Concerts
Queer mega stars (and allies) ready to take D.C. stages this fall
Watch LGBTQ icons light up stages across the DMV as they sing, dance, and drag their way through spectacular shows.
One of the best ways to welcome fall is by catching LGBTQ performers (and their allies) lighting up some of the D.C. area’s biggest stages. From country and pop to drag and rock, the season is packed with shows you won’t want to miss.
Maren Morris – The country, rock, and pop diva—known for hits like “The Bones” and for standing up against Nashville’s anti-LGBTQ voices—takes the stage at Wolf Trap (1551 Trap Rd, Vienna, Va.) on Friday, Sept. 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $64.
RuPaul – The mother of modern drag and host of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” will spin a DJ set at Echostage (2135 Queens Chapel Rd NE) in Northeast D.C. on Sept. 20. Before RuPaul swaps wigs for headphones, Trade and Number 9 owner Ed Bailey will warm up the decks. For tickets and details visit echostage.com.
Conan Gray – The queer pop prince, celebrated for his Gen Z anthems like “Heather” and “Maniac,” brings his Wishbone Pajama Show to EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, VA, (4500 Patriot Cir) on Sept. 20 at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $113. For more info visit shop.conangray.com/pages/tour.
All Things Go Music Festival – With a lineup that includes Noah Kahan, Lucy Dacus, Kesha, Clairo, Doechii, and more, the beloved LGBTQ-friendly festival takes over Merriweather Post Pavilion (10475 Little Patuxent Pkwy, Columbia, Md.) Sept. 26–28. For tickets and details visit allthingsgofestival.com.
BERTHA: Grateful Drag – This unique tribute brings drag artistry and the sounds of the Grateful Dead to The Atlantis (2047 9th St NW) on Sept. 27. Tickets start at $47 at theatlantis.com.
Peach PRC – Rising Australian pop star and out lesbian, whose confessional tracks like “Perfect for You” and “Forever Drunk” have made her a queer TikTok darling, performs at The Atlantis on Sept. 29 at 6:30 p.m. The show is general admission only. Additional details are on theatlantis.com.
Addison Rae – The TikTok star-turned-pop princess, who’s crossed over into music with glossy hits like “Diet Pepsi” brings her sold out show to The Anthem (901 Wharf St., S.W.) on Sept. 30. Tickets are sold out, but resale options start around $80. For more info visit theanthemdc.com.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show 50th Anniversary – Celebrate the cult classic that’s been a queer midnight-movie staple for decades, with Barry Bostwick (a.k.a. Brad Majors) at the Warner Theatre (513 13th St., N.W.) on Oct. 2 at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $41 via Ticketmaster.
Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight & Stephanie Mills – Four legends, one stage. Between Khan’s funk, LaBelle’s soul, Knight’s R&B, and Mills’ powerhouse vocals, this concert at Capital One Arena (601 F St NW) on Oct. 3 at 8 p.m. promises pure diva magic. Tickets start at $103. For more details visit capitalonearena.com.
Lorde – Joined by The Japanese House and Chanel Beads, the Grammy-winning New Zealand singer-songwriter behind “Royals” and “Solar Power” returns to The Anthem on Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. Lorde has long been embraced by queer fans for her dreamy pop and subversive lyrics. For more info visit theanthemdc.com.
Andy Bell (of Erasure) – The British queer rock icon, best known for synth-pop classics like “A Little Respect” and “Chains of Love,” brings his Ten Crowns Tour to the Lincoln Theatre (1215 U St., N.W.) on Friday, Oct. 17 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $90.45.
Doechii – The self-described queer “Swamp Princess”—and WorldPride 2025 headliner—continues her breakout year with the Live from the Swamp Tour at The Anthem on Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. Known for blending rap, R&B, and avant-garde performance art, Doechii is one to watch. Tickets start at $153.
Neon Trees – The out-and-proud Utah rockers behind “Everybody Talks” and “Animal” perform at the Lincoln Theatre on Friday, Oct. 24 at 8 p.m. Lead singer Tyler Glenn, who came out publicly in 2014, has become a strong queer voice in alternative rock. For tickets and info visit impconcerts.com.
Sasha Colby – The “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 15 winner strips down on the Stripped II Tour at the Warner Theatre on Nov. 2 at 8 p.m. Tickets available now on Ticketmaster.
Lola Young – The bisexual indie-pop sensation, whose raw songwriting has earned her millions of TikTok fans and multiple chart soaring hits visits The Anthem on Nov. 9 at 8 p.m. Tickets are still available.
Opera Lafayette
Featuring Mary Elizabeth Williams as Dido
+ Elijah McCormack, Chelsea Helm
Oct. 16, 7:30 p.m.
Sixth & I
PostClassical Ensemble
The Pale Blue Do: A Musical Voyage Inspired By Nature
Featuring National Geographic’s Enric Sala, Guest Curator
Wednesday, November 19, 7:30 p.m.
Terrace Theater
Washington Concert Opera
Starring Kate Lindsey, Theo Hoffman, John Moore, and Fran Daniel Laucerica
Nov. 23, 6 p.m.
Lisner Auditorium
Washington Master Chorale
An intimate a capella concert taking place in an architectural jewel, featuring cherished choral gems from Anglican and Catholic tradition and early American hymns. The concert will also present the world premiere of Christopher Hoh’s Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of Hosts, and hymn singing featuring Robert Church, organist and choirmaster at St David’s.
Oct. 18, 7:30 p.m.
October 19, 5 p.m.
St. David’s Episcopal Church
Music & Concerts
Cyndi Lauper ready to have fun in Virginia
Superstar to bring final leg of farewell tour to Jiffy Lube Live
Superstar Cyndi Lauper will bring the final leg of her farewell tour “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” to Bristow, Va., on Thursday, July 24 at Jiffy Lube Live.
Lauper’s international Farewell Tour – her first major headlining run in a decade – kicked off in North America last October, and included her first time ever headlining (and selling out) Madison Square Garden. Lauper’s performances have earned raves from the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Billboard, and many more, and surprise guests have included Chaka Khan, Sam Smith, and Hayley Williams. The tour just visited the U.K. and Europe, and will head to Australia and Japan in April.
Tickets are available on Live Nation’s website.
Music & Concerts
Red, White, and Beyoncé: Queen Bey takes Cowboy Carter to D.C. for the Fourth of July
The legendary music icon performed on July 4 and 7 to a nearly sold-out Northwest Stadium.
Just in time for Independence Day, Beyoncé lit up Landover’s Commanders Field (formerly FedEx Field) with fireworks and fiery patriotism, bringing her deeply moving and genre-defying “Cowboy Carter” tour to the Washington, D.C. area.
The tour, which takes the global icon across nine cities in support of her chart-topping and Grammy-winning country album “Cowboy Carter,” landed in Prince George’s County, Maryland, over the Fourth of July weekend. From the moment Beyoncé stepped on stage, it was clear this was more than just a concert — it was a reclamation.
Drawing from classic Americana, sharp political commentary, and a reimagined vision of country music, the show served as a powerful reminder of how Black Americans — especially Black women — have long been overlooked in spaces they helped create. “Cowboy Carter” released in March 2024, is the second act in Beyoncé’s genre-traversing trilogy. With it, she became the first Black woman to win a Grammy for Best Country Album and also took home the coveted Album of the Year.
The record examines the Black American experience through the lens of country music, grappling with the tension between the mythology of the American Dream and the lived realities of those historically excluded from it. That theme comes alive in the show’s opening number, “American Requiem,” where Beyoncé sings:
“Said I wouldn’t saddle up, but
If that ain’t country, tell me, what is?
Plant my bare feet on solid ground for years
They don’t, don’t know how hard I had to fight for this
When I sing my song…”
Throughout the performance, Beyoncé incorporated arresting visuals: Black cowboys on horseback, vintage American iconography, and Fox News clips criticizing her genre shift — all woven together with voiceovers from country legends like Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson. The result was a multimedia masterclass in storytelling and subversion.
The “Cowboy Carter” tour has been a social media sensation for weeks, with fans scrambling for tickets, curating elaborate “cowboy couture” outfits, and tailgating under the summer sun. At Commanders Field, thousands waited in long lines for exclusive merch and even longer ones to enter the stadium — a pilgrimage that, for many, felt more like attending church than a concert.
One group out in full force for the concert was Black queer men — some rocking “denim on denim on denim on denim,” while others opted for more polished Cowboy Couture looks. The celebration of Black identity within Americana was ever-present, making the concert feel like the world’s biggest gay country-western club.
A standout moment of the night was the appearance of Beyoncé’s 13-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy Carter. Commanding the stage with poise and power, she matched the intensity and choreography of her mother and the professional dancers — a remarkable feat for someone her age and a clear sign that the Carter legacy continues to shine.
It’s been nearly two decades since Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child parted ways, and since then, she’s more than lived up to her title as the voice of a generation. With “Cowboy Carter,” she’s not just making music — she’s rewriting history and reclaiming the space Black artists have always deserved in the country canon.
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