Concert Review
Debbie Gibson
Bear’s Den
Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino
Niagara Falls, NY
Friday May 28, 2023
Review and Photos: Joseph Suto
The Western NY region was finally treated to a full Debbie Gibson solo show in fact, two of them in the Bear’s Den inside Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino this past Thursday and Friday. Gibson brought a full ensemble of musicians and dancers to help her deliver a unique show inside the 440 seat intimate venue.
She came from out of the blue in 1987 and came out of the gate with four top-10 songs including the number one smash “Foolish Beat”. She has been with us ever since and has released new music regularly over the years. For her last two albums the very talented Berklee graduate Sean Thomas not only wrote and produced a good portion but also played on them. Thomas was also in attendance on guitar for the pair of shows.
Gibson played a bunch of songs “One Step Closer”, “LuvU2Much” and “The Body Remembers” that served among the highlights. She also had a pair of medleys one which saw her play parts of hits off Out of the Blue and the other a medley of ABBA hits. My critique on the medleys is the ABBA one was decent but to mix in mega-hits “Shake Your Love” and “Only in MY Dreams” took away from the fans actually enjoying the whole song. Those were two Top-5 songs that deserved to be heard in full.
It was an entertaining show but it almost felt like a tv variety show from the 70’s in some aspects. There were a few costume and prop changes as well giving the show a unique look especially for the normally laid back venue. She also surrounded herself with very talented personnel but in some ways she kind of took herself away from being the full-on star of the show. Would have been nice to just see her with a backing band performing her music without all the fanfare of clutter up on the stage. Perhaps next time.
Set List
One Step Closer
Legs
LuvU2Much
Foolish Beat
Fame
Electric Youth
The Body Remembers
Me Not Loving You
Out of the Blue Medley
Out of the Blue / Shake Your Love / Red Hot / Only in My Dreams
Lost in Your Eyes
ABBA Medley
Mamma Mia / Fernando / Take A Chance on Me / Money, Money, Money / Knowing Me, Knowing You/Winner Takes It All / Super Trouper / Thank You for the Music / Mamma Mia / Dancing Queen
Freedom
Legendary
Shock Your Mama
Where I Wanna Be
Cheers
Dance 4U
What Are We Gonna Do?
We Could Be Together
