90 Minutes With the Queen

Songstress Dana Owens took the stage @ Hard Rock Live Orlando where her larger-than-life presence bestowed generous gifts of song upon her admiring subjects who accepted graciously and pleaded for more. Her entourage included keyboards, a brass section, 3 backup singers, 2 percussionists and a partridge in a pear tree. The band had the audience in a frenzy prior to her entrance and when she appeared, she wore a bespangled black sweater and black pants, indicating that the evening would be quite casual and full of fun. She was happier than a puppy in a roomfull of rubber balls to perform to the less than full house and didn't let the energy down during her 90 minute set.Better known as 'Queen Latifah', Ms Owens went from jazz, to blues, to funk, to rap, to movie music and standards - as smooth as velvet and edgy as a bread knife - she covered them all. "I'm Gonna Live 'Till I Die" opened the evening with her brass section punctuating the kicks of the song and was followed by many of the pieces from her "The Dana Owens Album" & "Travelin' Light" projects.
She had fun bantering with the audience and featured various band members and hot, hot, hot backup vocalists who did duets and riffs as if they were the featured act. But the Queen was always there to take back the spotlight and display the incredible range of voices. Phoebe Snow's "The Poetry Man" was performed with a sexy smokiness that could get milk from a crowbar. "Georgia Rose" was a poinant moment as Ms Owens sang of a woman weighed down by racial issues followed by "I Know Where I've Been" (from "Hairspray") as contrast to the previous offering. "Mercy Mercy Mercy" & "Baby Get Lost" were two of the evening's showstoppers.The Queen had her subjects in the palm of her hand and our front row seats helped make the evening a larger than life one. Long live the Queen!