Debbie Gibson’s Holiday Show Was the Bucket-List Night I Needed

As a young girl, the first songs I ever belted out were holiday carols. Then Debbie Gibson and Tiffany came along, and I became a pop star fiend, belting out “Foolish Beat” or “I Think We’re Alone Now” to friends at camp, kind relatives, and total strangers at every turn. So it was totally fitting that I spent Thursday night in Manhattan, belting out both holiday carols and Debbie Gibson hits with the woman herself.

On a lark, my Gen X college friends and I snapped up tickets to Gibson’s Winterlicious holiday tour, but less so for the holiday tunes and more so for staples of my prepubescent days, like “Shake Your Love.” I didn’t read any reviews of previous Gibson concert experiences, and fully expected the entire audience would look like me, bopping away to her late-1980s hits.

But when we got to The Gramercy Theatre I remembered: Winterlicious would be a seated show. There would be no jumping up and down or moving around, like Gibson and her spritely backup dancers: Buddy Casimano and Eddie Bennett.

Yet I didn’t end up minding too much, because the show was so good.

Wearing a tight, hot-pink A-line tank dress, a barefoot Gibson kicked off her set with a couple of holiday tunes, followed by a mashup of “Electric Youth” and “I Feel It Still” A few songs in, she changed into a white dress – and grabbed heels – to dance and sing a few numbers, including a version of “White Christmas,” which she paired with a video segment dedicated to her father.

That was the first of several outfit switch-ups from sparkly to snuggly attire throughout the set, which segued from Broadway-style holiday classics to DG originals. Gibson took a couple of breaks to walk through the audience, which added a sweet, personal touch to the night. To my delight, she asked us to get up and dance a couple of times in the second half of her show.

Of course, my favorite moment was when she headed to her piano for “Foolish Beat” – the song that made her the youngest artist, at 16, to write, record, and produce a Billboard #1 single. She stayed there through a passionate delivery of her ballad “Lost in Your Eyes.”

I also loved her 10-minute sing-and-dance medley, in which she covered everything from Michael Jackson songs to a mashup of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” and Olivia Newton John’s “Xanadu.” Her dancers and backup band – including backing vocalist Ronda Grinds. saxophone player/percussionist Adam Tese, and drummer Joey Finger – didn’t miss a beat (pardon the lack of originality here, but I’m too busy to think of a better, more original way to phrase this).

All in all, it was a perfect night that truly warmed my heart. Even that slightly hippie version of “Shake Your Love.”

Marisa Torrieri Bloom is the editor and founder of Rockmommy.