The weather was in complete cooperation for this outdoor festival orchestrated by gay icon and 80's pop diva Cyndi Lauper. Attendees were instantly greeted by people handing out bags of purple bracelets sporting the phrase "Erase Hate," and advertising the site matthewshepard.org; to which a portion of the proceeds from the night's events would be donated.

The message was equally represented under the tent. Cardboard cut outs of Lady Liberty, holding a microphone ablaze with a rainbow flame, and "Equality for all" tattooed on her arm, stood at each end of the stage. The stage equipment was equally adorned in rainbow colors, except for green. I stood there wondering what green had done to piss everyone off, and then I noticed the green Velcro used to hold down the wires on the stage, "oh there it is."

As the crowd funneled in it was easy to pick out the openly flamboyant members of the community, yet most of them were not so obvious. I felt waves of pride wash over me as I saw parents with their children. This country will truly have a great future if we can teach our children love for diversity. Then there was that guy, you know the one. That one guy who always seems to dance his heart out to every song even though the people around him are all sitting calmly. at least here, that guy could dance!

On with the show. Margaret Cho opened as the night's MC. Throwing PC to the wind as usual, and making us laugh hysterically in the process, she spouted humor mixed with a message, "Being gay is not a choice; but it is a lot of fun." I think we got the point when she introduced Dresden Dolls by saying "I'm gonna leave my pussy out and maybe one will fall in."

The Gossip were the first to perform. Beth Ditto gracing the stage looking like Ricki Lake in Hairspray and lulling the audience with her smooth jazzy voice. She dedicated the song Standing in the way of Control as a reaction to George Bushes reelection, asking her gay friends to shout out "We're gonna do what we want anyway; we're gonna fuck who we want anyway."

Next to the stage were Dresden Dolls who were met with great fanfare from their hometown fans. They began with impressive energy,snapping their heads in tune with the tempo to accentuate the angry feminist sound that their fans have come to know and love. They put on a visually pleasing performance in the most simplistic way. Small simple movements almost made me feel as though I were watching a contemporary dance as they sang Coin-Operated Boy, and the crowd cheered because for most of them, this was their favorite song.

Rufus Wainwright and his gang took to the stage dressed like a barber shop quartet, even though there were eight of them. He wooed us all with his smooth voice and told us what an honor it was to be sharing a stage with two women who were very influential to him as a toddler. He told us his first concert was Cyndi Lauper when he was eight; and he used to sit in the back of his dad's car singing Heart of Glass pretending to be Blondie.

Libidos rose as Debbie Harry crossed the stage in a mini skirt and cleavage flaunting top. Her sexy voice didn't let the hormones calm any. She sang a couple new songs but kept us in the 80's mood with her classic simple dance moves that seem to transcend time. And even though the crowd was "excited," most of them were eerily still... except for the dancing dude; remember him?

Erasure got the crowd to their feet for the first time all night. He mixed genres with the sound of 80's techno keyboard and his 70's style rump shakin'. I would like to offer a quote, or tell you which songs were played, but the crowd was screaming too loud for me to hear much of anything. I guess they liked it.

And finally, the Diva of the night, Cyndi Lauper. Cyndi delivered most of her message during the intermission. She let us know that she wanted to do this tour because she has friends and family in the community and wanted everyone to feel empowered. Judy Shepard taught to never hate the healers; "hate is no longer acceptable directed toward anyone." We watched a video aimed at enforcing the anti hate message and encouraging the audience to write to congress to pass the hate crime bill. And then she sang. Entering the stage in a tight black dress with a large feather hat that transformed itself into the colors of the rainbow, she sang and danced across the stage with an energy that would put most young rock stars to shame. She sang all the songs we love, including the song that always gets her "into trouble;" She Bop, and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. The other bands joined her to end the show with a collaborative True Colors performance that brought tears of unity to my eyes.

With all the bands spreading their words of love, and the crowd eating up every second of it, I would say the night was a huge success with not once ounce of disappointment... except maybe for the guys and girls hoping Debbie Harry's shirt would open just a little bit more.