“I have no real projections except I want to play the San Francisco Opera House. I am—and I’m saying this—I am going to play the opera house! It’s going to be a fabulous show with a full orchestra, lots of costumes, lots of lighting and lots of everything. Lots! And whenever you think you have too much, you should put on more, just to be safe.” — Sylvester, in an October 1977 interview with The Advocate.
On the evening of March 11, 1979, Sylvester’s resolution came true. Previously released in edited form as the LP Living Proof on Fantasy Records, the complete two-hour event at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House can now be enjoyed in its entirety thanks to a new release from Craft Recordings, Live at the Opera House.
It’s a dazzling set, with Sylvester performing many beloved hits—”You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”, “I (Who Have Nothing)”, “Dance (Disco Heat)”—alongside a full band, including Patrick Cowley on synthesizers and the singing duo Two Tons O’ Fun, later known as The Weather Girls. There’s fast and steamy disco, of course, but Sylvester also performs gospel, blues, jazz, and ballads that regularly stretch past the 10-minute mark as he sings, scats, and tells stories.
In addition to the tunes, the release is a document of an SF legend, with the recording capturing the moment when city supervisor and gay rights activist Harry Britt, acting on behalf of then-mayor Dianne Feinstein, joined Sylvester onstage to officially declare March 11th as Sylvester Day. Far from a rigid, bureaucratic ritual, the moment finds Britt emotional and laughing with joy as he reads aloud the formal city decree.
The recording is bursting with joyous moments like this, and despite the grandiose venue (far larger than the local spots where Sylvester first started), it feels like a personal, intimate celebration for friends and family. On “You Are My Friend,” he thanks his community for supporting him from the early days performing the Elephant Walk at 18th and Castro and squeezing in “our first rehearsal in a Volkswagen on our way to Marin County” to his growing stardom as he traveled the world. Yet he professes his determination to stay in San Francisco when referencing his visits to LA, New York, and Paris: “That was fabulous, but it ain’t like it is right here.”
