I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) - Live Performances

Live Performances

Houston has performed the song on almost all of her world and regional tours. She premiered the song, during the later shows of The Greatest Love World Tour in 1986, before its official release of the next year, introducing the song along with "Didn't We Almost Have It All" as new tunes from her upcoming album. During her European promotion for a new album in April–May 1987, Houston performed the song on various TV shows such as Domenica In (Italian TV entertainment programme), Montreux Golden Rose Rock Festival: IM&MC Gala (May 15, 1987), and Top of the Pops (May 21, 1987), where she sang live, unlike almost all the other performers who lip-synced on the programme.

Moment of Truth World Tour in 1987-1988 had Houston performing it as the finale song of the tour. She performed the song without back-up dancers on the North American leg (1987), and with four dancers on the European leg of the tour (1988). Two different performances of the song were taped in Saratoga Springs, New York on September 2, 1987 and at Wembley Arena in London, United Kingdom in May 1988. The first was broadcast on MTV, during the 4th MTV Video Music Awards on September 11, 1987. The second was taken from one night of nine sold-out Wembley Arena shows, aired on Italian TV Channel, Rai Uno's special program for her in 1988. On March 2, 1988, she opened the night of the 30th Annual Grammy Awards singing the song. During the European leg of the tour, she participated in the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute Concert and performed the song in front of about 72,000 people at Wembley Stadium on June 11, 1988.

Houston also performed the song as one of setlist on fourteen-date-tour in Japan, Feels So Right Tour. One performance of the song on the tour was taped at Yokohama Arena on January 7, 1990 and later broadcast on Japanese TV channel. On March 17, she sang the song live on That's What Friends Are For: Arista Records 15th Anniversary AIDS Benefit Concert, televised on CBS, April 17, 1990. In 1991, she opened I'm Your Baby Tonight World Tour with "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)." Three different performances of the song were taped and broadcast. The first is in Yokohama, Japan on March 15 and the second is in Norfolk, Virginia, the concert titled Welcome Home Heroes, televised live on HBO, March 31 and later released as the video of the same name. The third is in A Coruña, Spain on September 29, broadcast on Spanish TV channel and later featured on the select setlist on This Is My Life, her first hourlong TV special, aired on ABC, May 6, 1992.

The song was also performed The Bodyguard World Tour (1993–1994). On the tour, five different performances of the song were taped and televised; four was on the South American leg of the tour in 1994―Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Venezuela―and one was in Johannesburg, South Africa, broadcast live via satellite on HBO, November 12, 1994; the concert titled "The Concert for a New South Africa." Houston performed the song at a 25-minute pregame show of the 1994 FIFA World Cup Final at Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, broadcast in more than 180 countries on July 17, 1994. "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" was included in the setlist on two regional tour, The Pacific Rim Tour (1997) and The European Tour (1998). During the 1999 My Love Is Your Love World Tour, the remix version of the song was performed as a part of "1980s Dance Medley" along with "How Will I Know." One performance of the song on the tour was taped in Sopot, Poland and broadcast live on Polish TV channel TVP1 on August 22, 1999. In 2000, she performed the song as a similar version of '99 tour's on Arista Records 25th Anniversary Celebration, taped at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on April 10, and broadcast on May 15 on NBC. The ceremony was released as a VHS and DVD titled 25 Years of #1 Hits ― Arista Records 25th Anniversary Celebration in June 2000.