NOT THAT AN all-male Madonna tribute really requires an introduction, but the gentlemen of San Francisco's Mandonna aptly describe themselves as "what would happen if the Material Girl grew chest hair and started hanging out with a glam lounge act." Inspired by other reversed-gender cover groups such as AC/DShe and Iron Maidens, the seven-man band formed in 2003 and – perhaps surprisingly – quickly established themselves as a thoroughly entertaining music spectacle. Just don't dismiss them as Maddy wannabes doing a half-assed, karaoke-style impersonation: by incorporating dancing, costume changes, live singing, and real instruments, the cheeky, refreshingly unselfconscious Mandonna are also what would happen if Mrs. Guy Ritchie didn't take herself quite so seriously.

Fronted by Mark Edwards, a better-than-expected vocalist who resembles a bearded carnie more than a cone bra-wearing kabbalah enthusiast, Mandonna did a damn fine job getting the Great American Music Hall audience into the groove. No wonder: opening with "Vogue," featuring Edwards striking poses in a Marie Antoinette getup circa Madonna's famous 1990 MTV Video Music Awards performance, the 20-song set was rarely less than an all-killer-no-filler crowd-pleaser that almost exclusively drew from the '80s, with only "Beautiful Stranger" and "Ray of Light" plucked from Madonna's largely disastrous electronic era. (Learning from Madge's American Life misstep, they mercifully skipped the "I drink a double latte / I get a double shot-ay" rap.)

Mandonna certainly did their homework too. Edwards and his mic headset-sporting backup dancer-singers had song-appropriate (albeit endearingly slipshod) choreography and costumes – hot pants, mesh shirts, feather boas, and bare chests were not in short supply – that gave the show the feeling of an actual production. As with the detail that went into the "Vogue" performance, "Like a Virgin" found Edwards writhing around in a wedding gown like it was the 1984 MTV VMA broadcast all over again. Likewise, "Cherish" and "Into the Groove" evoked the renditions Madonna did on her 1990 Blonde Ambition Tour, making for a show that appealed to both casual Maddy listeners and more knowledgeable, fanatical followers.

Not everything in the show quite worked. Some of the performances seemed conceptually questionable. Yellow genie pants for "Borderline"? Cowbell-banging sailors in "Holiday"? The band's inventiveness sagged a bit near the end with rather straightforward, visually unexciting run-throughs of "Dress You Up," "La Isla Bonita," and "Open Your Heart." Things picked up again for the encore, however: "Crazy for You" became a prom-night rock ballad, while an ecstatic "Ray of Light" and "Like a Prayer," complete with a prerecorded choir and Edwards in a priest's cloak, turned the crowd into a smiling, sweat-soaked sea of dancers.

Which is, truth be told, more than I can say for the tepid responses received by many original groups I've seen lately. Tribute bands tend to get dismissed as hacks incapable of making their own artistic statements, but when an act like Mandonna can get an entire – and, believe it or not, largely straight – audience to dance and sing along, such criticism seems unnecessarily nitpicky if not outright condescending. So quit rolling your eyes because, while they may not know what it feels like to be a girl, the men in Mandonna sure are having a heckuva good time pretending they do. Mandonna perform Feb. 5, Last Day Saloon, S.F. (415) 387-6344. (Jimmy Draper)