Strobe lights were flashing and music blaring at the popular lounge, home to one of the hottest party scenes in Florida -- and where 50 people were killed and 53 injured in a mass shooting today.
Just a few days earlier, Orlando's vibrant LGBT community had marked the annual Gay Days celebration, one of the biggest events anywhere in the US dedicated to gay pride.
The partying was to go on at Pulse, a popular dance club and bar known for its drag shows.
"Come see me show time at 12 am at Pulse Orlando Doors open at 9 pm. My sister Jasmine international is performing with me," posted Michaels -- who escaped the shooting unharmed.
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Scores of people turned out for the show: A contest of dancing, lip-synching drag queens took the floor one by one, showing their best dance moves, sashaying in high heels, as patrons laughed, nursed their cocktails, tossed dollar bills onto the stage.
Crowd of patrons thronged the area just off-stage, raised bottles of alcohols and drank shots, amid a crescendo of laughter.
Then, barely discernible under the cheers and the throbbing music, were the sounds of what one reveler said sounded like drumbeats punctuating the soundtrack.
Patron Christopher Hanson said at first he thought the loud, rhythmic sounds were part of the music "until you heard too many shots. It was like, bang, bang, bang, bang."
At some point, it dawned on him that the "loud banging noises" were actually "gunshots going off," Hanson said.
"I just saw bodies going down and I was ordering a drink at the bar. I fell down. I crawled out. People were trying to escape out the back.
"I just know that when I hit the ground, I was crawling and I hit my elbows and my knees. When I got across the street, there were people -- blood everywhere.