Entertainment Weekly reviews Madonna's tour fashion choices from over the years, from "Virgin" to "Sticky." Personally, I think a more interesting analysis would have been the tours themselves, of which I was a huge fan until seeing the career-in-crisis "Girlie Show"on HBO back in '93, at which point I decided "Blond Ambition" (two nights at the L.A. Sports Arena with my BFF Mark -- fab-u-lous!!!) was to forever be Madonna at her "peak," and maybe it was best to leave it at that. One look at our girl performing on a (disco-ball-inspired) mirrored cross (mwwwwuuaaaah!) on the "Confessions" tour in '06 all was the confirmation I needed.
5 comments:
Ken, those are very harsh words! Madonna did dance VERY suggestively with the priest during Like a Prayer on the Blond Ambition Tour, so I don't understand the outrage over the Confessions Tour. Mmmmm, I think there is a deeper issue...
You couldn't be more wrong to think not seeing Madonna live past 1993 has been a good idea...Blond Ambition was brilliant and certainly eclipsed Virgin and Who's That Girl, but Girlie Show—at the time I saw it—was actually my favorite. I hated her look (the cropped hair) but loved the songs and presentation (however, the broadcast and DVD, however, reallllly didn't do it justice, I would agree).
Drowned World was an amazing rock show, very moody and dark. "Sky Fits Heaven" is one of the best numbers she's ever done live.
Re-Invention was loads of fun, but I didn't love it the first night I saw it due to a lousy experience.
Confessions might be her best tour because it had oldies as well as her best new stuff and still had a lot of her trademark esoterica that confounds and amuses and engages. I think most fans would rank this as her best.
I just saw Sticky & Sweet the 2nd time and liked it a lot. This show has conceptual issues (or rather, it has no concept, it's just mindless fun) but this is easily Madonna's personal best performance—she looks terrific, has lots of dancing, still sits down to sing beautifully ("You Must Love Me" and "Miles Away" in particular), adds genuine audience interaction (for the very first tiiiime) and is clearly having a ball throughout.
If you like Madonna at all, have liked her older or some of her recent music, and can afford $385, I can't imagine missing her. She is THE live performer of the era. In fact, even if you're just "meh" on her, seeing her live is amazing and uplifts all the material you might only be able to take or leave on CD.
mattrett: to each his own, but you could at least put the word LIVE in quotes when you call her the "live" performer of the era! (i enjoy her shows too but surely you haven't been duped into thinking singing over that many backing tracks constitutes a "live" performance.)
she may put on a good show, but i think Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen and a dozen other people would leave her in the dust as far as "live-ness" is concerned.
"Anyone who lip-synchs in public onstage when you pay 75 pounds ($134) to see them should be shot," Elton John said about the entrance fee to Madonna's Reinvention tour.
"Madonna, best fucking live act? Fuck off," he added before asking: "Since when has lip-synching been live?" he asked.
I think you're right, my fair blogger. It was fresh in '90. Today? Not so much ...
Fabulous Madonna Concert
1. Get 20-30 dancers on stage
2. Insist on doing way too much new material
3. Drop the f-bomb repeatedly for no reason
4. "Shock" the crowd with your pansexuality
5. "Shock" the crowd with blasphemy
Repeat as needed
Sprinkle with political message as needed
Yield: Serves 30,000-140,000 screaming queens
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