Madonna

Went to the opening of Madonna's Sticky and Sweet tour, October 4th, 2008.
My first Madonna concert, and boy was I blown away. She opened with songs from Hard Candy, including "Beat Goes On", "4 Minutes", "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You", "She's Not Me", and "Spanish Lesson". Digital projections and hieroglyphics's of Pharrell, Kanye, Timbaland, and Justin Timberlake sang, posed, and danced alongside Madge as she moved her hips similar to a 22nd year old. Was hoping for a guest appearance but last I heard Jay Timbalake was snogging Biel in Roma. Maybe it'll happen at MSG tonight.

The entire concert felt like one big dance club/jam. 3D graphics of a hard candy being processed in a colorful factory started off the show, even though Madonna didn't grace us with her presence until an hour and a half past what my ticket said. What do you expect from a diva? The intensity of the actual sound was fantastic, booms and special effects gave me goosebumps for two hours, as I secretly wished I could listen to music that loud everyday. Talk about a light show (Kanye), being inside the IZOD arena in East Rutherford, NJ, lights bounced with bass beats and ignited the dancers unison funk. Rays of colors circulated the arena in long lines and patterns, enabling dizziness to have positive connotations...actually craved by fans (duh). The dancers weaved in and out of double dutch ropes, hopped for days, and accompanied Madonna through trick doors. Be jealous of their stamina. Madge remixed "Ray of Light", "Vogue", and "Borderline", a youthful approach though not unique to her style. "La Isla Bonita" felt like Panic at the Disco cover art with carnival costumes and a dancing gypsy. "You Must Love Me", her only ballad, was beautiful, calm, poetic, and classy.

One of the highlights of the show, for me, was her singing "Human Nature" as video projected Britney thrashing inside an elevator, clearly trapped in a social box. At first, it was hard to recognize Spears' locks, mistaking her for Madonna...but slowly we realize Madge is singing about human nature and having the right to fuck up. (Possibly passively aggressively implying: Mini Me.) The song interluded with "It's Britney, Bitch" and the audience went mad. Clearly, Madonna paved the way for people like Spears, and has always been the female icon for controversy. Her support for the Toxic star was almost endearing.

Another great moment (clip below) was Madonna's, now famous, political montage. Throughout the entire show, a theme of time choked the audience with obvious metaphors, yet was coherent and succeeded in saying something. Clips of Madonna through the ages, growing as an artist and human being echoed that theme. She is so damn gorgeous. Also, while rocking out to the guitar, remixing "Hung Up", the tick tock was enjoyably loud; playing with riffs instead of a techno base. With her closing number, a blow out performance of "Give It 2 Me", a chess board graphic rotated to a upside down position in extreme slow motion, alluding to time in phases; Only to speed up backwards, after the bridge, insinuating the opposite of the lyrics "Time moves by so slowly". Madonna enthusiastically reminds her fans and critics about our global crisis, and how we're running out of time.

The most controversial moment of her show was the montage, comparing McCain to Hitler and other extremists, while juxtaposing Obama with peace activists. I love the loop of "tick tock", sharp and noticeable.



A little diddy on Sarah Palin, M said, "This is the sound Sarah Palin's husband's snow mobile makes when it won't start", and dragged her pick across her guitar painfully slow, like nails on a chalkboard. It sounded stellar, but the message was quite clear.

Not surprisingly, the crowd was wonderful, dancing, cheering, supporting, and singing along the entire time. I was amazed and happy to see such an eclectic base of fans. I love that she reaches men and women of all ages and interests. It's inspiring. The fan selection of the night was "Open Your Heart"; though only a half hearted attempt fulfilling fans wishes before switching up the set because she couldn't "remember the lyrics". At one point, Madonna said, "I'm not sitting down", and asked the audience to please get the fuck up off their asses. We did. And loved it.