Just got back from Madonna's concert. I have a sore throat because some girl in the row ahead of me was wearing a bottle of perfume. D told me his mother has some clipping where it says "unattractive women" were split into 2 groups and 1 group wore perfume and the other didn't. The perfume wearers were found to be 20% more attractive by men. I wish they wouldn't do studies like that, encouraging people to wear it, because so many people are allergic. Aargh!

Other than that, it was a good time, although I was bummed she didn't do an encore. The finale was "Hung Up" -- she sang "Lucky Star" to the tune of "Hung Up," then launched into "Hung Up" and had the audience sing, "Time goes by, so slowly." The male couple next to us had been to her concert the night before and warned us that the champagne cost $7.50 and the A/C would be turned off. "She says it interferes with her voice," one of them told me. She's not a diva, no ;)

For the first number, a disco ball opened up and she came out in a leather horse-riding outfit with a riding crop and beat one of her dancers with it and rode his back like he was a horse. It was, um, interesting. She looked great in the horse-riding outfit and I couldn't believe she was a 48-year-old mother of two. Then she wore a navy leotard during "Hung Up" and that was not as flattering. Still, she's in great shape. Her dancers are also awesome, the best that money can buy. All of them were doing handsprings and one girl did a full wheel, flipped into the air and landed in upward-facing dog. (I used a picture of cobra because I couldn't find a picture of upward-facing dog, but they're similar enough.)

D and I decided that "Hung Up" is her best song, and "Like a Prayer" is #2.

You can definitely tell she's a diva. "Stand up to show your gratitude!" she yelled at one point. "Stand up to celebrate this mother#@% city!" Later, she said, "Do you mind if I sit and rest a bit? Some of you have been sitting and resting the whole time. My front-row #@%*&^ are not happy about that."

She did hang on a disco-lit cross for "Live to Tell", while numbers flashed above her head to show how many people have died of AIDS in Africa. Then the URLs "clintonfoundation.org" and "raisemalawi.org" flashed on the screen. While she did costume changes backstage, there were video images of her singing; once she was singing "Don't tell me your stories, your lies" as images of Bush, Nixon and Osama bin Laden flashed by.

She revamped a lot of her old numbers, staging "Erotica" almost like a ballet, and there was another number where all her dancers roller-skated together (and did some handstands, all in a day's work). "Jump" was great as dancers climbed and jumped down from jungle-gym constructions. Every number was lavish and theater-like.

Another of the best numbers was "Music," laid over a "Disco Inferno" track. She came out with two of her female dancers and they were all decked out in John Travolta-style white gabardine suits. Madonna knows her disco moves.

On the way out, we saw Chelsea Clinton. D didn't recognize her, not having seen any of her recent pictures, but I'm sure it was her.

Comments

SK said…
Wow sounds like an amazing show! She's definitely a performer! I don't know how I feel about her need to continously put on leotards. They don't look good on ANYONE except little kids and super skinny and tall ballet women. Sometimes her attitude bothers me, though. Show your gratitude? I'd be like 'B****, I'm the one who spent money to come see YOU. Not the other way around."

Happy 4th!!!!
Anonymous said…
i thought you were going to say your throat was sore from all the screaming you did...it sounds like a great show(-=
verniciousknids said…
Sounds pretty entertaing. Tickets go on sale here in the next few weeks.

I hope I'm that energetic when I'm 48 :) Though I don't think I'll be donning any leotards!
verniciousknids said…
Oh yeah, and I meant "entertaining" ;)
Bearette said…
Lostintx - hehe, i know what you mean. though she did thank everyone for coming to her "little show". :) happy fourth to you!

carpe - i think it might have been that too ;)

vk - you should definitely see it! we got good tix for $150 b/c we bought them right away. i guess people later paid $350 to sit in our section.
Anonymous said…
Madonna really does look amazing for her age. For my age, too. ;-) Glad you had fun!
Bearette said…
i was thinking the same thing, she looks great for our age ;)
Elsa said…
Sounds like an awesome show! It's hard to believe she's 48!

I remeber growing up with her songs - Lucky Star, Like a Virgin - I loved them all!
Caro said…
I'm glad you had fun.

Sorry about perfume girl.
Bearette said…
E - it was. when she sang "like a virgin," she danced around a pole and the video screen showed people getting thrown off horses. there was a definite horse theme. there was also a really cool bit with a dancer dressed in a flowing green cape - her arms looked like a bird's wings - dancing in a cage with a desert on the video screen behind her.

c- thanks :)
Elsa said…
It sounds like she puts on such a great show - very big. At least you get your money's worth!
Bearette said…
it was surprising, i checked my cell phone when it was over and it was only 2 hours long, but she packed a lot in.
Anonymous said…
I feel for you on the perfume thing. I'm not allergic, but I am sensitive to strong smells. When I was in college my geology lab partner favored perfume--though "favored" is a little weak when I think she bathed in it and washed her clothes and hair in it. The smell was so strong that I actually went home sick one day, and since then if I ever smell it I feel instantly sick. Unfortunately, it's one of the more common perfumes--though maybe it just seems like it!

Glad you had a great show!
Bearette said…
Thanks! It's nice to know someone else can't stand perfume either. I had to sit next to someone at my last job who bathed in Jean Nate...it was awful. I could hardly breathe sometimes. Or rather, I didn't want to breathe...
Anonymous said…
I'm back from the long weekend just now catching up with your blog. Sounds like you had quite a fun couple of days!

I wouldn't say that I'm a huge Madonna fan, but my husband and I agreed that we would like to see her live. The spectacle of her show sounds pretty amazing.

I remember when I was little and "Material Girl" came out. I used to sing it all the time. My mother HATED the sentiment. lol.
Bearette said…
hehe -- apparently that is the song she's most embarrassed about. she didn't sing it. the only really early ones she sang were "lucky star" and "like a virgin". now i want to see her again :)
jay lassiter said…
the day i graduated from highschool (june 1990) i went to the blonde ambition tour. those were here gautier days....
anyway, i remembver that night i wore a headband! and an anhk!!
i was soooooooooooo cool!
madonna peaked with that tour, i believe.

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