Leaderboard

I'm gonna tell you about my fourth and final show of this Celebration Tour ❤️ from Europe to SF. I decided to go for a different concert experience: no smartphone in hand and watching from the stands (I was quite low and central). The Celebration Tour might be more enjoyable from the stands, especially since I'm not that tall: other times, I could barely see her even though I was right in front of the stage. Plus, the sound from the stands is way better, I could hear her voice much more clearly. I must say, even without any surprise element, this was the show of the tour I enjoyed the most. This tour is an absolute blast, a whirlwind of nostalgia and fresh energy combined! It's like stepping into a vibrant collage of Madonna's most iconic moments, reimagined for today. And there's a story in it. A testament to her enduring legacy and a reminder of why she's been the best popstar for decades ☺️ Tonight was fantastic ❤️ I'm glad I got to say goodbye to this tour in such a way. The whole experience has been incredible, being here in SF feels magical to me. I'm head over heels in love with this city. And it's amazing that I'm in such a place, on the other side of the world, watching Madonna again, right here. The show's flaws are the same as always, I don't like the lack of a live band, I still don't like the final part, her voice isn't in the best shape, she obviously butchered Take A Bow, as I expected 😅 I noticed that the audience was more in tune than she was during that song, drowning her out 😂 But who cares, I'm still happy, and I expected it, so no big deal. No, her voice during the BAT wasn't worse at all. It was a thousand times better than it is now. She simply used to sing solo a lot more. Yes, there were Niki and Donna, but when they weren't backing her up, she was on her own. Here, she's hardly ever alone; she almost always has heavy backing vocals, especially in the choruses. Maybe it's like this now because she's somewhat disconnected from music and has shifted her focus to the performance aspect, especially now that technology can lend a hand. Maybe it also has to do with her singing alongside a guy who talks over her. I don't know, but it's all good. I'm really happy! I'm fully aware of all of Madonna's flaws. I critique her sometimes, acknowledge the shortcomings, and think she should work on them, but I love her just the way she is, accepting that she's not "perfect". Sometimes we're worn out by the time we hit 40 and struggle to take care of ourselves, let alone at 65. And sure, at 65 she might have neglected a few things, but she's still incredibly strong 💪 Ah, and I got to meet one of the dancers 🥹 I don't consider it one of her best tours, but it's still wonderful. She's happy, energetic, and relaxed, kind of like at the RHT. And I like seeing Madonna like this! Oh, and she sang Old Town Road before Burning Up 😄

Some cool opening night videos Enjoy, they are great...

BAT will always reign supreme due to the absolute frenzy and energy around her at the time. She was at the peak of her peak and completely reset the bar for live concerts. She was in the news every day, on MTV and radio non-stop. It's hard to imagine if you weren't there. I saw BAT twice at the L.A Forum and it was pure lightening in a bottle (and floor tickets cost $30). The videos don't really come close to capturing it like it really was. It's mind boggling that it hasn't gotten a proper HD remaster and release.

She picked up lots of younger fans during that era. Personally I think BAT will always reign supreme.

She never looked as stunning as she is on this tour, not since 2016. Now that you've brought it up, I agree that her hair seemed too voluminous at some shows, but here it's perfect - aside from the significant root growth 😂

Yep, way better than only singing Causing A Commotion. Honestly, hearing her hit those off-key notes in the chorus like two hundred times... I mean, I love CAC, but it is more than enough for me 😂 😂 😂 About her style: few days ago I had some thoughts here on the new look, but with that punk skirt giving off DWT vibes, it's totally working for her now. Still prefer the blue one with the black skirt, which makes her look more slender, but this one is amazing too ♥️ Also, in the first section, her hair was cool, closer to how it was at the start of the tour, after a few shows it had become too puffy. And the wig worn in the second act (the Erotica one, to be clear) I found much better than the one she wore in Europe and the other American stops. This one is more "compact" and has bangs. But these are minor things. Anyway, she looked stunning ♥️

I’ll probably be crucified, but my fav is still S&S

The transition between Holiday to Live To Tell is so deep. Took me soo long to realize that these dancers represent her old friends and the guy she's holding hands with & covering with her jacket portrays Martin and then she's all alone & lonely when she's singing Live To Tell, reminiscing about her friends

She looks so beautiful & sexy as hell here omg

Celebration sound fine to me. She's 65, never was a power vocalist, she moves allot on stage, so considered the circumstances she sounds fine. Is it perfect? No.. But it's definitely fine most of the time. Watch Mariah or Diana ross just standing behind a mic and sound even worse sometimes. I think she's doing a great job

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A 3D upgrade of my Erotica box set is under way. Check out the original while it's still online: Erotica - Expanded Box Set

I miss Rainnnnnnnn

Her hairstyle was fire Sure, I remember there were times she hit the right notes. But most of the time, especially when she says "I got the moves baby," she totally misses the notes, almost as if she doesn't remember the song. Considering it's a bit of an "improvised" acapella snippet sing-along with the audience, it's understandable that it varies a bit. I'd prefer if she picked something from her own repertoire.

The immaculate collection imo is the absolute best Madonna greatest hits package. Although, it is rather lacking now due to where in time it stops. The GHV2 and Celebration releases were just messy. GHV2 was an obvious cash grab where the track list was all over the place, amazing songs missed out and no incentive for fans to purchase. Deeper and Deeper was a random first song. It should have been Erotica, or perhaps Music and going in reverse order. I do like Celebration, however the track listing is once again quite random. It was criminal to not release a 3 disc edition for the fans - 80s, 90s, 00s. Does anybody know what has happened to all the deluxe releases we were promised a few years ago?

Hmm the Dress You Up one sounded like a fuck up to me more than an edit

We are coming up on 85 years since a photo of Madonna writing with Max Martin was uploaded to her social media.

Some are simply offering their own opinion here. This is all subjective anyway. I agree, some of her earlier tours were top tier, but I think her more recent tours have been pretty great as well, but for different reasons.

What are you cheerin' about?

No i agree. I love this tour as well. Imo S&S & Confessions share the #1 spot as her best tours.

And full SF Feb. 28 show:

Just give me chronological tracklist and two new tracks. that’s all. Even four from each studio album plus Beautiful Stranger Would have felt more balanced for 17 tracks. Erotica Deeper & Deeper Fever Bad Girl Secret Take A Bow Bedtime Story Human Nature Frozen Ray Of Light The Power Of Goodbye Nothing Really Matters Beautiful Stranger American Pie Music Don’t Tell Me What It Feels Like For A Girl

From Holliday to Like a prayer is iconic allready... This tour is definitely top 3 for me... It's so good imo

The first lines of TAB were shaky (like Bedtime Story) but I was pleasantly surprised seeing TAB live last night, both with her performance and how the song fit into the set. It was my first show of the tour and while I’ve watched dozens, probably hundreds of incredible fan videos many of you have posted it was great to see and especially hear it live; the sound on videos isn’t comparable to what you hear live. Content wise, I even thought the Bitch I’m Madonna / Celebration ending didn't feel as rushed in person and her final costume, a disheveled bride at the end of a celebration, made more sense. Her humor is really shining on this tour whether it’s facial expresssions, toying with the dancers, her stories. The only segment I didn’t like (on YouTube or seeing it live) was the Billie Jean/ like a Virgin interlude; it’s very a sweet 16 birthday/ barmitzvah vibe but I can see why she did it; She didn’t want to sing it but it’s expected… plus David does a good MJ impression and she needed 8 minutes to change. A lot of the crowd loved it.

@steady75 I certainly agree with that! Some straight-up GREAT songs the old-fashioned songwriting way would be wonderful.

They were just kidding around

Madonna singles used to have great hooks, melodies and earworms that hung around and repeated in your head. These tools have become way more simplistic and somewhat gimmicky in her work in the last 15 years. 1-2 Cha Cha Cha L.U.V. Madonna Hey yay yaay hey yayay yaay Oooh Oooh Ooh... your gonna love this Get Stupid, Get Stupid, Get Stupid, Don't Stop Me I'd personally like a move away from that and a return to strong melodic hooks.

I agree, it's better but still not good at all

I do want to say that even though she butchered TAB, she sang it better than in other videos I've seen from the previous shows. In TAB the prerecorded backing vocals are quite loud, but her voice is obviously audible. It's a shame I can't find a well-made recording of Take A Bow from yesterday show. If anyone finds one (San Francisco, second night - 2/28), it would be a huge favor! And now I'm really off to bed hahahahahah

I think she definitely put a lot of thought into the GHV2 tracklist. But it was done at a time when her head so far up her own arse she couldn’t see how bad her choices were. I don’t think Madonna today would choose this track list at all. And no, we do not have to respect her “vision.” This release has been forgotten completely with good reason. For all its flaws Celebration did include mostly the right songs and it’s a pretty comprehensive collection still to this day for a newbie fan to explore her hits. Guy O surveyed the fans quite a bit for that one and that is how Who’s That Girl ended up on there. He also swapped the Immaculate version of Like a Prayer for the album version and stuff like that upon fan suggestions. So it could have been a lot worse.

Again, I'm talking about the overall experience of seeing it live, not on video. This applies to all of her tours, which many people have only seen on video, not live. Her voice had a lot of power then, combined with an excellent band, Nikki and Donna, a very enthusiastic crowd and how innovative and different the tour was at the time. It was the whole experience, not just her voice. And she did get heavily criticized at the time for lip synching Now I'm Following You and using pre-recorded vocals mixed with her live voice on other songs.

S&S is a great tour, espacially the round one with Heartbeat, Bordeline and Hung up (I absolutely love these rock version). You have the right to love it. i love it too

I do admit that bridge would have been great if it was included.

She still promoted MDNA Skin more than any compilation

Of course it’s not her best. No technology or staging can ever top her performances alone in the 90’s shows. But it’s pretty friggin amazing.

Don't feel so. It's a fantastic tour!

I agree they are two great tours. She looked so damn good on those tours as well.

I’m amazed that many of the keyboard warriors of the forum didn’t attend the show (not you @Redha DBL) it’s so weird…

She definitely should've! God is Love or Trust No Bitch?

The outfit, backdrop, movement etc suits Frozen better

I don't think it matters if I'm gay or not, but there are some audio errors on the first pressings that have been amended. Erotica had an extra quarter of a bar of music where it should've cut after the middle 8. Which could've been avoided if they just used the Album edit. Cherish had a cut where she sung, 'Can't get away I won't let to' instead of, 'I could never forget to'. Which could've been all avoided if they just used the 7" single version. Music still has pops and clicks throughout which could be fixed on streaming if they just merge it from the album. Edit: Dress You Up also still has the first two seconds of the intro cut off. Thank you for @Blue Jeanreminding me

And it is even moreso with this tour because every spot you watch the show from it’s like seeing a totally different show. I saw it 4 times and even later when I watched video recordings from further back I saw elements I had never noticed up close.

Ugh I'd rather have Rain for the filming

Things are simply different seen live and on screen. On every tour i've seen since wtg all the things i loved live were never the things i enjoyed on screen. I have this guy i'm friendly with who did the review of the Celebration tour for the most famous right wing french newspaper (and oldest) and i mocked him because his review was meh, he thought she was was repeting herself too much and the religious viduals were done to death now so i sent him a text mocking him, asking him which part in retrospective he does not understand, it's a best of show, of course there would be religioys visuals ! i finished him by saying "She understood the remember assignment and you didn't" he replied "I hate you". Well now that bitch posted on social media that he's dying to see the show again. After his meh review of it will be archived forever. I've always refused to review profesionally anything Madonna does because my first impression of it is always different a few days and weeks later especially her live shows. I did ot once though for Confession and i remember not liking Music Inferno which i think was too much and it's my favourite part on the dvd now. I loved the Ziggy/rock part live and i skip it on the dvd (except Let it will be which was even.more powerful live). So yes, seeing a tour live is different from watching it on screen especially fan recordings. That said not anyone can afford a ticket, it's a recession, pretty bad in France, so concerts are a privilege for most people, even for the most dedicated fans.

Popular will soon be 20 years old we need a expanded Popular album reissue with 8 sped up versions or they will hear my toy lawyers

Madame X is turning 10 years old soon! We need a new studio album asap.

Wow! Thank you! One of the best photos from this show. Beautiful.

Btw, a tip to you zealots... Hope she does this amazing tune to her next tour... And to same routine, chair included (just like at TOAC Miami) so you TRULY get reminded who Madonna is!!! @dave2290 the people from same cluster really recognize and enjoy each other, right???

A certain person very notorious here in this place. And no, it's not me. Sorry piojitx for being THIS snitch. I promise I did it to a good cause, you'll get me. Btw, I am against phonautographs. They don't just play the CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays I have bought. They're just a waste of money and natural resources. They might have been useful to the time they hit stores but now they're unsatisfactory to most consumers. If people are this nostalgic for the XIX sound they should go back to opera houses to stan for their live idols. Mother Nature thanks a lot.

So is it safe to assume all missing maxis will come out this year still??? That leads me to a theory that the expanded, curated editions will be finally announced when last missed maxi's out! @MPoweredam I nuts for thinking this way? And @dave2290, may il tuo amico have some sense to what he's saying rn?? (If only Goody-Goody and his fellas could read me now... Anyways...)