eXtremeOccident

Really? I felt the opposite. I definitely feel like this is it.

Agreed. Opening night, she definitely was having audio issues, because I was convinced quite a bit of the show was lip synced. All shows afterwards have seemed to have much louder live vocals.

She started with Live to Tell

And about changing the ending of the show and moving Hung Up to the rave section

WHAT? She easily performed better than Madame X and potentially even Rebel Heart. This is the most "Madonna" feeling show since at least MDNA...I don't know how anyone could suggest this is only "40% of her all time best". I don't need Madonna doing a bunch of choreography for it to be an incredible concert...somehow a bunch of revisionist history has taken place in Madonna fandom, because the absolutely revered Confessions Tour didn't feature that much choreography either. I'm so glad I didn't set my expectations lower for this tour, just because of her age and the last few years...even with the high expectations I had for this show, she far surpassed them. I hate that in the age of the internet everyone is able to watch the full show before experiencing it and knows all of the spoilers. Seeing this on Opening Night without knowing what I was going into made for this being the most incredible Madonna experience of my life...wish other fans would be able to see this spoiler free, because the unfolding of this show in real time is truly a magical experience.

Yeah, I can't remember which member it was, but I thought the hope for this was delusional...I can't believe she actually opened with it Was SO happy to hear Up Down Suite. It's such a hidden gem in her discography, and it sounds incredible in an arena. For that matter, all of her 90s house music does. Really hope she's feeling inspired to make another house type of album in the future, especially with her celebration of ballroom culture as a big centerpiece of this show...

Omg if this woman was next to me screaming, I....

Lol the tube announcements are up again.

After seeing it on opening night, in order: Nothing Really Matters Erotica Bedtime Story Bad Girl Ray of Light Honorable mention to Live to Tell which quite literally had me crying in the arena.

Well then I guess MDNA, Rebel Heart, Sticky and Sweet…hell, even Madame X…are greatest hits shows by that definition!

I know no one is ready for this conversation, but the MDNA Tour is her crowning achievement in live performance.

Are we starting this narrative again? It was advertised as a greatest hits tour. She’s dared to do her greatest hits in the announcement video and the video description says she’s doing the greatest hits. Couldn’t be more crystal clear lol

This! If we truly look up to her as an artist and not just a pop music singer, then it’s fair game to critique the art.

Okay, but this could very well be the last time she ever tours and is meant to be a comprehensive career retrospective…so sorry that some of us are objective and can see parts of the show clearly aren’t landing well with the general audience and would like to see her end her touring career with a crowning gem of a show? No one is saying we aren’t grateful she’s doing a show, but I hate this weak defense suggesting her being well and alive and her delivering a banger greatest hits tour with a flawless narrative is somehow mutually exclusive. Not at all…she can do both. I hated seeing confused faces after the lights went up. I hated hearing people on the tube say they didn’t like it. I hated hearing my dad say he’d been waiting to see M for years but would only give it a 7 out of 10 and that he thought the pacing got really strange in the middle of the show. I know it’s only personal anecdotal evidence, but she could make the show much better with what already exists…it’s not like many of us are saying the song choices or production suck, just that some of the execution is off. Which, as an aside, made me finally realize what has been frustrating as a fan for the last decade or so…she consistently has AMAZING ideas, tour included…but it’s like she can’t quite get there with execution of them. She comes across half committed to them nowadays. Madame X and her personas and the many clips filmed, the Madame X Tour, this tour, the Rebel Heart album and tour…Madonna the amazing artist continues to be live and well, but it feels like the creative direction is lacking in parts. That’s where my personal frustration with this tour arises from…it’s just that it’s so obvious how incredible this show could be but it just doesn’t quite get there in the end, and she deserves better if this is it.

But it’s the first part of the show that’s jarring from a story telling perspective. It’s like…wait, HUH, why is she doing this song, we’re still in the 90s? Obviously the rest of the show loosens up chronologically after that, but if she needs an upbeat song there, do something like the Secret Junior mix or something…a song that loosely fits with the timeline but is upbeat. Or RESCUE ME I really think part of the reason people love the show so much is how strong the first half is. We’re making a lot of excuses for her when the reality is…the second half comes off a little half baked. The changes I’m proposing are still a little out of sequence but at least give a little more build up towards a finale. And if a song like Hung Up doesn’t “make sense” for the story in the last section, well, be a storyteller and add choreography / video. She managed to do that for MDNA. The songs don’t always need to be taken so literally.