acolyte
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Posts posted by acolyte
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2 minutes ago, solveforthis1 said:
I didnt even know that the federation did that. That's so dumb. I looked them up and theyre literally a Christian non profit based in the USA. I knew it was complete BS after that
No offence to anyone, but "Christian non profit based in the USA" is always a bit of a giveaway, isn't it? 😹
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2 hours ago, solveforthis1 said:
Can we talk about the insane amount of accusations of sex trafficking she's getting? I know she's always dealt with crazy conspiracy theories but it seems like way more this time around. There was a tiktok video about this that got 3m+ views. A few of the right wing nutjobs at Daily wire have made videos about it like Candace Owens. Nearly 50% of the comments on her IG posts are about this.
They usually link back to an article about how "The World Ethiopian Federation", which turns out to be an America based Christian org, has accused her due to her Sex Book (which many are taking as fact despite her writing its fiction), and the fact that David Banda was pictured wearing dresses.
This whole thing is incredibly disgusting, especially considering how those fake news accusations are spread across TikTok and other social media citing all kinds of "evidence" as facts. Quite a number of people seem to buy into it. Clickbait does what it does.
At the end of the day, the root of all evil here is homophobia and hostility towards LGBT issues and gender equality – all of which the World Ethiopian Federation has a very long history with. Madonna isn't the first whose name they've linked to similar accusations due to their prominent conservative agenda. If it hadn't been for the relaunch of SEX at Art Basel in Miami, I doubt any of this would have happened anyways. But with images and quotations make rounds since, she's become an easy target.
That said, no major media outlet has taken that petition seriously. Neither has Lazarus Chakwera, President of Malawi, who had been addressed directly. It's just a bunch of misogynistic and homophobic individuals doing what they do best: spreading hatred and reinforcing archaic world views. We've seen it before, but I admit that the nature of that position and its psychotic reasoning did irritate me immensely for a second.
- sara94 and solveforthis1
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6 minutes ago, Brendanlovesu1 said:
I've been to some comedy shows and concerts in arenas recently where yondr pouches was a thing, maybe it depends on the artists i guess, there was a few grumbles from people who weren't used to it, but the comedy show was being filmed to be broadcast at a later date so I don't mind
There's no way they could police an arena full of 15,000 people, but it could still happen
I know that a number of comedy shows (John Mulaney, Chris Rock, Kevin Hart & Bill Murr) have implemented Yondr cases at arenas. But those are all-seated shows with about 6,000 people in attendance, I guess.
Jack White has definitely played arena shows with both GA standing and reserved seats using Yondr for more than five years. Bob Dylan played all-seated arena shows using Yondr too.
I guess it can be done if Madonna really wanted to. Given the extra effort and expense needed to make a show attended by 15,000 people phone free, I wondering if that's perhaps the reason why tickets have been a bit pricier this time around?
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Do we think that these shows will be phone-free like Madame X? If I remember correctly, ticket buyers weren't alerted of this until a little less than two weeks before opening night in Brooklyn. When I got my tickets for the 2023 shows, it explicitly mentioned that audio/video recordings and photography were prohibited. Obviously that's what it always says on most tickets, but hers are the only shows I could find on Ticketmaster that explicitly state that.
Considering that these aren't theatre but arena shows, the effort of locking phones away in Yondr cases and handing out manually lettered seating cards instead to about 15,000 people per night sounds a bit extensive. Then again, there are plenty of arena shows where this has been done successfully. Has anyone been to one of these and could tell us how it works?
Fan recordings on YouTube and social media do wonders to boost sales and get people interested to pick up last-minute tickets. But they also unforgivingly reveal mishaps and mistakes instantly. I'm not saying she'd try to avoid documentation of technical errors or less than dignified moments because there's an increased risk of those happening, but she seemed pretty pleased with the effect of Yondr cases for Madame X.
It's a greatest hits tour and I guess all of us would like to take home some kind of memory, but I wouldn't personally mind if this was a phone-free affair again.
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3 hours ago, andifeel said:
I loved reading your post. It wasn’t too long at all!I just hope this is the tour where us fans on forums can all just be kind to each other.
Where people doing 20, 30, 50 shows aren’t interrogated about how they afford it and bullied or made snide comments at for making decisions and choosing to live life how they want.
Where fans who are doing one or maybe no shows aren’t called ‘poor’ or accused of being bad fans; and who can maybe be silently helped out in the background wherever possible.
With all the hell in this world and damage comments on the internet can do (I was relentlessly bullied on MadonnaNation for years by a member who I’ve never met and it haunted me) I hope we as a community based around a single pop star can rise up for each other.
That's the spirit 🧡
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I'm currently eyeing eight shows in Europe, some of which I (finally) scored tickets for this week. Some people might look down upon it as pathetic, but my life is literally live music. I've spent my whole life since I was a pre-teen going to gigs and that's always been the one thing that's kept me going, no matter what. I feed off the energy in those venues... it's not like I live from concert to concert, but the feeling of being in the same room surrounded by people who care about music and art the same way as I do has been a constant in my life for as long as I can think.
I've made lifelong friends throughout the years going to shows. In the M community and far beyond. Genuine connections I treasure more than words could ever say. For as long as I can remember I've worked summer jobs as a teen with plastic bottles to my chin, hard physical labour to build rock gardens, worked after hours in front of house management on weekdays and holidays; I did everything I possibly could to get days off to see whomever I wanted to see while making ends meet for everything else.
Being located rather centrally in Europe, I'm well-aware of the privilege I have in terms of most artists touring "practically" on my door step even if that entails half a day of train or plain rides. I don't take it for granted and I work very hard to keep that lifestyle alive. I love to travel and see as many shows as I can. Thankfully I'm cheap when it comes to accommodation and travelling schedules. My living costs are fairly modest, so my main priority has always been to see as many shows as I can, regardless of who the artist is.
May I point out, by the way, how excited I am for this tour? I really do think that we're in for something truly special. The show might still be in development, but something tells me that this will be something to remember. I'm not going to lie... I experienced several cancellations throughout the Madame X Tour and I've accumulated a certain amount of scepticism and pessimism when it comes to Madonna shows since then. But for whatever stupid reason I truly believe that this tour is going to be worth it.
I realise that there are concerns as to whether she will be physically able to go through with the entire tour. Who knows how many additional dates are bound to be added in the upcoming weeks. Given the Madame X Tour, I'm pretty sure that her insurance policy isn't quite what it used to be before that. She's most likely eager to prove to everyone that her injuries are a thing of the past and that she's not worthy of being underestimated as an ageing pop star in her mid-60s (wtf, if she's in her mid-60s, then how old am I???).
Yes, she may no longer able to live up to the choreographic and physical energy of the Confessions Tour or the Sticky & Sweet Tour, but I wouldn't rule out for a second that she won't come up with a show any less spectacular than those tours. After all, her ego – for better or for worse – knows no boundaries and I believe she's very well-aware of the fact by now that this tour will either make or break her reputation (as a touring act) not only in her age group but in general.
I genuinely don't think that she'd commit to a tour of those proportions if she wasn't sure she'd be able to live up to it without any "scandals" or other bad media coverage. I feel the entire Warner reissue campaign pretty much rests on the shoulders of this year's (hopefully successful) touring endeavour. That said, in spite of all optimism, I hope that this line of reasoning will hold up. But as I stated above, I feel more positive than I have these past ten years or so...
Edit: sorry for the long post, but I wouldn't know where else to put these thoughts.
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29 minutes ago, androiduser said:
I think it will be a max 30-minute difference between the official show start at 20.30 and the actual start of M's show.
I saw Madonna twice in Italy and both times the show started 15 minutes after the official time printed on the ticket (but the official start was after 21).
The opening act is usually performing before the officially announced start of the show, often as people are still getting to the venue
I'm all for a pre-10PM start for sure, but each time I saw her, the opening act started just on time as printed on the ticket. I guess it's best to prepare for the worst and pray for the best... all I know is that I'm bringing an eBook reader this time around just in case 🤡
I haven't really shown any interest in drag thus far, but I know that Bob the Drag Queen maintains an international reputation, so I'm open to it and I guess a lot of time will be killed with some actual entertainment as opposed to a DJ doing what they do at 60 dB with the lights on. I also believe that bringing along an opening act that does provide actual audio-visual distraction will do wonders to keep the audience entertained regardless of when she comes on. I know very little about drag, but I do think that it's a smart move to have an opening act that brings actual bemusement and might perhaps literally warm up the crowd.
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With most shows in Europe scheduled to start at 8:30 as "printed" on the ticket, it's safe to assume that she'll be on at 10, I guess. Opening act starts at 8:30 and will have people entertained for an hour (personally, I'm glad it's not a DJ), followed by a 30-minute interval.
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3 minutes ago, Shoful said:
There was definitely a video on Mike Dean’s instagram of him listening to the test vinyl before it was put into production. I’m not informed enough on musical tech to know but I thought he mastered the entire album. Lauren(Laura maybe) forget her last name def did some work too? Maybe mixing or engineering
I remember Instagram posts or stories from way back in 2018 (omg) that linked both Mike Dean and Lauren D’elia as mixing engineers during the final mixing sessions. There still isn't any official confirmation of that, but I guess that this is enough to solve that part of the mystery at least. When it comes to the mastering side of things, it's very likely that Mike did that, but we don't know for sure. I generally don't understand why such information hasn't been released officially or why they haven't bothered to include proper credits since 2015, but who knows...
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20 minutes ago, eXtremeOccident said:
I'm a little skeptical now too, given Renaissance sounds substantially better than those two albums do mix-wise. That's been one of my biggest complaints with her releases since Confessions...the mixing and mastering are really subpar.
She should get whoever does Ariana Grande's or Dua Lipa's albums....now THOSE are incredible mixes. Almost flawless.
It's all a tiny bit confusing, isn't it? I remember there were tweets back in the day that linked Mike Dean to "some" mastering job for Rebel Heart, but not explicitly to the whole album. Given the clusterfuck that album is, I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't even one principal mastering engineer. When it comes to Madame X, we're completely in the dark.
I've never heard a single song by Ariana, but I do agree that the mixing and mastering on Future Nostalgia is absolutely impeccable!
By the way, according to Wiki, Colin Leonard was responsible for mastering Renaissance.
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11 minutes ago, eXtremeOccident said:
He did Rebel Heart and Madame X:
11 minutes ago, Shoful said:Didn’t he master Madame X??
He did do production work on both albums, but are we 100% sure that he was the mastering engineer for either of them? Official credits on madonna.com unfortunately only list writers and producers but no personnel beyond that... which has been driving me crazy for ages.
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6 minutes ago, eXtremeOccident said:
He produced and mixed Renaissance? One of the best mixed and mastered albums I've ever heard? And yet we've ended up with the mixing and mastering quality of MDNA onwards? Excuse me? Lol.
What do you mean? Mike Dean hasn't been involved as a principal mixer or engineer in any other project besides Finally Enough Love. I think he did a fantastic job there...
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4 hours ago, steady75 said:
It really is mad that she's not doing Stadiums. Of all the tours she'd ever done an actual greatest hits tour from the biggest female artist of all time. Her hits would fill the space in the stadium that songs from her last 15 years wouldnt.
Seems odd. Arenas are a better experience in many ways but one big Wembley Stadium of her hits would be such a nice closing full circle moment for me at least.
Well, she's touring Europe in the autumn and beginning of winter... I suppose stadiums wouldn't really be in an option for that time frame. We also don't know if they were trying to play it safe generally by booking arenas to avoid a stadium leg being a tough sell in the long run. All around the world there's talk of how fast this tour is selling out and how many dates keep getting added. It certainly demonstrates huge demand and relevance which was likely their strategy with those arena dates.
A while ago I also replied to another post saying that the lack of stadium shows is most likely due to production constraints. If this show ends up as spectacular and complex as it's rumoured to be, arenas would be the only type of venue that can host productions that involve massive ceiling weight and floating production elements. Most stadiums aren't equipped or built for that, not even the ones with retractable roofs.
To design and assemble a stage is one thing, but to design a roof is an entirely different undertaking. Especially for a stage this spacious which is likely to include bridges and whatnot. I'm afraid it would be technically impossible and most certainly not that easy on the eye.
A custom roof capable of carrying all the weight an arena ceiling typically would can easily exceed production costs of the stage itself. Then there's also a massive increase in set-up and teardown time, local staff demand, endless safety concerns and many many more trucks needed to transport the roof itself, all of which wouldn't be worth the trouble for a stadium show. It would be far too expensive for a one-off show in, say, each European country she plays in. All in all, a touring arena production is a much cheaper solution and gives her and the team a lot more to work with.
That said, doing multiple shows in Latin and South American cities is an entirely different story. She could easily sell out several stadium shows per city. This, however, would involve a roof construction or an altered stage. And that's what makes me doubt whether they will tour that part of the world at all. That is, of course, unless she intends to do 15 arena dates per city to meet demand which I think is pretty unlikely as well.
- steady75 and Madgerules
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5 minutes ago, Jackie said:
Yea, I agree - I don't know what the cheapest were for M - and how many were at that price - but yes, agree - need options - I guess that's the benefit of a stadium - pros and con's - but options for cheaper tickets right back -
Cheapest I've seen for the German shows were nosebleed seats at about 50 euros.
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I wouldn't mind it at all if she performed a solo version of "Frozen" based on the Sickick remix arrangement, but faithful to the song's original structure. All people who are in for the greatest hits routine would want to hear is because of the chorus anyways, don't you think?
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This film is absolutely sensational. I am beyond impressed. Makes me so excited for the tour!
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1 hour ago, Pretender1978 said:
If the VF shoot would be used for the opening it could be great to use Live To Tell as the opener, those four notes are so incredibly recognisable to the collective memory. Also the phrase "a man can tell a 1000 lies" ties in nicely with the portraying of the virgin mary and the female christ energy of the last supper. It could start an alternative Dark to Light journey that focusses more on the patriarchy and breaking free from it
I've been thinking the EXACT same thing!
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45 minutes ago, stancherry said:
what if she compiles all of her tours, kind of like a tribute... or a biopic type of show?
I would absolutely hate that. I do hope and think she will come up with something completely original!
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4 hours ago, musicinferno said:
The impressive reputation she would receive for being able to sell out a stadium exclusive tour 40 years into her career at 65 years old. And of course, a much bigger stage production could have been used.
I highly doubt that, to be honest.
The stage layout suggests that much of this tour's production will be hanging from the ceiling. Even stadiums with retractable ceilings can't quite accommodate the load carried by indoor arenas because they aren't built for that unless the stadium stage comes with its own roof which does all the heavy lifting, see Confessions, Sticky & Sweet and MDNA. An exception being the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm which can carry an impressive amount of ceiling weight.
From an all around economical perspective, stadiums have probably been looked into, but considering that this show is supposed to be the biggest and most technically complex production she's ever done, arenas were most likely the only type of venues who could sufficiently allow for a set-up without compromising alterations from city to city. She wasn't happy at all about needing to alter the stage for Re-Invention in Dublin and also expressed annoyance about the same thing during Madame X in some cities.
That said, I hope that this show lives up to what's being promised, but I have no reason to believe that it won't.
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Circumstances have prevented me from buying tickets this week and I won't be able to try again later this year the via secondhand market. Hopefully by then the scalping business will have somewhat normalised. But I doubt it, given the unexpected demand. While ticket prices here in Europe are modest compared the US, they were still to expensive for me. Fuck that's frustrating
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18 hours ago, Blue Jean said:
My bet is she's going to get up there and rub the same overt sexuality she was famous for in the 80's and 90's in peoples faces at age 65. It's the same message of the past 10 years or more basically.
I completely agree. These past three years she's continuously referred to her achievements and legacy of sexual liberation and freedom. Considering the backlash she received recently for doing what she's basically done her entire career, I can only see her going even harder for it this time around. This "greatest hits" tour idea sounds pretty tame to me and from what I've read, there seems to be this implicit expectation that she's going to do a family-friendly, crowd-pleasing walk down memory lane. I can't see her being at all interested in that. Given the general public's strong ageist and body-shaming response to her recent projects, appearances and performances, I'm pretty sure whatever she's cooking up is going to be anything but tame.
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34 minutes ago, DaddyZ said:
If anything Madonna’s voice has kinda gone to shits. I assume Donna’s and Nkki’s voices have been better maintained, given that they’re proper vocalists.
That may be true, but the question is whether their voices would nowadays blend effectively. There's no denying that Madonna has lost a significant part of her head voice due to the natural ageing process. Some voices, with or without training, maintain their high register effortlessly, but Madonna has lost hers. She's heavily relied on backing vocalists and backing tracks in the past to compensate for that loss. It's what gives her voice a youthful and less mature sound when mixed correctly in concert. Apart from a couple of stripped back performances, she's never seemed too keen to embrace her lower voice and I doubt she's willing to do that now. If she really goes through with the "greatest hits" theme, people will want to hear the classics sung in a certain way which begs for a vocal support that lightens and sweetens her sound. I don't think Nicki or Donna would be good choices to achieve this.
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I understand why fans would like Donna and Nicki to come back, but let's be honest... it's been more than 20 years since they've sung together. Voices change and Madonna's certainly has. I'm not sure that Donna and Nicki's matured voices would achieve the kind of mix Madonna would want or need anymore from her backing vocalists.
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Posted this somewhere else, but I guess it's more appropriate in this thread:
I simply can't imagine her doing a tour without a recent studio album at the heart of it, not to mention a greatest hits tour in the sense people are hoping for. Personally, I'm prepared for this show to be based on Finally Enough Love and her legacy as a dance act. She seemed really into the process of compiling and editing mixes for that retrospective and I can see her, for better or for worse, approaching the tour from that angle. As in the show being a continuous dance set drawing on her favourite mixes which might actually get her to play a crowd-pleasing selection of songs but not in the way casual concert goers would like to hear them.
This will most likely get billed as a greatest hits tour for promotional purposes, but I'm pretty sure she's going to do everything she can to make this feel as un-greatest-hits-tour-ish as she possibly can. She's never really dipped into this walk down memory lane thing except for minor and singular moments. Then again, it's been almost four years since Madame X and we don't really know where she's at personally and artistically. Who knows what she's up to. Given the entire process, I don't think she'd agree to a tour unless she has something substantial to say. I don't think she'd put herself through a world tour for the money only.
The Celebration Tour (No Spoilers)
in The Celebration Tour
Posted · Edited by acolyte (see edit history)
I actually think it doesn't matter. In fact, I'm pretty sure that a normal standing ticket will be more enjoyable. The "main stage" looks microscopic and I doubt she'll spend much time there. By the looks of it, she'll be moving around a lot. For some people, that brief moment of seeing her up close is worth all that money and I get that, but I think I'd be pretty annoyed to only see her back for most of the concert from either GA pits or the Golden Circle.
Given the stage layouts we've seen, both pits and the Golden Circle seem more like a cash grab opportunity to me that also allows for a better controlled admission procedure. Former front of house manager speaking here. Stage setups like these are a nightmare for any venue and the front of house staff demand to ensure an even spread of people around the stage with regards to safety protocols is absolutely insane.