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A bit of reflection on Blond Ambition Tour


Kieran
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One of the few things I am grateful for, is being a Madonna fan in 1990. Of course I am grateful for being a fan full stop, but 1990 was an amazing year to witness how much of a star M had become. She was unstoppable. I didn't have the chance to see Blond Ambition in person, but I listened to the live radio broadcast from Wembley and watched the live TV broadcast from Barcelona.

 

Ah man, what a show. At the time, no one had done a show like it. Artists would just walk on stage, sing their songs and walk back off again. No one had put on a theatrical show with sets like Blond Ambition had. Amazing.

 

We just need a Blu-Ray/DVD release now. :-)

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One of the few things I am grateful for, is being a Madonna fan in 1990. Of course I am grateful for being a fan full stop, but 1990 was an amazing year to witness how much of a star M had become. She was unstoppable. I didn't have the chance to see Blond Ambition in person, but I listened to the live radio broadcast from Wembley and watched the live TV broadcast from Barcelona.

 

Ah man, what a show. At the time, no one had done a show like it. Artists would just walk on stage, sing their songs and walk back off again. No one had put on a theatrical show with sets like Blond Ambition had. Amazing.

 

We just need a Blu-Ray/DVD release now. :-)

Remember when BBC broadcast the Barcelona show at Xmas and was a so-called "treat" for Madonna fans ?? It was literally cut to shreds even though it was on a ridiculous time 11pm ? they even cut Now Im Following You ?? Censorship back then was way stricter now - i mean they have swearing on BBC after 9 now ?

 

given up on a DVD/Blu-ray release just like i have given up on Bad Girl b-roll ever surfacing :((

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  • 3 weeks later...

Firstly, BA is obviously a pivotal, iconic moment not only in M's career but our culture. I have for many years loved the whole concept and 'in-your-face' Madonna. I think personally not having access to the full show for a good few years - until I tracked a VHS down on ebay in circa 2000, made this tour become some kind of holy grail to me. I still do love it. LAV - PDP section is truly M's live high point of me.

 

However, when I think of the more recent shows I am starting to think that they are more 'solid'. Yes, there are a few setlist issues, but reflecting on BA now, I find the whole Dick Tracy and Cherish parts a little cheap. They are certainly of their time, I know. But for those of us who did not get to see the show in person - or who became fans after the whole BA impact, did we allow the cinematic footage of TOD to 'skew' our perception of the show? When I watch MDNA, that is a show that I can watch in its entirety without skipping (perhaps Hung Up at a push). i don't think I could say that same about BA these days.

 

Is it just time that does this?

 

Can M's tours ever be compared to one another fairly?

 

There are two types of Madonna fan: The ones who like things based on their qualities, and the ones who will always prefer the last product over anything. I think you are the latter because there is no way in hell MDNA is more watchable than Blond Ambition. 

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I guarantee that if the Paris footage ever gets its due and is put together, the last thing anyone would say about the Art Deco segment is that it looks "cheap". Not because of the editing overhauls it would undergo either, but because it would not be sourced from SVHS, hazy, badly lit video stock. It would appear "campy", much like it did live.

I know there are some people that didn't have the benefit of seeing this show in person, but there's a reason that this tour endures as a signpost, or measurement for other shows. But having seen it in person I can assure you that it wasn't my 14 year old self being dazzled by the theatrics, but it was what Madonna said over and over about the show, that she set out to create a show that would affect you like theatre does. And it did, and it still does. What Truth Or Dare presented was a far more serious take on a very cheeky and funny concert experience. I love the movie, don't get me wrong, but the humor of the show is sucked out by the song selection of the film.

Also, because this show has been overly dissected, breaking it down per section, etc. the ONLY way to enjoy this show at home is to view it from start to finish with no benefit of a pause button or bathroom break.

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  • 6 months later...

Blond Ambition remains the high point of her career for me. I became a 'proper' fan in 1991 when I bought The Immaculate Collection on cassette after seeing it had 'Vogue' on it, which was one of my favourite songs. I'd been aware of her since seeing the 1986 Christmas Top Of The Pops episode where they showed clips of 'Papa Don't Preach' and 'True Blue' and was aware of most of her singles through to 'Vogue,' but wasn't a 'fan' so to speak.

That all changed after seeing In Bed With Madonna and Blond Ambition in Barcelona. My life changed after seeing these and I became obsessed with that tour. I'd never experienced anything like it before. The costumes, the choreography, the dancers, the sets, the ponytail, the headset... the music! Everything about it was inspiring to me. I remember watching Ciao Italia roughly the same time as seeing BA and was so disappointed. Not that WTG is a bad show, it's great. But Blond Ambition was A+.

Looking at it now, obviously live shows have changed and grown and technology is everything nowadays. But watching BA is like seeing the birth of these big extravaganzas. Both Prince and Bowie had done pretty spectacular and theatrical shows in '87/'88 but it's as if BA was the more fine tuned version of this type of concert.

I haven't watched a full BA show in a while now but it will always remain the pinnacle of Madonna's career for me. Not to say her work after BA isn't equally, if not more creative or interesting (MDNA had moments that reminded me of BA, the opening, 'Vogue'), it's just BA sums up M perfectly in 1 hour and 40 minutes.

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  • 5 months later...
On ‎8‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 8:28 PM, RyanUK said:

One of the few things I am grateful for, is being a Madonna fan in 1990. Of course I am grateful for being a fan full stop, but 1990 was an amazing year to witness how much of a star M had become. She was unstoppable. I didn't have the chance to see Blond Ambition in person, but I listened to the live radio broadcast from Wembley and watched the live TV broadcast from Barcelona.

 

Ah man, what a show. At the time, no one had done a show like it. Artists would just walk on stage, sing their songs and walk back off again. No one had put on a theatrical show with sets like Blond Ambition had. Amazing.

 

We just need a Blu-Ray/DVD release now. :-)

Actually they had - albeit not as commercially.

I think David Bowie paved the way for Blond Ambition with his Diamond Dogs tour which was a first in its theatricality. You can see slight similarities in the stage sets.

...but then, is there a person on the planet who doesn't have to thank Bowie to some degree?

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Blond Ambition was Madonna's career defining moment. It's a time for Madonna where she was on top of the world and unstoppable,with Truth Or Dare/In Bed With Madonna being the pinnacle of her dominating pop music and sealing off the 1980s with the 1990s at the horizon while on tour. I think Blond Ambition is hands down Madonna's best concert of her career because it really told a story through music which few artists were doing at the time. Madonna's tours really told a story through its different segments,up until Rebel Heart where it just became a misguided mess of God only knows what. I'm hoping with the new era on the horizon that this tour will go back to the storytelling on stage.

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