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Blond Ambition Tour: 30th Anniversary!


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What is your favourite performance of the tour?   

65 members voted

  1. 1. What is your favourite performance of the tour?

    • Express Yourself
      20
    • Open Your Heart
      3
    • Causing A Commotion
      1
    • Where’s The Party
      1
    • Like A Virgin
      13
    • Like A Prayer
      9
    • Live To Tell / Oh Father
      3
    • Papa Don’t Preach
      0
    • Sooner Or Later
      0
    • Hanky Panky
      2
    • Now I’m Following You
      0
    • Material Girl
      0
    • Cherish
      0
    • Into The Groove
      0
    • Vogue
      0
    • Holiday
      6
    • Family Affair / Keep It Together
      7


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‘A Freudian nightmare.’
Blond Ambition Tour Turns 30

Madonna’s revolutionary and iconic third concert tour was announced by Sire Records in November 1989 in support of her acclaimed fourth studio album, “Like a Prayer” and the soundtrack album to the 1990 film “Dick Tracy”, “I’m Breathless”. The tour was originally planned as the “Like a Prayer World Tour” and was to be sponsored by Pepsi, whom Madonna signed a $5 million deal with. However, after the controversial release of the “Like a Prayer” music video, religious groups sought to ban the commercial and also called for a boycott of Pepsi products, which resulted in the company revoking the commercial and cancelling Madonna's sponsorship contract. 
Madonna herself described the tour as "much more theatrical than anything I've ever done [...] I know that I'm not the best singer and I know that I'm not the best dancer. But, I can fucking push people's buttons and be as provocative as I want. This tour's goal is to break useless taboos". Madonna had complete control over virtually every aspect. Christopher Ciccone was selected as the art director for the tour, and Madonna herself sought out designer Jean-Paul Gaultier to design the costumes for the tour. To allow greater movement whilst singing and dancing, she used a hands-free headset microphone. Due to its prominent usage, it went on to become known as the “Madonna mic”. Construction for the stage cost approximately $2 million. The show was split into five different sections: Metropolis, Religious, Dick Tracy, Art Deco, and Encore, each one with its own specific setting. 
The tour was subject to controversy for its use of sexual and catholic imagery. During the shows in Italy, Pope John Paul II urged the general public not to attend the tour, calling it “one of the most satanic shows in the history of humanity”. Madonna held a press conference addressing this, stating: "I am Italian American and proud of it ... The tour in no way hurts anybody's sentiments. It's for open minds and gets them to see sexuality in a different way. Their own and others [...] Like theater, it asks questions, provokes thought and takes you on an emotional journey, portraying good and bad, light and dark, joy and sorrow, redemption and salvation". In Toronto, the tour’s sexual nature again caused problems when the local police threatened to arrest the singer for “lewd and indecent display”, particularly prominent in the highly controversial “Like A Virgin” performance. Despite this, the show remained unaltered, and no charges were made. 
The Blond Ambition Tour has been noted for its theatricality and fashion which was highly uncommon for concerts at this time. It was stated by multiple journalists that the tour changed the pop culture landscape, and Rolling Stone also stated that it “reinvented the pop megatour itself”. According to Christopher Rosa from VH1, the tour “solidified Madonna’s status as a cultural tour-de-force and groundbreaking pop artist”. 
A number of concerts were recorded and broadcast. The final concert of the tour in Nice, France was broadcast by HBO and subsequently released onto Laserdisc. The concert in Yokohama, Japan was also released on Laserdisc and VHS exclusively in that country. The tour was also filmed by Alek Keshishian for the revolutionary documentary film “Madonna: Truth or Dare”, which was later named by The Guardian as the greatest music documentary of all time, chronicling the tour. The tour unfortunately has not been released on DVD or Blu-Ray officially. 

 

So, what are your thoughts on the Blond Ambition Tour? Is it your favourite Madonna tour to date? Feel free to check out the poll also attached to the thread! 

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Blond Ambition Tour
Broadcasts and Recordings

Blond Ambition Japan Tour '90 (Laserdisc)
Filmed at Yokohama Stadium

Blond Ambition Tour (Live in Houston)
Filmed at The Summit

Blond Ambition Tour (Live in New Jersey)
Filmed at Brendan Byrne Arena

Blond Ambition Tour (Live in Barcelona)
Filmed at Olympic Stadium

Blond Ambition Tour (Live in Nice) (Laserdisc)
Filmed at Stade Charles-Ehrmann

 

Radio Broadcasts

Live in Dallas
Recorded from Reunion Arena

Live in London
Recorded from Wembley Stadium

 

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Madonna’s press conference held in Italy following the Pope’s statements and the cancellation of the second show held at the Stadio Olimpico:

 

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Rare Footage

Vogue (Dress Rehearsal)

Backstage Footage and Pre-Tour Rehearsal
Rehearsal Filmed in Munich

Live in Chiba (Opening Night)
Filmed at Chiba Marine Stadium

Live in Dallas
Filmed at Reunion Arena

Live in Auburn Hills
Filmed at The Palace of Auburn Hills

Live in Worcester
Filmed at Worcester Centrum

Live in Gothenburg
Filmed at Eriksburg

 

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Where's the choice "I love them all!"?  LOL!  I do though.  I did pick LAV because I love what she did there and how she arranged it.  My favorite LAV's are this one, GS and Confessions. 

This was before all the fancy tech, videos and sound manipulation. She sounded live even at times when she wasn't (Vogue).  The sets were pretty simple and not too elaborate.  Yet, it was very theatrical.  Love it! 

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9 hours ago, MarXus said:

Where's the choice "I love them all!"?  LOL!  I do though.  I did pick LAV because I love what she did there and how she arranged it.  My favorite LAV's are this one, GS and Confessions. 

This was before all the fancy tech, videos and sound manipulation. She sounded live even at times when she wasn't (Vogue).  The sets were pretty simple and not too elaborate.  Yet, it was very theatrical.  Love it! 

She sounded live on Vogue? It's the same track as the CD isn't it? Purely from memory, I've never been a fan of Vogue actually!

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6 hours ago, Andymad said:

Awesome post, and, amazing I hadn’t realized someone remastered the Houston footage

I purchased a bootleg DVD on Amazon years ago thinking it was the Yokohama footage and was absolutely horrified when it was Houston. The footage definitely seems a lot better on that YouTube clip because the DVD I saw verged on unwatchable, it was so poor. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Nobody Knows Me

I know it’s been said but it is such a shame there isn’t an official Blu Ray. This tour is possibly the most revolutionary tour of all time and it’ll go down in history for that. 

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3 minutes ago, blondebombshell said:

Your so lucky @ScottyX, In my opinion no other tour can compare. Just loved that era. 

I cried so much that night lol .. I was 15 and your typical teenage screaming fan. I agree too, it was a special time to be a fan - not that all times arent special.  But everything she did was so world known and people were just waiting her next move.

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  • Guest changed the title to Blond Ambition Tour: 30th Anniversary!

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