The Celebration Tour (Spoilers)

[Donna 16,483]

[scion 3,123]

3 minutes ago, drivebitch said:

Does anyone else think that her costumes for this were terrible? Totally below her standards and forgettable. Who was responsible for them? Wasn’t Gaultier contributing?

No, I think they're the best she's had since 2006.

[Donna 16,483]

[Markdonna 692]

4 hours ago, nito84bcn said:

Ray of light again? 

Again?  It’s been well over a decade or so.

[dankpepe 1,042]

7 minutes ago, drivebitch said:

Does anyone else think that her costumes for this were terrible? Totally below her standards and forgettable. Who was responsible for them? Wasn’t Gaultier contributing?

I like the Erotica nighty costume. The hair for the Vogue section is really good, I like the outfit too. The metallic outfit is cool too. I don't like the first section outfit but I understand its supposed to be grungy early NYC attire.

[DiegoLCL 5,078]

WOW!

[Donna 16,483]

Variety concert review: Material Girl is Still the Reigning Queen of Pop Music

Four songs into Madonna’s long-awaited Celebration Tour and a technical hitch gives her a chance to chat for a little longer than was probably planned.

She tells the crowd of her early days being “hungry, broke and scared” in New York, with a lack of support from her father, who wanted her to come back home. 

“But I was not about to go back,” she declares. “Because I am not a quitter!” 

You can say that again. Madonna has been many things to many people over her 40-year pop career – something this two-hour-plus, 40-odd song, multiple-costume-change telling of “the story of my life through music and dance” makes very clear. But throughout it all, she has always been an absolute trouper. 

Most other performers would have balked at taking on a gruelling world tour less than four months after a stay in the ICU with a serious bacterial infection. Many more might have at least considered tempering the ambitious nature of an all-singing, all-dancing show that would be a physical challenge for any of today’s young pop megastars, let alone a 65-year-old pop veteran with strapping on her knee. 

But not Madonna. After postponing the scheduled first leg, the tour finds itself starting – a mere 20 minutes late – at London’s O2 Arena, the very venue where, in 2015, she famously fell down the stairs after a cape malfunction at the BRIT Awards.

Those of us who were close enough to hear the thud as she hit the floor like a pole-axed prize fighter that night were amazed when she simply got back to her feet and got on with the show. And tonight, she metaphorically climbs off the canvas of that hospital stay to reclaim her pop heavyweight crown, a metaphor helpfully supported by the elaborate boxing set-up utilized during the lead-up to the show’s second act.

There are few signs that Madonna was fazed by the fraught run-up, let alone the lengthy “reset” required after her punky rip through “Burning Up.” She may sigh, “This is exactly what you don’t want to happen on your opening night,” but she simply gets her hype man Bob the Drag Queen up to tell jokes, while reminiscing about the days when she would trade “blowjobs for showers” in ‘80s NYC.

Tonight, the Madonna show goes on and, after that early hitch, it simply doesn’t stop, laying on spectacle after spectacle and show-stopper after show-stopper. With so many stages, set-ups and costume changes, you could probably catch this gig half a dozen times and still not spot everything (and many of this crowd, teetering on the brink of delirium ever since the Madonna pop-up store opened in the adjoining mall this morning, seem set to do just that).

And for once, Madonna – whose relentless commitment to the present and future of her music had always previously prevented her from playing the fantasy setlist her catalog seemed to be crying out for – is here to celebrate her four decades at the top with almost every song a fan – whether casual or obsessive – could dream of.

Furthermore, tonight she lays claim not just to her own history, but also to her influence on music and the wider world over the last 40 years. Not for nothing did the set start with “Nothing Really Matters” and its refrain of, “It all comes back to me”.

There are nods to her activism – including a passionate plea for peace between Israel and Palestine and tributes to those we have lost to AIDS – and her trailblazing, via a montage of negative news headlines and video footage from across her career. It’s a timely reminder that, in an age where anyone with a million streams that gets a new haircut can be hailed as “iconic,” Madonna really has achieved that status, over and over.

There are snippets of other people’s music throughout – a snatch of Sam Smith’s “Unholy” here or Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” there, plus a surprisingly poignant acoustic cover of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”. Some of her children make on-stage cameos, and even her ex-husbands appear briefly on screen. There are tributes to Sinead O’Connor and, more controversially, Michael Jackson, via a dubious mash-up of “Billie Jean” with “Like a Virgin”.

But mostly, it’s about Madonna and her songs. Taylor Swift has undoubtedly crystalized the concept of musical ‘eras’ in the public consciousness, but Madonna is no slouch when it comes to giving each phase of her career a distinct look and sound.

And tonight, she flits seamlessly between different stages of her life, sometimes via a costume change, sometimes by climbing into an illuminated portal that sees her fly over the crowd on her way to another time and place.

From the joyous early ‘80s dance-pop of “Get Into the Groove” and “Holiday”; to big ballads such as “Live to Tell” and “Bad Girl”; to the raunch of “Erotica” (in which Madge gets to saucily, um, interact with her younger self via a lookalike in the iconic “Blonde Ambition” get-up) and “Justify My Love”; to the sheer, irresistible pizazz of “Vogue,” “Don’t Tell Me,” “La Isla Bonita,” “Ray of Light,” “Hung Up,” “Like a Prayer” and so many others; this show is proof that there is no such thing as too much Madonna.

True, the lack of a live band occasionally makes things lack a little punch (most notably on a glitchy “Die Another Day”). But overall, tonight shows that while – just like 40 years ago – Madonna still doesn’t know how to quit, boy has she learned how to come back.

“It’s been a crazy year,” she says, during a rare pause for breath. “I didn’t think I was going to make it and neither did my doctors.”

But thankfully, she did and, by the end, all the different iterations of Madonna from across the decades are on stage, the lookalikes hugging each other with delight during “Bitch, I’m Madonna,” while the real deal stays center stage and supremely focused.

Still dancing, still singing, still the one and only Madonna.  

[dankpepe 1,042]

Some professional footage is already out:

https://twitter.com/MuuMuse/status/1713377487500054950/video/2

https://twitter.com/MuuMuse/status/1713377487500054950/video/1

 

 

[nito84bcn 2,755]

3 minutes ago, Markdonna said:

Again?  It’s been well over a decade or so.

I didn't mean that. I asked beause I thought it appeared twice during the show.

[scion 3,123]

5 minutes ago, DiegoLCL said:

WOW!

Literally better footage and editing than any DVD she has ever released 🤣

[dankpepe 1,042]

1 minute ago, scion said:

Literally better footage and editing than any DVD she has ever released 🤣

Probably because we don't get cuts every half of a second and its more consistent shots

[me1981 1,358]

30 minutes ago, MikeyK said:

Agree. There were some really strange, jarring moments- for me the most bizarre was when it suddenly went from Human Nature to Crazy For You. But overall I think the selection was good. Just maybe rearrange a little.

I just really hope Rain, Bedtime Story and especially Bad Girl are permanent and don’t get rotated w/other songs.

It’s be cute if she inserted Frozen after Rain maybe. That was the one omission I felt the most. More than Material Girl or Express Yourself.

I hope Bad Girl is always there too. If it relies solely on having Mercy at the Piano, I do wonder if it was meant to be permanent or not. I assume she isn't going to be playing all shows???

Maybe someone else will play the piano in her place.

[Donna 16,483]

A bit concerned how she's bandaged up here on DTM.  This isn't normal!

 

[Voguerista 11,826]

9 minutes ago, DiegoLCL said:

WOW!

I have no words. I can’t wait for the dvd! 

[Pootz333 2,693]

30 minutes ago, DiegoLCL said:

My two centes about the show and how it narrates her career/life.

"Nothing Really Matters", "Everybody", "Into the Hollywood Groove", "Burning Up", "Open Your Heart", "Holiday"  the first part of the 80s, a joyful and celebratory pop.

Then late 80s with "Live to Tell" and how the AIDS crisis made her lose people and how it affected her life, culminating in her questioning things and the development of her work and rebellion against religion/patriarchy: "Like a Prayer"/"Unholy”/"Act of Contrition".

Then the  sexual and queer defiance of her work in 90s with, "Erotica", "Justify My Love"/"Fever" (Medley), "Hung Up on Tokischa"/"Hung Up" (Medley), "Bad Girl", "Vogue", "Human Nature".

"Crazy for You"  how it all comes down to love after all the controversy (or you could see it as how she re-invented herself as a ballad singer in the mid 90s to "save her career" if you're cynical lol). "Die Another Day", "Don’t Tell Me" is her drive to keep her head up and keep going no matter what. "Mother and Father", 'La Isla Bonita", "Argentina". about her wounds from the loss of her mother and how important it was to make Evita and how it ended up closing a circle with her becoming a mother there. 

"Bedtime Story", "Ray of Light", "Rain" her rebirth and spiritual awakening after Lola which culminated in ROL and gave a twist , a revival, survival to her career. 

"Bitch I’m Madonna"/"Give Me All Your Luvin'" (Medley) , "Celebration"/"Music" (Medley) is where she is now, being the baddest bitch who refuses to go away and to live up to people's expectations.

Makes me wonder if the rumours about the biopic ending with Evita/ birth of Lola/ROL with a little epilogue and her shaking her current cakes to Celebration over the credits were true.

[scion 3,123]

2 minutes ago, McDonna said:

A bit concerned how she's bandaged up here on DTM.  This isn't normal!

 

Support tape for athletes..basically helps against injury..she's worn it since RIT.

[dankpepe 1,042]

3 minutes ago, McDonna said:

A bit concerned how she's bandaged up here on DTM.  This isn't normal!

 

Yeah when I saw the opening segment and she's wearing that ugly blue knee brace from rehearsals, I figured...here we go...

[Donna 16,483]

5 minutes ago, scion said:

Support tape for athletes..basically helps against injury..she's worn it since RIT.

Sorry that's not normal.  I know it happens with athletes, but it wasn't so visible back during the RIT. I still can't help to be genuinely concerned. 

[Voguerista 11,826]

Wow! Mercy on the piano.  This is going to set her up to be a professional piano player! 
 

 

[Markdonna 692]

22 minutes ago, scion said:

No, I think they're the best she's had since 2006.

Yeah, from what I have seen the costume are amazing.  Especially what she wore during Vogue.  So simple.  Classic.  

[me1981 1,358]

1 minute ago, Voguerista said:

Wow! Mercy on the piano.  This is going to set her up to be a professional piano player! 
 

 

I still can't get over that barely a peep from the crowd when she is singing fucking BAD GIRL!!!! C'mon no one?

And yes Mercy is a beautiful pianist. Hope if that's what she wants she'll have it. 

[Markdonna 692]

8 minutes ago, Voguerista said:

Wow! Mercy on the piano.  This is going to set her up to be a professional piano player! 
 

 

This will probably go down as my fav moment in the whole show.  Just always always loved this fucking song.  I think I even said in the other rehearsal thread. she should just do this one with her,  a piano, and not much else…. This is just perfect…. And oh my yes — Mercy has a nice touch on the keyboard..

PS — I think the crowd is silent as they are just enjoying the performance.  I had it when everybody else sings along.

[Donna 16,483]

2 minutes ago, Voguerista said:

Wow! Mercy on the piano.  This is going to set her up to be a professional piano player! 
 

 

Thank you for posting this closer up view.  Mercy actually had a piano solo right before this.  So great Madonna is to share her children's talents. 

[FraP 402]

1 hour ago, dankpepe said:

I understand the critique but she is getting older and with every tour, she is going to move slower. She hasn't been in the physical shape she used to be in.

The "story" does seem loose but I see it more of a career celebration type of show that's sort of patched together. It does seem like this show has undergone changes for whatever reason (i.e. illness, time constraints, maybe seeing Beyonce's show made her reconsider things, lack of an actual band, whatever).

I see areas in the show which I bet will allow wiggle room for changes in the setlist. I could easily see Frozen, Ghosttown, maybe even Hold Tight and Rain swapping places on some nights. I could see Oh Father and Mother and Father changing places too.

I completely understand that Madonna's physical shape has gotten worse over the years, and I'm not criticizing her for that. Her physique still looks impressive, better than how it looked in Madame X... and I respect that she might be stiff now and can't dance properly. My critique is more about the creative choices made for this tour. Some of the choreography seemed subpar at times, and it wasn't just about the level of difficulty.

Additionally, the musical preparation seemed somewhat lacking. There were moments like Burning Up that didn't come across well, even with technical issues aside. Playing the guitar without a live band made the performance feel somewhat artificial. And she was put of time too...

On a different note, my friend did mention that Madonna had rehearsed Ghosttown, so there's a chance she might include it in some shows. However, without a live band, surprising song choices might be less likely. Regardless, I hope the tour evolves positively in the upcoming stops

[acolyte 164]

I should really go to bed because I'm terribly sleep-deprived and my antipsychotics are starting to kick in making me feel a bit woozy BUT I just listened to the Bad Girl performance and it's quite heartbreaking how differently those words hit now following her self-destructive behaviour these past few years AND her near-death experience with her children by her side...