What story is the show telling?

[Debord 404]

I'll have a go since I've not seen it anywhere else.

Intro/Nothing Really Matters - an overview of her career, a thank you to the fans and an acknowledgement that she's now at a place of peace and maturity.

Everybody through to Holiday - her early years in New York, both as an artist and as a person with her friends. This ends with AIDS hitting at the end of Holiday which takes us to...

Live To Tell/Like A Prayer/Unholy/Act of Contrition - AIDS wreaking havoc in New York and the world, taking many of her friends and many others. Gay men are trapped inside this nightmare and face a society which thinks they deserve it. Madonna tries to help, not just her friends but by challenging moralism and speaking up for sexual liberation and tolerance. She is a warrior ally, which takes us to...

Erotica through to Vogue - Madonna being transgressive, pushing boundaries, celebrating the underground and the queer community and then...

Human Nature/Crazy for You - the backlash hits, both in Madonna's career and in society which sees a resurgent moralism. Though it's painful and turbulent at the time, Madonna embraces herself from that period, accepting everything she did and that she experienced with love.

Die Another Day through to Don't Cry For Me Argentina - Coming out the other end of the backlash, Madonna keeps going. She is a survivor and keeps going no matter what. A huge part of what enables her to do this is her family, which lays to rest the demons she has always battled regarding her mother's death.

Bedtime Story/Ray of Light/Rain - her embrace of electronic music sees her still pushing forward and breaking boundaries but ultimately takes her back to her roots. She feels the love of her fans again, which brings her peace.

Bitch I'm Madonna/Celebration - ending again with an overview of her career, a celebration of her iconic career, legacy and everyone who's been part of it on the way. But it ends abruptly, because she's not done yet. The future is still unwritten.

[Blondie 505]

My understanding is literally the same as yours. I guess those who aren't 'hardcore' fans would be baffled, but others would get it.

[WeYo 672]

[Enrico 15,823]

Yes, Nothing really matters serves as a prologue.

In the second section, I don't totally get Crazy for you (although it's one of my favourite ballads and I am sorry that it's shortened). If it's about criticism and censorship and overcoming the backlash, wouldn't  Secret or I'll remember be better maybe? They would also fit the 90s section better. After "peace" going back to Beast within doesn't make much sense either.

Say goodbye to not knowing when
The truth in my whole life began
Say goodbye to not knowing how to cry
You taught me that

And I'll remember the strength that you gave me
Now that I'm standing on my own
I'll remember the way that you saved me
I'll remember

After solitude, family comes in. The third section is a little chaotic imo. It's about death and family, not stopping, so I don't get La isla bonita and DCFMA.

I see the fourth act as "the future", rising up in the sky. But Rain is just there as a gift for the fans...

 

[diesel6888 1,582]

Great review The last bit needs a bit of the show needs work in my opinion! Its a mess unless thats what she wanted? Love the Electronic section before..

 

 

[Honey Little 3,996]

It’s about her career highlights and ups and downs and gays and transvestism. 

[Ivan Z 715]

Great interpretation!

Could anyone explain why Hung Up is in the 90s section?

[Debord 404]

32 minutes ago, Enrico said:

Yes, Nothing really matters serves as a prologue.

In the second section, I don't totally get Crazy for you (although it's one of my favourite ballads and I am sorry that it's shortened). If it's about criticism and censorship and overcoming the backlash, wouldn't  Secret or I'll remember be better maybe? They would also fit the 90s section better. After "peace" going back to Beast within doesn't make much sense either.

 

When she does Crazy For You she dances with herself in the Human Nature costume, so I think it's definitely her addressing her past self.

The Beast Within I'll need to watch again to think what it's saying but perhaps basically representing the turmoil of the era (CFY is a modern M addressing the 90s M so it's not 'peace' in the chronology of the show).

[missberic 764]

Ahh yes, let's pretend it has a storyline

[Debord 404]

7 minutes ago, Ivan Z said:

Great interpretation!

Could anyone explain why Hung Up is in the 90s section?

I think because her support for the queer community is part of the theme of that section and it's basically her gayest song (with Vogue, which she also does in that section) and brings it bang up to date with Tokischa.

[Debord 404]

1 minute ago, missberic said:

Ahh yes, let's pretend it has a storyline

I mean...it does? Not a linear one but there's obviously a lot more going on than 'here's a song, here's another song'. Seems pretty uncontroversial to say that.

[MCL_1993 1,847]

5 minutes ago, missberic said:

Ahh yes, let's pretend it has a storyline

Usually M thinks through every aspect of her show and a 40 year Celebration Tour has to have a concept and a storyline…

So what did we do to piss in your cornflakes?!

Like, did any die-hard fan who interprets the selection of songs and costumes in a way that means something to us really deserve your negativity?!

[rlittler81 1,601]

I took the inclusion of The Beast Within as her spiritual awakening with kabbalah. 
 

[MattyMads 5,516]

I took hung up as her experiencing her sexuality which she did with Sandra B etc the topless female dancers,  hung up on Tokisha is quite sexual so I feel it fits in well at the end of that erotica/ justify my love section. 

[stefo 6,395]

2 hours ago, Debord said:

I'll have a go since I've not seen it anywhere else.

Intro/Nothing Really Matters - an overview of her career, a thank you to the fans and an acknowledgement that she's now at a place of peace and maturity.

Everybody through to Holiday - her early years in New York, both as an artist and as a person with her friends. This ends with AIDS hitting at the end of Holiday which takes us to...

Live To Tell/Like A Prayer/Unholy/Act of Contrition - AIDS wreaking havoc in New York and the world, taking many of her friends and many others. Gay men are trapped inside this nightmare and face a society which thinks they deserve it. Madonna tries to help, not just her friends but by challenging moralism and speaking up for sexual liberation and tolerance. She is a warrior ally, which takes us to...

Erotica through to Vogue - Madonna being transgressive, pushing boundaries, celebrating the underground and the queer community and then...

Human Nature/Crazy for You - the backlash hits, both in Madonna's career and in society which sees a resurgent moralism. Though it's painful and turbulent at the time, Madonna embraces herself from that period, accepting everything she did and that she experienced with love.

Die Another Day through to Don't Cry For Me Argentina - Coming out the other end of the backlash, Madonna keeps going. She is a survivor and keeps going no matter what. A huge part of what enables her to do this is her family, which lays to rest the demons she has always battled regarding her mother's death.

Bedtime Story/Ray of Light/Rain - her embrace of electronic music sees her still pushing forward and breaking boundaries but ultimately takes her back to her roots. She feels the love of her fans again, which brings her peace.

Bitch I'm Madonna/Celebration - ending again with an overview of her career, a celebration of her iconic career, legacy and everyone who's been part of it on the way. But it ends abruptly, because she's not done yet. The future is still unwritten.

I agree with the majority of the way you see the show.

It definitely has a storyline and it's coherent with her life and career. It really shines for balance, elegance and - the most important thing - selfawareness. She is never indulgent in any way with herself and this is something wich tell us she is still that person. 

The only thing I don't feel so strictly built as you describe, having a meaning and telling a part of herself the same, are the last two sets: the cowhirl one for me is just the representation of a part of her character (the intimate - her mother missing, her sons love telling about, ans the social-political reflective one), her music (the acoustic sound with electronic supply), her image (the cowgirl). The same for the electronic tracks (BS, ROL, R), it's a further evolution of her character, music and look. In this last part she doesn't go deep into the motherhood effect and her spiritual awakening as, to be chronological coherent, the electronic set should have come before the intimate folktronic one, wich references to albums as Music and American Life basically. The spiritual balance is presented in the opening number with the lyrics of NRM instead (at the point that many on the forum think she should have connected the two points, all in the beginning).

So the story really is almost all there, just not always in a strict chronological reconstruction. The MOST interesting thing to me is that, looking at the setlist and the space she dedicates the the different evolutions of the story, for M herself the core of her work, as a person and as an artist, are the 90s (from 1989 LAP to 2000 M): that's who I am artistically. And the BIM finale clearly shows how all her recent works and reincarnations were just coming back to that in various forms. I would have dedicated some, even small, space to Madame X, wich was something different imo. The facr that the finale feels so unresolved doesn't match with the perception many of us have about her recent projects? Isn't her tale, maybe unintentionally, authentic also under this point of view?

[Debord 404]

I think the fact she does Die Another Day, then Don't Tell Me (please don't tell me to stop), then Mother and Father with David into I Will Survive/LIB which she preceded with a speech about how her children saved her, DCFMA (I had to let it happen, I had to change) is pretty compelling in terms of that section being about how becoming a mother changed her and gave (and gives) her strength to carry on. Then Bedtime Story opens with her in a pose which recalls Frida Kahlo's My Birth, a painting she owns, which has obvious connections to the theme of the previous section but here leads into a creative rebirth.

[DiegoLCL 5,073]

Human Nature/Crazy for You makes sense on paper to me, it's just jarring because both songs are cut brutally short.

Crazy for You is Madonna comforting and letting go of her old, rebellious self to rebirth (Die Another Day etc..). The beast Within is literally a reading of the Book of Revelation. In wikipedia there's this:
 

Quote

Revelation has a wide variety of interpretations, ranging from the simple historical interpretation, to a prophetic view on what will happen in the future by way of God's will and the Woman's (traditionally believed to be the Virgin Mary) victory over Satan ("symbolic interpretation"), to different end time scenarios ("futurist interpretation"),[59][60] to the views of critics who deny any spiritual value to Revelation at all,[61] ascribing it to a human-inherited archetype.

Apply it to Madonna's journey and you'll get  why she loves to use it and why it is in this place on the show. The same goes for The Girlie Show.

[Debord 404]

9 minutes ago, Debord said:

I think the fact she does Die Another Day, then Don't Tell Me (please don't tell me to stop), then Mother and Father with David into I Will Survive/LIB which she preceded with a speech about how her children saved her, DCFMA (I had to let it happen, I had to change) is pretty compelling in terms of that section being about how becoming a mother changed her and gave (and gives) her strength to carry on. Then Bedtime Story opens with her in a pose which recalls Frida Kahlo's My Birth, a painting she owns, which has obvious connections to the theme of the previous section but here leads into a creative rebirth.

Here's the painting and the bit from the concert, and also Mother of Creation which I think referenced it too:

[dankpepe 1,042]

2 hours ago, Debord said:

When she does Crazy For You she dances with herself in the Human Nature costume, so I think it's definitely her addressing her past self.

The Beast Within I'll need to watch again to think what it's saying but perhaps basically representing the turmoil of the era (CFY is a modern M addressing the 90s M so it's not 'peace' in the chronology of the show).

My interpretation is that The Beast Within actually represents pregnancy and birth, after thinking about it. After the 90s sex era, she became pregnant and went into motherhood (Mother and Father) which evolved her career for a comeback (Die Another Day, Don't Tell Me, I Will Survive) and took on the role of Evita (Don't Cry for Me Argentina).

Then she found spirituality and evolved to electronic music (next section)

I also think the opening with Nothing Really Matters, based upon the clothing and headdress is the far off future and is Madonna in death reflecting back on her life, then the story begins.

I'm still not sure why Hung Up is in the 90s section, unless the clock ticking represents her menstrual clock ticking before motherhood

[Piksel8 620]

I'm sure this tour will have some changes on the way. The last bit still needs to work and we still don't know if that's how she intended to end it. There's definitely some  narrative to Celebration similar to the Girlie Show.

But I feel a few songs are out of place. Rain is definitely added for the audience. I think this is where Frozen was supposed to be sung since its the electronica section but swapped/dropped after. As for Hung Up in the 90s section, maybe because its a "love song" according her Song Exploder interview with Stuart Price, context of the song may fit before her engaging with motherhood?

[Beto 704]

I think she just needed to put "Hung Up" somewhere, and she decided to put it there, since there is no a "disco" section (and it not fit in the 80's first part). The same with several songs, which is why the narrative feels "broken" on several occasions.

[Debord 404]

15 minutes ago, Piksel8 said:

I'm sure this tour will have some changes on the way. The last bit still needs to work and we still don't know if that's how she intended to end it. There's definitely some  narrative to Celebration similar to the Girlie Show.

But I feel a few songs are out of place. Rain is definitely added for the audience. I think this is where Frozen was supposed to be sung since its the electronica section but swapped/dropped after. As for Hung Up in the 90s section, maybe because its a "love song" according her Song Exploder interview with Stuart Price, context of the song may fit before her engaging with motherhood?

Rain is essentially the final song before the 'encore', so it makes sense as a thank you to the fans - "your love's coming down like rain" etc. 

The section where Hung Up is isn't about motherhood, it's about her as a rebel/ally/transgressive artist and it makes perfect sense there!

[Piksel8 620]

36 minutes ago, Debord said:

Rain is essentially the final song before the 'encore', so it makes sense as a thank you to the fans - "your love's coming down like rain" etc. 

The section where Hung Up is isn't about motherhood, it's about her as a rebel/ally/transgressive artist and it makes perfect sense there!

well i didn't say that section where hung up is is about motherhood.. i said before. 

[Markdonna 692]

5 hours ago, missberic said:

Ahh yes, let's pretend it has a storyline

Maybe we should also pretend your post actually has a point other than — oh, you know… making you look like a vapid, unpleasant, blandly bitchy fool. 

[Justice 326]

On 10/17/2023 at 3:45 PM, missberic said:

Ahh yes, let's pretend it has a storyline

It has, but I hate it when people try to analyze every detail and pretend it has a meaning.

It has always been superficial. The show has a concept and some performances have a message, while other performances are just performances.