The Rebel Heart Tour Press Reports & Reviews [Europe]

[groovyguy 63,864]

Google Translated:

 

Eight hundred people were absent at Madonna concert in Turin

http://globovision.com/ochocientas-personas-no-fueron-al-blindado-concierto-de-madonna-en-turin/

 

About eight hundred people who had bought tickets for the concert by American singer Madonna offered last night in Turin (northern Italy), withdrew to attend the event, which took place amid tight security, he told Efe a source of the organization.

 

"Some 800 entries were recorded less regarding purchased, therefore can be said to correspond to people who did not show," a spokesman for Live Nation, the organization of the concert of the singer.

 

Madonna's first concert in Turin on his world tour "Rebel Heart Tour" began two hours later than expected, around 22:30 local time (21:30 GMT) in the indoor stadium Pala Alpitour between tight security and controls access to the site.

 

Strengthening security around the musical event it was announced by city officials after the terrorist attacks last week in Paris and attended concert last night finally something more than eleven thousand people.

 

Concert organizers did not offer his interpretation of the reasons that may lead people who had bought tickets not ultimately attend the event, but local media relate to the concern expressed in the preceding days, to attend a large event after events in the French capital.

Madonna began her concert with a "Ciao Italia, let's go" (Hello Italy, come on) and the interpretation of "Iconic" before projecting images of ex-boxer Mike Tyson, and he offered a mix of songs from their latest album " Rebel Heart "and his career.

 

"La Isla Bonita", "Who's that girl", "Into the Groove", "Vogue", "Deeper and Deeper", "Do not Tell Me" (item that replaced in this concert in Italy "Ghost Town" yes figure in the rest of the world tour) and "Music" were some of the themes that the singer interpreted Michigan and ended with "Holiday", wrapped in the flag of Italy.

 

"I'm half Italian and the Italians do not like being told what to do, so no one will tell me when I have to stop," Madonna said before the performance of "Do not tell me" at a concert in which He launched a bouquet of flowers in the audience who picked up a spectator who introduced himself as Gianluca and who, jokingly, proposed because, he said, "I'm looking for a husband," as he could see Eph.

 

Madonna plans still act two nights in Turin Tomorrow and Sunday-in which is unique leg of their world tour, which began last September 9 in Montreal (Canada).

 

Source: EFE / MG

[groovyguy 63,864]

Google Translated:

 

Original Review @ http://www.vanityfair.it/show/musica/15/11/20/madonna-concerto-torino-scaletta-foto-rebel-heart-tour?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=marketing&utm_campaign=vanityfair

 

Madonna in Turin: "Italy, my country my blood '

Twenty-five years after the concert of crosses, masturbation and controversy, Madonna returns to the scene of the crime, in Turin, bringing on stage his Rebel Heart Tour . And despite the long wait, it is a feast for all

 

25 years and 4 months. So much he has been since Madonna was passed by Turin for a concert. In 1990, in the Olympic Stadium which is in a few steps, it was the turn of the Blond Ambition Tour and its trail of controversy triggered by somecross over on stage and mimed masturbation on a bed duringLike a Virgin . Today the singer American, indeed Italian-American, as will be able to remember more than once during the first of three that will live in the city , returns to the scene of the crime: it is bringing on stage his Rebel Heart Tour , live expression of the disc from which it takes the name, which has not had a great sales success, also because of the leak (the illegal publication online) released on the net a few weeks before the official launch. Will also why this Tour is distinguished by a repechage heaviest of the most famous songs from his past. This concert with some discontent felt by the public already long queues to enter, began to substantial delay, at 22:20. But it is enough to see the first images of mega-screens to the tune of Iconic to forget the long wait. Madonna is happy. Does not hide it, in fact: at the end of the first piece screams "Hello Turin!" and with her ​​fans she will entertain long interludes between fun and declarations of love for our country ("My country, my blood"). The show, overall longer (2 hours and 10 ') with respect to past tours see the park a Miss Ciccone much freer the box ironclad concert seen in the past: Lady laughs, chats, touches his audience and, above all, gives surprises. The Rebel Heart Tour ushers in a new era , in which some songs change pm in the evening, to the delight of diehard who are not content to see her once.

 

Yesterday it was the turn of Who's That Girl , played on acoustic guitar and very appreciated by the public who accompanied her singing from start to finish. And Do not Tell Me , performed here in Turin for the first time on this tour and away from ladders by 2004. The list of successes is long 80 :Burning Up, Like a Virgin, La Isla Bonita, True Blue , Dress You Up . Few classics who are missing. The party did not stop, among the most thoughtful and those, the majority, festive.The former Material Girl is generous: dancing, running, singing and incites the public, non-stop. But after a voice and ukulele version of La Vie en Rose is the time to say goodbye:Holiday is the final party , explosion His joy, the audience and the dancers. It is done half past midnight. In Turin a cold and almost deserted the 12 thousand of Pala Alpitour return to their homes, still loads of energy that still conveys the queen of pop. And for those who had not had enough of singing and dancing, the party will resume Saturday and 21 Sunday 22. Can you keep the pace?

[groovyguy 63,864]

Google Translated:

 

Original Review @ http://www.vanityfair.it/fashion/news/15/11/22/concerto-madonna-21-novembre-torino-rebel-heart-tour-tutti-i-look-foto-controlli

 

Madonna, Our Lady of bling bling

Pure energy for the second date of the Rebel Heart Tour in Italy.Miss Ciccone continues her love revolution in shots look griffatissimi ballets and very hot

 

In little more than two hours she took us to the east , at the Last Supper, but revised and corrected by the tableau vivant of abacchanal hard (still with the background behind Leonardo eh), filled the stage of bulls (never seen so sexy), nuns (as above), gangsters and Dolls '20s. Everything bringing on stage a handful of costumes designed for her by four aces designer hired by his costume designer, Arianne Phillips . Nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design Walk the line and WE(even the hand of Our Lady) and BAFTA for A Single Man works with the queen of pop for some time and this tour has commissioned a body 20s studded stones to Jeremy Scott for Moschino , put flamenchera from the creative director ofGucci Michele Alexander and one by a female bullfighterFausto Puglisi (his cloak also). The same Phillips created the first set, Alexander Wang tunic and pleated skirt and Miuccia Prada look boysh, for her and for the ballet. Not to mention that many of the shoes are Miu Miu As for me, to honor Miss Ciccone , I could not resist the temptation of wearing something shiny, caught between the proposals of Asos for parties which, with its line Asos Black, has made a capsule with the talented AV Robertson , fresh degree at Saint Martin ."I'd better learn Italian," he says at one point, although interludes in our language to tell the truth has made ​​several, "if it were not to Italy I would not have anything to wear on stage. " It is ironic, Madonna, irreverent, and brilliant. His appearance has changed over time, but has remained true to the girl of the scandals "It's very hot up here, you say, take it off the skirt (one designed by Michele Alexander, ed .)?Moreover, I have always felt more comfortable naked '

 

Why Madonna is this: energy and freedom, which have not been scratched from the hours of waiting and controls,capillaries after the events in Paris , which delayed a bit 'the beginning of the concert. His people is more ecstatic than ever, and she gave him moments of pure madness, but also intimacy. As when he sang True Blue , guitar and vocals, and grandstands saw a boy, under the stage, kneel and, presumably, ask for the hand of her boyfriend. Just before the end, then, he did raise their hands, and put them together in the shape of the heart (the acendini perhaps no longer go, and still they had seized at the entrance) and asked us to fight alongside him in his revolution of love . 

[groovyguy 63,864]

Google Translated

 

Original Article @ http://www.lematin.ch/matindimanche/sainte-madonna-touche-cur/story/22909300?track

Holy Madonna touched the heart

Of all the stars with emotion told them at the time of the attacks, she was the most legitimate.

Speaking on stage in Stockholm after the Paris massacres, Madonna was the most moving of all artists in the world and elsewhere, who wished to show their solidarity.

 

Saying the words of a resistant, a willingness to stand firm against barbarism, before singing a "Vie en rose" to the prayer tunes, the material girl also showed that it remained the most legitimate when defend freedoms.

 

Upsetting

Whether it is with sex, religion or politics, Madonna provocations never stopped through three decades of be real questions on the bodies and minds.

 

While it has become commonplace to mock the so due to her age, she has demonstrated a truth: its ability to disrupt, becoming this week the image of a will to continue singing in the storm. This is the miracle of the holy expected.

 

[groovyguy 63,864]

Google Translated:

 

Original @ http://www.artinmovimento.com/rebel-heart-tour-lunga-vita-a-madonna/

 

"Rebel Heart Tour": long life in Madonna

 

While all the world of music is still dismay because of the attacks of Paris, Madonna, faithful to the statements in which he said that they would never have silenced her (at the end of the day no one has ever managed in thirty years of career), With the three dates of the " Rebel heart tour " has led to turin his " Revolution of love ". Strong, stable, fully in shape, with more than two hours of entertainment Madonna has retraced a large part of his career capturing her the more than 30 thousand that participated in the three evenings, so not armoured as was declared, the pala alpitour....
While all the world of music is still dismay because of the attacks of Paris, Madonna, faithful to the statements in which he said that they would never have silenced her (at the end of the day no one has ever managed in thirty years of career), With the three dates of the " Rebel heart tour " has led to turin her " Revolution of love ". Strong, stable, fully in shape, with more than two hours of entertainment Madonna has retraced a large part of his career capturing her the more than 30 thousand that participated in the three evenings, so not armoured as was declared, the pala alpitour.

The Intro, entrusted to the track "iconic", Have you seen Madonna enter scene inside of a cage, perfect realization of a thought / poem on which the singer has been working for years (I have a cage, it's called the stage), Since the time of the "reinvention tour". The first act, the one dedicated to the samurai and Joan of arc, has articulated between new madonnagabbiacanzoni as "Bitch, I'm Madonna", " devil pray " and the video interlude of " Messiah " up to " Holy water " that Madonna has presented with one of his greatest hit, " vogue ". During this performance, after the hot dancers / sisters who have danced the pole dance, was staged a quotation from the last supper with a wonderful aesthetic effect.
 

Toni is the most romantic are made in the second act, the rockabilly. Here Madonna has wanted to remember who it is and what he can do: the performance of " true blue " with the ukulele is worth the ticket price (and is not small thing) and have been able to listen to a real jewel pop as " deeper and deeper " live was pure ecstasy. Beautiful the effect of the spiral staircase fallen on stage for the performance of " Heartbreakcity " with the mention of " love don't live here anymore ", Probably the most exciting / performance of all the show. Madonna has finished the song by pushing from the top of the ladder a dancer that flew down into the dark, because. To paraphrase the song, "love don't live here anymore".

Img _ 20151122 _ 011523 " living for love " and " La Isla Bonita " opened the third act, that gypsy heart, with Tori and costumes spagnoleggianti, while the medley of old successes as " Lucky Star " and " dress You up ", Thanks to costumes ipercolorati, has immersed in the world of Frida Kahlo (not in case one of the icons of reference for Madonna). Are followed, at least for the date of 21 November, " Secret " and " Ghosttown " and " Like a Prayer " in unplugged version that have inflamed the pala alpitour and with which you are given the umpteenth excellent voice test of the evening . to close the section gypsy "Rebel heart", One of the most beautiful songs and intimate the last album, and a performance very suggestive of dancers who, during the video interlude of ' enlightened ", Performed in stunts from circus supported by giant auctions flexible.

During the last act (party) Madonna has actively involved the audience: has targeted a fan that has not shown great familiar with the English language and has done then go up on stage a boy of origins slave to which, as script, has Gave him a banana. With the reinterpretation of "la vie en rose", Our lady gave us another beautiful voice test. Madonnaemozionante and evocative.

The closure has been entrusted to a big horse of battle, "holiday", During which is flown from the stage and then disappear behind the screens of the scenes.

The "Rebel heart tour" has, for the umpteenth time, confirmed Madonna as perfect pop icon from stage, a performer unstoppable, that sings live and dance non-stop. Unlike the mdna tour, in which our lady appeared less mistress of the stage, all too demo and a bit aloof, in this tour all returned more fluid, also thanks to the found contact with the public. To call the detractors, long live the greatest pop artist of all time.

[groovyguy 63,864]

Google Translated:

 

http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2015/11/25/catalunya/1448406022_131273.html

Madonna still reigns

Diva convinces 16,000 unconditional Barcelona with its traditional iconography and a 'show' colorful and elegant

 

The audience was clapping and spurred on by impatience, natural considering that the delay in the start of the concert was forty-five minutes. To entertain the audience spontaneously began to dance steps and leaps in the back of the track, devoid of shirt in a gesture of eroticism to the brave and starting with their evolutions the applause stopped the palms of the audience. It was a matter of entertainment.You laugh. But the minutes passed and it was not a matter of thinking about delays caused by strict security measures and the consequent and detailed double caching 16,000 people accessed the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona for only two doors-there were three, but the Police, according to the enclosure door staff, ordered to close a-. Nevertheless, the public was in at 21.30, but Madonna did not come out. And it was already 22.05. Five minutes later, the palms were boos, but the background music was indicating that nothing was altered in the backdrop and an image of Madonna, looking ecstatic, posing with red lips embracing a sword that seemed killer.But suddenly, at 22.15, 75 minutes later from the official start time of the show, Michael Jackson went off at full speed. The start was imminent, the wait came to an end.

 

 

Then the Sant Jordi trembled.Images projected on three screens, she, the queen, and Mike Tyson faced to Smite, lit up the stage. It came a bodyguard of dancers dressed warriors with spears topped by a cross and Madonna singing down from heaven Iconic , dressed in red and black. Severe, kings of the night, cartilage and made ​​tremble before dissipating effect and sounded Bitch I'm Madonna,while the screen is tinged with red fans. Madonna greeted in Castilian and before the third piece, Burnin Up is desproveyó by a pull red dress, bodice showed something like a ruff not alechugada and crimped legs in black stockings and boots. With the guitar took center provocateur who entered the track from the stage, topped by a heart. Behind him, the lights had been taken down almost to its height. Nobody remembered longer queues, body searches and delay.You never weigh enough patience and understanding of the musical public.

 

 

A short corner of religious iconography is then opened. Some own porn nuns accompanied the diva in Holy Water , a priest appeared in Devil Pray with religious paintings on screens and end the first section of the concert. Madonna pure, without a trace of vigorexia, preventing, perhaps impossible, free demonstrations of fitness. The song and video for Body Shop with new dress, styling and retouching choreography inspired by car mechanics-a body occupying a side.

 

Until True Blue , eighth topic, no success. Perhaps that is why he played the ukulele veteran issue with home surrounded by dancers, men who looked as pets while they children, marking tablets.

 

And from there to the end more changes of scenery and choreography to show that Madonna continues to set the standard. Contemporary electronic sound with pounding on every issue, this claim rabid Eleven subjects were Rebel Heart - updated versions of his classics - Like a Virginwas not recognized until the letter-entry, scene domain shown without recklessness and a voice enhanced by art and magic of technology returned to his first public concert in Barcelona (today is the second) most notable female pop icon.

The elegance and good taste of the show, based on a seduction that is not passed and no braking seems forced, was held even with the iconography of flamenco and bullfighting Living For Love and La Isla Bonita . Behind them, Dess You Up seemed almost rumba.Madonna, Barcelona was taurine.

[groovyguy 63,864]

Google Translated for http://www.elperiodico.com/es/noticias/ocio-y-cultura/madonna-concierto-sant-jordi-barcelona-4698985

 

Madonna Ignites the Sant Jordi

 

Madonna opened the show last night out of a cage that descended from heaven, an image that says it all in its defiance of prohibitions and taboos. Although yesterday was not the best night to feel the breeze of freedom stroking our hair, as the public of Palau Sant Jordi had to undergo severe safety device that, through an individualized caching 16,000 attendees made form a huge queueat the Estadi Avenue and behaved a delay of an hour and a quarter at the start of the concert.

 

The wind blows and falls lead, but Madonna can handle almost everything . The singer who, a few days ago, in Stockholm, defended life, and the show must defeat terror, waged in the 'Rebel Heart Tour' a battle of different character, contrary to what the world expects a singer 57 years. Instead of recycled lady 'revival' or passed to the standard jazz song by the New York still reveling burn disco tracks with electronic beats bastards like those of 'Iconic' and'Bitch I'm Madonna' , parts they opened the concert. With them, the Sant Jordi accumulated tension and anger shook. Madonna released him with blows of pace, surrounded by medieval warriors and dancers-GUEISHA, on a stage from which came a footbridge in a cross with a heart at the end. Liturgy and carnal passion, signaling the way.

 

This 'show', which is repeated tonight, does not bring substantive innovations, though, after seeing these past few seasons, in the same Sant Jordi, recreations of his canon show by Lady Gaga , Miley Cyrus , Katy Perry or Ariana Grande was tempting to go back to the original version. Acrobatic, outspoken and mestiza Madonna, attached to its major themes, sex, religion and mysticism of the scandal. Which it bases its repertoire in the present, despite the ups and downs of that material, and then travels with hardly call at intermediate stages (invasive 'Deeper and Deeper' , the album 'Erotica' 1992, forgotten for many tours, it was a exceptions) perhaps their 'hits' most distant' 80s, always with renewed arrangements, contrary to the growing fan club of his electro-pop remote thin line.

 

NUNS strippers

The Madonna playing with the limits of provocation, but by now there is more parody and happy nonsense scandal that 'Holy water'whose lyrics lies vaginal fluid up to a decent elixir of Jesus Christ, who sang writhing in around a bar stripper, surrounded by a team of nuns in their underwear, and fusing it with a piece of 'Vogue'. Electric guitar hanging on an almost heavy 'Burning up' and resorting to electronic folk 'Devil pray' , this piece with the signing of Avicii, producer in 'Rebel heart' joins a team of young bomb as Diplo and Sophie . Madonna, always looking for new blood.

 

After the evocation of a sacrament of Dionysian tones, large glasses of wine sipped with theatrical gestures, he came a 'set' with a nod to the 50s, urban scenery 'West Side Story' with stacked tires and a car scrapped. There Madonna addressed the crowd, mixing Castilian and English, asking if he was "ready" and declaring "so excited" before asking some of his dancers who show their "six-packs" your abs.Howls admiration. 'True Blue' , who sang playing the ukulele, is quite bucolic, but the end is not deprived him of fiddling the chocolate from one of his burly accomplices. "Hot!" He exclaimed.

The 'hits' classics endure without much show and so rang 'Like a virgin' , in the darkened stage, single hard version, rich in low, and Madonna, on the catwalk (and vocal tracks, the rails on some inflections). And 'La Isla Bonita 'queen' torero time ', which began with a " Living for love ' between costumes and dancers played with long horns. That point Madonna concerts in which Spain seems to meet with Bavaro Beach, between fans and accordions, according to the flexible notion of geography of many Americans. "I am very hot," he said.

 

A picture of flamenco dance that lasted block towards the remote'Dress You Up' , the letter change that has incorporated in this tour: "All your clothes as you make in Barcelona," he sang, replacing the London text original. He then injected the refrain of 'Into the groove' and the concert decided entirely by acoustic touch in 'Who's that girl?' , two guitars, and 'Tell me'.

 

"Being predictable is a sin and I do not want to sin. You do not ask me! "He exclaimed. It is true that his concerts handle very changing repertoires, with few repetitions of a tour to the other and surprise the fans, while background messages remain, converted into distinctive marks. But Madonna still has some of that rebellious heart that proclaims on his new album. In the final section, at press time, he spoke of their struggle, always "compassion and love" way of climax with 'Holiday', that song that, in 1983, looked like a trifle of an ephemeral pop star. Madonna is, alive and well in 2015. And the rest, they go past.

[groovyguy 63,864]

Google Translated

 

http://www.rnz.de/nachrichten/metropolregion_artikel,-Madonna-in-Mannheim-Die-Queen-of-Pop-im-Kaefig-plus-Bildergalerie-_arid,145927.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Madonna in Mannheim: The "Queen of Pop" in the cage (plus photo gallery)

It took about an hour until the Madonna fans in the SAP Arena so really came into

Mannheim. (Alb) your colleague or her colleague made on Monday a somewhat sleepy impression? And appeared with circles under the eyes to work? Then she or he maybe on Sunday night at the concert of Madonna in the Mannheim SAP Arena.

 

Until shortly before 23 clock was the "Queen of Pop" their fans in the sold out SAP Arena to wait until she finally floated sitting in a cage on the stage. What followed was a two-hour show of superlatives: opulent, loud, provocative and with a lot of sex. It took about an hour until the Madonna fans really got under way and the mood gradually reached its boiling point. Perhaps due to the delay - the concert was scheduled for 22.15 clock; perhaps because of the long Anstehzeiten outside Halle; perhaps due to the general unease after the terrorist attacks in Paris among others at a rock concert.

 

First, the incredibly fittest 57-year-old had popped the bass around the ears to the listeners.Force instead of heat. Madonna was celebrated especially in their hits from the eighties: "True Blue", "Like a Virgin" and the final number "Holiday". Most of the songs came but from the current album "Rebel Heart".

[groovyguy 63,864]

Google Translated

 

http://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/inhalt.madonna-in-mannheim-glaube-liebe-sex-bitch-i-m-madonna.7b3bc9e1-5a73-4324-bd33-60db098f14a8.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_term=Autofeed#link_time=1448875724

Madonna in Mannheim

Faith, Love, Sex: Bitch I'm Madonna

From Gunther Reinhardt 

November 30, 2015 - 10:00 clock

 

She plays the saint and the whore, is redeemer and destroyer, is celebrating the lap of luxury the downfall of the West and told in 23 songs of world history after.Madonna has occurred on Sunday in the sold-out SAP Arena in Mannheim.

 

From pop stars to major artist: Madonna concert tour

Photo: Redferns

 

 

Mannheim - Of course, the fans will not be sent without a happy-end home.It's as close to a clock at night Madonna hop and their twenty dancers in party clothes and bathing outfits on stage, run around happily, like children look forward to the holiday, excited great about this monstrous catwalk, which simulates a crucifix. "Holiday" is the song to.

 

After the more than two-hour show previously led from heaven through the world to Hell, the only addition of the evening clings again to the ease, lightheartedness, impartiality that characterized the early work Madonna. In 1983, as Madonna's debut album and the single "Holiday" appeared, held many Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone for a harmless pop starlet that may glimmer briefly once, but then fall quickly back into oblivion. 32 years later, she is a major artist who ended up not just one hit after another, has invented and discarded fashions and set trends but also redefined the role of women in popular culture and changed forever.

 

Madonna's concert is like a furious Fantasy Stripes

 

At the concert on Sunday evening in the course sold out SAP Arena in Mannheim make songs like "Material Girl", "True Blue", "Music" or "Bitch I'm Madonna" not only the life and work of the now 57-year-olds after, but become the soundtrack for a kind of furious Fantasy strip wanders back and forth across the world history.

 

There are highly dramatic Popinszenierungen that lists Madonna, the act of faith, love, hope and a lot of sex. At first she worked off mainly at religious symbols, misused for "Holy Water" on stage fortified Kruzefixe for erotic acrobatic pole dance interludes, is the sacrament by and turns it into an orgy, asks in "Devil Pray" but then also equal forgiveness.

 

They dubbed the American dream and their own biography with a crude mix of dance beats, hip-hop grooves, pop melodies and guitar riffs, disguises himself as a rocker ("Burning Up"), as Torera ("Living For Love"), is the protagonist a Bruce Springsteen song ("Rebel Heart") or Edith Piaf. Then sings beautifully for Ukulele "La vie en rose" - and a moment later her version of "Non, je ne regrette rien", which is at Madonna "Unapologetic Bitch" and delightfully shrugs and roars, while the lighting director her with thousands of Swarovski Crystals bring occupied gown sparkle.

[groovyguy 63,864]

Google Translated:

 

http://www.morgenweb.de/nachrichten/kultur/regionale-kultur/1.2541792

Courageous Madonna like "Schnitzel"

For their means Madonna is almost on time: at 22.55 clock they start their show at the sold out SAP Arena in Mannheim. Initially leaves the pop queen her government statement "Iconic" (iconic) by another icon proclaim on the screen, namely ex-boxing champion Mike Tyson: "I'm the best the world has ever seen I'm somebody you'll. Never Forget 'cause I work hard and sweat in my tears. I'm never falling again and if I did, I'd come back "(" I'm the best that the world has ever seen. I'm someone you never forget, because I am working hard and sweating in my tears I will never rush back -.. and if they do, I'll come back ")

 

The 57-year-old runs during the first songs like "Bitch I'm Madonna" mainly from their latest album "Rebel Heart" come, a visually stunning show of superlatives on how it ten years ago built SAP Arena only for Justin Timberlake, George Michael or Pink has seen: First, it floats in a cage on the stage down, blows as usual everything she captivates, and struggling with a brilliant dancing small army of fantasy warriors - only they look like with huge crosses armed Swiss Guards from the Vatican, later as futuristic Samurai.

 

And as usual, the pop icon goes to the straight gerockten "Burning Up" from 1983 on religious symbols los: In "Holy Water" with the classic "Vogue" sprinklings their scantily clad nuns costumes dancers perform frivolous pole dances, while folky, embossed baptismal images of "Devil Pray" suddenly appeared on the backdrop of the Last Supper and the Madonna leaves the quasi world religions dance together - apparently a plea for a universal spirituality. With the video Einspieler "Messiah" of the block ends with the biggest show values ​​of the two-hour appearance.

 

Then falls "Body Shop" from first. But Madonna is (as you advance organizer Marek Lieberberg) sovereign enough to apologize for the massive delay. Where: When one sees with what gigantic apparatuses comes up the spectacular stage production, one wonders almost that building on the day directly halfway timely proceeded after a concert in Antwerp 420 km distant.The mood - since Paris are somewhat muted at major events - also suffers a while under the effects of the long wait: Some are understandably with the idea more the babysitter or the morning alarm clock. Only after the acoustically held, polyphonic arranged "True Blue" comes with "Deeper And Deeper" gradually the ecstatic mood among the more than 10 000 spectators on that part of the guest performance of world stars.

And when Madonna on the gigantic catwalk, which - of course in cross shape and with ambiguous spade tip - reaches almost to the console, almost alone interprets the intimate "Heartbreak City" and then solo a powerful rhythmic version of "Like A Virgin", it shows what stage presence means. In general, the Fit, healthy Popkönigin proves much courage when they dispensed later in a purist acoustic version of "Who's That Girl" almost in Joan Baez style and Edith Piaf century ballad "La Vie en Rose" largely on effects and embedding in background vocals.

 

Patrick catches the bridal bouquet

 

Around "Rebel Heart", the theme song of the tour, the show for the only time is political. Accordingly shouts Madonna responded with "Of course I want to save the world. But you must help me. Just leave your phone number at the entrance." And the eleven year old Celine gave them along the way that it actually is for them long bedtime, "but your mom brought you the right concert. Because you're never too young for a rebellious heart!"For the purist solo vocal dislike each tone sit thousand per cent, but these are certainly great moments that evoke the illusion of intimacy.

 

Is and of Madonna decidedly for its suitability as her husband number three tapped ("Have a car Have a job Are - which gets especially Patrick from Karlsruhe to feel that the bridal bouquet begins after the stunningly staged" Material Girl "? . You.. well? and clean? "). When he tells her no nickname, baptizing him tenderly "Schnitzel" ("I really like"), and the "running gag" the evening is born. At the end of the regular set of Karlsruhe must be "Unapologetic Bitch" even to dance and - somewhat cumbersome - about Madonna's jokes at his expense laugh ("That makes you the third man who does not understand a word of what I say").

 

By 1 clock the evening ends with a rousing "Holiday", which is hardly keeps still someone on the seats in the upper tier. The SAP Arena can be proud of the Filetstück its anniversary year - thanks to a well-placed, stylish taste absolutely safe Madonna and her spectacular show, from which protrudes into the Harlem of the 1920s shifted "Music". Just a pity that by the late pieces like "Dress You Up", "Like A Prayer" or belonging to the folk part of "Do not Tell Me" does not come to the performance.

[groovyguy 63,864]

Google Translated:

 

http://www.mannheim24.de/mannheim/mannheim-madonna-ihrer-rebel-heart-tour-ausverkauften-sap-arena-5906266.html

Sexy! The queen of pop rocks Mannheim!

Mannheim - "Bitch I'm Madonna" - the name of her new single says it all: After all, who wants international star Madonna (57) See live who has to wait on Sunday night at the SAP Arena - and will be rewarded!

It was not until shortly before 23 clock - almost time for the pop diva - starts the mega show. And Madonna emerged not just so walk on stage - No! She comes floated in a golden cage from the ceiling.

 

At the latest as of this date it is also the last fan in the sold-out SAP Arena matter that the appearance actually previously postponed to 22:15 clock was. Because such a show has rarely seen in Mannheim!

 

With "Iconic" from her new album "Rebel Heart" opened the 57-year-old her show, accompanied by their army handsome dancer, reminiscent of an erotic mixture of Egyptians and Crusaders.

 

There followed scenes, as they are known only by the Queen of Pop: full of religious symbols, provocation - pure and of course sex. 

Otherwise the fans expect with titles like "Messiah", "Holy Water" or "Devil Pray". A short version of "Vogue" (1990) must not be missing - while nuns lie down a pole dancing in underwear.

 

The stage with 2.1 million pixels LED changes from this point on at least as often as the outfits of the US Stars themselves. Unimaginable 2.5 million Swarovski crystals glisten total on Madonna's costumes. However, the cross-shaped stage, which runs directly into the audience and repeatedly changed mechanically not only serves as a catwalk, but also provides enough space for breakneck acrobatic actions of mostly half-naked dancers.

 

In addition to her latest hits such as "Living for Love" is there to listen to music career during the two-hour concert, the absolute Madonna classics from 32 years. In "Material Girl", including bridal bouquet throwing the male audience, "Like A Virgin" and "La Isla Bonita" comes on 80-Feeling!

 

As an encore shortly ago 1 clock the singer is still its good-time hit "Holiday" to the best - wrapped in a Germany flag.

 

--------------------------

Madonna's 13th studio album "Rebel Heart" was released in March and has quickly reached the top of the German charts. In Cologne began on 4 November, the European part of the accompanying tour. Until 20 December, the Queen of Pop in Europe is on the way.

 

[Gargamel 8,775]

Madonna returns to scene of Brits fall

 

 

 

Madonna has put the painful memory of the Brit Awards behind her with a triumphant return to London's O2 arena.

The pop star accidentally stole the show at February's awards when she was pulled backwards down the stairs by a malfunctioning matador cape.

A huge cheer rang around the arena on Tuesday when she performed the same routine without a hitch.

The show also included a surprise appearance from Graham Norton, who gyrated with the star on stage.

And, in a break from her tour's standard setlist, she played Like A Prayer to highlight World Aids Day.

"The entire family of my adopted son died of Aids," said Madonna, whose youngest son, David, was born in Malawi.

"It is not a disease that had gone away. We need to remember that. Let's acknowledge all the people who have passed, and those who have fought to raise awareness. We shall overcome one day."

 

 

The Rebel Heart tour launched in Canada three months ago and has already become one of the highest-grossing shows of the year, taking $46m (£30.5m) at the box office, according to Nielsen Soundscan.

 

Over two-and-a-half hours, the visual spectacular addresses themes of love, loss, revolution, sin, salvation,power, corruption and Madonna... But mainly Madonna.

 

"Even I have to admit that I outdo myself," she deadpans half-way through the set.

 

The concert is split into roughly four sections, the first of which has a pan-Asian theme, with Madonna descending from the sky in a kimono-like robe and performing martial arts moves with her dancers.

 

Elsewhere, there is an x-rated re-enactment of The Last Supper, a Day of the Dead themed street party and a balletic tussle with a back-up dancer during Heartbreak City.

 

But Madonna is charismatic enough to command the entire arena on her own and the show's strongest moments come when she's solo on stage, shaking her hair to Like A Virgin or leading a singalong to Who's That Girl?

 

The star is in an 80s mood throughout, resurrecting overlooked gems like True Blue (performed on a ukulele) and Burning Up, one of her earliest songs, which still sounds like a mission statement: "I'll do anything, I'm not the same, I have no shame, I'm on fire."

 

 

 

 

More recent material is drawn from Madonna's current album - the scattershot, but largely successful, Rebel Heart.

 

The record marks one of the first times the star has addressed her own legacy and accomplishments and that sense of reflection is on display at the O2.

 

"I'm still trying to figure out who I am after all these years," she observes after playing Who's That Girl? "Does anyone ever really know?"

 

She even addresses her two divorces, saying she "sucks at marriage" and joking about the "three rings in every marriage - the engagement ring, the wedding ring and the suffering".

 

Both moments come in the latter half of the show, when the pomp and pageantry give way to a more relaxed atmosphere.

 

Into The Groove gets a flirtatious flamenco makeover, while a slowed down Material Girl sees Madonna throwing tuxedoed dancers down a sloping LED screen (revenge for the Brits? Who knows).

 

Norton makes his appearance at the end of the night, dragged up on stage for the reggae-tinged Unapologetic Bitch and careening down the walkway, arms akimbo, with Madonna in tow.

 

She gives him a banana as a thank you present.

 

By this stage, Madonna actually seems to be having fun, teasing the crowd ("you've had your tongue down his throat all night," she scolds one unfortunate couple) and asking for help when she forgets her words.

 

Twenty-five years after she invented the modern, multi-media pop spectacle with her Blond Ambition tour, it seems the star has found the freedom to play with the format.

 

Where once she declared "I am the boss" and commanded attention, she now thanks fans for the longevity of her career. "It's an amazing gift for me to have been able to do what I do for more than 30 years," she says.

 

The Queen of Pop's crown may have slipped at the O2 in February - but her grip is firmly back on it now.

 

 

Source : http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34979759?SThisFB

[Stevo 6,451]

I posted this in the wrong topic....oops......:

 

http://www.inquisitr.com/2603366/madonna-wows-london-while-rebel-heart-is-named-one-of-2015s-best-albums/

 

December 1, 2015

Madonna Wows London While ‘Rebel Heart’ Is Named One Of 2015’s Best Albums

 

Last February, when Madonna last performed at London’s O2 Arena for an awards show, she became a laughing stock as she was pulled off stage, even though people made it seem like she fell because she was clumsy. Her fall became a running Twitter meme, often filled with vitriol.

 

On Tuesday evening, Madonna got the absolute last laugh when she played a victorious show at the same arena. The British critics, who are usually pretty rough on Madge, are praising her performance just as much (or even more) than the American critics did. The Sun says the Rebel Heart Tour is nothing short of a masterpiece.

 

“EXACTLY 278 days, 22 hours and 44 minutes after she dominated international headlines with her unfortunate fall at the Brits, MADONNA returned to London’s O2 Arena last night. And it was an absolute triumph – the world’s undisputed Queen of Pop reigns.â€

 

Madonna has a lot of dancers, but critics say she’s at her best when she’s all by herself. [Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images]

 

The Sun adds that at 57, Madonna is still the greatest pop star in the world. While the Independent didn’t think the show truly caught on fire until after a third of the way into it (something an Inquisitr review of Madonna’s show in Los Angles noted), Madonna’s show received a four-star review.

 

“Beneath the gloss and and attention grabbing outfits, she still has much to offer,†says critic Emily Jupp.

 

Jupp seemed to especially like Madonna’s stripped down ukulele version of “True Blue.†The Daily Mirror also gave Madonna’s show a near-perfect rating.

 

“But Queen Madge returned to the scene of the crime on Tuesday night and confidently took back her crown – reigning supreme once again with her Rebel Heart tour,†claims critic Hannah Hope.

 

Ms. Hope, like a lot of other critics, says Madonna sounds better than ever and noted that nobody is laughing at Madonna anymore; they’re all applauding in awe.

 

Madonna’s ‘Rebel Heart’ album may have not sold a lot of copies (thanks, hackers), but it still remains a critical favorite. [Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]

 

In other good news for Madonna, Rolling Stone has named Rebel Heart as one of the top 50 albums of the year (No. 45). Madonna fans are angry that the album isn’t higher, while others are angry that the album even made the list. In any case, here’s what Rolling Stone has to say about Madonna’s latest album.

 

“Rebel Heart was the queen’s finest album in a decade, picking up the disco-stick baton of her 2005 Confessions on a Dance Floor as Madonna voyages back into the groove and reflects on where she’s been lately.â€

 

Unfortunately, Rolling Stone, a magazine that is usually very accurate when it comes to pop music, calls the first single “Living for Life†even though it was really called “Living for Love.†Then again, the song never became the hit people expected, so it’s not a total sin to get the name wrong.

 

It is expected that because of the box office and critical success of the Rebel Heart Tour, Madonna will add some dates next summer. It is expected that New York City will get another show or two. But what wasn’t expected was that Madonna would return to Israel on this tour. Ynet reveals that Madonna is in talks to play the Jewish state next summer. That would be Madonna’s first show in Israel since 2012, when she kicked off her MDNA Tour at the Ramat Gan Stadium.

 

Madonna will be 60 in less than three years and her critics want you to know that — they think her age defines her. However, judging from the commercial and critical success of the Rebel Heart Tour, it’s Madonna’s talent that truly defines her.

[groovyguy 63,864]

http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/madonna-erases-memories-of-brits-tumble-with-crowd-thrilling-rebel-heart-tour-performance-at-londons?

Tonight, Madonna doesn't mention what happened the last time she graced the stage at London's O2 Arena. While closing February's Brit Awards with a performance of 'Living For Love', the singer's cape famously failed to untie at the neck and she was yanked backwards down a flight of stairs, causing her to hit the floor with such force that she suffered whiplash. Then again, it's tempting to imagine this embarrassing incident is playing on her mind when, halfway through her set, she snarls, "Nobody fucks with the queen!" and launches into a little-known tune called 'Like A Virgin’. 

Initially, the first of five UK shows on her globe-trotting 'Rebel Heart Tour' is dominated by songs from the somewhat patchy album of the same name. Mostly, Madonna manages to elevate the new material with her signature brand of sexed up pop spectacle. Her boasts of "Yeezus loves my pussy best!" on 'Holy Water' (it was co-produced by Kanye, though sadly he's not here to confirm her claims) are accompanied by dancers dressed as pole-dancing nuns, while 'Body Shop' finds her rolling around on a car bonnet while asking a crew of hunky mechanics to groan "tighten the suspension" - yes, really.

Too much of this could have felt try-hard from a pop star who's now been filling arenas for three decades, but as the show progresses, Madonna becomes more relaxed and begins to mine her enviable back catalogue. She strums a guitar while singing 'True Blue', packs 'La Isla Bonita', 'Dress You Up' and 'Who's That Girl' into a flamenco-themed midsection, and twice turns The O2 into a sweaty gay disco with energetic renditions of 'Music' and 'Deeper And Deeper'.

However, the most affecting moment comes when she marks World AIDS Day with a heartfelt speech acknowledging "not only the dearest and most amazing friends of mine who died of AIDS so many years ago, and who still do, but the entire family of my adopted son who died of AIDS". She then performs a stirring version of 'Like A Prayer' in their honour.

When she caps her two-hour set with a suitably jubilant 'Holiday', it's a crowd-pleasing end to a tremendously entertaining evening. On recent albums, Madonna has struggled to assert her continued musical relevance, but on stage she still works harder and delivers more thrills than her younger rivals. Nobody fucks with the queen? It's hard to disagree.
 

[groovyguy 63,864]

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/dec/02/madonna-review-02-arena-london-queen-of-pop-graham-norton

Madonna review – queen of pop returns to scene of cape-gate 4/5stars

    

02 Arena, London
From knob gags with Graham Norton to cages, trapezes and a ukulele True Blue, Madonna delivered a crowdpleasing set to mark World Aids Day in style

 

Madonna is currently 39 dates into her Rebel Heart world tour, with another 41 shows stretching out ahead of her. But tonight she breaks with her trusted setlist to mark World Aids Day: after an emotional speech, she bursts into a surprise rendition of Like a Prayer.

 

If it seems unlikely Madonna would embark on a world tour without that signature hit in each night’s armoury, bear in mind that she could have played a 20-song show consisting of nothing but Top 5 hits after only six years of fame. That was before she’d even released Vogue. Another 50 singles later, Madonna’s is a career that has spanned the shift from tours being used to sell albums in the 80s, to the current state of play where albums operate as loss-leaders for lucrative tours. Throughout that shift, she’s largely avoided greatest-hits tours, firm in the belief that her new music deserves at least one whizz around the globe.

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 Relaxed and comfortable … Madonna delivered her signature hits in updated style. Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

 

The Rebel Heart album campaign has not been without calamity – it leaked before it had even been announced, and when Madonna visited tonight’s venue for this year’s Brits she was yanked backwards off a stage by cape that failed to unfasten – but it delivered artistically. While some of its better songs are sidestepped tonight, spluttering trap-style belter Iconic is the perfect opening number. Naturally, when Madonna’s cape flies off unhindered in Living for Love, it prompts one of the biggest cheers of the night.

It’s hard to avoid the fact that most of the show’s action takes place on a runway resembling a tumescent, neon-trimmed penis. Madonna acknowledges the likeness when she reaches its tip (“usually when I get down to the head of the penis, things get pretty heatedâ€). “I work hard!†she declares at another point in the show. “Hard is the key word. Hard. Hard? Yeah.†After another new song, Unapologetic Bitch, guest dancer Graham Norton is presented with a banana and seems initially surprised, then slightly weary, at Madonna’s protracted usage suggestions.

 

It’s fair to say that when even Graham Norton is tiring of single-entendre knob gags, it’s time to put them behind you. But Madonna is relaxed and comfortable on stage tonight, and there are several flashes of crowdpleasing, campy humour. Taking a breather before a better-than-you’d-expect ukulele version of True Blue, she smirks: “Even I have to admit, I outdo myself.†When she bursts into Love Don’t Live Here Any More, with its dramatic opening line “You abandoned meâ€, it’s just after having shoved a male dancer off the top of a spiral staircase into a hole in the stage 20ft below.

 

Most signature hits appear in an updated style – Music is given a crunchy modern rework, Material Girl sounds like it’s been given a once-over by Nero, and a reimagining of Like a Virgin suggests the Art of Noise homaging The Macarena – but when Madonna delivers a refreshingly faithful version of Deeper and Deeper, it’s the night’s highlight.

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 â€˜We survived! And amen to fucking that’ … Madonna. Photograph: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images

 

“I never get tired of looking out into the audience and seeing so many beautiful, happy, smiling faces,†Madonna announces near the end of the show. The doubter might say: well, you probably don’t, considering decent tickets were going for £175. But cynicism evaporates when she adds, in rare recognition of her audience growing older with her: “We survived! And amen to fucking that.â€

 

Having initially appeared in a cage lowered from the ceiling, Madonna finally leaves the stage backwards on a trapeze. If this were the only Madonna show you’d ever see, you might gripe about the lack of hits, but few among tonight’s audience are seeing her for the first time. Nor, to her credit and presumed reassurance, will tonight’s time with the queen of pop be this audience’s last. 

 

[groovyguy 63,864]

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/music/livereviews/article4630009.ece

Madonna at the O2, London

5 stars in The Times

A reinvigorated Madonna created hysteria in a show that exuded confidence
Ian West/PA

A reinvigorated Madonna created hysteria in a show that exuded confidence Ian West/PA
Will Hodgkinson Chief rock critic

Madonna goes in and out of fashion but one constant remains: her tenacity. Less than a year after being almost decapitated during the Brit awards when dancers yanked her cape and sent her flying backwards, Madonna returned to the O2 for a concert that proved that theres nothing like a near-death experience to reinvigorate the Queen of Pop.

Three years ago, Madonna played a less than impressive concert at Hyde Park. What a difference a terrifying accident makes.
Dancers dressed as Crusaders marched on to the stage before a golden cage descended from the rafters containing Madonna. The crusading hordes made way for Japanese Samurai as the woman of the moment ran through Bitch , Im Madonna before a monk handed her a guitar for Burning Up. (Madonnas religious references had distinctly medieval overtones this time round).

Whatever next? A parade of naughty nuns, of course, pole dancing around crosses wearing wimples and frilly knickers. It would have been shocking were it not so impressive.

Madonnas great skill has always been to hold a grand vision that depends on the talents of others, and so it was here.

There was a section for which she vacated the stage entirely to make space for a dancer who did remarkable things with a strip of cloth and others who performed a car mechanic routine that appeared to be based less on taking the car in for its MoT and more on memories of playing Danny Zuko in a school production of Grease. Its so good to be back right here where I belong! she said, before performing a version of True Blue on a ukulele while surrounded by the worlds least scary team of car mechanics.

Her accident at the Brits clearly hadnt spooked Madonna either. She writhed on a spiral staircase for a cover of Love Dont Live Here Anymore, zipped about on a skateboard for Body Shop, and generally gave her health and safety experts a hernia.

Nobody f***s with the queen! she said, creating mass hysteria, before singing Like A Virgin while doing some non-virginal singing on an hydraulic platform.

Everything about this concert exuded confidence, from a samba medley of Into the Groove and Dress You Up to a remarkable set piece during Illuminati in which dancers flew about atop poles.

A Thirties Cabaret-style routine against an art deco set during Music and Material Girl gave way to a defiant re-creation of the cape-removing matador sequence that almost polished her off at the Brits. She even gave a confessional, admitting that she sucked at marriage, before singing La Vie En Rose. I have to admit, even I have outdone myself, she gasped. And when she sang Like A Prayer, surely the best irreligious gospel song ever written, it was impossible not to agree with her.

Even Graham Norton agreed; bizarrely, he joined Madonna on stage for Unapologetic Bitch. On a good night, nobody can touch Madonna and this was one of her best. 

[groovyguy 63,864]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/6778181/Live-review-Madonna-brings-tour-to-the-UK.html

Live review: Madonna brings Rebel Heart tour to the UK Undisputed Queen of Pop wows the O2 with huge show

 

EXACTLY 278 days, 22 hours and 44 minutes after she dominated international headlines with her unfortunate fall at the Brits, MADONNA returned to London’s O2 Arena last night.

And it was an absolute triumph - the world’s undisputed Queen of Pop reigns.

Seconds into the first night of her Rebel Heart UK tour, the Brits incident was forgotten - and this time she whipped her cape off without a hitch after opening numbers Iconic and B****, I’m Madonna.

 

What followed was a masterpiece in live performance.

 

There was no backing band necessary as she rocked out on the electric guitar to Burning Up, only stopping to rip her trousers off.

 

Her religious iconography was as strong as ever too. I won’t forget her pole dancing on a crucifix to Holy Water with a squad of nuns in hot pants in a hurry.

 

This was Madge at her uncompromising best, demanding her male and female crew members strip topless before heading straight into a version of True Blue with her playing the ukulele.

 

The 57-year-old pop legend looked fantastic Dan Jones

 

After 39 shows all over the world, London had been waiting for her - and she’d been waiting too.

 

She told the screaming sold-out crowd: “Alright London, it’s so good to be back. Right back here where I belong.

“It’s been forever and it’s so good to be back in the UK. I have this special fondness for this place.â€

 

Unlike most, Madonna was just as playful and comfortable singing her hits as her latest material.

 

That was summed up when she followed up recent single Living For Love with a Bollywood-themed Eighties medley of La Isla Bonita, Into The Groove and Dress You Up.

 

Madonna was lifted up by two backing dancers at one point PA

 

Before Like A Prayer, she commemorated World AIDS Day with an incredible and emotional speech.

She said: “I should acknowledge the dearest and most amazing friends of mine who died of AIDS - the entire family of my adopted son who died of AIDS.

 

“It’s not a disease that has gone away, and we need to remember that.

“Let’s fight to find a cure for this disease.â€

 

The singer donned thigh-high boots and a skimpy black outfit PA

 

For me, the highlight was the tour’s title track Rebel Heart, with just Madonna on a guitar captivating the 20,000-strong crowd with the intensely personal story of her life.

 

At 57, she is still the undoubted greatest pop star in the world.

 

[groovyguy 63,864]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/what-to-listen-to/madonna-02-review/

Madonna - with some help from Graham Norton - stuns the O2

• [*]

CREDIT: COPYRIGHT © 2015 REX FEATURES. NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION./RICHARD ISAAC/REX SHUTTERSTOCK

• [*] Neil McCormick, music critic 
  

 

2 DECEMBER 2015 • 9:20AM

 

There was a huge cheer at London's O2 Arena when Madonna divested herself of a giant Matador cape without mishap. The last time Madonna performed here, she fell off the stage. She stayed on her feet this time, more or less, but that doesn’t mean she played it safe. She descended from the arena ceiling in a cage, writhed on the top of a spiral staircase and climbed up a stripper's pole to spin around on the stomach of a revolving nun in underwear.

 

She certainly did not seem cowed by returning to the scene of her Brits disaster. She cavorted, stretched, swished, flipped and flopped with an extravagant physicality belying or defying her advancing years. At 57, Madonna’s trademark performance style remains an unholy cross between pop extravaganza and exercise class that can feel almost as exhausting to watch as it must be to participate.

CREDIT: COPYRIGHT © 2015 REX FEATURES. NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION./RICHARD ISAAC/REX SHUTTERSTOCK

Reviewing a Madonna show can feel like an exercise in listing logistics. This is her tenth world tour, and she has long since mastered the art of combining highly choreographed theatrical spectacle with the big musical dynamics of pop celebration. The Rebel Heart production features a hydraulic hi-res screen that tilts and shifts and doubles as a surface for dancers to scale. A crucifix shaped catwalk extends into every area of the arena floor to a heart Madonna refers to as "the head of the penis. Things always get heated up when I get here." There are six musicians, twenty dancers and ten major costume changes. It is a dazzling hi-tech, multimedia melange of light and sound, with eye and mind boggling set pieces featuring fantasy medieval executioners, martial art fighting geishas, pole dancing nuns, simulated sex shows and an orgiastic re-enactment of the last supper in which Madonna winds up spread eagled on the table being groped by Christ and his Apostles. It is inarguably another fantastic display of showbiz shock and awe from a mistress of the form.

She brought out a ukulele, that least hi-tech of instruments, to serenade us with versions of True Blue and La Vie En Rose that offered a refreshing lightness and intimacy. There was a time when Madonna’s voice was her weakest link but perhaps only because everything else she was doing was so supremely slick. She can sing when she wants to, especially when she’s not trying to do vinyasa power yoga at the same time. 

CREDIT: 2015 GETTY IMAGES/GARETH CATTERMOLE

The real treat, though, is the way Madonna herself connects through the sensory overload. For someone who craves the limelight so fiercely, she has often seemed stilted and forced in it, her personality diminished to something oddly impersonal. Maybe it is the intense focus demanded on stage by her acrobatic style of singing and dancing  combined with the often overwhelming aspects of highly stylised set piece with their provocative mix of art, sex and religion. Perhaps it is only when she falls down that fans get a glimpse of the real person behind all the smoke and mirrors.

But there is a lightness of mood and touch to her latest tour that I haven’t see from Madonna in a very long time, perhaps since the earliest days of her rise to superstardom. Her smile is genuine and unforced, rambling between song monologues sound spontaneous and unscripted and her pleasure in performing is undeniable and infectious. She delighted the London audience by dragging out Graham Norton for an absurdly improvised funky dance that seems likely to become a YouTube meme. In her return to the O2, Madonna did not put a foot wrong.

[survivalartist 6,645]

Published on The Arts Desk (http://www.theartsdesk.com)

 

Madonna - Rebel Heart Tour, The O2 Sensational energy and stage drama overcome mixed material

by Matthew Wright [1]Wednesday, 02 December 2015

Last night Rebel Heart began to make sense. For over two hours, performing from the album, her back catalogue, and a couple of well-chosen covers, Madonna sustained both a diversity and intensity in her approach to singing about love and sex that probably no-one else could match. We all knew she could sing “Material Girl†or “Like A Prayer†till the lid came off the O2. When she followed those with Edith Piaf, sung to the ukelele, and held nearly 20,000 people in rapt silence, she gave us a much better idea of what makes her rebel heart beat.

 

The first 40 minutes was a barrage of the new album’s spikiest songs, opening with “Iconicâ€, and “Bitch I’m Madonnaâ€, performed with the chorus dressed as slightly camp reenactment Crusaders. Chance The Rapper and Mike Tyson, who feature on the recorded version of “Iconicâ€, couldn’t be with us, unfortunately, though it didn’t prevent both songs tripping over their own bassline, and making much more impact on the eardrums than the heart. The situation wasn’t improved by a fuzzy sound quality that boomed and rattled like the stereo in a pimped-up Ford Fiesta.

 

What the sound quality lacked was more than made up by spectacular staging and choreography. There was a long, crucifix-shaped thrust stage, that took Madonna to the middle of the arena (the “head of the penisâ€, as she described it), and gave her the opportunity to connect more personally with her fans. (At one point she seemed to be kneeling down by the edge so that they could stroke her hair.) The screen behind the main stage was vast, and the video montages were spectacular, though they also had the de-humanising effect of making the performers seem tiny and remote. Bigger isn’t always better.

 

One of the slickest songs dramatically, “Holy Water†had incredible acrobatics from both Madonna and the “nuns†in wimple and g-string, one of whom gripped a vertical dancing pole with only her thighs, while Madonna stood on her stomach. (No doubt about her pelvic floor.) The routine ended with Madonna lying on her back, legs open, on a mock-altar, singing “Yeezus loves my pussy bestâ€. While this kind of thing was properly shocking when Madonna started doing it in the 1980s, you can’t imagine Pope Francis (with his own album to promote, after all) doing much more than smile in amusement. Today, the gymnastics are more startling than the blasphemy.

 

There was more engaging choreography in “Body Shopâ€, with a backdrop of 1950s diner and garage, and one of the album’s more sensitive lyrics, comparing the repair of a car with the disintegrating human body. Most effective, though, were the routines that took place on the thrust. The best, “HeartBreakCityâ€, featured just Madonna and one male singer on a spiral staircase in the centre of the arena, ending with him pushed from the top into an invisible landing pit behind.

 

Though she seemed – understandably – to forget at times where this whirligig of a show was going next, Madonna’s energy never flagged. There was something very touching about her rendition of “La vie en roseâ€, unaccompanied apart from her own ukelele, perched on a console in the centre of the stage. Where “Bitch I’m Madonna†had made the arena feel huge, this song, and “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friendâ€, shrank the hall, and gave the big tent that rarest of performing qualities, intimacy. If Madonna is staking her pitch for posterity, she’s aiming high with Edith Piaf  and Marilyn Monroe. It worked, though.

 

The new album is still something of a blunderbuss.

 

As the show progressed, the routines became less shrill and more fun, the costumes and choreography evolving into ever-wackier forms. “La Isla Bonitaâ€, “Into the Grooveâ€, and “Who’s That Girl†tumbled over one another in a flurry of maracas, rose silk gowns, and increasingly, as the show progressed, more chat with the audience. Madonna was a warm, effective improviser, always staying half in-role, but revealing enough of herself to connect emotionally.    

 

Where the New York show had Amy Schumer, London had Graham Norton, though not in an advertised supporting role, but a surprise cameo. Madonna did a kind of limbo dance through his legs, then they shared some banana-themed banter – as innuendo-merchants, it would be difficult to find a better pair – then he had his bottom spanked and was gone. The show ended with a string of sure-fire hits, and as she vanished, on a trapeze, through the curtain to the closing bars of “Holidayâ€, she had surely quelled all talk of declining superstar powers.

 

The new album is still something of a blunderbuss, Madonna’s traditional knack of taking an underground movement mainstream feeling a bit late to the party this time (a rap with Mike Tyson?), crass rather than provocative (“Holy Waterâ€, etc) and unfocused, containing a bit of everything, musically, in the hope that something might work out. Yet as a live show, it was a sensuous portrait of everything from gaudy gross-out to tender confessional. To fit all of that into a single show, crammed with colour, melody and action, more than 30 years into a career, is extraordinary, and begins to tell us what a rebel heart might be.

• [*]

The Rebel Heart Tour continues at O2 Arena tonight, with dates in Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow later in the month

 

[groovyguy 63,864]

http://www.digitalspy.com/music/live-reviews/review/a775960/madonna-london-o2-arena-live-review-pop-superstar-returns-to-the-o2-stage-with-her-cape/

Madonna live in London review: Pop superstar returns to The O2 stage... with her cape

 

4 Stars

 

"Nobody f**ks with the queen."

 

First there were the questionable #RebelHeart Instagram posts. Then came another slathering of ultra-raunchy songs on her latest album. Oh - and then there was the disastrous leak of the whole collection months before it was even announced. But the single moment Madonna shocked the world most earlier this year was when she was yanked backwards off a raised platform by an Armani cape live on British television. 

 

There was a thud on the Brit Awards stage. The vocals went quiet. An barely audible gasp spread around the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena like a Mexican wave. Nevertheless, a clearly shaken but defiant Madonna got back up to continue with 'Living for Love'. The lyric "I'm gonna carry on" never felt more powerful and apt.

 

So for her opening date in London as part of the 'Rebel Heart' world tour - to support her 13th studio album of the same name - Madonna returns to the scene for the first time since it happened. She swore she'd never wear a cape on stage again. But then here she was mid-show - back on the platform ready to have the red material ripped off her before the thudding, house-tinged banger burst into action. Anticipation is high. The dancers tense their arms ready to tug. And success! The crowd roars and the 57-year-old finally has her moment to do the performance she was meant to 10 months earlier.

© Getty Images Kevin Mazur

 

After filling column inches for over 30 years now, Madonna knows a thing or two about taking a hit and brushing it off. As the show opens with Rebel Heart album track 'Iconic', the blonde performer is lowered in a cage dressed as a Japanese warrior. Naturally, it's stuffed with more religious iconography than a Dan Brown novel, every nook and cranny of the stage tempting outrage.

 

Of course, the newer material doesn't resonate as much with her more longtime fans, but the glitchiness of 'Bitch I'm Madonna', the guitar twangs of'Devil Pray' and emotive sway of 'Heartbreak City' sit nicely alongside her older hits. It allows Madge to continue pushing that envelope, raising those eyebrows, but doing so with tongue firmly in cheek. Pole-dancing nuns? Check. Writhing around on a golden table for the Last Supper? Sorted. Gyrating on buff mechanics? Grab a spanner. Madonna is a showgirl and by now she knows what her audience expects. "Nobody f**ks with the Queen," she declares. Well, quite.

 

So the more unexpected moments actually come when all the madness and pomp fades away. Madonna grabs her electric guitar for golden oldie'Burning Up', delivering a charming rendition of the often-overlooked hit. Three decades on, 1986's 'True Blue' proves its worth as an enchanting sing-along, complete with ukulele plucks. And The O2 was transformed into the capital's biggest disco for a surprise resurfacing of early '90s floorfiller 'Deeper and Deeper'. Madonna may have caught some criticism on previous tours for ignoring some of her hidden gems, but here she parades them with the right amount of care.

 

 

Getty Images Kevin Mazur

 

And the blockbuster smashes came quicker than Madonna's on-stage wit (which was very fast, by the way). 'Like a Virgin' required no staging, just Madge grabbing her fans' hands and bouncing around the set, giving it a simple but effective buoyancy. The Latin flair was fully charged for a swaying'La Isla Bonita', which flamenco'd its way excitedly into a mash-up of 'Dress You Up', 'Lucky Star' and 'Into the Groove'. She may have performed them a million times before, but Madonna kept it looking fresh and, more importantly, incredibly fun.

 

As for that on-stage patter, the Michigan star's self-awareness is acutely sharp. "It's so nice to sit down for a moment," she says, pulling up a stool after a gruelling routine. The punch line? "Even I have to admit I outdo myself." Then there's the more playful humour, mixed with some deadpan egotism. "I wish someone would give me a spanking, but I never do anything wrong." Madonna can sometimes come across as cold, but her Rebel Heart is obviously a warm one this time out.

© Getty Images Kevin Mazur

 

But then, when Madonna does serious, she does it well. To mark World Aids Day she gave a rousing speech about the fight against the disease, reminding the crowd that it took the lives of her adoptive son David's family. It was a powerful moment, which turned emotional when she dedicated an unexpected performance of 'Like a Prayer' to the cause. Easily a show highlight, Madonna started the 1989 chart-topper backed by light guitar, building it up into a massive soft-rock number by the finale. It's been any Madonna fan's staple for 26 years, but here its impact felt incredibly raw and moving.

 

With 82 singles to her name (and many of them massive hits), even a concert lasting over two hours can't squeeze all the favourites in. The only disappointment was the inclusion of cuts like'Candy Shop' and a cover Edith Piaf's 'La Vie En Rose'. While both were good, it's hard to stomach they took a place over superior numbers like 'Sorry', 'Hung Up' and 'Frozen'. It's a high-class problem to have, but with Madonna's unbreakable fighting spirit and relentless passion to move forward with her music, that setlist is only going to get more and more crammed. Which is precisely why she remains the ultimate ringmaster of pop pageantry.

[groovyguy 63,864]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/3d190e5a-98df-11e5-9228-87e603d47bdc.html

Madonna, O2 Arena, London — ‘A spectacular show of strength’

 

Of the two sides of Madonna revealed on her latest album Rebel Heart â€” one a lachrymose balladeer pleading “Just hold me while I cry my eyes outâ€, the other an imperious sex-crazed queen snarling “Go hard or go home†— which would predominate at the O2 Arena?

 

The phalanx of men kneeling on the stage in Game of Thrones warrior garb at the start, each holding a cross and bowing as they awaited her entrance, was a hint of what to expect. And so it proved, with Madonna descending from on high in a suspended cage, singing the blaring dance track “Iconic†with unblinking iciness, wearing a red outfit with black fake fur lining that gave her the look of a ninja-trained tsarina.

 

What followed was a display of superstar invincibility. It was a U-turn of sorts, ending the efforts that Madonna has made in middle age to craft a more sympathetic, human character for herself, as withRebel Heart’s weepy ballads. That campaign reached an inadvertent nadir at the Brit Awards earlier this year, when a botched attempt to remove a cape caused the dazed singer to be dragged down a staircase.

 

Tonight’s show, at the very same venue, found her coming to her senses. Fallibility is for civilians.

 

The two-and-a-quarter-hour concert was incident-packed and superbly executed. High production values palliated the regal ticket prices the singer charges. Her choreography with 17 backing dancers was expertly detailed, from the Japanese-themed moves that added lethal grace to the crude snarl of “Bitch, I’m Madonna†to a sacrilegious pole-dancing nuns routine in “Holy Waterâ€: salacious but impeccably timed, like the Las Vegas theatrics that the show so successfully mines.

 

The highlight was “Musicâ€, set as a 1930s Busby Berkeley musical, with the backing band neatly switching between jazz and thumping beats, and Madonna in a sparkly flapper’s minidress interrupting the song to perform a witty burlesque routine. Self-pitying tear-jerkers were recast as acts of resilience, such as “Heartbreak Cityâ€, which ended with the singer pushing a villainous man off the top of a spiral staircase with the diva’s cry of “You abandoned me!†The model was the indomitable Edith Piaf, to whom Madonna paid tribute with a boldly warbled version of “La Vie en roseâ€.

 

Old hits were imaginatively overhauled. “Burning Upâ€, from her 1983 debut, an early example of her unabashed nature (“I have no shame!â€), became a wild rocker, Madonna on her knees pretending to shred a guitar. “Material Girl†was rebooted as hard-edged electro. A straight rendition of “Like a Prayer†followed an emotional but defiant speech about Aids: “We shall overcome!†So, in a different context, she did tonight. The Rebel Heart tour turns a muddled album into a spectacular show of strength.

 

[groovyguy 63,864]

http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/madonnas-rebel-heart-tour-live-at-londons-o2-arena-review-__12816/

Madonna's Rebel Heart tour live at London's O2 Arena: Review The superstar put on a dazzling and joyous display at London's O2 Arena.

By Rob Copsey (@robcopsey) 

So keen was Madonna to make things right at London's O2 last night (December 1) - a mishap with a matador cape caused her to tumble down a flight of stairs the last time she was here for the BRIT Awards - that she arrived on stage five minutes earlier than scheduled. It was just as well too, given the show failed to finish at the usual 11pm curfew by ten minutes.

 

No such disasters this time, but anyone thinking she'd play things safe this time were sorely mistaken. After descending from the arena ceiling in a cage, she hung upside down on a cross for opener Iconic, pole danced while straddling a nun in underwear for Holy Water/Vogue and weaved herself around a spiral staircase during a dramatic performance of Heart Break City/Love Don't Live Here Anymore. Not only was every move executed flawlessly, they were done with a physicality and showmanship unlike any of her peers. 

 

MORE: Madonna's Official Top 40 biggest selling singles revealed

 

For an artist with one of the most enviable back catalogues in pop, the reaction to songs from her latest album Rebel Heart was surprisingly enthusiastic. On Devil Pray she held her own extravagant last-supper-turned-orgy, on Body Shop she slid across a vintage car and prodded dancers with a petrol pump, while for Unapologetic Bitch she dragged Graham Norton on stage for a genuinely funny dance-off. The set pieces were elaborate, the dancing was slick and the theatrics dazzlingly hi-tech; but crucially, the sense of fun was never lost throughout; something Madonna has been criticised for on previous tours. 

 

She was also the most generous she's been with her classics in recent memory. True Blue, Vogue, Deeper And Deeper, Like A Virgin, La Isla Bonita, Dress You Up, Who's That Girl, Like A Prayer, Material Girl and Holiday were all given an outing, often with snippets of her other classics sprinkled in for good measure. For the most part the songs remained faithful to the original; at most tweaked only slightly as opposed to a complete rehash.  

 

MORE: See where all of Madonna's singles and albums have charted in the UK

 

Now on her tenth world tour, Madonna has refined the art of combining stage theatrics with a pop celebration, but it was her lighthearted humour and seemingly unscripted stage chatter that added an extra joyous layer to the spectacle. During a standout Spanish-themed section, Madonna declared, 'Nobody f**ks with the queen' and, 'Even I have to admit I outdo myself'. It was impossible here to argue otherwise. 

[groovyguy 63,864]

https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/culture/19156/review-madonna-rebel-heart-o2-1-december-1/

Review: Madonna – Rebel Heart, O2 London, December 1

 

Unapologetic, bitch

It’s a bit unsettling to see the self-proclaimed unapologetic bitch – and undisputed queen of pop – having fun, but that seems to be the agenda for Madonna’s Rebel Heart tour.

 

Her tenth world tour began its short British leg at London’s O2 last night [1 December], having so far sold out across North America with critics noting it as her best, and most personal, show to date.

 

“I want to start a revolution,†she proclaims, before descending from the ceiling in a cage to opening number Iconic. She’s setting out her stall, quickly followed by Bitch I’m Madonna, for an evening where her dancers and the audience – repeatedly referred to as her ‘bitches’ – would do well to remember just that. She IS iconic and she IS Madonna. So if she wants to have fun on this tour, she will.

 

Huge floor to ceiling screens act as an interactive backdrop throughout the production, making this quite a different beast from her previous stadium tour, MDNA, while a huge cross – which she refers to as a ‘penis’ – reaches out almost the entire length of the venue’s floor.

 

It’s at this point that the icon moves among her disciples, making her way halfway along the catwalk to sing Burning Up with a guitar. She smiles as fans scream and clasp their face in hysteria at her acknowledgment.

 

The religious themes that Madonna so frequently plays with are present in the opening act – stripper nuns pole dance on crucifixes to Holy Water, while The Last Supper takes a slightly more sexual turn. It segues into Vogue, which is the only outing for what is usually a show-stopping number on her previous tours. She writhes around on a table, bound up, to Devil Pray while fans dressed as nuns and devils look on.

 

The interludes are brief, and spectacular, as dance routines accommodate several costume and set changes – the first of which sees the stage transformed into a car workshop for Body Shop. Your local Kwik Fit was never quite so hot. “Cos cars and love always go together,†she proclaims, before singing an acoustic version of True Blue. Rarely performed live, it’s good to hear.

 

Deeper and Deeper follows, complete with a line dance routine. That fun we talked about earlier? It’s all over her face. And you can’t imagine her doing this when the song was originally released…

 

“I said ‘bitches are you in my gang’!†she screams, and thousands of ‘bitches’ scream back in the positive.

But love, as it quite often does, takes a sour turn, and a melancholy section follows as a spiral staircase is lowered from the ceiling in order to allow Madonna to have a dramatic dance-off/break up with a dancer to Heartbreak City and Love Don’t Live Here Anymore.

 

“Nobody fucks with the queen!†she roars, victorious in her romantic defeat before breaking into a – yes – fun version of Like a Virgin.

 

With several solo dance routine moments throughout, Rebel Heart is less theatrical than MDNA, and often verging on the more intimate cabaret. You could watch her all day and get the feeling she could actually go on all day… It’s by no means as energetic as MDNA, though god knows we couldn’t do even a fraction of what she’s getting up to on stage.

The third act initially hints at the carnal, with Justify My Love morphing into S.E.X as dancers – of mixed sexual preference, of course – perform routines as couples on four beds, suspended on a tilted platform.

 

While this is going on, Madonna makes another entrance, this time from the far end of her runway – giving many a flashback to the last time she performed at this venue, for The Brit Awards. She reclaims the moment, recreating the routine for Living For Love (almost) exactly as she did that night, and there’s a huge cheer when her cloak is removed as intended. It’s annoying that this moment is destined to remain with both the song and performance.

 

La Isla Bonita morphs the matador theme into a Day of the Dead street party section, which sees Dress You Up, Into The Groove and Lucky Star mashed into a strange remix which, sadly, is the where the show sags slightly.

“I wish someone would give me a spanking,†she says, “but I never do anything wrong.†We’re willing to volunteer in light of ruining three classic pop songs in the space of eight minutes, but hey – she’s Madonna, and this show is testament to the fact that she can do as she pleases.

 

 

A stripped down version of Who’s That Girl follows, and she stops the show to pay tribute to World AIDS Day. “It’s important to remember we still haven’t found a cure. We shall overcome, one day.â€

 

It’s heartfelt, and moving, and she talks about how AIDS claimed the family of her adopted son. She performs Like A Prayer – which isn’t usually on the set list – in tribute and it’s the first time in the evening that the audience truly goes wild. It’s a stunning version of one of the best pop songs of all time.

 

“We’re alive and we survived and amen to fucking that,†she says. “And that is what makes a rebel heart – to be able to fight for what you believe in, but to do it with love.â€

 

Naturally, Rebel Heart follows – and what’s most memorable about this section is the absolutely STUNNING artwork that’s displayed on the giant screens behind her. If this doesn’t make it as a DVD extra, or some kind of book then someone’s missing a trick…

 

The final act begins with acrobats on poles swaying back and forth across the audience with some force, while Illuminati ushers in a 30s/Gatsby inspired section with top hats, tails and women in flapper dresses. She veers dangerously into Kylie territory with a jazz version of Music – but it very quickly becomes the banger it should always be.

 

Candy Shop works well in this format, and the top hats and tails make sense when Material Girl kicks in – with Madonna discarding her dancers one by one down a sloped stage.

 

It’s a missed opportunity though, for a show that’s truly career-spanning, for this segment to not include something from I’m Breathless. More was surely made for this… Instead there’s a cover of La Vie En Rose, which is beautiful, and an acoustic (and re-worked!) rendition of Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.

 

The penultimate number, Unapologetic Bitch, sees an audience member hauled up on stage to walk the runway and be presented – for reasons best known to herself – with a piece of fruit. In this performance Graham Norton is picked from the crowd and presented with a banana, where Madonna clunkily compares it to a penis and pretends to masturbate it. She may be having fun, but this is the woman who once almost got arrested for simulating masturbation on stage. Crass jokes with phallic fruit are best left to tacky drag acts.

 

What do you do for an encore? Feed carrots to Alan Carr? Fortunately we’re spared that, and Holiday ends the show feeling distinctly cabaret as Madonna flies into the air on wires.

 

While Rebel Heart may not be her best live show, it’s a timely reminder that she’s still the greatest living entertainer on the planet. Bitches.

GT gives Rebel Heart Tour at the O2 4/5

[groovyguy 63,864]

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/madonna-o2-arena-london-gig-review-its-religion-and-rebellion-as-her-madgeness-reminds-us-why-she-is-a6756611.html

Madonna, O2 London, gig review: It's religion and rebellion as her Madgeness reminds us why she is such an enduring talent

 

4/5 Stars

 

The show's origins probably come from a brainstorming session where Madonna said: “I want it to look like a mashup of The Great Gatsby, Madame Butterfly and the Bible and anyone who says no will be spanked with this pineapple.†

Madonna performs at the O2 as part of her 'Rebel Heart' world tour Getty Images

 

"London are you ready?" Madonna launches her two-day stint at London's O2 to promote her 13th album, Rebel Heart, with plenty of bling and swagger. Entering with a host of gold-clad dancers, she's modestly - for her Madgeness - dressed in black sparkly dress and a cape, which, perhaps due to a choreography rethink after her fall at the Brits earlier this year, is removed a good few seconds before she strides down the steps to the thrust stage shaped like a crucifix (but she calls it “the penisâ€). 

 

The demure costume doesn't last, of course, she soon strips down, and drops to her knees, her crotch meeting her fans' eye line while she plays electric guitar on "Burning Up" and pole dances on a crucifix with dancers dressed in pants  and nuns' habits before reenacting the last supper for "Holy Water" and "Devil Pray". Can you see a theme developing here? It's all about her rebellious side, summed up by aggressive, raunchy Rebel Heart songs. "Bitch I'm Madonna" and "Iconic" -- both odes to her own superstardom. The religious references seem a bit old hat no matter how much she tries to shock us with it - we've seen it before with her black Jesus in 2009’s “Like a Prayer†video. A third of the way through she diverts away from the Rebel Heart songs and finally gives us a reminder of why she really is an enduring talent. Adopting a country twang, and simple guitar, rarely performed "True Blue" takes the bass down and let's us catch our breath -- static and unfettered by snazzy pyrotechnics, it’s a really intimate moment (which is difficult to come by in the 20,000 capacity venue) and a reminder that without the gloss and and attention-grabbing outfits, there's still real talent underneath.

 

With the Rebel Heart catalogue mostly out of the way, we get a smattering of old school crowd-pleasing classics, including "Like A Virgin" and "Material Girl", which has the crowd dancing manically.  More interesting is her "heart" side. We get sweet purring vocals and floaty instrumentals on "Body Shop", accompanied by a fun "greased lightening"- inspired dance with stacks of tyres. "If anyone needs a mechanic to work on your body shop I'm your man! And I work hard! And these bitches are my gang," she yells before asking her dancers to take their tops off to prove "how hard they work." There’s flapper dresses and Gatsy-style glamour for “Music†and a sing-along cover of “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friendâ€, she changes the line to “Girls DON’T grow old†and gets howls of agreement. There are a lot of crazy costumes here and exciting video projections, which is what you need to put on a show at the O2, but some of the ideas seem a bit random. The skits in between songs, which are mainly about how brilliant it is to be Madonna and how we, the crowd, are all her bitches, are a bit odd. At one point she nominates someone from the crowd to marry her. He is dressed in a tie-dyed top and, one assumes from the man who is snogging him, is as gay as a window. She then petulantly shouts “Do you even speak English?!†at him when he breaks the flow of her rehearsed joke. Another surreal moment involves Graham Norton and a banana. I think she told him to do something obscene with it.

 

As we spiral into the madness of a show whose origins probably come from a brainstorming session where Madonna said: “I want it to look like a mashup of The Great Gatsby, Madame Butterfly and the Bible and anyone who says no will be spanked with this pineapple,†the only option is to accept that this is Madonna’s world, she is the Queen and we are all her lowly servants. Long live her Madgesty. There’s nothing quite like her.

[groovyguy 63,864]

http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/music/madonna-tour-review-this-twohour-show-makes-you-feel-exhausted-on-her-behalf-a3127946.html

Madonna, O2 review: This two-hour show makes you feel exhausted on her behalf

Madonna returns after her Brit Awards tumble to show London she’s still going strong, says Andre Paine

4 Stars

 

Madonna’s tumble during her Brit awards performance at the O2 earlier this year was an inauspicious launch for Rebel Heart, her first album to miss No 1 in two decades.

There were no such mishaps when she returned to the venue nine months later for a two-hour show that made you feel exhausted on her behalf. 

 

At 57, she still had the energy to cavort with a coterie of muscular dancers, while her voice sounded stronger than ever. There were supportive cheers when her cape was removed — this time without the singer falling down a flight of steps.

Despite that TV trauma, Madonna seemed happy to be back in the city where she lived for several years. “London has a very special place in my heart,†she told fans. 

Sounding stronger than ever: Madonna Ian West/PA

 

She recruited Idris Elba as support DJ and pulled Graham Norton on stage for dancehall tune Unapologetic Bitch, a cringey coupling that culminated in the pair simulating a sex act with a banana.

 

Fortunately, the budget was more evident during the rest of the performance, which featured her descending in a cage amid a spectacular Samurai warrior sequence for bleary club track Iconic. 

 

With a further eight songs from her latest album, it was a slightly maddening set list that almost completely ignored the Nineties. But at least Rebel Heart takes inspiration from her past. Holy Water incorporated a burst of Vogue, while the robust ballad Heartbreak City segued into Love Don’t Live Here Anymore.

 

This tour also revisited her outrageous approach to religious iconography, including pole dancers combining a nun’s veil with knickers and a version of the Last Supper in which Madonna appeared to be the dessert.

 

Despite her undoubted fitness, perhaps there was a little more time spent lurking at the end of the ego ramp and strumming a guitar or ukulele than before. But it was joy to witness her during ebullient renditions of Like A Prayer, Material Girl and the finale of Holiday. After more than three decades in pop, she’s still going strong.