NothingReallyMatters

https://www.allure.com/story/madonna-celebration-tour-hairstyles
As the name of the tour suggests, the show is a celebration of Madonna's entire career — the '80s pop tartlet, the '90s glam girl, the Ray of Light spirituality, and everything in between. The musician, who has long been known for her powers of transformation, switched up her hairstyles as a nod to some of those iconic eras and, once again, I'm left speechless by the power of backstage glam teams to make such big changes so fast. Let's check out the main looks from the Celebration tour, shall we? (Spoiler alert: If you're trying to avoid secrets from the show, do not scroll down!) 

 

Pro shooting 
 
 

Chilee if i was the creative director, I would definitely give y’all what y’all wanted. No runaways and all those screens blocking everybody's view. Just a normal stage. A live band, bring back donna and nikki. Chilee I wouldn’t allow her to work with a stylist, everything would come directly from jean paul, let him be the head of fashion even though he ain’t working no more. I would bring back sharon for hair and bring back joan to beat that face. What else…? I would give y’all a dream setlist with surprises each show with full songs in its original form. No remixes or that other short shit. Chile i would give y’all a tourbook with unreleased pictures only. Y’all would gag. 

At the end, we all have our preferences and things we like or don't about the show, but seeing Madonna so happy and full of energies is everything to me. 

I see it as her way of saying "he was the King, I am the Queen - and I'm still alive motherf***ers, respect", just like the little nods to Prince and Sinéad. Also as a way to include "LAV" if she didn't want to perform it herself this time.
And even if Michael's image was definitely damaged by the documentary from 4? 5? years ago, he's still considered a pop legend, of course. He's been just too big and influential to be "cancelled". Michael's pop DNA is everywhere, from Justin Timberlake to Bruno Mars, The Weeknd and everyone in between.

The way I see it is this:
Madonna and MJ are considered the king and queen of pop. An integral part of her story cannot be told without mentioning certain infamous or iconic moments. One of them being her Oscar appearance with MJ.
Aside from that, Madonna and MJ shared the same manager at the beginning of her career. They were meant to collaborate but she unintentionally offended him and the fell out with each other. I think she regrets losing her "equal" without ever getting a chance to make up with him, hence the "Never Can Say Goodbye" at the end. Knowing that The Power Of Goodbye was meant as encore, this interlude makes WAY more sense.

I got your back on this.
I love the show personally because it includes lots and lots of things I have had on my wish list. However, I totally see why people criticise certain aspects of the show and I agree with almost everything you said DESPITE loving the tour.
But looking back, I think there is not a single tour that I would consider PERFECT. That’s a standard that, imo is almost impossible to reach. There will always be something that can be improved. Is it a bad thing to feel that way? No absolutely not. It’s not like we’re going to M herself telling her how crappy her show is.
People just don’t like to have their euphoria and obsession interrupted with more critical thoughts and reality checks.

I don’t know how many times this has to be said:
We are all allowed to have an opinion, we are all allowed to express that opinion. Yes, it may happen that people don't agree. You may not like other people's opinions.
I can't even begin to unpack how problematic it is to judge people for discussing how things could be changed or improved. It’s literally human nature to have a mind that is capable of having thoughts and it’s part of fan culture to come up with your own concepts, art or re-arrangements.
Madonna herself has taken other people’s art and changed/adjusted it for her own purposes. We as fans have the freedom to the very same thing. There are certain things we may like or don’t like. This forum is a place that thrives on these kinds of discussions. THAT is something people have to deal with and if you don’t want that, feel free to block the people whose content you dislike.
I say all this as someone who has so far enjoyed this concert more than ANYTHING that came after CT. I just HATE when people try to shut others up for being "moaners" or for not being people that blindly stan everything an artist does.

For those asking what's Mother of Creation..
I don't think anyone's going to miss it 
 

I got the moves baby, you got the motion
If we got together we'd be causing a commotion

Some of the backdrops are great but some performances could have been elevated if they had any. I think it’s a sign of which songs were late or more spontaneous additions.
It was KINDA but not certainly advertised as such. It was mostly promoted as a career celebration. I do agree however, that this tpur is quite low on the hits (not that I mind though. Most of her hits are overplayed/performed).
If only it didn’t have such a terrible setlist and flat-ass tour arrangements. That tour needed better song picks. 
Hung Up, Human Nature, Vogue, Like A Prayer & Candy Shop were all part of the previous tour. She even performed three of those in the same section AGAIN. 
At least 3 of them weren’t as integral to the show. They could have been replaced by other songs.
MY FAVORITE VERSION! I was so thrilled to hear it and not that damn Dance Mix again.

I wonder what other end she could have chosen given that she's still very active so the ending must have been a nightmare to think about. It should open to something new but maybe the feeling of it being abrupt is to say it's no really the end. IDK. Glad you had a blast.
These songs can still pop up on tour when she gets bored with a track she can pick another one to switch it

I hope they had time to record studio versions. 👀

This is basically a recap of what me and @Lorxsaid yesterday here.
Back That Up, 4 Minutes, Ghosttown (with David) and Mother of Creation were also tested but were scrapped along the way, just like the original Live To Tell choreo and a few remixes which were changed.

Actually no live band makes it easier if she wants to switch songs? They just need to put the other instrumental and backing vocal track and voilà!
"Rain" switched for "Frozen" would be an easy one, since the backdrop and clothes are the "Frozen" video ones, anyway.
(I prefer "Rain" by the way, we had "Frozen" in the last tour. I think some of the decisions are based on this: "Frozen" was on the MXT, "Like A Virgin" and "Material Girl" on the RHT, etc. to not repeat and bore herself - but again, there it is "Burning Up" on guitar and almost same place as the RHT version).

Ok so I went last night. And I have a ball. It was soo good.
Her vocals change along so even with backing vocals you can hear she is singing. She does'nt dance crazy but there's not need.
Live to Tell is brutal so is Bad Girl. Goosebumps
The stream filming from above pays no justice. You need to be in a lower view to appreciate the whole setting. The Human nature/CFY snap didn't feel strange . She is walking away from the stage so is like she sings to herself that part .
The ending works fine too. BIM has a nice cheering goodbye moment when the dancer bow away and then Madonna leaves the last. It didn't feel abrupt. The audience were all up from the beginning singing and dancing. Lots of people in well elaborated costumes.
There are more songs bits mixed around that I did'nt noticed. Material Girl beats, Express Yourself intro and D&D snippet appear at the beginning.
Bob works great too.
She had such a good time and was in great spirit.

Maybe she'll do Frozen instead of Rain sometimes, but I'm not sure.
Perhaps it was a definitive decision and seeing the fans happy to hear Rain will confirm her decision (I would prefer Frozen because I hate Rain without the bridge, so I hope I'm wrong).
No live band, it would be more challenging to make changes, and maybe she won't want to take the risk with songs she hasn't rehearsed in over a month.
The songs she removed from the setlist, she might have removed them permanently. Also, keep in mind that until May, her show was supposed to last between 2 and a half to 3 hours. I had heard it would be her longest concert ever, but maybe she realized it's exhausting for her (not to mention the delays, curfews in some places). And she made some cuts. Maybe in the middle of the tour, she might add something. But don't hope for it too much.

Secret, Candy Shop could be added instead of Burning up and don't tell me

I have a feeling she may perform a song here and there to treat fans at her concerts around the globe. Fingers crossed she does so! She gets bored easily, so we'll see if she rehearsed them to do so in future shows.

From Pop Justice forums:
"Apparently these were some of the ideas and rehearsed songs:

- The Power Of Good-Bye (planned as an encore with Frozen or just as songs in the final section).
- Frozen (replaced with Rain).
- Candy Shop.
- The plan was to open the show with Celebration, followed by Nothing Really Matters.
- They also suggested Nothing Really Matters as the finale and leave Everybody as the opener.
- Papa Don't Preach.
- Music.
- Hold Tight was supposed to be in the cowboy section.
- Celebration was always rehearsed an outro and it didn't have Music elements.
- Oh Father (supposed to be performed before the cowboy section).
- Sorry (supposed to be performed before the cowboy section)."

This tour should never end it is going to sell out everywhere.  
 

I also love that she wears the same bustier in the NY scenes at the beginning as the one at the end. It’s a full circle moment. These intricacies are everything! 

From the videos I watched, my favorites parts:
- Live to tell (the transition from Holiday to In this Life and then Live to tell  it’s so emotional and mind blowing) 
- Bad Girl (she looks so sexy, her vocals, omg)
-Papa Don’t preach snippet (the little dance)
- Die another Day (Visually stunning, the hands choreo wow)
- Bedtime Story ( the visual + her energy + the outfit
- Ray of Light (her energy and how she flies across the sky, hehe)
- Like a Virgin/Billie Jean ( it’s a really nice tribute to MJ and her younger self. Speaks volumes of her)

The parts I didn’t like that much:
- Burning Up, again on the guitar for 4 minutes. Boring. Get over it. 
- Didn’t understand yet the meaning of Crazy for you after Human Nature ends so abruptly but I will get there soon
- Mother & father, I love the song but not for this tour, I rather Promise to try or Inside of me. 
- La isla bonita acoustic version once again. So dwt tour. Flat. 
- DCFMA, where’s the Miami mix? Haha. It feels out of place.
- Celebration outro, hmmm, it feels should be Music with just a snippet of Celebration. I love both songs either way. 
 
 

Oh my! From tonight show ... I'm so proud of her these days guys 
 

MDNA she was in peak physical condition and she was also 11 years younger.  It also had a much larger budget - with it grossing $305million across 88 shows. 
She's now 65, had a hip replaced, knee is clearly still an issue and almost died 4 months ago - I don't think she could be, or that anyone should expect her concert to be on that level with her summersaulting across the stage or dancing like she's in an aerobics class at the end.
I agree with the comment above, the first half seems really cohesive, while the second half kinda unravels a little- it's still fun, just a little random.  It is also a shame that Rain was not done in 'full' or with backing singers - would have been a true magical moment.

I saw the ahow this evening. I mostly loved it. The first half was almost flawless. I also loved the Erotica performance and how much attention was paid to the album. I felt the show started to fizzle out slightly for the second half. Not sure if this was because the songs weren’t as tight, or the performances had less of a running theme. There were also a few long breaks between songs which i assume gave her more time to change and rest backstage.
 
Looking back, I’m surprised she missed Express Yourself and Frozen from the setlist. These would have been a welcome addiction if two other songs were removed. I did love however that she recognised certain songs were overdue to be added to a tour - Rain, Bad Girl, Justify My Love.
 
i adored the final performance with the repitore of Madonna costumes. They could perhaps have tweaked the ending so it felt less sudden.