Mmmhum

24 songs in total:
From the 80s: Holiday, Burning Up, Material Girl, Crazy for You, Into the Groove, Papa Don't Preach, Like A Prayer, and Express Yourself
From the 90s: Vogue, Hanky Panky, The Beast Within, Deeper and Deeper, Bedtime Story, Lament, and Frozen
From the 2000s: Music, Don't Tell Me, Die Another Day, American Life, Hollywood, Nothing Fails, Nobody Knows Me, Mother & Father
A cover version of Imagine
Before the Celebration tour, it is clear that a lot of thought and effort was put in making the Re-invention Tour's setlist as comprehensive as possible. All eras were well represented and what is more curious: not all the songs she performed had been necessarily #1 or well-remembered singles. Isn't she genius?

I think for many that's how they see the tour.  I don't think Madonna saw it as that way though.  But she knew with the reception of American Life, she had to creatively bill it as something more than just a tour supporting American Life. A "Re-invention" of sorts.  Still, she included 6 songs from American Life. And that's not including the excerpt of "Intervention" in "Mother and Father".  Also, she reprised "American Life" at the end of "Papa Don't Preach".  So she strongly represented the album on this tour and that's more than half the album.
I think what makes this tour stand out, much like a Greatest Hits, it's the first tour in years she performed some songs she hadn't performed in a long while.  Then there were just some staple classic songs that were included, such as Like A Prayer, Vogue, Holiday, Material Girl and Into the Groove.  Throw in other classics like Express Yourself, Papa Don't preach and Crazy For you (which the latter hadn't been performed since Virgin Tour), it really felt like a Greatest Hits. Then you have some newer songs from more recent albums of the time such as Frozen, Music and Don't Tell Me which now looking back makes the tour seem more and more like a Greatest Hits than not. The tour represented pretty much much of her music career as well as a nod to her biggest film success to date, Evita.  

Depends who you ask. It was promoted as a greatest hits but a lot of fans argue that it’s not .

I think it was actually a combination of the two.
American Life wasn’t received the way she wanted so she sort of shifted the focus of the tour to be a greatest hits tour to make it more appealing, while still showcasing a lot of material from the current album to hopefully promote it. 
Even the name re-invention, while she has certainly been known to re-invent herself many times over, I took to mean more as her re-inventing her older songs. 

This is the birth of Confessions visually. The leotard, the corset.... Then obviously the horses which came back for the opening of the Confessions Tour. 

 
and the musical breakdown of MUSIC (Reinvention Tour) is the beginning of the sound of Confessions.... Or at least very similar to the breakdown of Hung Up. Every time I see/hear it I think of the birth of Confessions.  Even the same Disco Ball is used in the backdrop that comes back for Hung Up Confessions. 
 
 

Awww thanks for the mention. DITTO!! Unforgettable  @Adonna! So many great many great memories! Thank you!  I think this was my absolute favorite tour (but I seem to say that about all of them on a different day lol)!  But seriously, I literally freaked out for the way she performed "Nobody Knows Me" with the moving side to side cat walk. Indeed a huge highlight. I was DYING!!  The whole show was just fire, but, then she came out with all the Bag Pipers for the last act. I'll never forget how the whole arena VIBRATED! It was such a powerful moment. I loved her Music performance as well in the last segment. So quirky and electrifying. What a perfect and magnificent way to end the show. I could go on and on. Just unforgettable!!
 

2024 marks TWENTY years since The Re-Invention Tour.  I know many fans loved this tour.  I know I did!  I attended three shows with my very best friend @Voguerista  We had a BLAST!!  I recall one show we were approached by the venue for better seats near the stage.  We jumped at the chance. I still remember how I felt when Madonna was performing "Don't Tell Me" and she was staring and pointing right at me.  Of course, she could have been pointing at anyone in my section, but I still felt like I locked eyes with Madonna.  What a moment to have!  So let's share our favorite moments from this tour and feel free to take the poll I provided here, sharing your favorite segment from the tour.  Feel free to share other fun tidbits of your memories from this tour. There were FIVE acts, so which was your favorite.  Feel free to share your experience with this tour. Love to hear your stories.  And react with a HEART if you think this tour needs a full official release beyond the documentary "I'm Going Tell You A Secret"!

Act 1: Marie Antoinette
"The Beast Within" (Video introduction; contains elements of "El Yom 'Ulliqa 'Ala Khashaba")
"Vogue"
"Nobody Knows Me"
"Frozen"
Act 2: Military
"American Life"
"Express Yourself"
"Burning Up"
"Material Girl"
Act 3: Circus
"Hollywood" (Remix; interlude)
"Hanky Panky"
"Deeper and Deeper"
"Die Another Day"
"Lament"
"Bedtime Story" (Remix; interlude)
Act 4: Acoustic
"Nothing Fails"
"Don't Tell Me" (Contains elements of "Bitter Sweet Symphony")
"Like a Prayer"
"Mother and Father" (Contains excerpts from "Intervention")
"Imagine"
Act 5: Scottish-Tribal
"Into the Groove" (Contains elements of "Susan MacLeod" and "Into the Hollywood Groove")
"Papa Don't Preach" (Ends with a reprise of "American Life")
"Crazy for You"
"Music" (Contains reprises from "Into the Groove")
"Holiday" (Contains elements of "She Wants to Move" and "Physical Attraction")
 

Why do I think American Life is the Anti - Madonna album?
While I've grown to love the record I think it's a really hard album to digest. The music is spiky uninviting and aggressive. In your face. There's something quite punk about it. It lacks a certain musicality the same way punk music did.  It's her least melodic record for sure but as well as this the album lacks harmonies which I think is intentional as maybe Madonna felt she had none in her life at the time. Go listen again you'll be shocked how little there is even on choruses. There's a couple in the acoustic bit of the title track and Intervention. 
Instead of using traditional harmonies on most tracks, they opt for a quite aggressive double track lead vocal scenario. When you think of harmonising to any song on the album it's hard to think of any natural fits. Even on the acoustic ballad X-Static process. The few selected harmonies are presented almost like other thoughts she is having, happening at the same time as the main melody, rather than an actual harmony. They aren't synced and in one verse all the harmonies even waltz off into different lyrics, making it sound confused or distracted "i'm not myself myself right now"
I say it's the anti Madonna album because here was always a warmth to Madonnas music where it felt like there was a more positive resolution to the songs or record. American Life is so icy and cold and that's seemingly on purpose. It's a pure midlife crisis album and a major turning point in Madonnas career. She's miserable and in some cases moaning on pretty much every track. There's a sadness and bitterness about everything and the listen leaves you a bit depressed rather than uplifted or emboldened. I have always suspected that much of the album was driven by Madonna potentially miscarrying a child around that time, or being unsuccessful at conceiving again ? I don't know if this is true but she clearly wanted more children after Rocco, and David came very quickly afterwards,
There's lots of doom mongering negative language. Nothing Fails, Die / I'm So Stupid / Intervention / Nobody Knows Me / Easy Ride. The miserablism of the title track and Hollywood. There is so much confusion. There was a time I was happy in my life, Do You Think I'm Satisfied, I forgot that I was special too, 
There are so many questions in the lyrics or lines that hedge bets and leave room for failure or the inevitability of pain or loss or failure
Should I lose some weight? Do you think I'm satisfied? This type of modern life, is it for me? This time it's got to be good How could it hurt you when it looks so good? Oh, mother why aren't you here with me? I guess I'll die another day? Jesus Christ will you look at me? Don't know who I am , Don't really know if I should give a damn I'm gonna wake up, yes and no I want to let go of all disappointment, that's waiting for me The use of the word Don't & No. No-body, no-thing, lost and life / living happens often enough. Fear makes a few appearances or is at least a theme.
"Dont want my dreams adding up to nothing" "I lost my memory in hollywood" "And I know, I know, There is nothing to fear".. (the second "I know" almost trying to convince herself) "I lost my reputation bad and good" "I have lost my illusions" "When I get lost in space" "Nothing fails, no more fears" I've climbed the tree of life" "Nobody knows me" I'm just living out the American Dream, and I just realized that nothing is what it seems "I used to live in a funny dream" "I've had so many lives" "I've got to calm him down now, I've got to save his life" "cause I used to live in a tiny bubble" Now I'm gonna try to improve my life" "No ones telling you how to live your life" "say hello to your life now you are living" "Nobody else could ever take the place of you" "What I want is to live forever"  
Mother & Father is talking about the loss of her mother AND as a result of her mother dying she lost her father too. Intervention is about losing herself and sense of identity. Even the love song Nothing Fails is a double negative In its wording. "Makes me wanna pray you'll always be here" gives a sense of foreboding...Something doomed perhaps. The album is her most self reflective and self critical. 
The self reference with the use of the word "I" is phenomenal. Just look at the lyrics. American Life. Nobody Knows Me and Die Another Day pretty much start every line with I. The amount of songs that begin with I. If not the verse the chorus. 
Verse:
I Tried To Be A Boy I Lost My Memory In Hollywood I'm So Stupid I've Had So Many Lives I'm In Love With You You Silly Thing I Got To Save My Baby I'm Not Myself When You're Around I'm Gonna Wake Up Yes And No I Want The Good Life Chorus
I go round and round just like a circle I got to give it up find someone to love me I guess I'll Die Another Day and I know that Love will keep us together I got you under my skin and if it's not "I" it's "Me"
Lots of use of the word "don't" too, another negative phrase.
I don't want, no lies I don't watch TV Dont want my dreams adding up to nothing Don't know who I'm supposed to be Don't really know if I should give a damn Push the button, Don't push the button Don't try to tempt me I dont want an easy ride When you're around I don't know who I am I'm not myself and I don't know how Even the tracks that didn't make the album offer the same similarities as the above tracks
It's So Cool:
Do you realize you pay the price? Do you know the cost of all your vice? Do you really know God's intention? Do you ever ask what it's all for? Isn't this the best thing you ever had? Set The Right:
Don't push me to the left Don't push me to the right I have learned Nothing is for free gather top your dreams just to stay alive Many examples of duality of things. There's also lots of questioning, both sides of the argument, second guessing and evaluation. Analyse this indeed.
Push the button, don't push the button.  I tried to be a boy, I tried to be a girl I tried to be a mess, I tried to be the best I'm not a Christian, I'm not A Jew I've had a million visions bad & good I'm bored with the concept of wright & wrong How can it hurt you when it looks so good adding up to nothing There are too many options, there is no one solution Sometimes it's such a pleasure, sometimes I want to tear it all down I always wish that I could find someone as talented as you, but in the process I forget that I was special too nobody else could ever take the place of you, nobody else could ever hurt me like you did I'm gonna wake up, yes and no I want the good life, but I don't want an easy ride  
Some of these examples hold better than others but my point is it illustrates a picture of negativity. Which Madonna has never been about. She and her music have represented positivity, control, ambition, empowerment, life affirming and inspirational messages. This whole record is none of that. If anything is looking at the dark underbelly or drivers of the positive things in her life through the lens of fear and questions of self worth.
It's also the first time she ever refers to herself as a victim in Mother & Father
"I made a vow that I would never need
Another person ever
Turned my heart into a cage
A victim of a kind of rage"
This is unprecedented and a real insight in the mindset of her as a child and beyond. Madonna would never wish to be seen or to present herself as a victim. In fact for all the comparisons to Marilyn Monroe Madonna was once quoted as saying. 
"Marilyn Monroe was a victim; I’m not" or something to that effect.
 
In summary: If the "absolutely no regrets" //door slam// was the sound of Madonna 1.0 slamming the door (or coffin lid) and walking away from the fearless, bolshy incarnation of herself and first decade of her career (83-93), before her introspective decade (94-04), then American Life is the sound of Madonna exhuming the coffin, looking at the corpse of her former self and having a good think about why she did what she did, where it's bought her, why the fuck she did what she did, and what's next.
American Life is Madonna falling out of the centre of the whirlwind of her career, sitting in the quiet eye of the storm and looking at the madness she has created around her. She's going to war with herself, maybe she's tired of her self. (Army fatigues anyone?). Deconstructing, analysing herself, her past, her present and what she wants her future to look like, and she sits mustering the strength to throw herself back into the whirlwind again, but first  deciding if she even really wants to...but she will, and she does because she doesn't want an Easy Ride.  
Interestingly Easy Ride is the song that closes the album after she decided she'll Die Another Day. A joyless, droll, glitchy funeral march of a song. The sound of a never ending round and round of Madonna's Catholic guilt driving her to keep lashing her own back with a cat'o'nine tails. The female embodiment of Flagellant monk forming mortification of the flesh by whipping their own skin with instruments of penance. Fascinating really. I think she left a lot of herself behind before she jumped back into that Maelstom and for me it was the second death of the Madonna we knew and loved, submitted to record before the commercial backlash. An act of self sabotage?
It's a record that is so opposed to the Madonna brand musically and thematically. And in true ying and yang fashion it's the first album we saw her brand being exploited with the singles all being heavily corporately sponsored. Mini Cooper / Gap / Estee Lauder.
So yeah..that's why, (for me anyway)...it's the anti Madonna album.

@BoyToyMark For example, this is 'Beat Goes On' with less compression than the CD version: 
 

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We just came back from the movie and it was so good. Loved it from start to finish and Like a Prayer was used so well. Got goosebumps all over...
 
And Hugh Jackman 🤤

It has nothing to do with how significant they view their own sexuality. A vote for a party that will strip your own rights is not smart. I don’t want to get married, but I’m not gonna vote for a party that wants to end gay marriages. Like… why? 

Just saw the movie, and I loved it. He's really funny!
Felt so proud hearing Like a Prayer!!! They even mention her name!

Just saw the movie, and I loved it. He's really funny!
Felt so proud hearing Like a Prayer!!! They even mention her name!

Yes, it's not too dark so that here hair doesn't blend too much into the black shirt.   I'm sure in person it will look even better. These images online never show it's true result.

Oh that's really nice !!

Oh that's really nice !!

Soo beautiful. My favorite pic

Even more on her story. Love when she feeds us with pics after events. 

Going to see the movie later today. Really excited to see how Like a Prayer is used cause I've heard good things!

to match the Celebration artwork :P

“Madonna is reissuing LIKE A PRAYER this summer to celebrate the acclaimed album’s 35th anniversary. Pressed on opaque silver vinyl, it will be the second release from the Silver Collection, a series of limited-edition vinyl reissues celebrating 40 years of Madonna’s illustrious career. The Silver Collection debuted last year with True Blueand will continue to spotlight other Madonna albums in the coming months.”
 
 
Madonna has worked particularly hard for months personally curating just the right colour of silver for the vinyl.
Prison Bar Silver
"you can't get that shade anymore"

not le monde diplo but les inrocks and others but i'm ok being called a random forum member, it'd what we all are here after all...except i interviewed Jane Brinton once, Shep's manager then and she said he was full of shit and to this day he still won't go back to music because Madonna did not want to make bedtime stories with him, he thought, quote , that Erotica was gonna be his Thriller that will make him the new in demand super producer. It did not and wanted his revenge with Madonna's following album but she changed her mind and he lost it. The Erotica diaries can't be trusted for one reason : he totally dismisses Tony Shimkin's role in the production of the album just like he wanted to fuck him up with the credits ( he sued him for Vogue in retaliation when Shimkin ended up managing the Salsoul catalogue at blue note) and Madonna sided with Shimkin on this, which he resented. He's still very bitter about Madonna and dismissive.  Plus Brinton told me that a lot of his remixes were done by his sound engineers and she even did some herself (not the biggest names). So yes he's as shady as some random forum members. 

It´s official. She´s moving to Rio. Will peform at the Copacabana beach every year!