MTV Premiere of Medellin: 5 Years Ago

[Debord 731]

A bit of an indulgent post this but today is 5 years since I got to attend this premiere and have one of the most amazing experiences.

The premiere was going to be held in Camden, just 5 minutes from my work at the time, and to win a place you had to submit a proposal for where Madame X would go next on her travels. I think I wrote something about addressing infant mortality in certain African countries cos I knew they'd love that kind of thing, and lo and behold I got an email a few days later saying I'd got two spots!

I honestly wasn't expecting too much. We had to report to a hotel in Camden and we were put in a meeting room there which had Madonna videos playing on a big screen. My bf was wearing a Ralph Lauren suit (he works in fashion) and I was wearing my work clothes (shirt etc). Some super fans wearing e.g. a Like A Virgin wedding dress kept hovering around the door, clearly planning on being the first out when the time came.

After 30 mins or so they came in and said they'd start taking people over to MTV in groups and to not worry, as the group order didn't matter. But they then walked around the room clearly discussing who to take - it later became obvious that it very much did matter, cos the people taken first were going in the front rows. I think my boyfriend's suit swung it for us and we were taken in the first batch.

We went over and were taken into MTV, where we queued outside a room. MTV employees were lining the building looking over balconies cos, you know, Madonna was in the building. I was getting excited but when we were led into the room and I saw how small it was, I was blown away. This was going to be special.

They sat people down in the front row but then my bf took the final seat on the front row and I was meant to be in the second. I said, is there any chance we can sit together, and they briefly spoke to each other and to my amazement, they placed us on a two-seater chair right in front of the stage, in front of the front row. 

It's all a bit of a blur after that but when Madonna came out you could really feel her commanding presence. She looked amazing. She smelled even better. The most special moments were the bits when the cameras were off - she stayed in the room and was absolutely lovely. You can see us in the video above at about 3.50.

After they showed the video everyone stood up and I was literally stood directly in front of Madonna. She looked at me and my boyfriend and said "did you like my video?" and I was a nervous goof and have her the thumbs up. My boyfriend at least said "loved it!" and she laughed.

We were on such a high after that we went to a pub and had some drinks despite having work the next morning, and my bf ordered the Madame X special edition cos that was the moment he really fell for her.