CONCERT NEWS- Madonna started her new world tour in Cardiff, Wales at the Millennium Stadium and showed her fans that she's still able to make it on stage at her age. In her usual energetic style, the pop superstar played two hours of hits from her 25-year career. It featured some radically reworked versions of a few of her favorites, such as a techno remix of Like A Prayer and a rock vibe on Borderline. Some 40,000 eager fans, some in pink cowboy hats and boas, were treated to a heavy metal version of Borderline and La Isla Bonita was a backdrop for a flamenco routine. The show, billed as a musical mashup of gangsta pimp, Romanian folk, rave, and dance, was a tribute to Madonna's non-stop re-inventions of herself and her music over the past thirty years. Though it's curious to note that the Millennium Stadium was only two-thirds full, and ticket scalpers were charging half the original price. The diva kept the crowd waiting so long (more than an hour late and entered without an apology) that they eventually began to boo loudly.
So, not all fans at the Millennium Stadium were happy with her latest reinvention and missed hearing many of the Madonna "standards". Always the one for controversy, Madonna treated the crowd to a video break with images of global warming, destruction, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, U.S. Senator John McCain (much to the dismay of the McCain camp) and Zimbabwe's authoritarian President Robert Mugabe. Later in the gig, a separate video reel, was more positive in tone showing slain Beatle John Lennon, followed by global-warming activist and former US VP, Al Gore, Mahatma Gandhi and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. The show was the first of 51 worldwide dates for her, direct from her 50th birthday celebration, and was divided into four sections - Pimp, Old School, Gypsy and Rave. To keep it moving, the tour involves 250 crew members, 16 dancers, eight costume changes and over $1M of jewelry and has received a considerable amount of complaints by "green" advocates because of it's excessive carbon footprint. Experts from Carbonfootprint.com predict that the tour will generate more than 1,500 tons of carbon emissions. The tour now moves around Europe, stopping at London's Wembley Stadium on September 11, then Paris on September 20. Then it goes to North America in October before wrapping up December 18 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Madonna appeared on a jewel-encrusted black leather throne with M on the back. She opened with Candy Store, the first track of her latest cd Hard Candy, the Pimp section was characterized by revealing black outfits of Madonna and her troupe. When a classic white convertible car rolled onstage, it took Madonna and her dancers out into the adoring crowd, with Madonna wearing the driver's white top hat before pushing the car back. She was raised on podium for Vogue with four female dancers wearing long black gloves and boots and not much else. Then, the Old School segment; which was to evoke her 1980s New York City roots, with Madonna appearing in red shorts, pop socks and a jump rope, surrounded by the kids from Fame. Into the Groove was the first of her '80s hits to be updated, backed by heavy bass and trance piano. She then picked up a guitar for Borderline, backed by a more conventional rock band set-up. The star donned heart-shaped sunglasses for She's Not Me, from her latest album, with her old videos flashing up oncreen. When four dancers appeared as Madonna at various stages of her career, the singer went on to abuse them before indulging in some very frenetic, angry dancing. With her long, wavy blonde hair, fit physique and endless stamina, she doesn't look too dissimilar to the Madonna of a couple of decades ago. And, she certainly doesn't look ready for retirement. The Gypsy segment began with Madonna in a black cloak writhing on top of a black piano, before her dancers donned hooded robes for Spanish Lesson. They then ripped off the cloaks to reveal shiny, gaudy shirts and indulge in some flamenco-style dancing. Not all of it made sense, but it looked great, and that, is what seems to matter to Madonna. With her dazzling friends, she went on to play a Europop version of La Isla Bonita, complete with a big, bearded violinist in a sequined shirt. The final section was Rave, which started with sparkly football shoulder pads for her recent hit 4 Minutes. It then became a full rave as the queen of pop played thumping techno versions of Like A Prayer and Ray Of Light. During Like A Prayer, screens behind her showed the names of sacred figures from various religions and quoted holy texts.
Most of the crowd got into the pumped-up dance remixes. But when she strummed guitar in a skin-tight silver top, surrounded by futuristic creatures during Ray of Light, lasers firing over her head, it was hard not to think that she should calm down a little bit. The whole night had the feel of a giant nightclub, and that is what some purists didn't like about the show. Now at 50, she seems more determined to show that she doesn't stand still, and she certainly doesn't seem like she's going to slow down. It is Madonna's first tour since making a deal with corp concert promoter, Live Nation, Inc. in a deal that is worth an estimated $120 million and runs over 10 years. The deal allows Live Nation a part of her future music and music-related businesses, including touring, merchandising and cds/downloads.
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