"I don't know what I've been told, but people that woman ain't got no soul"
So I went to see Madonna on Saturday night at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, NJ for the beginning of her American tour. I want to say this first: I love Madonna. I've always loved Madonna. I have every album (except the last 2), I've seen her live twice before. I've gone to see most of her crappy movies IN THE THEATRE. When I was in high school and every other kid was listening to Metallica and Pantera I had "Like A Prayer" and "Erotica" in my car-something I got shit for all the time. But I love her.
But remember when Madonna used to be fun? Remember when she delighted in tweaking the self-righteous? Now she IS the self-righteous. She's like this strange, aerobicized English nanny sternly telling us all to turn off the tv and read. Make that a sweaty, aerobicized English nanny. The woman is in AMAZING shape for a 78 year old. She was jumping rope. She was doing lunges. Amazing. However if I wanna watch an old person exercise I'll turn on Jack Lalane.
The show was one hour and 50 minutes. Really? Really? You can't do two hours? Come on. These tickets were $350 or some nonsense. I realize that it must be tough for her to do all that aerobicizing for a long time but NOBODY'S ASKING HER TO JUMP ROPE FOR 20 MINUTES!! Do "Lucky Star" instead fer chrissakes! That was make everyone happy. And in that 1 hour and 50 minutes Madonna was OFF stage for at least 3=2 0songs, which were performed on video. I can watch Madonna videos on youtube for free, thank you very much. And often when she WAS onstage she was performing duets with videos anyway. Kanye West, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and a host of other performers were all on giant video screens so that Madonna could perform "with" them. The whole effect was completely devoid of any human interaction and removed whatever real soul that might have existed in the show in the first place. When I worked at Sam Goody in High School Natalie Cole did a "duet" of "Unforgetable" with her dead father Nat King Cole that every blue haired lady in NJ bought. They loved it. I just thought it was creepy. This was kinda like that.
The show began with a tribute to the modern day dance floor. It was here that Kanye and Pharrel Williams towered over the audience as Madonna did songs like "Candy Shop"- songs that accomplish nothing except to remind us that "Borderline" used to be really fun. It then moved on to an old-school new york vibe with grafitti and boomboxes appearing on the videoscreens overhead. Then for no good reason a gypsy band came on to perform as Madonna and her back up dancers pretended to drink shots and watch. The whole thing smacked of a theatricality that was offputting at best. However, Madonna redeemed herself by performing 3 songs with the band including a revamped "La Isla Bonita" (which was the one moment of genuine fun in the night) and "You Must Love Me" (which was pretty much the theme of the night).
We then saw a video lecture about how Americans are stupid (which is kinda true) and how there are poor people in the world (also true) and that Mother Theresa=Barack Obama and Hitler =John McCain (hmmm. ok. I'll even make that stretch if you want. why not?). She followed that with "Ray of Light" and "Like a Prayer". And if you weren't beaten over the head enough with the "spiritual" part of the show the video screens flashed quotes from the Bible and the Torah. Didn't "Like a Prayer" once tweak organized religion? Wasn't that the whole idea?
Bruce Springsteen one said that a performer should stop performing when he looks at the audience and stops recognizing himself in them. Madonna no longer even recognizes human beings. The very term "concert" means that the performer is performing TOGETHER with the audience. in concert, together; jointly: to act in concert. To Madonna the audience is there to worship her and move on. It's jarring and a bit sad.
Her final song was "Give it To Me" from the new album. "No one is ever gonna stop me" she repeated over and over. And I believed her. I was just scared that she was telling the truth. Without a goodbye Madonna walked up the stairs at the center of the stage and disappeared behind a giant video screen that read "Game Over". The audience waited and cheered in anticipation of an encore and when the opening strains of "Holiday" began a roar went up, but then the LIGHTS went up. The show was over. "Holiday" was simply the CD playing over the house PA to usher us out. There was a collective, surprised "That's IT?"
That was it.
Some people stayed behind to dance to "Holiday" in their seats. Madonna was long gone. It hardly mattered though.
So I went to see Madonna on Saturday night at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, NJ for the beginning of her American tour. I want to say this first: I love Madonna. I've always loved Madonna. I have every album (except the last 2), I've seen her live twice before. I've gone to see most of her crappy movies IN THE THEATRE. When I was in high school and every other kid was listening to Metallica and Pantera I had "Like A Prayer" and "Erotica" in my car-something I got shit for all the time. But I love her.
But remember when Madonna used to be fun? Remember when she delighted in tweaking the self-righteous? Now she IS the self-righteous. She's like this strange, aerobicized English nanny sternly telling us all to turn off the tv and read. Make that a sweaty, aerobicized English nanny. The woman is in AMAZING shape for a 78 year old. She was jumping rope. She was doing lunges. Amazing. However if I wanna watch an old person exercise I'll turn on Jack Lalane.
The show was one hour and 50 minutes. Really? Really? You can't do two hours? Come on. These tickets were $350 or some nonsense. I realize that it must be tough for her to do all that aerobicizing for a long time but NOBODY'S ASKING HER TO JUMP ROPE FOR 20 MINUTES!! Do "Lucky Star" instead fer chrissakes! That was make everyone happy. And in that 1 hour and 50 minutes Madonna was OFF stage for at least 3=2 0songs, which were performed on video. I can watch Madonna videos on youtube for free, thank you very much. And often when she WAS onstage she was performing duets with videos anyway. Kanye West, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and a host of other performers were all on giant video screens so that Madonna could perform "with" them. The whole effect was completely devoid of any human interaction and removed whatever real soul that might have existed in the show in the first place. When I worked at Sam Goody in High School Natalie Cole did a "duet" of "Unforgetable" with her dead father Nat King Cole that every blue haired lady in NJ bought. They loved it. I just thought it was creepy. This was kinda like that.
The show began with a tribute to the modern day dance floor. It was here that Kanye and Pharrel Williams towered over the audience as Madonna did songs like "Candy Shop"- songs that accomplish nothing except to remind us that "Borderline" used to be really fun. It then moved on to an old-school new york vibe with grafitti and boomboxes appearing on the videoscreens overhead. Then for no good reason a gypsy band came on to perform as Madonna and her back up dancers pretended to drink shots and watch. The whole thing smacked of a theatricality that was offputting at best. However, Madonna redeemed herself by performing 3 songs with the band including a revamped "La Isla Bonita" (which was the one moment of genuine fun in the night) and "You Must Love Me" (which was pretty much the theme of the night).
We then saw a video lecture about how Americans are stupid (which is kinda true) and how there are poor people in the world (also true) and that Mother Theresa=Barack Obama and Hitler =John McCain (hmmm. ok. I'll even make that stretch if you want. why not?). She followed that with "Ray of Light" and "Like a Prayer". And if you weren't beaten over the head enough with the "spiritual" part of the show the video screens flashed quotes from the Bible and the Torah. Didn't "Like a Prayer" once tweak organized religion? Wasn't that the whole idea?
Bruce Springsteen one said that a performer should stop performing when he looks at the audience and stops recognizing himself in them. Madonna no longer even recognizes human beings. The very term "concert" means that the performer is performing TOGETHER with the audience. in concert, together; jointly: to act in concert. To Madonna the audience is there to worship her and move on. It's jarring and a bit sad.
Her final song was "Give it To Me" from the new album. "No one is ever gonna stop me" she repeated over and over. And I believed her. I was just scared that she was telling the truth. Without a goodbye Madonna walked up the stairs at the center of the stage and disappeared behind a giant video screen that read "Game Over". The audience waited and cheered in anticipation of an encore and when the opening strains of "Holiday" began a roar went up, but then the LIGHTS went up. The show was over. "Holiday" was simply the CD playing over the house PA to usher us out. There was a collective, surprised "That's IT?"
That was it.
Some people stayed behind to dance to "Holiday" in their seats. Madonna was long gone. It hardly mattered though.
VIEW 18 of 18 COMMENTS
hayden:
YOU'RE THE BEST!!!!!!!!
emi:
BWAHAHAHA!