Live - Madonna - Sticky And Sweet Tour - 23/08/08
Okay, so here’s the deal. The following review is coming from a huge Madonna fan, one who was prepared to travel halfway across the world (and to Cardiff!) in order not to miss one of her tours. I have managed to see each one since Who’s That Girl? in 1987. Some would call it madness. Actually, a few people have.
As any fan will know, every few years the tide turns against Madonna and eveything she does is torn apart by the critics. 2008 appears to be one of those years. The constant rumours about the state of her marriage and the ‘autobiography’ from her betraying brother (surely one of the most weirdly written but entertaining books of the year), as well as the somewhat mixed reaction from fans and critics alike to Hard Candy must have taken their toll. So, how does she react? By producing one of the most electric live shows of her career.
Madonna always knows how to make an entrance and boy is this one impressive. A very long wait in the stadium winds a lot of the audience up but that all disappears when an initially bare stage opens up to reveal the Queen on her throne (quite literally). From the opening number Candy Shop the vibe from the stage and Jamie King’s direction is a giant pink party and from where I stood she seemed to be enjoying herself as much as the audience. But boy, does she work hard for it.
This Madonna show seems to be more about her than the last few, with the focus moving away from the amazing dancers (still amazing and still hot) who seem to take much more of a backseat here. You Must Love Me takes on a particular resonance here with Madonna singing at her most earnest (yes she can do that) and vulnerable.
Hard Candy is the first album since 1984’s Like A Virgin where Madonna has given producing control to someone else but it does not suffer for that. 4 Minutes has become one of her biggest selling singles (although one of the less interesting numbers tonight – there is only so much you can do with a live Madonna and a projected Justin) but the majority of new songs stand up surprisingly well live. Beat Goes On and a rousing finale of Give It 2 Me are classic Madonna club tracks and they work really well here. And you do remember just how accomplished a song-writer the lady has been over the years.
There are stunning versions of classic hits: Vogue becomes dark and menacing while Like A Prayer is a gorgeous explosion of rave. While the Confessions Tour had a definite disco vibe Sticky & Sweet is a combination of the eighties funk vibe of Hard Candy and a handful of much harder rockier versions of Human Nature, Borderline, Ray Of Light and Hung Up. By La Isla Bonita you feel like you have been invited to some raucous gypsy wedding (aided by the Kolpakov Trio). Things only get serious with The Devil Wouldn’t Recognise You, when Madonna is half-obscured within a giant cage, on top of a piano and dressed like some fairytale witch in a hooded cloak. Seriously moody, and I couldn’t help thinking she was singing to her brother that night.
As with the last three tours, there is still some of the trademark Madonna ‘issue’ images projected from the huge screens, although the message of a disintegrating world (the words “Get Stupid” are flashed up over images of Bush, Mugabe and John McCain) has now been demoted to a costume change. And there is some wry humour here too – She’s Not Me features the Re-invention queen doing battle with four Madonna clones from various stages of her career and winning hands down. Actually funny!
But ultimately the Madonna of 2008 is here to entertain and does so here in spectacular fashion with many gob-smacking surprises and more than a little stardust. No-one present here can say that they go home without a pocketful of that.
For more information about Madonna’s Sticky And Sweet Tour, click here.
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Brad
said on the 1st Sep, 2008