Posted on 05/23/2006 3:53:44 AM PDT by MadIvan
MADONNA’S world tour began in typically provocative fashion when the pop singer hung from a cross, shouted an obscenity at an image of President Bush, showed video footage that seemed to compare Tony Blair to Adolf Hitler, and writhed around on a device that combined a horse’s saddle with a stripper’s pole.
As if that were not enough, the singer also wore a crown of thorns, dressed up as various male icons — James Brown and John Travolta included — and even briefly played the electric guitar. Early reviews of the event on Sunday night were positive, but the show failed to produce the reaction so beloved by Madonna: shock.
“Throughout the night Madonna worked hard, not just to stay on pitch and dance well, but also to connect emotionally to her material,” Ann Powers wrote in a Los Angeles Times review that was positive but avoided superlatives.
Lyndsey Parker, on the Yahoo! Music website, was less reserved. She wrote: “Despite the surprising and disappointing lack of an encore (what, no Like A Prayer?), during her breathless two-hour set the Divine Miz M justified not only her audience’s love, but her somewhat exorbitant ticket price. It can safely be said that those 16,000 fans got their money’s worth, and then some.”
The Confessions tour opened in Los Angeles and will travel across North America before resuming in Wales in July. From there it will move through eight cities on the Continent, then to Japan. With tickets priced at up to $380 (£200), the tour is expected to earn more than $200 million — a record for a solo female performer. The tour comes amid rumours that the 47-year-old singer’s marriage to the British film-maker Guy Ritchie is under strain. He is reported to be making a behind-the-scenes documentary about the tour. The last film he made with his wife, Swept Away, a box-office disaster, was ridiculed by critics.
In true showbiz fashion, the concert began 50 minutes late. During the Christian-baiting crucifixion sequence, the singer was suspended on a giant mirrored cross, on which she sang the ballad Live to Tell. Video screens showed images of suffering children in third-world countries.
BAD TASTE
# Michael Jackson performed at the 1996 Brit Awards as a Christ-like figure in a crucifixion pose
# In 2004 a US church group staged a disturbing show for children in which the Easter Bunny was whipped and crucified
# Will and Grace announced a role for Britney Spears as the host of a cookery show titled Cruci-fixins
# Online game Roma Victor said that it would crucify cheaters in the virtual world
# Every Good Friday eight pious Filipinos volunteer to be nailed to crosses on a hill north of Manila
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
If it had not been for MTV, Modonna would have been a "never-was".
Pathetic.
She built her reputation on shocking her audience. She's merely run out of things to shock and repulse people with and therefore is doing something rather desperate.
Regards, Ivan
"If it had not been for MTV, Modonna would have been a "never-was"."
Shows how much you know. Even despite the infamous 'hand of god' incident. He was the most talented footballer the world has ever seen.
Start dissing Islam, wench. That would be 'cutting edge' (as you would find out).
I wonder what she is going to try next. The only thing I can think of is for her to try and perform an ancient Roman augury, by dissecting a live sheep on stage.
Perhaps I shouldn't give her ideas.
Regards, Ivan
Always was, to my mind.
As long as she keeps selling tickets, she can't really be called one from a financial standpoint.
For about a hundred years now, the primary intent of much of our "art" has been to "shock the Bourgeoisie." It moved from avant garde art to mainstream fine art to popular culture.
One would think this seam pretty well mined by now!
But the "artists" keep digging away, meanwhile congratulating each other on their courage for doing so.
The easter bunny thing was a hoax.
I wouldn't include these folks with the rest. The rest of them use the cross as a cheap gimmick. The last is designed as a form of worship. Even though I disagree with that particular belief, the goal and intent is quite different.
She looks like an old Madam, trying to keep up w/ her charges.
YAWN!
...and the world yawns...
"Start dissing Islam, wench. That would be 'cutting edge' (as you would find out.)"
Exactly what I was thinking. Seems Moandonna doesn't have the balls to offend the muzzies.
Who's Madonna?
Madonna? Maddona....maybe? I can't place the name.
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