FEATURE: X Marks the Spot: The Unique Tours of Madonna

FEATURE:

 

X Marks the Spot

IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in 2019/PHOTO CREDIT: @Madonna 

The Unique Tours of Madonna

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IT is hard to think of a time since her debut album…

when Madonna was inactive or took a rest. I was born the same year as Madonna’s eponymous debut album (1983) and was instantly seduced. I have written about her from several different angles and assessed quite a few of her albums. This year has been pretty eventful. In March, Like a Prayer turned thirty and, the month after, Madame X was released. Some say Madonna’s fortunes and critical acclaim has waned since 2000’s Music and, in terms of her status as an iconic live performer, does she have the same pull and magic as she did in the 1980s and 1990s? It is true Madonna’s music now is very different to what it was in her peak – the mid-1980s to the late-1990s –, but that is no bad thing. Madame X is a very modern-sounding album and one that brings in a few different collaborators. I quite like the album and feel she has returned to form. For an icon who has been performing and recording for nearly four decades, one would expect Madonna to have slowed or taken some time off. I think it is her love of the people and her connection to the stage that keeps her driven; the chance to bring her music to the people and make that connection. I wanted to discuss Madonna’s live shows because she is currently touring Madame X.

NME, in this article, tell the story:

“The singer, who turned up an hour late, played a lengthy set which laced tracks from her recent album with classic hits from her backcatalogue at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House in Brooklyn.

All fans were asked to lock their phones in an airtight container before the show to stop them filming the gig.

Of the hits, Madonna performed ‘Vogue’, ‘La Isla Bonita’, ‘Frozen’, ‘American Life’ and ‘Like A Prayer’. She finished up with recent single ‘I Rise’.

Madonna’s setlist was:

‘Dark Ballet’
‘Human Nature’
‘Vogue’
‘I Don’t Search I Find’
‘Papa Don’t Preach’
‘God Control /Rescue Me’ (outro)
‘American Life’
‘Batuka’
‘Fado Pechincha’

‘Killers Who Are Partying’
‘Crazy’
‘La Isla Bonita’
‘Sodade’
‘Medellin’
‘Extreme Ocident’
‘S.E.X [Interlude]’
‘Rescue Me’
‘Frozen’
‘Come Alive’
‘Future’
‘Crave’
‘Like A Prayer’
‘I Rise’

Last month, Madonna postponed the start of her Madame X Tour as a result of technical setbacks.

Two of the first three dates at Brooklyn’s BAM Howard Gilman Opera House — originally scheduled for September 12 and 14 — were moved back to October 10 and 12.  A further show on September 15 was cancelled.

As well as the US dates, Madonna will play a 15-night residency at the iconic London Palladium in February 2020.

In a four-star review of ‘Madame X’, NME’s El Hunt described the record as “bold, bizarre, self-referential and unlike anything Madonna has ever done before”.

There are a few interesting points regarding the new tour. Apart from the technical setbacks and delays, as you can tell from the NME review snippet, Madonna’s new set is just as bold as past tours.

 PHOTO CREDIT: @Madonna

It is not like she has decided to go acoustic and confined herself to a very routine and boring show: Madonna in 2019 knows how to create a spectacle and bring her album to life! The persona of Madame X is intriguing but, in a sense, Madonna has cast herself in different guises since the beginning. It is obvious how much Madonna loves performing and the effort she puts in. The setlist above shows that Madonna wants to put some classics in and please the fans, but she can ably balance that with the brand-new material. The theatrics, spectacle and emotion projected at one of her gigs is captivating and, aged sixty-one, there is no slowing the Queen of Pop. What is interesting about the Madame X tour is the upcoming London shows. The London Palladium is an interesting choice of venue and, whilst it will sell-out pretty quickly (if it hasn’t done already…), there is a certain intimacy behind that choice. It is clear she wants to startle and amaze with shows but do so with a sense of intimacy rather than grandeur and pomp. Through the years, Madonna has redefined live performance and produced some of the most influential and memorable tours ever. Look at the Blond Ambition World Tour – the third tour from Madonna – that was launched to support her 1989 studio album, Like a Prayer. Madonna is turning heads now but, on the Blond Ambition World Tour, her blend of Catholic symbolism/imagery and provocative choreography made headlines.

We learn more about the tour in 1991’s Truth or Dare, but it is clear Madonna defined the Pop spectacle. So many artists since then owe a debt to Madonna. The costumes and the choreography; the designs and gravitas of this world-famous performer at the centre…it was a revelation and huge step forward in terms of what a Pop concert could be. Collecting millions of dollars and still one of the most popular tours ever, there is so much to unpack. The Blond Ambition World Tour enraged catholic bodies and groups as, during the show, male dancers caress and there is a sense of sexual liberation and openness. Madonna was breaking rules and pushing boundaries, that is for sure – what ever great artist should strive to do. Not only did the dance and themes of the show inspire and influence but the fashion on display – including the conical bra designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier – is iconic in its own right.

There is debate as to which Madonna tour defines her best – it is clear the Blond Ambition World Tour takes some beating. Look back at other tours and, on every occasion, she has reinvented herself and produced something unique. The Who’s That Girl World Tour of 1987 saw Madonna take on Europe and Asia; her second tour supported True Blue and Who’s That Girl? and it was a big affair. A confident, multimedia affair, the tour utilised better choreography, big screens and a larger space. It was a definite spectacle and sign that the approaching Queen of Pop was stepping into a league of her own.

1993’s The Girlie Show arrived at a time where Madonna was courting as much controversy as popular focus. 1992’s Erotica album and her Sex book did stir up more than their fair share of division and any other artist might have retreated or backed off in terms of what a live show contained. This being Madonna, she was not about to let her fans down. I think the best Madonna tours are defined by a conviction and confidence; using the stage to defy critics and dazzle crowds. In 1993, Madonna’s Mistress Dita persona (from Erotica) took to the stage and, alongside her, there was cabaret, burlesque and celebration. Once more, with a runway projecting from the main stage, Madonna was, literally, seeing how far she could go and not being confined in terms of set-up, themes and delivery. Into the twenty-first century, one would imagine Madonna would do something a little smaller-scaled or relaxed. Instead, the majesty of the stage beckons and, with her Madame X persona, she gets to create this new and exciting world. Madonna has always stepped out of what is expected and confined and done her own thing. Think of the Confessions Tour of 2006 and the spectacle witnessed. From performing Live to Tell whilst hanging on a mirrored cross – again, the Catholic church was displeased! – to putting on two lifts, two runways and a turntable platform…we are talking millions of dollars!

A couple of years previous, for her Re-Invention World Tour, she gave fresh life and importance to her American Life (2003) album with stunning costumes and set designs. Madonna spun riffles and sung on T.V. steps; there was a military-cum-cabaret look and the whole show as head-spinning and dizzying! Various sources have their own opinion regarding her best live performances but, even when the show is a bit average, there is always something special; an angle or moment that lifts it up. Even now, into her fifth decade of performance (or maybe longer), Madonna is breaking rules and standing out. She has banned fans from using mobiles at her shows - and she is still blowing people away. I shall leave you with a review from The New York Times from 18th September, 2019, regarding her Madame X tour:

“Unlike jukebox musicals or “Springsteen on Broadway,” Madame X is a concert focusing on new songs and the present moment. In other words, Madonna is still taking chances. She will reach arena-size attendance in only a handful of venues on the eight-city tour, but with much longer engagements; the Gilman Opera House holds 2,098, and she booked 17 shows there, through Oct. 12. Onstage, “selling” a selfie Polaroid to an audience member who happened to be Rosie O’Donnell, she claimed, “I’m not making a dime on this show.”

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PHOTO CREDIT: @Madonna

By the time Madonna had completed just the first two songs, she had already presented an epigraph from James Baldwin — “Artists are here to disturb the peace” — that was knocked out onstage by one of the concert’s recurring figures, a woman (sometimes Madonna herself) at a typewriter.

Gunshots introduced “God Control,” which moves from bitter mourning about gun deaths to happy memories of string-laden 1970s disco, while Madonna and dancers appeared in glittery versions of Revolutionary War finery, complete with feathered tricorn hats, only to be confronted by police with riot shields. “Dark Ballet” had Joan of Arc references, a montage of gothic cathedrals and scary priests, a synthesizer excerpt from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” and Madonna grappling with masked dancers, until cops pulled her off the piano she had been perched on. The signifiers were already piling up.

The songs Madonna chose from her past were mostly exhortations and pushbacks, sometimes coupled with direct political statements. She sang part of “Papa Don’t Preach,” reversing its decision to “keep my baby,” then spoke directly about supporting abortion rights. Dancing while surrounded by video imagery of pointing fingers, she revived “Human Nature,” which already testified — a full 25 years ago — to Madonna’s tenacity and determination to express herself uncensored. When it ended, her daughters Mercy James, Estere and Stella were onstage, and the singers and a full-throated audience shared an a cappella “Express Yourself”.

From the 1980s through to the present time, Madonna has redefined live performance and, if you can, go and see her in London. She is getting some great reviews from a fantastic album (Madame X); proof that the unchallenged Queen of Pop is a live force…

LIKE no other.

Sam Liddicott