Act of contrition

One of several observations we've made over the past three days in Barcelona is just how 'cool' Madonna seems to be in Spain. Her image is everywhere, from public noticeboards to pride of place in the windows of heavy metal (we kid you not) record stores. Obviously her exposure was at peak because she was in town for two nights, but people seemed proud to call themselves fans. While her audiences in London are certainly varied (if you call ageing gays, hen parties and women of Madonna's age varied), the audience at the Palau Sant Jordi on Wednesday night spanned the whole spectrum. An entire nuclear family had attended the concert, complete with the little boy (who couldn't have been any older than 7) donned in a fabulous home made "Gang Bang" t-shirt. Of all possible Madge songs to reference when making a t-shirt for their child, two enthusiastic parents picked "Gang Bang". Aside from this peculiarity, we saw groups of teenagers, couples in their 60s & above and a large number of women in the 20s, on top of the usual suspects we've found in London. It was impressive to find such a broad mixture of demographics, especially in this crucial career period for Madonna, the Queen of Pop, arguably the most successful artist with longevity to match in history. When more and more critics and fans are questioning if the inevitable transition from 'relevant' to 'heritage' artist, staved off longer than any of her peers, has indeed begun, it was thrilling and intriguing to be amongst fans much more diverse than homosexuals and women desperate to again experience how it felt to hear "Into the Groove" at the local discotheque in 1985.

As we've previously discussed, we had approached the MDNA Tour with trepidation. A nervous anticipation we've only felt for one previous event in Madonna's career - the eponymous album the tour was supposed to be in support of. Both arrived on the heels of the longest sustained deflation in Madonna's widespread popularity and had a lot riding on their backs. We'll try as hard as possible to avoid repeating our opinions on the album, but unfortunately many cross over with those of the tour. To summarise in as taut a nutshell as possible, Hard Candy and the Sticky and Sweet Tour were in many respects disappointments. Partly because there were mis-steps in general, but also partly because it followed one of the highest peaks in her career, the Confessions era of 2005-06. Usually when there have been dips in critical and commercial success, the following album has seen a soar back into the collective public heart - Ray of Light followed Bedtime Stories, Confessions followed American Life. As such, we hoped MDNA would be a reverse in the direction Hard Candy was heading in. It turned out that all was not as we had imagined, however MDNA's highs were arguably higher than Hard Candy's. As for a follow up to the Sticky and Sweet Tour, all we wanted was a solid theatrical production blending new and old in a cohesive structure with appeal to her core fanbase as well as Phil and Jackie, 46 & 47, looking to re-live their youth. Oh, and good fucking hair. Turns out that unlike the album, we pretty much got what we asked for.
We yearned for a return to the dramatic theatrics of Blond Ambition and the Girlie Show after the sterile video screen reliant performances of recent. We got them in the shape of some the most atmospheric and entertaining performances we've seen from her, mostly in the show's first act. The opening manages to quite impressively transform a throw away forgettable Benassi production into a jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring, skin-tingling Catholic ceremony of brimstone and fire. Basically, we now love "Girl Gone Wild". "Gang Bang" actually had a full seedy motel room set rolled onstage, making it everything the Tarantino video should've been. This was Christopher Ciccone attention to detail in full celebration.

We wanted performances of "Open Your Heart", "Justify My Love" and "Express Yourself": three enormous oldies but goodies ignored for twenty two years in the case of former. Two were performed and ended up being joyous, genuine highlights of the whole show, while "Justify" was used for a collar-looseningly hot interlude filmed in the style of the recent Truth or Dare perfume commercial.

We wanted COSTUMES: the femme fatale outfit of the first act complete with leopard print push up bra, the mistress majorette of the euphoric second act, the spectacular Gaultier cone bra re-invention and Dita throwback of the third and finally the Joan of Arc chain mail of the final act hit their respective nails on the head in terms of theatricality, 'age-appropriate' (we hate that term as much as you probably do) sexiness and detail, greatly surpassing the standards of the previous tour. As for the hair... downright fucking fabulous. Wethinks she sacked the hair stylist back in 2010 because we haven't seen any atrocities since, but she looks so healthy. Young but her age at the same time, if that makes sense. Good plastic surgery, as in Ina Garten's good olive oil.

The pleasant surprises? When we heard "Candy Shop" would be mashed up with "Erotica" we laughed it off as a bad fan rumour, but the eventual result was a demonstration of how "Candy Shop" should always have been performed: entrancing, sensual and genuinely sexy in the grand Madonna tradition of slapping you as you suck her cock. No war cries of "MY SUGAR IS RAW", and the brief feature of "Erotica"'s chorus felt like a perfect fit. The Kelley Polar's "Ashamed of Myself" sample was an impressive selection and demonstrated an unexpected level of music awareness in director Kevin Antunes. Aside from the aforementioned "Justify" interlude, we were apprehensive about the use of a seemingly throwaway MDNA album track - "Best Friend" - and American Life's "Nobody Knows Me" as the further two interludes. In fact, the former worked perfectly in terms of its position in the 'storyline' of the show and served as an excellent conclusion to the first act's borderline exhausting darkness, while the latter accompanied the most powerful political interlude she's done yet. Like we're sure you do, Madonna's political insertions in her shows regularly make us do dramatic eye rolls but this one fucking works. We're getting shivers as we type.

Naturally, there were flaws. We have no issue in pointing them out because more often than not they pertain to a fall in standards set by the woman herself. For example, Madonna is notorious in the field of pop performance for constantly re-inventing her back catalogue to either seamlessly blend with the current sound she's peddling, or simply putting a brand new spin on a tired classic. While many old tracks were re-invented - "Hung Up" was the first dramatic surprise of the evening and the previously mentioned "Open Your Heart" was a joyous feast for the eyes and ears, sung with the wisdom of a woman who is no longer chasing a lover she can't have but is content to remember her former fervour - several biggies were simply lifted from the album - a technique practically unheard of for Madonna.

"Express Yourself", "Vogue", "Human Nature" and "Like a Prayer" were exactly the same as their 80s and 90s equivalents - obviously they still worked the crowd as ever and those arrangements are anything but boring but to the avid fan it signals a growing laziness and dying passion. “Vogue” in particular used the exact vocals lifted from 1990, despite more recent occasion when it has also been mimed (Re-Invention in 2004, the Super Bowl this year) using brand new vocals, leaving the close observer more than conscious of the blatant laziness. In the interests of fairness, "Like a Virgin" was transformed into a tragedy-laden waltz set to a piece from W.E. - nice use of synergy - but it didn't quite hit the spot, especially after the definitive electro-pop version mixed by Stuart 'God' Price for Confessions. Besides, it whiffed a bit too much of the song's Girlie Show incarnation - both are drenched in Marlene-esque cabaret. As for "Vogue", "Human Nature" and "Like a Prayer" - yes, all amazing anthems but Madonna your back catologue is luckily vast enough that you can retire your massive tracks every other tour to keep them fresh. Which reminds us... we noticed you finally gave "Music", "Ray of Light" and the dreaded "La Isla Bonita" a rest. Grácias.

Enough about the old stuff. “Girl Gone Wild”, “Gang Bang”, “I’m Addicted” and even “Masterpiece” were triumphant. Bolstered with life and colour, they felt much more fuller than their studio incarnations. “I’m a Sinner” didn’t quite satisfy, however the apprehension we felt toward its inclusion in the set before “Like a Prayer” - not to mention being mashed up with Music-era B-side “Cyberraga” (genuine wtf moment) dissipated when the religious themes and connections with “Prayer” were highlighted. “Revolver” was a severe misstep - appearing so early in the show, especially after the magnificent opener, called for more than tacky autotune and a Lil’ Wayne rap. We suppose this was more than made up for by another Young Money appearance - the crowd went ballastic for Nicki in “I Don’t Give A”. Two enormous MDNA-sized holes in the set were felt with the omission of “Falling Free” and “Love Spent” - arguably two of the strongest songs by far on such a middling album. An exquisitely composed ballad in the grand Patrick Leonard tradition and a thrillingly fresh William Orbit mid-tempo track were ignored in favour of quite obviously inferior tracks. We can only hope that she gets bored with the length of this tour and decides to swap some songs out for others.

So... we suppose you want to know what we think of the whole Gaga ‘debacle’? While we type this through gritted teeth (fingers?), Peter Robinson’s summary of the whole situation was fairly spot on. It’s old news, but very briefly: Gaga could’ve acknowledged the similarities and called it a homage very early on, thereby removing any controversy and/or opportunity for mockery. Especially from the Queen herself. Regardless, when we heard she would be singing not only a few lines from “Born This Way” but “She’s Not Me” (lololol) again we put it down to a really bad fan rumour. Why would Madonna even acknowledge it? The reductive comment was suitably catty enough without being excessive or desperate, which is exactly what this news felt like. In person, it was hilarious and extremely fun, even the visuals with the little monsters eating any old crap put their way. It was comedic and light hearted, but we still felt it was below her station. She’s above that, and doesn’t need to flame a year old fire. Whatever.

How do we conclude this without any more long-ass convoluted sentences? BULLET POINTS!

• most cohesive theming and story since Drowned World
• a mixed bag re: setlist, heavy on the oldies but goodies
• sexy, classy and mature costumes (looking at you Sticky and Sweet)
• ditto for the hair. EXCELLENT hair
• incredible video visuals. We have absolutely no complaint with relying on video screens when they are this imaginative and form such a big part of the theming, especially when physical theming and stagecraft is still employed perhaps most importantly above all, Madonna looked happy. Through Sticky & Sweet, for various reasons, she looked miserable as sin. This tour is full of happiness and fun.
  
  Are you going to the show yourself? Did you even make it this far? How many birthdays have you had since you started reading? Well done, congrats, wunderbar for you. As for the MDNA Tour? Right now... 7.5/10, if Confessions is 9 and Sticky is 6 for comparison. All subject to change.
  Madonna performed;
  1. "Act of Contrition"
  2. "Girl Gone Wild"
  3. "Revolver"
  4. "Gang Bang"
  5. "Papa Don't Preach"
  6. "Hung Up"
  7. "I Don't Give A"
  8. "Best Friend"
  9. "Express Yourself"
  10. "Gimme All Your Luvin'"
  11. "Turn Up the Radio"
  12. "Open Your Heart"
  13. "Masterpiece"
  14. "Justify My Love"
  15. "Vogue"
  16. "Candy Shop"
  17. "Human Nature"
  18. "Like a Virgin"
  19. "Nobody Knows Me"
  20. "I'm Addicted"
  21. "I'm a Sinner"
  22. "Like a Prayer"
  23. "Celebration"

Wednesday 20th June, 2012 at the Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona. Thanks to MadonnaTribe and Madonnarama for the photos.