Category Archives: Review
MTV: Madonna Returns To Her Dark Era With ‘Celebration’ Video
MTV: Madonna Returns To Her Dark Era With ‘Celebration’ Video
Sep 1 2009
By James Montgomery
Madonna Returns To Her Dark Era With ‘Celebration’ Video
The clip, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, is the first from her upcoming greatest-hits package of the same name, due September 29.
What’s your favorite era of Madonna? This is a fairly open-ended question, one certain to get about a million different responses. For every fan of the “Material Girl” Maddy, there are just as many who swear by her “Vogue” version, or her spiritual, “Ray of Light” relaunch, or even her recent turns as a political activist, a disco diva or a candy aficionado. Really, there are no wrong answers here.
But, if you really want to raise eyebrows, try telling a Madonna fanatic that you’re a huge fan of her Dark Era, a period that runs roughly from the release of The Immaculate Collection in 1990 to her disastrous appearance on “Late Night With David Letterman” in 1994. This was when she tackled the politics of sexuality head-on — whether it be with the “Justify My Love” video, or the “Sex” book, or the Erotica album — and got down and dirty (the “Deeper and Deeper” video, the “Body of Evidence” movie) and basically wasn’t afraid of offending anyone ever.
Needless to say, this was a period when most didn’t get what Madonna was going for because, well, it usually wasn’t all that clear.
Still, looking back on that Dark Era now, it’s pretty fascinating. Madonna went farther than any pop icon before her (or, somewhat understandably, after) — she pushed the envelope with glee and never looked back for a second. In retrospect, it’s clear she wasn’t being desperate; she was being brilliant. If only we could expect the same from the pop stars of present day.
Anyway, I mention all of that because on Tuesday (September 1), Madonna’s “Celebration” video premiered on the iTunes music store. It is directed by Jonas Åkerlund, who helped shepherd her back to respectability with his hyperkinetic 1998 video for “Ray of Light,” and features cameos by Madge’s boyfriend (model/DJ Jesus Luz) and daughter (Lourdes, who makes a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance toward the end). It is pretty great, particularly because it is a direct throwback to Madonna’s Dark Era.
We have Madonna popping and locking and pawing at herself, striking a series of provocative (and sometimes even submissive) poses, groping and grinding guiltlessly on her chiseled boytoy … and doing it all in a gynecologically cut dress and knee-high boots. She is 51, twice divorced, a mother of four and she is (quite rightfully) unashamed by any of this. Sexual politics, anyone?
As for the song itself, well, it’s a straightforward lunge for the dark and dirty clubs — the kind she hasn’t really made since “Deeper and Deeper” (and probably hasn’t visited since then, either). Produced by DJ Paul Oakenfold, it’s all pulsing sirens, wobbly bass and four-on-the-floor beat, with an expansive electro chorus that sounds like a truckload of Nintendo Entertainment Systems exploding in unison (only sexier).
I’m not sure if “Celebration” — which is meant to promote her career-spanning greatest-hits package of the same name (due September 29) — signifies Madonna’s return to her Dark Era (the other new song on the album, a collaboration with Lil Wayne called “Revolver,” might hint at other things), but it would be pretty amazing if it did. I’m not certain even Madge has got the stones to try it again, but there’s definitely a void to fill these days if she did. The world could use a good spanking, and we already know Madonna’s got the dominatrix getup.
Miles Away review
Madonna: ‘Miles Away’
Released on Monday, November 24 2008
By David Balls
After scoring a number one album, two top ten singles and heading up a massive world tour this year, it’s been a rough couple of months for the Queen of Pop. With so much media attention focused on her divorce from Guy Ritchie, it’s tempting to ask why she’s releasing ‘Miles Away’ as her latest single – after all, it’s a song inspired by the difficulties of maintaining a long distance relationship.
Based around a few strummed guitar chords, ‘Miles Away’ is a welcome respite from Madonna’s recent floorfillers, with her vocal shining through as she sings: “We’re always at our best when we’re miles away”. It’s not often these days that she can pull off human emotion so convincingly. Though this bares more than a passing resemblance to dodgy Victoria Beckham album track ‘Midnight Fantasy’, it still manages to be one of the best cuts from Madge’s Hard Candy album. It’s a shame, therefore, that with no video and little promotion it’s likely to end up miles away from the top of the charts.
4 stars out of 5
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a136051/…miles-away.html
Victoria Beckham – Midnight Fantasy [2001]
Gwen Stefani – The Real Thing [2004]
Madonna – Miles Away [2008]
Madonna goes mad in Cardiff over a plate of chips
Her Madgesty had her chips in hotel
Aug 24 2008 by Andrew Dagnell, Wales On Sunday
POP superstar Madonna lashed out at staff at her top Cardiff hotel just days before she performed in the capital – over a plate of CHIPS.
Her Madgesty made an explosive start to her Sticky and Sweet World Tour last night in front of 70,000 fans at the capital’s packed Millennium Stadium.
She spent the whole of last week in Wales putting herself through a gruelling rehearsal schedule, perfecting her routines, running through the set list and making sure everything was perfect for her first show.
In the evenings she kicked back in her suite on the top floor of Cardiff Bay’s exclusive five-star St David’s Spa and Hotel, which was refurbished ahead of her stay to cater for her every need.
Despite recent rumours of a rift with film-maker hubby Guy Ritchie, 39, the whole family was in tow – including son Rocco, daughter Lourdes and Malawian-born adopted son David Banda.
A fleet of security guards in blacked-out cars were brought in to ferry the pop queen, who celebrated her 50th birthday at the beginning of last week, to and from the stadium for run-throughs.
But according to a hotel insider, the Material Girl’s team instructed hotel staff to treat her like a real queen after she refused to eat a plate of chips which she ordered on room service.
Hotel kitchen staff were said to be left fuming after she sent them back – complaining the oil used to cook them was “too old”.
A source at the hotel said one of Madonna’s entourage then ordered the hotel’s kitchen staff: “You must cook for her as if she is the real Queen.”
The hotel worker said: “Everyone was left stunned by Madonna’s demands.
“Some felt she was a nightmare to deal with but we were told to treat her like a real queen and ensure everything was fresh for her.”
Even though the kitchen staff said the oil was just two days old, they were forced to change it before preparing a fresh plate of food.
The source added: “The hotel’s head chef could not believe it and had to change the oil in the kitchen just to make one plate of chips. He was furious.”
Even before the superstar arrived in the capital, the hotel refurbished the entire seventh floor penthouse in preparation for Madonna’s stay.
They ordered her a new white sofa for her suite, as well as shipping in a giant state-of-the art plasma TV, new curtains and fresh rugs.
They also provided a brand new coffee machine, white roses, new light fittings and a new headboard for her spacious king-size bed.
When she last visited the capital on tour, Madonna requested gallons of fresh rainforest water, a private gym next to her room, sole use of the hotel’s giant swimming pool and spa as well as special Kabbalah candles to fight off evil spirits.
One hotel insider said: “Everything on the top floor was changed to Madonna’s specification.
“As far as I know, the hotel paid for everything. Everything in the room had to be changed.
“We had maintenance workers here for days making sure the new light fittings were correct. I saw the room – it wasn’t to my taste – but whatever Madonna wanted, she got.”
Hotel workers were told not to talk to anybody – including guests – about Madonna during her stay at the hotel.
Last night hotel management declined to comment on Madonna’s visit owing to customer confidentiality.
A spokeswoman said: “We are a five-star hotel and we would never reveal any details about our customers.”
Madonna’s Millennium Stadium set list
Intro/Candy Shop
Beat Goes On
Human Nature Vogue
Into The Groove
Heartbeat
Borderline
She’s Not Me
Music
Devil Wouldn’t Recognise You
Spanish Lesson
Miles Away
La Isla Bonita/Lela Pala Tute
You Must Love Me
4 Minutes
Like A Prayer
Ray Of Light
Hung Up
he should’ve smashed the plate into bits and shoved it into the chef’s face!
Hello, boyos: Madonna kicks off the first leg of her world tour
Hello, boyos: Madonna kicks off the first leg of her world tour
The undisputed Queen of Pop has kicked off her latest world tour with a dazzling and extremely athletic performance in Cardiff.
Madonna took the stage at the 75,000 capacity Millennium Stadium on Saturday night for the first date of her Sticky and Sweet tour.
The decadent show, which involved £1million of jewellery, saw her perform many of her greatest hits as well as indulging in eight costume changes.
Exactly one week after her 50th birthday, the pop superstar arrived onstage dressed in a Givenchy outfit in a vintage white American car for the first section of the four-part show.
Labelled ‘Pimp’, the opening sequence was recently described by the Material Girl’s publicist as a homage to ‘1920s deco and modern day gangsta pimp’.
Madonna followed up that segment of the concert with Old School, a tribute to the urban dance music of early 1980s New York, the environment from which her star first rose.
The remaining two sections, Gypsy and Rave, saw the toned singer defy her age by continuing to deliver a high-energy performance over a two-hour concert.
Madonna’s showstopping Sticky and Sweet tour kicks off with a bang
By Sean Hamilton, Showbiz Editor in Cardiff 24/08/2008
Madonna kicks off “Sticky &Sweet” tour
Madonna kicked off her Sticky And Sweet world tour in Cardiff last night a week after her 50th birthday.
But age proved no barrier to Madge who delivered an epic show with eight costume changes. Fans who had paid up to s160 for tickets and flown from all around the world, were taken on a high-energy trip through her career.
Madonna split the show into four: Pimp, Old School, Gypsy and Rave. She arrived on stage in a sexy black outfit for opening number Candy Shop.
Husband Guy Ritchie was spotted in the crowd as his wife changed into a white top hat and appeared in a white limo for her second track Beat Goes On.
Britney Spears famously snogged on stage by Madonna showed up for third song Human Nature but not in person. She appeared on a huge screen above the stage – trapped in a lift, wearing a hoodie and looking disturbingly like young Madonna.
For Bond theme Die Another Day the dancers acted out a full-on boxing match in a full-size ring on stage.
Madonna lap danced around a pole in red hot pants to her early hit Into The Groove, then sang alone from the centre of the stage for an emotional performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s You Must Love Me – from Evita.
But the highlight came during She’s Not Me when four dancers dressed as Madge through the ages came on stage.
For two hours, the Queen of Pop reworked songs from her 25-year history. The colossal roof at the Cardiff venue was closed to keep the rain out – and to make the sound even louder.
Rap and R&B stars Kanye West and Pharrell Williams put in virtual appearances alongside Britney, but there was never any doubt who the real star was. With another 50 dates to go around the world, Madonna’s back with a bang.
sean.hamilton@sundaymirror.co.uk
Madonna Kicks off `Sticky and Sweet’ Tour in UK
abcnews.com
Madonna and her 250-strong entourage launch `Sticky and Sweet’ tour in Wales
By JOEL RYAN Associated Press Writer
CARDIFF, Wales August 23, 2008 (AP) The Associated Press
Even at 50, the queen of pop just can’t stop courting controversy.
Madonna performs on stage at the premier of her ‘Sticky and Sweet’ tour at Cardiff’s Millennium…
(AP)
As Madonna kicked off her international “Sticky and Sweet” tour Saturday night, she took a none-too subtle swipe at the presumptive Republican nominee for U.S. president.
Amid a four-act show at Cardiff’s packed Millennium Stadium, a video interlude carried images of destruction, global warming, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, Zimbabwe’s authoritarian President Robert Mugabe — and U.S. Senator John McCain. Another sequence, shown later, pictured slain Beatle John Lennon, followed by climate activist Al Gore, Mahatma Gandhi and finally McCain’s Democratic rival Barack Obama.
The rest of the show had the usual Madonna fixtures: sequins, fishnets, and bondage-style outfits drawn from the 3,500 items of clothing reportedly whipped together by 36 designers specifically for the tour. Dancers sauntered across stage in top hats and tail coats, and Madonna tried her hand at break-dancing and pole-dancing.
Some 40,000 fans — many in pink cowboy hats and boas — were treated to a heavy metal version of “Borderline,” while “La Isla Bonita” served as backdrop for a flamenco routine. The show, billed as a musical mishmash of “gangsta pimp,” Romanian folk, rave, and dance — was an homage to Madonna’s continuous reinventions over the past three decades.
She took a playful take on her variegated career, mocking dancers dressed as her previous incarnations — including the “Material Girl” and “Blonde Ambition” — before they sank into the stage to the tune of “She’s Not Me.” Madonna finished off the concert with her thumping “Give it 2 Me” from her new urban-inspired album, “Hard Candy.”
If the world’s top-selling female recording artist is still writhing, shaking and shimmying with the best of them, her personal life has recently been unsettled. Earlier this summer her brother Christopher Ciccone published a gossipy memoir, and she has faced speculation about her relationship with New York Yankee slugger Alex Rodriquez and rumors that her marriage to British filmmaker Guy Ritchie is on the rocks — which she hotly denies.
Madonna’s tour was eagerly anticipated in Britain, where the pop superstar has made her home, and fans weren’t disappointed.
Madonna performs on stage at the premier of her ‘Sticky and Sweet’ tour at Cardiff’s Millennium… (AP)
“We enjoyed it to the max,” said Ruth Henson, 24, who works in human resources in London. “Madonna, considering she’s now 50, is so fit. She did a really good job.”
Following Cardiff’s opening concert, “Sticky and Sweet” moves across Europe, hitting London’s Wembley Stadium on Sept. 11 and Paris on Sept. 20. From there, it goes to North America in October before wrapping up Dec. 18 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
It is Madonna’s first tour since striking a deal with concert promoter Live Nation Inc. worth an estimated $120 million over 10 years. The partnership gives Live Nation a stake of future music and music-related business she generates, including touring, merchandising and albums. Madonna’s last tour was her 2006 “Confessions” — in which she staged a mock crucifixion only a few miles (kilometers) from the Vatican.
STICKY IT TO THEM
UK NEWS OF THE WORLD
STICKY IT TO THEM
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/incoming/article17895.ece
More than 40,000 fans in Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium gasped as the superstar singer emerged wearing sexy black Givenchy bodice, black hotpants, fishnet stockings and knee-high lace-up boots.
Surrounded by four male dancers in top hats and suits, she shouted: “All right, Cardiff? That’s what I’m talking about!”
The pop icon had kept her fans waiting, kicking off the Sticky & Sweet show more than half an hour late at 9.05pm with a video playing on four giant screens across the stage.
The film of a pink and white candy production line accompanied her opening track, Candy Store. Next up was Beat Goes On, with Madonna standing in a white convertible car which drove 60ft out into the crowd on a runway.
Then she whipped off her bodice, twirling it round her head before launching it into the crowd and revealing a see-through black top.
Madonna then showed her versatility, picking up a guitar for third number of the night, Human Nature.
Old favourites such as Into The Groove, La Isla Bonita and Like A Prayer were scheduled for later in the show, which was split into four parts with video interludes to allow for costume changes.
The sexy fishnet tights which figure in many of those costumes are all bought second-hand by her staff after scouring eBay and dance shops.
Madonna’s team have snapped up 100 pairs, including her famous net leggings and old-style weave pantyhose. They will take 30 wardrobe trunks to each venue after work on costumes from 36 different designers.
But the most staggering statistics from the tour surround the fortune it is generating.
Madonna is raking in a jaw-dropping £153.45MILLION from the Sticky & Sweet tour. The Material Girl will be making £3,568,023 for each of the 43 two-hour gigs—that’s £29,733 every MINUTE she’s on stage.
It was thought her hubby—Lock, Stock director Guy Ritchie—was in the stadium to watch his wife in action last night, despite rumours their eight-year marriage is on the rocks.
In July, Madonna denied planning to divorce Guy after being linked with American baseball idol Alex Rodriguez.
It had been claimed Madge had even introduced separated ‘A-Rod’ to her mystical Jewish religion Kabbalah.
But Madonna said: “My husband and I are not planning on getting a divorce.
“I know Alex Rodriguez through Guy Oseary, who manages both of us. I am not romantically involved with him.”
“MADGE-IC”
UK SUNDAY MIRROR
http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/latest/2008…15875-20708803/
“MADGE-IC” (front page photo)
Madonna kicked off her Sticky And Sweet world tour in Cardiff last night a week after her 50th birthday.
But age proved no barrier to Madge who delivered an epic show with eight costume changes. Fans who had paid up to s160 for tickets and flown from all around the world, were taken on a high-energy trip through her career.
Madonna split the show into four: Pimp, Old School, Gypsy and Rave. She arrived on stage in a sexy black outfit for opening number Candy Shop.
Husband Guy Ritchie was spotted in the crowd as his wife changed into a white top hat and appeared in a white limo for her second track Beat Goes On.
Britney Spears famously snogged on stage by Madonna showed up for third song Human Nature but not in person. She appeared on a huge screen above the stage – trapped in a lift, wearing a hoodie and looking disturbingly like young Madonna.
For Bond theme Die Another Day the dancers acted out a full-on boxing match in a full-size ring on stage.
Madonna lap danced around a pole in red hot pants to her early hit Into The Groove, then sang alone from the centre of the stage for an emotional performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s You Must Love Me – from Evita.
But the highlight came during She’s Not Me when four dancers dressed as Madge through the ages came on stage.
For two hours, the Queen of Pop reworked songs from her 25-year history. The colossal roof at the Cardiff venue was closed to keep the rain out – and to make the sound even louder.
Rap and R&B stars Kanye West and Pharrell Williams put in virtual appearances alongside Britney, but there was never any doubt who the real star was. With another 50 dates to go around the world, Madonna’s back with a bang.
sean.hamilton@sundaymirror.co.uk
Madonna at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium: Review
Madonna seemed to have a point to prove last night.
By Isabel Albiston at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Last Updated: 12:36AM BST 24 Aug 2008
‘Sticky & Sweet’ is Madonna’s first world tour since she hit the road in 2006 with ‘Confessions’ Photo: AP
A week after turning 50, when most of her peers would still be shaking off a hangover, the untiring pop star performed the first of 51 shows across Europe and America.
The tour promotes Madonna’s current album Hard Candy, which topped the charts when it was released in April.
She opened with two fast-paced tracks from it, making her entrance to Candy Shop on board a moving throne, legs spread open. Her voice sounded shaky as she strutted across the stage in a Givenchy-designed one-piece, fishnets and knee high boots. Establishing the gangsta-pimp theme of the first quarter of the show, a cane-wielding Madonna was joined on stage by dancers in raunchy bondage–style costumes.
The “Old School” phase of the show was much more fun and Madonna seemed on surer ground. It kicked off with an energetic performance of Get Into The Groove with schoolyard skipping rope dance routine that hinted at how the muscular star maintains her remarkable physique.
Other re-workings of her old hits included a guitar-heavy rock version of Borderline and striking New York subway train visuals on the track Music.
There were times when Madonna seemed strained and she lacked the effortless confidence of previous years. In the opening half of the show, she struggled to involve the crowd, who responded half-heartedly to her newer tracks. Her voice was stronger when she wasn’t attempting to keep up with her dance troupe.
But the energy picked up during La Isla Bonita, when she skipped around the stage at the head of a procession of violin players. The pace continued with a high-energy, crowd-pleasing rendition of Hung-Up.
“Sticky & Sweet” is Madonna’s first world tour since she hit the road in 2006 with “Confessions” — the highest grossing tour by a female artist.
Two years later, Madonna’s biceps are no smaller and, with the news that 100 pairs of fishnet pantyhose have been procured from eBay for the artist, her costumes no less raunchy. Ricardo Tisci of Givenchy, Stella McCartney and Roberto Cavalli are among the 36 designers who have contributed to the tour wardrobe.
With tickets for last night’s Cardiff gig costing between £65 and £160, it will be no surprise if this extravagant production by the world’s most successful female recording artist of all time goes on to break more records.
Madge was late, but worth the wait
Madonna may have turned 50, but the opening show of her world tour in Cardiff proved the queen of pop is still into the groove
Amelia Hill
The Observer, Sunday August 24 2008
Lynne, wearing her best silky cowboy shirt and pink, flashing angel wings, is outraged. ‘It’s bollocks, that’s what it is,’ she said. ‘One and a half hours late and she still hasn’t bothered to come on stage? It’s disrespectful. I’ve driven down two hours from Birmingham. This just isn’t right.’
In the semi-filled Cardiff Millennium Stadium, Lynne is not alone in her frustration. At 8pm last night, after an hour’s wait, the crowd tried to encourage Madonna on to the stage with cheers and whoops. By 9pm, after two hours’ wait, the boos began; starting cautiously in the stands but quickly gaining deafening momentum throughout the stadium.
‘I didn’t pay £75 for the joy of sitting on a cold, concrete floor, eating hot dogs,’ said Tom Allan, one of the most enthusiastic of the booing brigade. ‘I do my job properly, why can’t she?’
Finally, at 9.10pm the lights went down and the crowd leapt to its feet, instantly forgiving the Queen of Pop as a giant screen appeared and the Material Girl herself burst onto the stage, throwing her heart and soul into confounding and exceeding fans’ expectations yet again.
The long-awaited Sweet and Sticky tour had begun.
‘This is more like it!’ Lynne screamed. ‘This is what I came for. I never doubted her really. Madonna rocks. There’s no one like her. No one. She’s an icon. Her best is yet to come.’
On a stage bookended by two enormous Ms filled with £1m-worth of Swarovski crystals, the world’s most successful female recording artist of all time leapt, trampolined and pole-danced with an energy that pulled the audience into her pocket.
A past master at seducing and enthralling her fans, she introduced a whole new definition of ‘audience participation’ by skipping with a glittering rope in time to their ecstatic rendition of ‘Into the Groove’.
With the help of Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci, Miu Miu, Stella McCartney, Yves Saint Laurent and Roberto Cavalli, not to mention 12 trampolines and 100 pairs of fishnet stockings, Madonna launched her eighth world concert tour at the 74,600-seat Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
Having turned 50 last weekend, Madonna remains defiant amid rumours about the state of her marriage to film director Guy Ritchie, gossip fanned by a warts-and-all biography by her younger brother, Christopher Ciccone, in which he claims that the couple only stay together with the help of a marriage-counselling rabbi.
Swatting such carping aside with the aplomb of the ultimate showgirl, she has crafted a show of exuberance that conceals a tightly controlled narrative. In a micro-managed, four-part stage set, the singer takes fans on a whistlestop tour of the stages of her career.
Those roots go back to when the aspiring singer reportedly showed up in New York City with just $35 in her pocket. Yet three decades on she is still writhing, shaking and shimmying in the limelight.
The Material Girl opens the two-hour spectacle dressed in the first of her eight outfits, ‘a mashed-up homage to gangsta pimp and Art Deco’. The first set is a nod to her early years as a new-wave disco nymphette who made her name as a performer more respected in her first British performance at Manchester’s Haçienda nightclub for her bravura than her ability to hold a note.
Pausing to transform herself from a Givenchy-clad, dominatrix-style gangsta pimp into a Gothic goddess, Madonna references her early days as part of the Eighties New York dance scene with songs including ‘Into the Groove’ and ‘Borderline’.
A brief ‘Romanian folk interlude’ features a paean to Romany romance, featuring three gypsy musicians playing tracks including ‘Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You’, ‘Spanish Lesson’, ‘Miles Away’ and ‘La Isla Bonita’ on acoustic guitars. Madge presides over this section in a black Gothic-style Givenchy cloak, peeled off to reveal a flowery top, baggy skirt and knee-high boots.
The evening has nine of the 12 songs on her 11th studio album, Hard Candy, which went straight to the top of the charts in 31 countries. It culminates in a grand finale focusing on what could be described as Madge’s ‘post-imperial’ phase: a futuristic, Japanese-influenced rave set in which she sports diamond-studded trousers, a colourful throw top and black vest, singing hits including ‘4 Minutes’, ‘Like a Prayer’, ‘Ray of Light’, ‘Hung Up’ and ‘Give It To Me’.
Arlene Phillips, a Strictly Come Dancing judge and friend of Madonna, who helped to design the look of last night’s extravaganza, said the singer had been determined to produce a show as spectacularly steamy as possible.
Having reached her half-century, the singer might now travel with her own chiropractor, personal trainer and masseuse, but Phillips had been quoted as saying: ‘Getting older has had little effect on her sense of fashion adventure. She may have turned 50, but has no plans to tone it down. This is going to blow everyone away.’
From Cardiff, the show will cross Europe and the Americas, finishing in São Paulo on 18 December.
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