Madonna at MSG

Velvet Sea's self imposed hiatus is over!

Madonna rocked MSG tonight. Well, technically a recording of Madonna rocked MSG while the real Madonna danced along but whatever. Astute pre-hiatus Velvet Sea readers will recall that I'm a big fan of old Madonna songs. A crowd of teenage girls and gay men (and me) enjoyed a high energy setlist of: future lovers, get together, like a virgin, jump, live to tell, forbidden love, isaac, sorry,like it or not, sorry (remix video interlude), i love new york, ray of light, let it will be, drowned world/substitute for love, paradise (not for me), music, erotica/you thrill me, la isla bonita, lucky star, hung up.

So mostly new songs, a few oldies thrown in for good measure. Madge pranced around the stage like a 21 year old, progressively shedding layers of clothes as the night went on. She had at least 15 dancers and a 4 piece band with 2 backup singers onstage. Platforms raised, lowered, and rotated on the three pronged pitchfork shaped stage. Madonna danced all about, disappearing via holes in the stage only to reappear later in a new outfit. She initially came out Mork from Ork style when a giant disco ball opened up to reveal Madonna in some S&M outfit with a whip and wig. At one point she was wheeled out strapped to a giant lit cross, at another she pole danced and gyrated on a saddle type thing.

Her large cast of acrobatic dancers were all over the place, leaping, spinning, gyrating, smacking it up, flipping it, rubbing it down. They provided entertaining interludes while Madonna changed outfits. The light show consisted mostly of lights shining off the giant disco ball but there were screens all over the place showing various images and abstractions. The crowd got a kick out of a quick montage of all Madonna's old videos.

The music was mostly pre-recorded and it was painfully obvious when Madonna would switch to live singing (which I would have preferred actually). But she does put on a show, a big performance, a spectacle of sorts. The crowd was pretty into it, dancing a lot for a non-jamband show. Lucky Star was freakin awesome. I believe there is some sort of unwritten law requiring Madonna reviewers to say how good she looked, so she looked good, very in shape for her age- dare I say fabulous?

A fun show. Due to my craptastic seats for the big show I did not take pictures...however since I know a lot of Velvet Sea visitors are not into the whole 'reading' thing, I bring you this shocker of shockers I took of the Madge merchandising machine- are you sitting down? Here is the $80 concert t-shirt and line to get one (letter O, next to the $90 hoodie H):

At least she's got a few cheapie $65 ones for those of us on a budget.
.category: music_ nyc_