Madonna's Drowned World Concert goes down better with the audience than the Titanic (Madonna in general)

Name: DavidBanner

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Product:	Madonna in general
Date:	05.07.01 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Madonna!, The dancing acts, The atmosphere

Disadvantages: Some of her new songs

With the exception of her one-off Brixton Academy gig, Madonna?s Drowned World Tour has been her first in quite a while. Amid the hype surrounding the tour, tickets were sold within hours of being made available, rumours circulated as to whether she would sing any of her old songs and the sale of cowboy hats rocketed. However, the one question that presided in everyone?s minds was "Will it be as good as her earlier tours?".

Having been to the Blond Ambition tour, many moons ago, I was blown away by Madonna?s ability to sing and dance energetically while oozing sexuality and shmoozing the crowd. It was great to see that nothing has changed. Madonna is truly a phenomenon. Her voice is still captivating and distinguished, her dancing is still rhythmically perfect and she looks outstanding. I went to the Britney Spears concert last year (keep your sniggers to yourselves) and was disappointed to see that she had to stop between songs to catch her breath. She is supposed to be at the prime of her youth! Madonna, however, at the age of 42 did not pause between songs once (with the exception of one or two costume changes, involving a black geisha outfit and a cowboy suit). I was amazed by the elaborate "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" style fight, in which she flew through the air (supported by high wires of course), fought several dancers faster than Michelle Yeoh and then immediately launched into another song without pausing for breath!

A nice surprise for the evening was Madonna?s new found ability to play the guitar. In a rather touching moment, she dedicated "I Deserve It" to her husband, Guy Ritchie. It was a rare moment in Madonna history as she sang and played the guitar unaccompanied, which left the audience stunned. One of her talents has been to set new fashion traits. I am sure that guitar shops will now join cowboy hat manufacturers in facing a sudden surge in demand for their stock.

Unfortunately the
concert did start off rather slowly. Madonna entered the stage, singing "Drowned World", from her Ray of Light album. This was followed by "Impressive Instant", during which the dancers, dressed in gas masks, chased Madonna round the stage. Although visually spectacular, enhanced by Madoona?s unique stage presence, the pace was rather slow. It suddenly appeared to me that the reason for this was that some of her latest songs are simply not as good as her old ones. This is not to say that they are bad but one of the reasons for Madonna?s decade-long (nearing two now!) success has revolved round the catchy lyrics and sing-along chorus of her songs. For example, people love to sing "Like a Virgin" or "Papa don?t Preach". Madonna?s last two albums are built around techno-sounds and club beats- which are obviously less easy to sing along to. Consequently the audience watched while Madonna sang, as opposed to singing along with her.

Nonetheless, the weakness of some of the songs were made up by the visual effects, costumes and Madonna?s performance itself. At the end of the day, Madonna is a truly unique entertainer with unrivalled stage presence. All she has to do is appear on stage and that will be enough to send the audience crazy. Who cares if one or two songs are iffy! The pace did speed up when more of the more successful recent songs, like "Beautiful Stranger" were performed. Indeed, these fit into the old Madonna trait of being easy to dance to and sing along with. By the time she started singing some of her oldies, "La Isla Bonita" and "Holiday", it seemed that the whole audience was going to explode with excitement.

The final surprise of the evening was a farewell bidding by Ali G on the TV screens, after the final number "Music". He informed the audience that we should make as much mess as possible as the Backstreet Boys were performing tomorrow "and no on
e likes them"!

The tickets may have been overpriced but there are few opportunities to watch some of music?s greatest ever icons. In many years time I will be able to sit down and proudly tell my children that I saw Madonna live in concert. And that it was worth every penny

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