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Madonna rocking it out at the Izod Center in New Jersey last Saturday night.
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For those of you who wanted to know whether the 168 bucks I spent on the Madonna "Sticky & Sweet Tour" concert was worth it... YES IT WAS! My first big concert ever and it was Madonna, what a way to pop my concert cherry. (LOL) It was even worth the trek out to Jersey, that turned into a damn adventure of buses, trains and a 60 dollar cab ride (the Port Authority of NY & NJ needs to get their shit together as far as their so-called link to the Meadowlands/Giants Stadium/Izod Center complex is concerned). It would have been much easier if we had snagged tickets at Madison Square Garden, but hey it was good to see her wherever we got a chance to. I would have gone to Philadelphia or Atlantic City if I had to. It would have taken just as much time and complication anyway, maybe less.
Anyway, it was a great show with no opening act, honestly she didn't need it. I learned once I got there that our sold out show was her first tour stop here in the United States so everything felt really fresh. She even paused in the middle of the show to say how good it felt to be back in America. If you're going to the concert don't want to know any of the set list don't read any further. I didn't know it beforehand and I have to admit that the surprise factor was nice.
She opened with "Candy Shop" and performed most of the other songs on the "Hard Candy" album (this list is not in the order of the show by the way) including "Beat Goes On" with Pharrell and Kanye West on background screens, "4 Minutes" with Timberland and Justin Timberfake (y'all know I can't stand him) on background screens, "Miles Away", "She's Not Me" in which she exclaimed "Don't you hate it when you have that friend that's trying to be just like you including trying to fuck your boyfriend? Fucking bitch!" and proceeded to kiss all four of her younger female dancer look-alikes (a la the infamous Britney and Christina MTV kiss) before proclaiming that she herself is a "bad ass bitch", a beautiful performance of "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You", "Heartbeat", "Spanish Lesson" and "Give It 2 Me", which she ended the show with.
In between the new songs she performed classics such as "Human Nature" with video of Britney Spears playing in the background, "Music", "Get Into The Groove", "Ray Of Light" "Hung Up", a hot rendition of "Vogue", an even hotter rock remix of "Borderline", she even took an audience request, a playful version of "Open Your Heart" in which she asked for audience participation after admitting that she forgot the words, "La Isla Bonita" complete with authentic Spanish band and dancers (a la her performance of the song at Live Earth last year). The performances of the night were her rousing version of "You Must Love Me", in which her voice sounded incredible, the only thing that would have been better would have been if she would have busted out with "Take A Bow", and my absolute favorite of the night was her performance of "Like A Prayer" which was almost like a religious experience. Also strung throughout the performance were political statements, basically Madonna's views on the issues, view which were obviously liberal, shown on the background screens with Madonna herself taking a few jabs at US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, even performing in "Palin glasses" for part of the show.
The other star of the show were here dynamic background screens providing a good amount of the spectacle throughout the night, expanding and contracting, rising and falling depending on the needs of the song. The show was a technical masterpiece that runs super smooth and went off without a hitch.
The most incredible thing is that this woman on the stage singing, strutting, dancing, dancing while jumping double dutch all in heels is fifty years old, five years younger than my mother and has more athletic stamina than me, a man half her age. That's crazy! Maybe I need to start doing that yoga and pilates shit too.
If you have tickets to the show, be excited. If you don't have tickets to the show, get tickets. If you can't tickets go on YouTube and watch the pirated video of it with the lights off and save up for the next tour.
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Playing In The Background...
"Like A Prayer"
by Madonna
from her show "The Sticky & Sweet Tour" live at the Izod Center, East Rutherford, NJ, USA
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