all about Madonna

Madonna madness gripped Montreal on Wednesday and fans paid up to $600 to see the pop star on stage.
Fans lined up hours before the doors opened at the Bell Centre, where the singer descended onto the stage in a giant crystal ball just before 9 p.m. in the first of two concerts that are the only Canadian stops on her current world tour. Earlier in the day, they paralyzed a section of downtown Montreal as they staked out the hotel where the pop star is staying.
Police had to shut down a section of historic Old Montreal due to the number of fans congregated outside the St. James Hotel in hopes of catching a glimpse.
“The only reason we’re here is for Madonna,” one fan said.
“She’s an icon,” her friend told the television station.
Madonna smiled but didn’t otherwise address the mob of fans as she walked a red carpet from the hotel door to a waiting limousine around 3:30 p.m.
Fans came from as far as Mexico and Florida to take in the show.
The music superstar, who last performed in Montreal 13 years ago, is to perform Wednesday and Thursday nights at Montreal’s Bell Centre.
Some 36,000 tickets, costing as much as $360 at the box office, sold out in 40 minutes. Scalpers reaped as much as $600 per ticket.
Madonna is scheduled to perform 54 such sold-out concerts around the globe.
In addition to her own formidable private security, Montreal police also escorted the 47-year-old singer from the airport to her hotel and from there to the Bell Centre.
No less than 24 trailer trucks pulled into town with the massive amount of equipment needed to mount the show. It took technicians 15 hours to set-up.
At previous concerts on the tour, Madonna has been accompanied on stage by 22 dancers. Approximately 600 costumes were used in the spectacle and the singer herself made at least seven costume changes.
More than five million copies of Madonna’s latest CD, Confessions on a dance floor, have sold since it was released in November.

source : 570News

Musical superstar Madonna is about to learn the cost of a Montreal police escort.
Madonna is performing tonight and tomorrow at Montreal’s Bell Centre. They are her only Canadian concerts. The 47-year-old singer will be sent a bill for the motorcycle cops who escorted several black limousine SUVs on Tuesday from the airport to the swanky St. James Hotel in Old Montreal.
As admiring fans waited by the freshly laid red carpet, the American singer entered through a side service entrance.
She later exited through the front door but didn’t respond to the enthusiastic screams of fans.
A TV news helicopter aired the 10-kilometre journey along city highways.
Local taxpayers will pay for police protection outside the arena, as is customary for these type of events.

source : canadian press

Madonna performs in Montreal during ‘Confessions’ World Tour (Bell Centre, Montreal, June 21 2006)

Remember the old Madonna?
The one who used to simulate masturbation on stage and fellatio off in the days of her Blond Ambition tour, immortalized in the Truth Or Dare documentary?
Or later the gal who gamely appeared naked, in various states of undress and sexual positions with both male and female partners, in a book called Sex?
Then it seemed to be just about provocation for provocation’s sake.
Now the grown up Material Girl — a twice-married 47-year-old mother of two children — shocks us to make a point. Or so the lapsed Catholic — now a Kabbalah follower — claims about crucifying herself on stage during her latest so-called Confessions tour.
The show touches down in Montreal tonight at the Bell Centre for the first of two sold-out shows, which sadly, given her huge Toronto fanbase, are the only Canadian dates of the trek.
Naturally, the 17,000 available seats for each night at the Bell Centre sold out in the blink of an eye and you can expect lots of Torontonians to be making the trek to La Belle Province to catch Madonna in all her glory.
But back to that crucifixion.
According to reports from her May 21 tour launch in Los Angeles, the stunt occurs during the fifth song of the night, Live To Tell, with Madonna wearing a crown of thorns and rising out of the stage on a six-metre-high mirrored cross.
Behind her on huge video screens are images of Third World poverty, reminding us that 12 million African children are now orphans due to the AIDS epidemic.
Madge has claimed that the iconic image was only to spur audience members to donate to her AIDS relief charities.
“I don’t think Jesus would be mad at me and the message I’m trying to send,” she told New York Daily News. “Jesus taught that we should love thy neighbour.”
But the crucifixion immediately raised the ire of the Church Of England.
“Why would someone with so much talent seem to feel the need to promote herself by offending so many people?” said the Church in a statement.
Frankly, I’m just glad to see that Madonna has tongues wagging again after two completely entertaining, highly theatrical, but far from shocking tours — 2001’s Drowned World and 2004’s Re-Invention.
Her latest live show, in support of the disco-soaked Confessions On A Dancefloor, begins with her making an entrance via a one-ton disco ball.
From there, it gets all horse-set-meets-S&M-bar as Madonna — dressed in a Jean Paul Gaultier riding outfit with top hat and mane of black hair — disciplines dancers decked out in kinky, S&M leather equestrian gear. At the same time, X-rays of her broken bones from a horse riding accident last summer are shown on video screens. And that’s just the first four songs.
It’s all a nice contrast to her new yawn-inducing documentary, I’m Going To Tell You A Secret, which hit stores yesterday, along with her first live CD of the same name.
Secret is no Truth Or Dare, part two. Instead, Madonna is seen interacting with her daughter Lourdes and son Rocco, her husband Guy Ritchie, and spewing a lot of Kabbalah philosophy when she isn’t singing and dancing her little heart out on the Re-Invention tour.
Montreal nightclub Parking — capacity 1,500 — is hosting a concert afterparty tonight in celebration of both releases, with Warner donating five copies of the album and some singles for giveaway prizes.
The first 50 people with Madonna concert tickets can get in for free, but before anyone gets too excited, there are no plans for Madge to attend the party, which is similar to the event that Woody’s on Church St. had last November to celebrate the release of Confessions On A Dancefloor.

source : toronto sun

Movie star Gwyneth Paltrow has been credited for bringing close pal Madonna back together with her father Tony Ciccone, after begging her to reconcile with him. Madonna, who made up with her dad last year (05), endured a troubled relationship with Ciccone when he remarried after the death of her mother in 1963 when she was just five years old. Paltrow’s own father Bruce Paltrow died in 2002 after a battle with throat cancer – and the Shakespear in Love beauty has always regretted not spending more time with him. She warned the Ray Of Light star to forgive and forget – or suffer the agony of what might have been. Madonna’s family friend Cheryl Buchhaler says, “Gwyneth had a heartfelt talk with Madonna about her agony over losing her dad Bruce. “Gwyn often talks of things she could have done with him, things she would like to have told him. Knowing he is gone forever is something that still crushes her. “She told Madonna, ‘If you don’t make up with your dad and enjoy the time he’s got left you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.’”

source : ContactMusic

Madonna will perform on September 6th and 7th in Sazka Arena in Prague.
Tickets for the first show were sold out in 60 minutes. For the 2nd show tickets will be available from 1:15 am on Friday, June 23rd at Sazka Terminal in Prague.

Thanks to Kristina

The singer has been shocking audiences during her Confessions tour, repeatedly using the f-word, flipping her middle finger at the crowd, reaching inside her pants, and suggesting that people perform a lewd act on President Bush. At a recent show in Chicago, however, the naughty talk was all but absent, because Madonna’s father was in the audience.
“She gave the crowd the finger only one time and never once said the f-word,- says a source who attended that show as well as another one earlier.-At one point, she actually asked the audience to applaud extra loud for her so that her dad would know she made something of herself. The crowd went wild.”
June 20th, 2006 | Source : MSN

Pop superstar Madonna has reportedly turned down $3.6 million to promote a new diet and sex pill.
The Material Girl declined an offer put to her by a UK firm to advertise the Slimnsexy tablet, which it is claimed aids weight loss while increasing libido.
Company boss James Dixon tells British newspaper the Daily Star, “We thought it wasn’t bad for 10 minutes’ work.
“But it was deemed too raunchy for her new lady-of-the-manor image. “It seems basques and crucifixions are OK but talking about her sex life isn’t.”

source : Pr-Inside

If you didn’t get what you wanted on Madonna’s Confessions tour–namely, the old hits–you might want to give this CD/DVD set a spin. The Material Girl delivers the goods with “I’m Going to Tell You a Secret,” which documents the pop star’s Reinvention World Tour of 2004. The collection includes such fan favorites and chart toppers as “Vogue,” “Like a Prayer,” “Music” and “Into the Groove.” The disc also includes a version of John Lennon’s “Imagine.” Unlike some CD/DVD sets, which offer more for the ears than for the eyes, “I’m Going to Tell You a Secret” could be well worth watching. The Reinvention tour was one of the most elaborately staged productions of recent years.

source : live daily

Madonna may be a record-breaking concert draw, but her album sales of late leave something to be desired. So, the marketing department thought, Why not bring her popular Re-Invention World Tour to the retail outlets of the world? This 14-track CD, coupled with a documentary DVD, focuses on her more concert- and club-friendly material, which should be a plus–but unfortunately, its biggest flaw is its dependency on sub-par material such as “American Life” and “Die Another Day.” Even with a couple of decent oldies get thrown in, this is one Secret best kept.

source : EOnline