all about Madonna

Madonna, better seen or heard? That is the question. No need to ponder it for too long because thanks to the fine folk at Warner Bros. Records, you can have her both ways on The Confessions Tour. This two-disc set captures the Material Mom’s 2006 stop at London’s Wembley Arena with a 21-track DVD and an accompanying 13-song CD. The dual format means you can skip the dopey visual horseplay in the opening “Future Lovers/I Feel Love”? on the DVD, but still enjoy the audio of the Big M going back to the future with her own “Future Lovers”? and the Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder classic disco banger. You’ll want to check out the DVD, however, for Madonna’s strangely intriguing merry-go-round-cum-stripper pole antics on “Like A Virgin.”? Madonna’s live vocals have often been questioned, but here they are passable, if indeed they are live. Perhaps the strangest thing about the performance is her robotic, stilted between-song patter. Also, you’ll have to wonder why “Confessions,”? which includes the diva’s actors/dancers performing spoken-word monologues, was included on the audio CD instead of another track featuring the star singing. This show was actually broadcast on NBC around Thanksgiving time, save for the too-hot-for-TV performance of “Live To Tell,”? in which the pop Goddess crucifies herself onstage for all of our sins. The resulting controversy proved that Madonna, if nothing else, could still shock some people, some of the time. The most shocking thing about Lady M in the “~00s, though, may be the fact that she’s still on the scene, nearly a quarter century after her debut. Lucky star indeed.

Leave a Reply