Deeper and deeper

A long time ago, I saw Madonna in Chicago. Actually, it was in July but to me, that's a long time ago. Anyway, I started writing a song by song recap of the entire show but never ended up finishing the darn thing. It's been sitting around in "draft" limbo but I don't want it to go to waste. Here's what I DID write.

I've now seen Madonna four times, twice on this tour and twice on Drowned World. I loved, and still love, Drowned World. It was very over the top and theatrical. Ken and I actually figured out that there was a whole plot and storyline for that show. If you only saw it on HBO or DVD, you really missed out because it was so much bigger and better in person. But, I'm here to talk about the Re-Invention tour, aren't I?

We went to the shows on Wednesday and Thursday nights. We had pretty good seats for the Wednesday show, on the left side of the stage, up in the second section. I actually prefer to be up there than on the floor, since I'm short. I couldn't see the giant monitors very well and I love to watch what she comes up with for those, so that kinda sucked a little. Other than that, we had a good view and the sound wasn't awful.

Thursday, though, was very different. If you look at this photo, you can see that there are sections on either side of the stage cut out for small pits. I'd say that each pit holds about 20-30 people. To get pit passes, you have to either win them or know someone. Well, we don't know anyone but we did manage to get pit wristbands for the Thursday show. How? Patience and persistence!

Now, when I say that I was close to the stage, I mean that I was basically IN the stage and Madonna shook her ass in my face. She even slapped Ken's hand! How exciting, huh? I'm not really one of those people who goes crazy at shows, dancing and clapping along and stuff, but when you're that close, you sorta have no choice. So, there I was, screaming and singing along. It was so fun. I've had a few really good concert experiences and this one goes in the top two. It'd be number one but I was in the front row at a U2 show and they're my personal rock gods.

On to the details.

The show opens with the Beast Within, which is basically Madonna reading passages from Revelations over a remix of "Justify My Love." The monitors show imagery from the X-STaTIC PRO=CeSS exhibit by Steven Klein. The video is edited in that choppy, creepy, twitchy, Marilyn Manson video style, which I love for some reason. I really hope they include the videos separately on the DVD for this tour. Madonna is a visual artist just as much as she is a musical artist. The "Beast Within" introduction and "Bedtime Story" interlude are worth watching on their own.

The dancers come out and Madonna rises out of the stage on a platform and Vogue starts. She's wearing a beaded corset, black hot pants, fishnets, and killer boots. The dancers are decked out in dismantled Victorian costumes, kind of post-modern Victorian. They do a lot of strutting around and posing while she sings and does crazy Yoga stuff on the platform. Ok, she's not singing, she's lip syncing but hey, it can't be easy to sing with your legs wrapped around your head.

Madonna always amazes me. She's even more gorgeous in person and she's in such good shape, it's disgusting. She could crush your head with her thigh muscles. Anyway, after Vogue, comes Nobody Knows Me. She lip syncs this one too but you hardly notice because she breaks the shit down dancing. At the front of the stage, there's a moving platform thing, like those moving sidewalks that are in airports. There are also platforms on either side of the front of the stage, that raise a good ten feet over the audience. So, she dances around on the platforms while the screens have video of the lyrics and computery images. It's a fun dancey, techno moment.

After "Nobody Knows Me," the stage goes dark and smoke billows out onto the floor. She stands at the mic in the center and sings Frozen, which is one of my favorite Madonna songs. I liked Frozen a lot better on the Drowned World tour, honestly. She had this Asian theme going that works really well with the song and I thought the whole thing had more impact. But, her voice has gotten stronger since then so musically, it was better.

Then the shit gets crazy!! Smoke! Bombs! Fire! Flames! Hot male dancers in military uniforms! It wouldn't be much of a Madonna show without a *message* though I'm not entirely sure what the message was. During American Life, a catwalk lowers into the audience and M and the dancers run around on it, crazy military style. Then, the dancers get guns (why? No idea) and she sings Express Yourself. I don't remember many of the details due to the CHAOS involved.

Burning Up and Material Girl are much calmer, thank God. We have a little rock moment and M busts out the guitar. She pretty much just strums chords but hey, I've had a guitar for two years and can't play shit, so props to her. She said something about not knowing the words to "Material Girl" and wanting us to sing along. We all know she's full of crap but we sing along anyway, damn it! I find it interesting that she put "Material Girl" and a cover of "Imagine" in the same show. I have this whole theory based on Revelations and the Whore of Babylon but I'll spare you. This is how much of a dork I am - I sat and read all of Revelations last night because she opened with "The Beast Within." Some scary stuff goin' on there.

Then there's an interlude involving a remix of "Hollywood," a really hot break dancer, a tap dancer, a skateboarder (who doesn't do much but skate back and forth on a half-pipe), and a belly dancer. There's a circus theme going on somehow. It's entertaining but if you need to refill your beer, this is the time.

Hanky Panky... I'm pretty sure she only chose this song because it fits the burlesque costumes and staging. That's fine with me, though. We're reminded that Madonna was a dancer long before she was a singer. You can't really tell from the photo but those red heels she has on are at least three inches high. She and the dancers run around in what I'd imagine to be a 1920's, flapper fashion. At one point, she comes over to the pit, sticks out her hip, and sings to us. It dawns on me that I'm about two feet away from MADONNA OH MY GOD EEEEEEE!!!

Ahem. Sorry.

Ok, then she does Deeper and Deeper but it's really slow and jazzy. It's good, I enjoyed it, but um... yawn. But then, Die Another Day starts and out comes the male dancers! Yay! They're half naked this time, too. Um, I think they tango or something but kinda... push the girl dancers around. Like "Bad flappers! I will dance fight you!" Then, and this is really crazy, they pick Madonna up and carry her to an electric chair in the center of the stage, where she sings Lament from "Evita." I was hoping for sparks and flames but no such luck. They just lower the chair into the stage and there's some flashing lights to indicate that she's being electrocuted. Bummer.

Time for the Bedtime Story interlude, which is almost as good as the "Paradise Not for Me" interlude from the Drowned World tour. Three girls fly around on swings while the Orbital mix of "Bedtime Story" plays and the screens show a video of Madonna on what appears to be a giant Xerox machine. If you're a Tori Amos fan, I think it's the same thing they used to make the "Caught a Lite Sneeze" video. It's very Cirque du Soleil.

That's all I wrote. There was half a show after this point but now it's tucked away into the recesses of my brain. Just buy the DVD when it comes out this summer.

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