November 14, 2012



(As seen on Nov. 13, 2012)



I should have known from her performance at the Super Bowl that I would be disappointed in Madonna’s latest tour. But I had so much fun a few years ago at her Confessions show, in fact, it was one of the best show’s I’ve ever seen, that I gave her the benefit of the doubt and shelled out money for some cheap seats to see it on November 13, 2012 at Madison Square Garden. It was a second show added in New York. And how disappointed I was again. So much so, I kind of wanted to walk out in the middle of the show.



First off, she was almost three hours late to start. The show was supposed to start at 8 p.m., she didn’t come out until 10:50 p.m. on a Tuesday night! There was no opener, except for a DJ, Martin Solveig, that played some of his hits that he produced for about 45 minutes. Now, I’ve heard she is notoriously late for shows. But it is completely disrespectful to your fans to be that late to every, single show. And what kills me is that fans, knowing she’s always, late, end up showing up late, so if she really wanted to go on on time, she can’t because she won’t play to an empty auditorium. It is completely rude to make your fans wait for three hours on a weeknight, when kids have school and parents have work the next day. Unacceptable. I’m sorry you are rich, but my time is precious too.



After waiting all the time, you can imagine what kind of mood I was in. As I was not about to spend all my money on overpriced alcohol while I waited for her, only to have my buzz wear off by the time she took the stage. But I digress. So, at 10:50 p.m. on the dot, the show starts with some monks. And then there she is, breaking into a couple songs from her new album, including ‘Gang Bang,’ which was a Tarantino-esque sequence where she shoots up a bunch of men, fitting as the lyrics say, ‘Bang, bang, I shot my lover dead.’ After a couple more new songs, and a few older ones thrown in, she goes for a quick change and comes out in a full cheerleader outfit, singing ‘Express Yourself,’ in a mash-up with Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way.’ I know in the past she has bashed Gaga, so that little sequence left another bad taste in my mouth. Then, as she goes into ‘Give It 2 Me,’ set to Gangnam Style’s beat, up pops Psy from the stage and they do a mash-up, complete with Madonna crawling through Psy’s legs and vice versa. She then proceeds to bump and grind and show her ass to him and the audience. After that mash-up, she tells the audience Psy came from Korea to be there, and he picks ‘Music’ to sing with her. They sing about a minute of it, and off he goes.



Another quick change and now it’s some of her classics, such as ‘Vogue’ and ‘Human Nature,’ which I was pretty psyched to see. Then, after stripping down and showing us her ass again, she asks the audience to throw money on the stage as a donation collection for Hurricane Sandy victims, she goes into a slowed-down, acoustic version of ‘Like a Virgin.’ Which was pretty awesome. But, she stopped several times in the song to ask for more money, stating that the stage should be covered in money and she would only accept $100 bills. So tasteless. Look, I’m all for collecting donations for Sandy victims, but one, she asks for a donation from the state that was devastated, and two, she’s asking audience members right near the stage, who probably already shelled out thousands of dollars for those seats and three. I wasn’t against the donation collect, but if she really wanted, she should have put collection buckets at the concession stands or said half the tickets’ proceeds were going to the victims. You don’t ask in the middle of a show and interrupt an awesome version of one of your classics to beg for money. Show some class Madonna.



Finally, the second to last song, the Madonna I came to see came out. A full choir came out too and nailed ‘Like a Prayer,’ my most favorite Madonna song. And one more song after that, the show ended around 12:50 a.m., a full two hours after she started late.



I can’t even begin to describe how disappointed I was. While I don’t idolize Madonna, I have always respected her. This show, I lost respect for her. I admire her for dancing around and singing at her age, but something was lacking from her.  I mean, my Zumba teacher is just a few years younger that Madonna and she does just fine teaching hours-long classes. Whether it was the fact that she needed some help on the vocals, or some of her dance moves were Zumba-esque or maybe it was the fact that I feel she wanted to just act out her show, instead of singing. Who knows? At times, I did feel like it was similar to the Michael Jackson Cirque du Soleil show, where it was an amazing performance set to Madonna music. Either way, the only way I’ll ever see another Madonna show is on cable or if the tickets are free.



Below is the setlist:

Transgression
1 – Gregorian Chant Virgin Mary Intro (with Kalakan) (with snippets of “Lekhah Dodi” and “Biriina Gaztetto bat Zegoen”
2 – Girl Gone Wild (with samples from “Material Girl” and “Give It 2 Me”)
3 – Revolver
4 – Gang Bang
5 – Papa Don’t Preach
6 – Hung Up (with samples from “Girl Gone Wild”)
7 – I Don’t Give A

Prophecy
Best Friend (video interlude with samples from “Heartbeat”)
8 – Express Yourself (with snippets of “Born This Way”)
9 – Give Me All Your Luvin’
Turning Up the Hits – (video interlude with samples from a few Madonna songs)
10 – Turn Up the Radio
11 – Open Your Heart (with Kalakan) (with snippets of “Sagarra jo!” by Kalakan)
12 – Give It 2 Me (with Psy – with snippets of “Gangnam Style”)
13 – Music (with Psy)

Masculine/Feminine
Justify My Love – (video interlude)
14 – Vogue
15 – Candy Shop (with samples from “Ashamed of Myself” and “Erotica”)
16 – Human Nature
17 – Like a Virgin (with snippets of “Evgeni’s Waltz”)
18 – Love Spent (with snippets of “Evgeni’s Waltz”)

Celebration
Nobody Knows Me (video interlude)
19 – I’m Addicted
20 – I’m a Sinner (with Kalakan) (with snippets of “Cyber-Raga”)
21 – Like  Prayer
22 – Celebration (with samples from “Girl Gone Wild”)
*List compiled by setlist.fm