The unpredictable iconoclast kicked off a five-night run at the intimate Met on Saturday. Madonna will also perform Tuesday and Wednesday and tickets are still available for her Madame X tour.
Give Madonna credit for embarking on her ambitious Madame X tour. Many of her peers approaching their golden years are riding the wave of nostalgia tours.
It would have been easy for Madonna to run through the hits for yet another arena jaunt.
However, Madonna, 61, is back with the ambitious Madame X tour. The unpredictable iconoclast kicked off a five-night run at the intimate Met on Saturday. Madonna will also perform Tuesday and Wednesday and tickets are still available.
“Artists are Here to Disturb the Peace,” is the featured quote from James Baldwin to kick off the show. Well, Madge did just that by starting the concert at 11:30 p.m. The concert, which concluded at 2 a.m., kept the North Philadelphia neighborhood buzzing until last call.
Much of the material is from Madonna’s latest album, Madame X. The songs were inspired by Madonna’s move to Lisbon, which she explained is due to her son David’s love of soccer.
Madame X combines the sadness of Lisbon’s fado with sensual rhythms of Cabo Verde, which is a nearby island off the coast of northwest Africa.
Madonna was flanked by an array of dancers, a group of 14 female percussionists from Cabo Verde and a powerful choir.
It wasn’t a night for the hits. A few smashes were shoehorned into the set since they fit the agenda.
Papa Don’t Preach, which features the line “I’m going to keep my baby,” was abbreviated and altered since mid-song Madonna asked the crowd if it was all right that she didn’t keep her baby. Madonna delivered a soliloquy about how important it is to keep Roe v Wade.
The tropical-flavored La Isla Bonita worked well in the fado set.
It was quite a production with an array of costume changes. What was most surprising was how much time Madonna spent engaging the audience.
“It’s great to be here in this beautiful opera house with M’s all over the place,” Madonna said. “It looks like they built it for me.”
Madonna complained about the chill in the theater, sat with fans in the fourth row and bantered and promised to live to 200 years old.
The pop legend confessed that she’s not down with cheesesteaks. That’s obvious since Madonna remains absolutely stunning.
The fit entertainer clearly had fun during a show, which wasn’t 100% choreographed.
Madame X is an aural and visual treat, which hit its crescendo when Like a Prayer was rendered. The penultimate track of the evening segued to I Rise, which is a call for gun control.
Madonna comes through with a show that is innovative, inspired and endlessly entertaining, with a number of messages. Vote, control your body and put down your guns.
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