Madonna, at age 54, still “has it”…. But sadly, I’m not
buying “it” anymore…. Maybe because I’ve aged too- BUT in a different way than
Madonna.
I’ve been working up
a scathing review of the concert in my head over the last few days, but now I’ll
back off a bit…. Since I think I need to own up to the fact that I probably
went into the concert with unrealistic expectations. I was hoping for, and looking for some fun 80’s music escapism.
After all, Madonna’s music represents “good times” to me and I still often play
her top hits when I am looking for a positive boost of energy. I love dancing and
exercising to many of her songs.
More realistically, I should have expected that Madonna
would be trying to stay fresh and relevant by creating NEW music and the
concert would focus on her new music. But gee- you’d think she could have worked
in a few more of her top hits. AND I ask you, shouldn’t I have been able to
expect the show to start sooner than 10:30PM since the time on my ticket stated
8:00PM? Good grief….. how rude to keep your fans waiting that long…. Or course the
fact I had a head cold didn’t help my mood much either.
Long story short: Her NEW music didn’t appeal much to me
at all- and I think that is what disappointed me the most. Sure the whole stage
production and dancing was awesome, but the content was too violent for my
taste. Give me back the sexy Madonna any day. Right from the start, Madonna was carrying an
assault rifle and sang some song about shooting her boyfriend in the head. The
video screen was splattered with blood.
My real disappointment came from wondering what happened to
the Madonna of the 90’s who was studying the Kabbalah- Jewish enlightenment. At her age, I was expecting Madonna to have
grown in wisdom and able to understand her power to influence the world in a positive
way. Unfortunately Madonna is still
stuck in her narcissistic, ego-based material world, reflecting the world....... rather than CREATING a new positive movement to CHANGE the world for the better .
I later read that theme of the show as: “a journey of the
soul from darkness to light”….. and her
concert ended in an uplifting gospel version of “Like a Prayer”…… some of us
didn’t stay around for the end of the 2 hour show to experience the “light”…..
instead I left confused and depressed by what I experienced.
As one couple leaving at the same time as we did
(midnight)- they asked us….. “what was that?” I shook my head unable to come up with an
answer.
The KC Star Review gave the concert a more positive review
than I, however a few others who posted on their blog seemed to agree more with me:
“It could have been a good show but she played way too many
unknown songs and concentrated on everything but the music” - Clint
"The dancing was great, the music was terrible. I’m sure she
gets tired of performing her hits from the 80’s and 90’s, but that is what most
of us want to hear” JB
You hear these disappointing comments/revises often when performers stay too long at the party. Some, like Bob Dylan, learn from it and do updated versions of old hits combined with new music. They are, after all, still producing and trying to sell new music. The formulaic corporate -owned radio stations of today won't play most new music tracks, no matter the artist, so the only control they have is touring. The Rolling Stones are not known as the "world's greatest tour band" for nothing. They haven't produced a truly great album since the 70s but nobody cares because they ALWAYS play their hits.
ReplyDeleteThere. Feel better? :)
It can be done right! I went to a concert by Leonard Cohen this past week in which it was done more than right. He played his new songs and his old and blended it all beautifully. He first gained fame in the late 60s, again in the 80s, and now still has it all and more. He is still very relevant. If you get the chance do see is tour in the US and Canada now.
ReplyDelete