for those keeping score:

Mercury News: http://www.mercurynews.co...689609.htm
[Edited 5/29/06 11:10am]

UK Sunday Times: http://www.timesonline.co...41,00.html

Thank you HoneymoonXpress!!

We'll keep all the reviews in this thread then.

from Entertainment Weekly

http://www.canada.com/reg...60a4794d58

A new Madonna fan emerges

Gerry Krochak, The Leader-Post
Published: Monday, May 29, 2006

LAS VEGAS -- The dragon has been slayed.

Madonna had been my last great concert frontier only because I never had any real interest. I mean, other than a passing curiosity that develops and fades following the hype of each new tour kickoff. Despite having a number of friends (whose opinions I greatly respect) who were over the moon every time she toured and they hopped on a plane to see her.

Using an '80s reference only because I never felt Madonna was better than she was during the days of "Like A Virgin" and "True Blue" (hell, even a pimply-faced arrhythmic white teenager could dance to "Holiday" or "Lucky Star"), I always thought she had "Van Halen Syndrome": each new record was little less appealing than the previous. Fifteen albums in, I really thought I couldn't care less, let alone somehow become "a fan."

Having witnessed hundreds of large-scale concerts and thousands of artists in venues big and small, far and wide, she was really the only one I could think of when people would ask, 'Who is the one artist you haven't seen that you would like to.'

I regret never having seen Nirvana and my timing on this earth just wasn't there to witness the coming of The Beatles, Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. Only through the (dis)grace of longevity have I seen The Rolling Stones 11 times.

So when the phone rang two weeks ago and a great friend asked if I could get to Las Vegas on May 27, I rearranged some travel plans, caught a SouthWest flight from Nashville and landed in Sin City.

In Nashville, I saw Alejandro Escovedo (an artist whose music I love); in Memphis, I saw The Strokes (a group whose music I love) and if I was going to see a Madonna concert it may as well be in the tackiest city in the world (although, admittedly, this is a city I love).

Madonna, I thought, was the perfect artist for people who didn't really like music -- the folks who buy three or four CDs a year from Wal-Mart, people who thought the 47-year-old mother of two was cutting edge despite a string of lousy records and an even lousier acting pedigree.

The reviews of her current Confessions tour have been A's across the board, but there seems to be an unwritten law among critics of large-scale publications to never call the ultimate diva on her worst work. How else do you explain a glowing Rolling Stone review for American Life.

But 2 1/2 hours at the MGM Grand Concert Garden on Saturday night, I stood in amazement and became ... a fan.

Standing in amongst an assortment of 20,000 hot women, gay men and a gaggle of drag queens and high-rolling tourists, I was dazzled, razzled and dazzled some more with what can only be termed a total feast for the senses.

Emerging from a giant disco ball that was lowered from the middle of the venue, Madonna turned the MGM Grand into a giant dance party and in the process fronted the ultimate act of female empowerment. On the one hand it's debatable that she is singing every word live, but she is very clearly an on-stage presence like no other.

An endless list of erotic dancers, lights, video screens, props, costume changes and stage gimmickry never, ever overshadows the woman herself. Following set openers "Future Lovers," "Girl Together," "Like A Virgin" and "Jump," the Material Girl assumed a Jesus Christ pose for "Live To Tell," appearing on a giant mirrored crucifix, in front of video images of starving children (this tour, incidentally, will gross $200 million, but ... whatever).

It was actually a stunning visual and she has furiously hit back at criticisms that the crucifixion stunt is disrespectful to Christians, arguing that her intentions are honourable. Of course, we all know that controversy has always been a part of her continuing "re-invention."

During her first-ever appearance in Las Vegas, the hottest 47-year-old MILF ever continued with a set of old and new, each video montage, dance routine and staging stunt more breathtaking than the last as she worked her way through "Forbidden Love" a stunning rendition of "Isaac," "Sorry" and "Like It Or Not."

Dizzying video images of George Bush and Dick Cheney drew jeers during "I Love New York," but she quickly brought back the Vegas party vibe with a Saturday Night Fever roller disco recreation which combined remixes of "Disco Inferno" and "Music."

Madonna in a white Tony Manero suit and dancers whizzing past on rollerskates ... you really had to see and hear it to believe it.

The show had reached a fevered pitch, but Maddy somehow turned it up a notch with "Erotica," "La Isla Bonita" and mind-blowing medley of "Lucky Star" and "Hung Up" before the show ended abruptly and the house lights immediately came up.

She had made her statement and I was the one on my knees.

http://www.lasvegassun.co...68470.html
from the Las Vegas Sun

John Katsilometes takes in a true Las Vegas spectacle - Madonna at the MGM Grand Garden Arena

Back in November the MGM Grand Garden Arena staged concerts by three monumental rock figures U2, Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones" - John Katsilometes writes on the Las Vegas Sun - "All entertained in their own distinctive fashion, but none quite shouted "Vegas" like the artist who filled the MGM on Saturday and Sunday nights.

Making effective use of 15 dancers, four musicians, three backup singers, a half-dozen wardrobe changes and a multileveled set that featured several LED screens, a pair of dancing platforms flanking the stage and a giant mirrored disco ball, Madonna was uniquely at home on the Vegas stage. The dancers - an athletic lot that could perform with any Cirque production in the city - were particularly impressive.

And the crowd - including a person sitting a few rows in front of me who was either New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson or someone who could sit in for Richardson on "Lou Dobbs Tonight" - stood almost the entire night and went nuts for the remarkably flexible 47-year-old pop icon."

The shows on Madonna's "Confessions" tour were not tailored specifically to Vegas but did have a Sin City flavor, particularly when she slipped into a white Elvislike cape encrusted with flashing lights and "Dancing Queen" scripted across the shoulders in purple sequins.

Madonna managed a few Vegas references, including, "Good evening, winners and losers," to start the show. While introducing Isaac Sinwahny, a vocalist and accomplished shofar (a ram's horn usually played during Rosh Hashana and at the end of Yom Kippur), for "Drowned" and "Paradise (Not For Me)," she said, "This is Isaac - I found him at a crap table."

The oft-reported mock crucifixion, in which Madonna was perched on a mirrored cross during "Live to Tell" fell neatly into place with the rest of the shenanigans; a personal favorite was the S&M-styled merry-go-round effect of Madonna riding in circles on a black saddle while singing "Like a Virgin." She also played a bit of guitar, and didn't miss a note (and she did seem to be actually singing) or a step during the tightly choreographed 2-hour show.

In fact, it was a performance that wouldn't need to change an element to work here, five nights a week (dark Mondays and Tuesdays).

http://www.reviewjournal....67616.html

MGM GRAND GARDEN CONCERT ARENA: Madonna show ridiculously good

Most preposterous moments of her set also the best

By JASON BRACELIN
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Madonna played the snake in the MGM Grand Garden Arena, offering up enough forbidden fruit to feed a league of nations. Leave it to Madge to give the tree of (carnal) knowledge a good shaking, sharing its wares with an eager, sold-out crowd.

Excuse the biblical analogies, but the Material Mom brought it upon herself the minute she appeared on that glimmering cross, arms outstretched, playing the role of 21st-century savior in patent leather boots.

"I know where beauty lives," she sang during her mock crucifixion, a bright white light shining behind her. "I've seen it once, I know the warm she gives."

Gather around the prostrated pop star boys and girls, time for some disco for the soul.

And man, does salvation look good in hot pants.

Tonight, the secular and the spiritual would share center stage, and to be honest, it was the former that had the better dance moves.

After all, Madonna's more skilled at delivering big productions than Big Messages, and the most preposterous moments of her two-hour set doubled as the best.

Entering the arena by emerging from a giant disco ball that descended from the rafters, Madonna waved a glittery whip at the crowd, asserting her dominance early. She climbed onto the back of a dancer on all fours, grabbing the reins of the horse harness smothering his face.

Secretariat never had it so good.

The equestrian theme continued during "Like A Virgin," when Madonna climbed onto a black leather saddle affixed to a rotating stripper's pole and proceeded to amaze with some tawdry gymnastics befitting an S&M rodeo.

It was all so deliciously ridiculous and extravagant, like eating whipped cream for dinner.

But the sugar buzz faded a bit when Madonna couldn't resist the urge to try to instill a deeper meaning into her pelvic thrusts. During "Live To Tell," footage of downtrodden children was used to highlight the plight of African orphans, and later, images of President Bush and Donald Rumsfeld were contrasted with shots of Ku Klux Klan members.

It was like getting a social studies lesson in the middle of gym class and felt like a quick and easy way to try to instill some gravitas into a show that was all about putting the art in artifice to an often thrilling degree.

With the possible exception of her 2003 "American Life" disc, Madonna's music has never been overtly political. Her cloudy commentary on this night seemed to lack context and felt a little incongruous with the tunes she was playing.

But hey, who really cares if Madonna's blond ambition occasionally exceeds her grasp? Even when she comes up a little short, she's still a tall order to top.

Besides, soon Madonna was back at it, strutting down the catwalk John Travolta-style in a "Saturday Night Fever"-worthy white suit, romping through a disco version of "Music."

Throughout the night, Madonna continually recast her back catalog, tweaking the old into something new. We've come to expect our pop to be canned, but Madonna tinkers with her tunes like a jam band exploring every nook and cranny of its songs.

She shimmied along to decidedly more beat-heavy versions of "Erotica" and "Lucky Star," added some guitar skronk to "Ray of Light" and stepped aside for an extended percussive breakdown in "La Isla Bonita."

And it wasn't just the songs that got reinvented. Madonna imagined herself in a new role as well.

"You may all stand and salute your future president," she announced at one point.

Hey, why not? She's already proven that she can separate church and state with a well-timed shake of the booty.

jayaredee said:

no problemo!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi...onna31.DTL



Madonna dazzles the HP Pavilion

Joel Selvin, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 31, 2006

(05-31) 04:43 PDT San Jose (SF Chronicle) --

As someone who no longer has anything to prove, Madonna could easily coast through her rigorous two-hour performance and, at age 47, nobody would blame her. But Tuesday at the HP Pavilion, the first of two sold out shows, she pushed herself to the limits in an exhausting, exacting performance and barely paused for a breath.

In a dazzling spectacle that juggled music, dance, video, special effects, she was a slave to the show’s ceaseless pace from the minute she appeared, lowered to the middle of the arena floor inside a giant disco ball. Riding the bare backs of male dancers wearing bridles and blinders, she wore a top hat and brandished a riding crop while images of giant horses filled the massive video screen behind her.

She never let up, driving herself, her band, her dancers through their demanding, frantic paces, although even the big staged smiles couldn’t disguise the basic joylessness with which she approached her tasks. At this point, even Madonna is probably a little tired of her act.

But the girl is game. She sang “Live To Tell” from a twelve-foot crucifix, sure to go down as one of those Madonna moments that have always marked her shows. She ran footage of Bush, Hitler and Osama to her song “Sorry.” She worked a merry-go-round contraption like a stripper with a pole. She fondled herself. She flipped the bird. She played electric guitar on “I Love New York” and told the audience they better jump up and down on the next number. “Or I’m gonna get pissed,” she said.

Her concerts have never relied on music. She brings so many elements together – staging, video production, choreography – media manipulation is the real performance and music is only a portion. She puts together a package that is part sex, part dance music, part her own tabloid allure and, drawing from the gay and S&M demimondes, delivers a deliciously overloaded, deliberately daring, but ultimately streamlined and safe experience. This is her real talent and she changed the way the entire industry looked at talent after they saw how she played the game.

She concentrated almost exclusively on material from her latest album, “Confessions On a Dance Floor.” Working with British electronica producer Stuart Price, who served as musical director of her 2004 “Re-Invention” tour and played keyboards on her “Drowned World” tour in 2001, Madonna has given her sound a fresh rinse. Big, ringing grooves drive the “Confessions” songs, thunderous, pounding rhythms that Madonna tops with a wall of vocals, her own disciplined voice the mere cherry on top of the frothy, foaming sound.

She used each number as a set piece. A runway shot down the middle of the arena floor and she sent dancers scurrying up and down the ramp constantly, at one point having them whiz around her on roller skates. Two other runaways flanked the stage. The band moved around behind her on motorized platforms and dancers appeared and disappeared through trap doors. A huge semi-circular video screen could lower like a curtain. Every moment of the show, every step, every breath, was written in stone. Nothing was left to chance.

She went through costumes. She changed her hair, first pulled back, then let loose, then pulled back again. She struck dramatic poses and stomped, bumped and ground her way through strenuous ensemble dance routines. She grabbed the spotlight and she held it. As always, Madonna can get an audience’s attention, but then what? She’s not the kind of performer to touch their hearts. She obviously relishes the attention, demands it actually, but she doesn’t give back any warmth.

Attitude she has – saucy mare and naughty girl -- attitude and a remarkable athleticism. But it is a spectacle of sound and light, a flash and a roar, not anything ennobling or enlightening, just entertaining.

http://www.mercurynews.co...707405.htm
Madonna delivers shock, awe at HP Pavilion

By Marian Liu
Mercury News

As the only pop mega-show this summer -- Britney Spears is pregnant again, Christina Aguilera is going retro to revive her career, and Justin Timberlake is reportedly taking voice lessons -- Madonna did what was expected Tuesday night and delivered a multi-dimensional concert with healthy doses of shock and awe.

You have to give Madge credit -- the 47-year-old mother of two still has it, looking good and sounding good at the packed show in San Jose's HP Pavilion. She performs there again at 8 tonight.

With bulging biceps, a 24-inch waist, and a behind that women half her age would envy, Madonna commanded the stage for two hours.

The self-proclaimed dancing queen changed seven times (from jockey in black to disco star in white, and multiple leotards -- how many women would willingly wear a white leotard? Maybe only Madonna).

Visually, the concert was stunning, with a curtain on stage that doubled as a movie screen -- flashing pictures of President George W. Bush with photos of dictators like Saddam Hussein and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il -- a mechanical horse with a stripper pole that she saddled during a rendition of ``Like a Virgin,'' and the larger than life disco ball that lowered onto stage with her inside. The ball was embellished with $2 million worth of Swarovski crystals.

And of course, there was the already infamous crucifixion segment with Madonna suspended from a giant illuminated cross, wearing a crown of thorns, singing ``Live to Tell.'' While visually stunning, the depiction wasn't anything new in the music world. Many still recall rapper Kanye West wearing a crown of thorns on Rolling Stone magazine in early February.

At any rate, Madonna had to out-do her last tour which displayed images of the crucifixion, had T-shirts with the line ``Kabbalists Do It Better,'' and dancers in rabbi robes and burqas that covered their heads but exposed their legs.

The bulk of the music Tuesday night concentrated on new material from her latest album, ``Confessions on a Dance Floor.'' And like her album, most of her concert was upbeat. She remixed some of her classics disco-style, with ``Music'' done up as ``Saturday Night Fever,'' and ``Erotica'' and ``La Isla Bonita'' in that white leotard. (She reportedly will soon be releasing an album of remixes.)

She slowed down during the middle of the concert with a stripped-down acoustic version of ``Drowned World/Substitute for Love'' and a duet on ``Paradise (Not for Me),'' with Yitzhak Sinwani of the London Kabbalah Centre. Sinwani also joined with her on the controversial song ``Isaac,'' which some argue tries to cash in on the name of the founder of one form of Kabbalah, which is a no-no.

Much of Madonna's pop-concert longevity can be attributed to her dancers whose break-dancing, roller-skating and urban gymnastics wowed the audience.

Although, she rarely strayed from the script, Madonna did say San Jose was much more fun than Las Vegas. And the crowd seemed to believe her. From the beginning, the audience partied in her honor and stood up and danced for most of the show.

Madonna has transformed from pop icon to mom and back, challenging lines of good taste and longevity in an unforgiving genre. But she continues to reinvent herself. Let's hope she still has more to confess.

Ithaca Journal:
http://www.theithacajourn...10315/1046

jayaredee said:

"Girl Together"...sounds like Madonna is bi again!

just came back from the second San Jose show.Damn,I wish I could go see this show several more times,in other cities.It's that good!


.
[Edited 5/31/06 23:41pm]

CONCERT REVIEW
Madonna lives to tell — exactly what, we don't know

By Jim Harrington, STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area

The houselights went dark and the video screens lit up. Images of horses were shown to the full house at the HP Pavilion in San Jose.
Then, the star of the show appeared, also via video, wearing a jockey's uniform. She bit down on a riding crop and, for some reason that this reviewer is not privy to, gave a look of pure ecstasy.

Dancers dressed like freakish horseback riders from some Mad Max-style apocalyptic nightmare appeared onstage and shook their rumps. A huge disco ball dropped from the roof. More horse imagery flashed on the video screens. More looks of ecstasy from the star. The disco ball opened and out walked the woman of the hour, who then started singing a bass-heavy dance number.

What does it all mean? Who cares?

It's a Madonna show, a place where shock value, costume changes and ludicrous imagery rule over any type of lucid storytelling or, even, interesting music. The 47-year-old pop icon doesn't have to make sense or sing her best songs. All she has to do is be herself.

Or, at least, that's the argument some of her more ardent fans might have presented Tuesday night. The vast majority of the crowd was certainly happy with Madonna's Confessions tour, which will also be performed tomorrow night.

If they were looking for an empty-headed thrill ride, which masqueraded at times as a socially conscious evening of music, then these fans definitely got their money's worth — even at a top per ticket price of nearly $400.

Yet even the president of the local chapter of the Madonna fan club would probably admit — we hope — that the theatrics and overblown attempts to make "important" statements got in the way of the music. I'll bet that most people walked away from this show talking about certain scenes, dance routines or props — not about songs. And, really, is that what you want from a concert?

In the end — which seemed at times like it might never come — this concert wasn't nearly as good as Madonna's last two outings: 2001's Drowned World and 2004's Reinvention. It wasn't even as good as the pop star's short set back in April at the Coachella Valley Music Festival, which was a more streamlined affair that managed a tighter focus on the music.

Much like with Drowned World, Madonna's show was broken up into four distinct acts. The first was dubbed the Equestrian Section.

Why horses? No clue. Maybe, it has something to do with referencing her riding accident from last year. Maybe, it's because she simply likes horses. Again, the reasons behind the actions never seem to matter much in Ms. Ciccone's world.

Backed by a chorus line's worth of dancers, various nimble-fingered musicians and enough electronic sounds to fuel a dozen raves, Madonna opened her show with the "Confessions on a Dance Floor" track "Future Lovers." The vibe was decidedly disco as she moved on to cover the Donna Summer smash "I Feel Love."

Given how weak much of Madonna's own material was, "I Feel Love" turned out to be one of the true highlights — although Madonna's version was hardly as good as Summer's or, even, the punked-up rendition recorded by the East Bay's Mr. T Experience.

Following the horses, Madonna delivered what came across as a blatant attempt to create controversy as she was raised up on a cross in a Christ-like position in a section called Bedouin. She wore a thorny crown and sang the sad song "Live to Tell," while images of suffering children and stats like "In Africa, 12 million children are orphaned by AIDS" were shown on the big screens.

Sure, that's important information to share. But it loses some of its impact when it's sandwiched between frivolous dance numbers delivered by a woman who is charging a lot of dough to see her shows. Unlike Bono of U2 or Chris Martin of Coldplay, Madonna has a hard time convincingly mixing messages and music. Each time she tried, the effort seemed truly forced.

Madonna came down from the cross, but continued to preach in one form or another as she delivered simple messages — war is bad, saving the environment is good, etc. — in songs such as "Sorry."

The singer then strapped on her guitar and rambled into the punk-rock portion of the show, titled the Never Mind the Bullocks. Let's just say that Patti Smith probably wouldn't have been impressed with this vision of punk. Still, the section did produce a few highlights, including solid versions of "I Love New York" and "Ray of Light."

The last quarter of the show was the Disco section, which found the singer grooving and shaking her way through the dance numbers "La Isla Bonita" and "Lucky Star."

The disco-inspired dance material, which is the soul of 2005's "Confessions" CD, is obviously where Madonna's heart is these days. Not surprisingly, it's also the material that Madonna is doing the best job translating to the stage.

The concert closed with the new album's "Hung Up" and the lasting memory, at least for me, will be of the singer constantly repeating the lyric, "Time goes by so slowly."

How true. How true.

Sacramento Bee: Madonna's Show: A Guilty Pleasure:

Concert review: Madonna's show: A guilty pleasure
By Chris Macias -- Bee Pop Music Critic
Published 12:01 am PDT Thursday, June 1, 2006
SAN JOSE -- The giant disco ball descended into the middle of HP Pavilion and out popped Madonna, wearing a dominatrix's version of equestrian gear while dancers nuzzled around her. The techno throb of "Future Lovers" boomed around the arena, and the capacity crowd flipped out for the Material Girl's grand entrance.
But leave it to Madonna to throw a dance party that also included a crucifixion scene and video images of sad-eyed African orphans and gunshot victims. Everybody dance now!

Tuesday night marked the first of Madonna's two Northern California shows. She performed again at the home of the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night.

These were stops on her "Confessions" tour, and no, the title doesn't mean, "Forgive me Father, for I danced the 'Running Man.' " This is a two-hour concert filled with guilty pleasures (all right, the roller disco spinoff in "Music" was pretty fun) and some heavy-handed imagery that's designed to tweak Catholic guilt.

Madonna, 47, loves to make Middle America feel a little uncomfortable. Back in the 1980s, she was writhing around in a wedding dress while cooing through "Like a Virgin." A few years later, she was getting snuggly with a Jesus-like character and singing in front of burning crosses in the "Like a Prayer" video And on the "Confessions" tour, she wears a crown of thorns and is strapped to a crucifix while singing "Live To Tell." Can you hear the collective groaning from the Catholic Church?

Through all the controversy, Madonna still wants us to get our groove on. So her music is filled with cutting-edge beats and the kind of bass that goes boom-boom-boom around your head.

And the robe Madonna wore that said "Dancing Queen" on the back did not lie. She did a pole dance during "Like a Virgin" that might even make a dancer at Gold Club Centerfolds blush. Madonna donned a white disco suit, á la "Saturday Night Fever," and boogied like Tony Manero down a runway that cut through the arena's main floor. "Erotica" was more like a Jazzercise routine than a sensual slow dance.

The two-hour concert also had moments that felt like a slick DJ mix. "Lucky Star" morphed into "Hung Up," the thumping hit from Madonna's "Confessions on a Dance Floor" album, and "Music" was remixed with the 1970s tune "Disco Inferno."

The one-two punch of "I Love New York" and "Ray of Light," which both featured Madonna looking like a downtown punkette on electric guitar, made the HP Pavilion crowd seem like it was playing a massive game of "Dance Dance Revolution."

So how does a crown of thorns and a crucifixion fit into all this? Good question.

The show jumped one minute from a party-down atmosphere to themes of suffering. Madonna's crucifixion was paired with bleak Third World images and a message that "In Africa, 12 million children are orphaned." That's indeed sobering, but by hanging on a crucifix, is Madonna saying that she's carrying that weight and worry on her yoga-honed shoulders? Whatever the case, the message felt muddled.

The overall theme of "Confessions" is more like an exploration of the power trip. The show toyed with themes of bondage, with an ever-dominant Madonna leading dancers around on leashes and stomping her spiked heel on a chair. She kicked butt in a choreographed fight scene during "Sorry" and declared, "That's what happens when you (tick) me off!"

On the submissive end, well, there was the crucifixion. But the show also featured some of Madonna's tales of vulnerability, through such songs as "Let It Will Be" and "Paradise (Not for Me)." In "Drowned World/Substitute for Love," she sang, "I traveled 'round the world/looking for a home/I found myself in crowded rooms/feeling so alone." (That's in tune with the "Confessions" theme of the show).

But to really confess, this show had some of the best energy and razzle- dazzle seen on a concert stage this year. When Madonna, her dozen backup dancers and band were grooving hard, it felt like Studio 54 on steroids. Too bad the crown of thorns and all that buzz kill had to get in the way.

HoneymoonXpress said:

I took it to mean that the children in Africa are the sacrifice. Why do people take things so literally?

Most of these reviews seem off the mark to me, rather dull interpretations.

http://www.rollingstone.c...ws_rssfeed

Crucifixes, Leather and Hits



The dancing queen of spectacle concerts, Madonna has the unique ability to transform garish production values into powerful autobiography. The opening Los Angeles date of Madonna's Confessions Tour wasn't a reinvention so much as it was a refinement of the elaborately choreographed, sexually provocative extravaganza she created with 1990's Blond Ambition Tour. As its title implies, Confessions is very much all about Madonna.

After making her descent to the stage in a giant disco ball, Madonna sang a medley of ''Future Lovers'' and Donna Summer's synth milestone ''I Feel Love'' in Jean-Paul Gaultier-designed equestrian drag while riding hunky male dancers similarly clad in S&M-inspired harnesses. For a ballsy, full-voiced rendition of ''Like a Virgin,'' she mounted a studded leather merry-go-round saddle as video screens flashed X-ray photos. Only Madonna could deliver a seriously hot pole dance while referencing her bone-cracking tumble from a horse on her forty-seventh birthday last August.

Less successful was her organ-laden version of ''Live to Tell,'' which found the singer strapped to a mirrored crucifix as African AIDS statistics flashed onscreen -- the show's tone darkening so suddenly that this potentially poignant image instead came across as bombast. ''Forbidden Love'' redeemed the sequence: A pair of male dancers interlocked arms in an understated, mesmerizing ritual that the singer joined.

For ''I Love New York,'' she broke out a guitar to paraphrase the slashing chords of the Stooges' ''I Wanna Be Your Dog,'' and strutted up and down her catwalk with Iggy Pop-ian abandon for ''Let It Will Be.'' Paying tribute to Saturday Night Fever, Madonna peaked the concert with an ingenious mash-up of the Trammps' classic ''Disco Inferno'' and her own ''Music.''

Throughout the show, Madonna voiced her continued dissatisfaction with fame even as she justified her own. It's an old complaint, but when Madonna celebrated her gift for substantial glitz, she seemed nearly as youthful as when her lucky star began rising a long, long time ago.

BARRY WALTERS

Posted Jun 02, 2006 12:00 PM

Houston Voice Online: http://www.houstonvoice.c...adonna.cfm

Madonna's return to Arizona this week (she last toured there on The Virgin Tour) has generated a great deal of attention and adoration from the Arizona press and fans.

Madonna the magnificent

Fans, media give sweaty thumbs up

Jun. 10, 2006 12:00 AM

Madonna wraps up her two-concert visit to Arizona tonight at Glendale Arena, and judging from reaction from critics and fans who attended Thursday's nearly sold-out show, the 47-year-old superstar is delivering the goods.

Some tickets remain for tonight's performance, which should last nearly two hours and spotlight Madonna's new dance-heavy album, Confessions on a Dance Floor.

If you're headed out, be aware that Madonna has asked for minimal air-conditioning, resulting in temperatures reaching 87 degrees in the floor seating Thursday. Also, construction around the arena is slowing the flow of traffic in and out, so allow a little extra driving time.

•

Arizona Republic music writer Larry Rodgers writes in his online review (entertainment.azcentral.com): "Madonna may be 47 and the mother of two, but on Thursday night, she was the hottest, wildest woman in Arizona. Showing off her well-honed physique, an array of costumes ranging from naughty to amusing, the energy of an aerobics instructor and some choice expletives aimed at the president and the audience, the superstar left no doubt that her Confessions tour is the summer's biggest concert spectacle."

•

AzCentral blogger Theresa Cano (madonna.azcentral.com) writes: "Madonna seems to be in a great mood tonight, laughing, talking and interacting with crowd more than I've ever seen her do. . . . I'm ready to buy a ticket for Saturday night's show. I have to see it again to catch what I missed the first time. If you didn't make it (Thursday), hopefully you'll go Saturday because it cannot be missed for any music and especially any Madonna fan."

•

Here are other quotes from fans and Republic staffers:

"I thought it was a flawless performance. I compared it to a high-end Broadway musical. It was such a treat, the costumes and the dancing. I enjoyed her joke when she was asking everybody if they could sing and dance at the same time."

- Sharla Hartgraves, 41, Tempe


"Her performance was like she was 20 years old. She was just unbelievable. It was worth every penny. Her energy and her look - she hasn't changed at all. She's got the whole package."

- Debra Berg, 47, Scottsdale


"She was in incredible shape and her voice was so good. All her songs were great, the dance-themed stuff was incredible. It's the second time I've seen her . . . she's just so comfortable onstage. I've never seen her in this good of shape."

- Kathy Ortez, 53, Paradise Valley


"I love the Confessions CD. I was glad she did that mainly. When she mixed in Disco Inferno (from Saturday Night Fever) with (her own) Music and she had the dancers on roller skates, that was the best one."

- Timothy Stewart, 38, Youngtown


"Some people burn crosses; others merely bear them. But to retrofit one with mirrors and dangle from it while singing a ballad about AIDS, well, for that you need Madonna. But the world's most glamorous martyrdom was only the second-craziest thing she did; Number 1, of course, was her sadistic campaign against the air-conditioning. I soaked through my shirt about 10 minutes into the show."

- Casey Newton, 25,
reporter, The Republic


"Madonna helped me hate my body in new and exciting ways Thursday night. After watching her squat-thrust her way through a two-hour show, my friends and I are embarking on a new, squats-only workout regimen, punctuated by marathon hot-box yoga sessions and ritual starvation, all while listening to the Immaculate Collection, so as to purify ourselves for the next tour."

- Megan Finnerty, 26,
fashion writer, Yes


"As the least hip person at the Madonna concert (read: no floor seats, not dressed like Madonna at any age, not doing shots and not dancing - even when Madonna commanded it), this is what I have to say: Wow! At 47, this mother of two kicks butt onstage. Women 20 years younger couldn't keep up."

- Kelly Ettenborough, 39, editor, Yes


"She sure knows how to make an entrance. Her opening scene was spectacular, with an equestrian motif, the sound and images of horses stampeding in the background and her dancers roped up like horses running on stage, combined with Future Lovers from her newest album. The heat in the arena didn't bother me at all; in fact, I couldn't stop jumping up and down, even the times when she didn't ask us to. The visual effects she used with the show were mind-boggling; you just won't see it anywhere else."

- Sarah Muench, 23,
reporter, The Republic


"My favorite part of the concert was when she put on her white disco suit and danced like she just kicked John Travolta off the dance floor. She exudes so much energy, you just want to join her on the dance floor. I also loved that she flipped off the crowd. She's so bad!"

- Michelle Saldana, 37,
Republic advertising artist


Compiled by Larry Rodgers, The Arizona Republic

I wanna see it again!

jayaredee said:

Awesome. Those were great versions to hear. That would be like a souvenir for me.

DavidEye said:

Withdrawal!



The equestrian stuff, the horses, sitting on the back of a dancer like on a horse, Like a Virgin -- that whole scene is still reeling through my head. Very visceral and somewhat shocking.

And the Saturday night fever tribute.

I think I like Madonna best when she goes butch.

heartbeatocean said:

Withdrawal,indeed

My only hope now is that this show is televised then released on DVD.Then we can re-live it over and over again.
[Edited 6/12/06 4:08am]