Matronik said:

I agree 100%, one of her best dance tracks for years...second best song from HC, behind Miles Away imo.

Such a shame Spanish Lesson made it from the new album over Dance 2 Night....I think its a very weak song.

And as good as Ray of Light and Hung Up are, they are getting a bit old news now...Live 8, Live Earth, the Confessions Tour, etc...she seems to have got all the mileage out of them that I think she can. With so many over classics in her back catalogue I think the show finale could have finished with something different.

spanish lesson ?? one of the few madonna tracks which u listen to and go ''what the hell was she thinking releasing that crap''

I tried watching the rockier version of Hung Up last night to see if it could grow on me.....that thing is a damn mess. Its almost unlistenable. What is she thinking. i know she loves the whole punk rock / rock star mentality - but it just doesnt work with everything - particularly one of you most famous dance tracks. Someone needs to put a padlock on her guitar case.....NOW!

Madonna adds final two North American shows

Thursday,August 7,2008 5:09 pm EST
By Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen (TicketNews.com)

LiveNation has booked Madonna's final two concerts in North America: Boston,MA on November 16 and the singer's hometown of Detroit,MI on November 18.Tickets for both shows go on sale August 23.The Boston date is the second of two nights,while Detroit is a new market for this tour.Madonna will wind up performing 28 North American concerts.

LiveNation has also booked Madonna's final two shows in Europe: Seville,Spain on September 16 and Budva.Montenegro on September 25;both shows are on sale.Interestingly,only hard tickets are being utilized for the Budva show.In all,Madonna will play 19 concerts in Europe.

"The Budva date on the itinerary was a direct result of the Rolling Stones performing there last year," LiveNation Artists CEO Global Touring and Chairman Global Music Arthur Fogel told TicketNews.

Madonna's final eight of her 55 shows will be in South America,where tickets will go on sale in the next few weeks.When the tour winds down,Madonna's estimated tour gross will be north of $250 million,which will top her $195 million in 2006.

Madonna was in Michigan on August 2 at the Traverse City Film Festival to screen her new documentary,"I Am Because We Are".She leaked word that Detroit would be getting her Sticky and Sweet tour date at Ford Field,marking her first local show since her 2001 Drowned World tour at the Palace of Auburn Hills.Her 2004 Re-Invention and 2006 Confessions tours bypassed her home town.

CrozzaUK said:

The Roseland show was broadcast on Japanese tv and they fixed up Madonna's fuck-ups in "4 Minutes" and "Hung Up". The latter one became a bit of a guilty pleasure now.

I'm sure in person it's gonna sound great at a show, not sure about the DVD though... Same for "Ray Of Light".

LiveToTell86 said:

Yeah, i was watching the BBC version - and even with no fuck ups its still a hideous version. I think its just that there's no flow to it. The original flows so brilliantly - this is all jerky and exposes its simplistic melody. Just doesnt work for me -a lthough i agree, when you're watching live in person its more entertaining.

the rock version does HU no good. the verse melody's always been weak, but it was cool on teh original version. But now it sounds crap.
Noone seems to have the guts to tell Madonna how crappy it sounds and how much fans hate it.

A new costume was revealed, by Givenchy as well. Since he's doing the 1st and 3rd segments (gangsta pimp & gypsy), the cloak thing is probably not for "Like A Prayer" after all.



The new one is most likely for the opening number, "Candy Shop".

LiveToTell86 said:

interesting

Out of all the sketches that we have seen so far,the only one I don't really like is the "Old School" outfit.That one looks ridiculous.She should just let the (female) dancers dress like that while she wears something more exciting.

I love that black is the dominante color.

ACT 4---futuristic rave

SoulAlive said:

thats awful. almost as bad as the drowned world tour costumes. I hope that isnt real.

Kiley Dean---backup singer for the Sticky and Sweet tour


A protege of Timbaland and a former backup singer for Britney Spears,she will join backup singer Nicki Richards on the Sticky and Sweet tour.When she finishes the tour,she's gonna record a solo album produced by Timbaland.

CrozzaUK said:

I actually don't mind this one.The "Old School" outfit is the one I have a problem with

SoulAlive said:

And me with the "Gangsta Pimp" one. It's just too "Future Lovers" CT, especially if the rumour is true and she's gonna wear a top hat. I know it's some Willy Wonka reference in "Candy Shop", but a similar look was done on the previous tour. It doesn't help that 2 of the first 4 songs will be used in news reports and 90% of the pictures will come from there...

I think the other ones are very good, even unexpected from her as everyone assumed she'd just do the boxing outfit. The "Futuristic Rave" is very cool, finally something decent for the guitar segment.

MadonnaTribe posted a recap of the setlist and some new stuff here and there:

Intro/Candy Shop
The show opener, Candy Shop, has now a longer intro compared to the promo tour version. A musical intro a la Drowned World Tour, sounding very cinematic, like the opening titles of a blockbuster movie, starting with the 4 minutes' "tick tock" with bits and pieces of songs from Hard Candy (4 Minutes, Give It 2 Me, Beat Goes On) that we will be hearing later in the show fades into the "C-A-N-D-Y" intro from the promo tour.

Beat Goes On
A standard album version of the song beginning after the Pharrell rap at the end of Candy Shop. Pharrell and Kanye West are doing their thing on video as well.

Human Nature
Britney will appear on video while Madonna sings the song on stage with her guitar. The idea of the Mash Up with Gimme More has been scrapped but Britney's new signature phrase "It's Britney Bitch" is included once at the end of the song.

Vogue
Played on a new instrumental track based on her 2008 hit 4 Minutes, this version of Vogue also includes a music sample of Nelly Furtado/Timbaland's Give It To Me during the whole song. An amazing re-invention!

Video Interlude - Die Another Day
The first video interlude, a fast paced and speeded up version of the James Bond theme Die Another Day, features exclusive new footage of Madonna as a boxeur, from the brand new photoshoot by Tom Munro for the Tour Book.

Into The Groove
Into The Groove, that contains a small sample of Madonna's Jump, sees Madonna jumping rope and doing a little bit of pole dancing. The song is delivered using musical parts of the dance hit "Toop Toop" by Cassius.

Heartbeat
A nice album version of this great new song by Madonna and Pharrell.

Borderline
The most vintage song in the show has been totally recreated and turned into a rocky/ska version. Great rock guitars for the most surprising re-invention!

She's Not Me
As almost all Hard Candy song this one too is presented in it's album version incarnation. At one time Madonna reportedly shouts the phrase "I Know I Can Do It Better" in a similar way she did with "Do you think I'm satisfied" in RIT's American Life.

Music
Known as the Fedde Le Grande mix, the Sticky & Sweet tour version of Music starts with a sample of Last Night A DeeJay Saved My Life by Indeep.

Video Interlude - Rain/Here Comes The Rain Again
The third video interludes mashes up bit's of Madonna's Rain with Eurythmics' Here Comes The Rain Again, using Eurythmics' music track.

Devil Wouldn't Recognize You
Originally supposed to play piano herself on this one, now Madonna appears on stage on top of it. The song is the album version.

Spanish Lesson
Album version here too but nicely extended near the end, with the use of Spanish tap dancing and a little hint to Mariachi music thrown in there as well.

Miles Away
The great ballad version with guitar we already saw at the promo tour.

La Isla Bonita/Lela Pala Tute
The Live Earth version of La Isla Bonita is being presented on the new tour. Mixed with Romani song Lele Pala Tute and some great fun on stage. Gogol Bordello will make some special appearances on some of the tour dates.

Doli Doli
It's a live interlude not sung by Madonna and it's a Romani/Gyspyy folk song

You Must Love Me
Madonna is back on stage to close the section with a fierce rendition of the Accademy Award winning song "You Must Love Me" by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Tzigani/Gypsy violins and accordeon make of this song an unforgettable and emotional moment of the show.

Video Interlude - Get Stupid
Third interlude a la "Sorry" in "Confession Tour". It's about saving our planet and saving it NOW. It uses parts of various songs from Hard Candy. A vocoded "Who Is The Master and Who Is The Slave" (From Voices), "Get Stupid" (From Give It 2 Me), "The Time Is Now" and "You don't have the luxury of time" (from Beat Goes On) and the "Tick Tock" from "4 Minutes".

4 Minutes
A great version very similar to the promo tour.

Like A Prayer
The song, that replaces Impressive Instant is another Mash Up, delivered using musical parts of the 1992 dance hit by Felix "Don't You Want Me".

Ray Of Light
Very similar to the Confessions Tour version with Madonna playing her rock guitar!

Hung Up
The Rock Version you heard at the promo tour has been confirmed for this tour as well.

Give It To Me
Performed on a music track slightly different from the album version, but it's not one of the remixes. It has an extended ending on which fans are invited to shout: Give It 2 Me!

have you noticed that,this time around,Madonnatribe is getting all the exclusive info while DrownedMadonna is being left behind?

SoulAlive said:

Yeah, I think DrownedMadonna has just quit the game. Their forum is a mess too.

More info on "Human Nature" from MTribe forum: it's the eletric guitar and it replaced "Candy Perfume Girl" in mid-June!

I hope it sounds good, because I'd rather see a sexy performance.

I'm particualry excited about teh Heartbeat and Beat Goes On performances, and the way LAP sounds!!

I wonder how she can rope skip and sing at the same time. But at leats now we know why during teh filming of Give It 2 Me video kids were filmed rope skipping!

LiveToTell86 said:

"Candy Perfume Girl" was being considered?! Wow.

LiveToTell86 said:

"Candy Perfume Girl" was being considered?! Wow.

SoulAlive said:

you found it so "wow" that you posted it twice


I think most ROL songs don't work live. That's why I dislike the DWT so much. ROL is my favorite album, but I prefer a dancing Madonna.

graecophilos said:

I pretty much despise DWT. I hated her look - i thought the arrangements were boring - the theaterical direction very amateurish - and the setlist blew big time. I agree ROL is an album made of its sound textures which come across as being quite cold & thin when played live.

I was so disappointed because i felt with the Girlie Show - she'd managed to achieve a sound for herslef that was accomplished. The vocals & harmonies were prominent - the arrangemnts thoughtful - and there was a warmth to the entire production that she's never matched, before or after.

Had she toured Bedtime Stories i think she'd have improved on this, but sadly it never happened. Her shows are still impressive - and there's some great ideas and staging in them - but its her going through the motions - not striving to acheive anything.

Madonnatribe have been pretty rubbish at describing arrangements for the tour -so im hoping the big surprise will be the new band she's employed. Yes we know what samples she's using - and they mentioned the retro 80's hip hop vibe to the sound (but all this rock shit doesnt tie in with that so much), but they've not mentioned anything about the new band members. I just hope madonna doesnt relegate them to a "backing track" role as she has increasingly done since she started touring again.

But I fear so CrozzaUK!

I see what you mean, but I think the CT was a big improvement in featuring live musicians. Especially the guitarist and Stuart Price were pretty famous among teh fans. Stuart even modelled for the H&M campagne!

You gotta listen to the promo tours earlier this year. She'll use the same musicians. I hope there will be proper backgroudn vocals. I'm really emberassed by backgroudn vocals from the CD! Think of Candy Shop and Give It 2 Me! Those two had powerful performances and I can see that she can't sing and dance like that anymore without sounding like a butchered cow... but her backgroudn vocalists should have a more promninent role?

Or would have anyone guessed that there was a vocalist if you would have seen her a cuple of times at Roseland Ballroom

graecophilos said:

I think the one improvement of the Promo tour was that the drummer was vastly superior to the guy shes used since DWT. He at least seems like he can get some energy into the music. I do agree the backing vocals could have been taped on the last couple of tours - hopefully they'll be more rehearsed and prominent this time.

Ive read up a bit on Kevin Antunes - and it seems he knows his stuff. He seems to like using traditional musicians as much as he likes the challenge of bringing synths and computers into it.

Im just praying for a decent bass player and a percussionist. I think they are whats been missing over her last few tours. Its resulted in flimsy, thin arrangements relying heavily on programming.

Looking forward to this tour, but the title reminds me more and more of eating cookies and then taking a dump after

CrozzaUK said:

Thanks for the information. I agree that the drummer on the promo tour seemed much better. He was playing a regular acoustic drum kit, not the electronic things with the pads the other loser guy had. I like the combination of live instruments with electronic programmed stuff. Confessions did seem to rely too heavily on the programmed stuff. And you need a great bass player for a decent live sound!