Madonna concert review by Isabelle Guns
What: Madonna
Where: Roger's Arena
When: October 14, 2015
Status: Sold Out
Rating: 5 out 5
My relationship with Madonna is a bit unconventional. I can ignore some of the music, the bad business decisions, the way she treats her fans as nothing more than ATM Machines, her self absorb-ness etc. and just be appreciative for what she has given me.
She was my first female role model. When you come from religious and cultural circumstances as I do, she was tailor made for the rebel that I would become. Muslim women are taught that sex is bad, your body is bad, women are sluts and that our gender has no value. Idolizing Madonna made me realize that it’s okay to be in tune with your sexuality.
The 3 times that I've seen her within the decade she limits herself to 10% singing live. I’ve never attended a Madonna show to see her sing anyway. Her voice has always been naturally thin and weak. It’s the one thing that has always annoyed me about Madonna, her refusal to strengthen her voice. She makes up for it in other ways that schools other pop stars in the production and physical department.
Her dancers, which were the backbone of the show, were just amazing. Madonna was the centre piece but the dancers physically took it to another level that I wish that other pop stars would demand of their dancers. There were moments in which I was so transfixed that I didn't realize that the show was 2.5 hours that flew by way too fast. She still had cold body chemistry with her dancers even though a few of them were repeats from the last tour.
There was no shortage of Madonna trying to shock her audience. For some reason she's managed to integrate her tactics as something semi artful rather than an eye roll desperation of relevancy. The audience wasn’t fazed by the crosses doubling as stripper poles or the black Jesus. Good thing she's Jewish now.
I am not a fan of the new album, however, Madonna managed to make it work with the production and dancing. It didn't feel like the chore that I was inititally assuming it would be. It didn’t change my opinion on the new material but it made me appreciate the technical team turning the most weakest songs of her career into spectacles that people actually wanted to watch.
There were some cool visuals, slightly scaled down compared to her last tour but at the same time miles ahead of other pop star tours. There was no direct themes as a whole, however, it didn’t feel disjointed.
Compared to the last few times Madonna played Vancouver she was actually in a good mood and didn’t have bitter issues with our city. I am sure having Sean Penn and Amy Schumer being front row and daughter Lola's 19th birthday put Madonna in an unusually good mood which provided some very interesting banter. She was genuinely smiling during a good portion of her show instead of her normal bitch face.
Being 5 rows up from stage on the side did help with the enjoyment of the production. I could see the crew scramble between set changes and Madonna throw/kick props and jackets directly at the crew.
I didn’t come out of the show with a sense of female empowerment as I did with the last show, however, I did come out with the expectation and appreciation that good crafted pop shows still exist.
Where: Roger's Arena
When: October 14, 2015
Status: Sold Out
Rating: 5 out 5
My relationship with Madonna is a bit unconventional. I can ignore some of the music, the bad business decisions, the way she treats her fans as nothing more than ATM Machines, her self absorb-ness etc. and just be appreciative for what she has given me.
She was my first female role model. When you come from religious and cultural circumstances as I do, she was tailor made for the rebel that I would become. Muslim women are taught that sex is bad, your body is bad, women are sluts and that our gender has no value. Idolizing Madonna made me realize that it’s okay to be in tune with your sexuality.
The 3 times that I've seen her within the decade she limits herself to 10% singing live. I’ve never attended a Madonna show to see her sing anyway. Her voice has always been naturally thin and weak. It’s the one thing that has always annoyed me about Madonna, her refusal to strengthen her voice. She makes up for it in other ways that schools other pop stars in the production and physical department.
Her dancers, which were the backbone of the show, were just amazing. Madonna was the centre piece but the dancers physically took it to another level that I wish that other pop stars would demand of their dancers. There were moments in which I was so transfixed that I didn't realize that the show was 2.5 hours that flew by way too fast. She still had cold body chemistry with her dancers even though a few of them were repeats from the last tour.
There was no shortage of Madonna trying to shock her audience. For some reason she's managed to integrate her tactics as something semi artful rather than an eye roll desperation of relevancy. The audience wasn’t fazed by the crosses doubling as stripper poles or the black Jesus. Good thing she's Jewish now.
I am not a fan of the new album, however, Madonna managed to make it work with the production and dancing. It didn't feel like the chore that I was inititally assuming it would be. It didn’t change my opinion on the new material but it made me appreciate the technical team turning the most weakest songs of her career into spectacles that people actually wanted to watch.
There were some cool visuals, slightly scaled down compared to her last tour but at the same time miles ahead of other pop star tours. There was no direct themes as a whole, however, it didn’t feel disjointed.
Compared to the last few times Madonna played Vancouver she was actually in a good mood and didn’t have bitter issues with our city. I am sure having Sean Penn and Amy Schumer being front row and daughter Lola's 19th birthday put Madonna in an unusually good mood which provided some very interesting banter. She was genuinely smiling during a good portion of her show instead of her normal bitch face.
Being 5 rows up from stage on the side did help with the enjoyment of the production. I could see the crew scramble between set changes and Madonna throw/kick props and jackets directly at the crew.
I didn’t come out of the show with a sense of female empowerment as I did with the last show, however, I did come out with the expectation and appreciation that good crafted pop shows still exist.