Monday, June 4, 2012

MDNA TOUR REVIEW

After watching countless Youtube videos, I can say I have a complete review of the MDNA Tour.
Watch out non-Madonna fans, this one's not for you...
Watch out Madonna fans, spoilers ahead.

Now click "Read More" at your own risk ;)

SO...
the show starts off with Religious chants by Kalakan then goes to Girl Gone Wild. I applaud her male dancers for dancing in high heels. 4 out ofthe 6 dancers are straight while the 2 are clearly gay so those 4 straight guys had a tough job of dancing in high heels. Anyway, the choreography is amazing and at that first number you see the stage is one big robot that has elevators and LED screens below and goes up and down in many heights. There are elements of "Material Girl" and the beats of "Give it 2 Me."

The next song is Revolver and Madonna sings with a vocoder so you hear "Cher voices" I want to make it clear that I feel she is miming in some or most of the songs but she makes it up with sick choreographer that GaGa wishes she could do.

After that is Gang Bang, one of my faves of the album and it was AH-MAY-ZING. There's a lot of violence with Madonna shooting at her dancers and "killing them" I love the scene wherein she gets into a fight and when the gun is pointed at her, she kicks it and ends up killing him. Loves!

The next one is Papa Don't Preach. It wasn't reinvented, it was just shortened. :|

After that is Hung Up with a very dark tone and this is where she slacklines. She clearly still doesn't get the hang of it, just saying...

After that she plays the guitar with "I Don't Give A" I know that this song is very harsh and bitter but Madonna seems to be struggling while sining this song. It's kind of rap and she just danced her ass off. So yeah...

The first interlude is "Best Friend" which was mashed up with "Heartbeat." It's quite ok but I love the song so I have nothing bad to say! :)

The second act starts with a marching band and we see Madonna dressed as a majorette and "Express Yourself" plays. Again, not re-invented and was just added with "Born This Way" with its original choreography and "She's Not Me."

The next song is "Give Me All Your Luvin" which looked like an interlude. The remix was horrible. She just danced and did not sing much. Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. had more vocals than MDNA herself.

Next was Turn Up the Radio played with a guitar. You know what that sounds right?

After that is Open Your Heart- I HATE THIS PART! This goes on for like 7 minutes and 4 minutes of it is "Sagarra Jo" by Kalakan and it's just weird chants. I'm like WTH? This is just so dragging and is clearly made for filler. Also, this performance is like La Isla Bonita in the Sticky and Sweet Tour.

Next os Masterpiece, with a performance like "Miles Away" in Sticky and Sweet Tour.

The next intelude is "Justify my Love" I super love this interlude. Quite sexy and raunchy which Madonna has always been.

Then, we hear familiar sounds as this was the same intro as Superbowl but with camera flashes sound off and you know it's Vogue. The choreography is the same as the on in SuperBowl but I felt this performance was quite short. It doesn't have the "snap" that previous Vogue performances had. It seems they just added walking around the stage and posing in the SuperBowl choreography. But her outift was the best here. Gaultier knows what looks good on Madonna!

The next song was a shock to Madonna fans. "CandyShop" it wasn't a single from her last album but it was Madonna's favorite track from the album. Now, this is what I call re-invention. It had that jazzy version and I love it. I just felt that the "Erotica" part was missing the "Erotica, Romance" chants.

The next song was "Human Nature" with Madonna performing in front of mirrors. It was well choreographed.

Didn't you notice something here?
Sticky and Sweet Tour Setlist
1. CandyShop
2. Beat Goes On
3. Human Nature
4. Vogue

Now...
1. Vogue
2. CandyShop
3. Human Nature
4.....
LIKE A VIRGIN! This was a treat. One of the most famous songs of Madonna, reworked? Not really, the lyrics were just sung over W.E. "Waltz blah-blah" It felt forced but Madonna saved it with a heartfelt performance.

After the song is an interlude "Nobody Knows Me." It's like the "Get Stupid" interlude except that this focused on gay bullying and having R.I.P's for every teen that committed suicide due to constant bullying. This was certainly high praise and gives Madonna a lot of kudos. She is very supportive of her gay fans :)

The first song of the last part is "I'm Addicted." She is barefooted and performs martial arts choreography. I actually love it!

This is followed by "I'm a Sinner" and she's in her guitar again and it is mixed with "Cyberraga" a bonus track off her album "Music" which has a trippy sound but the lyrics seems like "ahhayahwayahalakamamapaorui" you know what I'm saying right.

The next song is "Like a Prayer" wherein Rocco and her dancers were the choir and she was just singing to the audience. Quite like an ordinary performance of the song.

The last song is "Celebration." The choreography is very street and I love it! There were elements of "Girl Gone Wild" but the ending came out short. After she does some "DJ mixing" choreography they jump and that's it. I feel that it's missing one more time singing the chorus and ending with "IT'S A CELEBRATION!"

In a scale of 1 to 10, I give this concert a 6.5 -->YES! 6.5
1. Poor song choices. It seems like Sticky and Sweet Tour plus MDNA tracks combined.
2. Convenience over fan faves. Jimmy Fallon himself stated he loves "Love Spent." The banjo intro alone can make use of Kalakan and that's it. Instead she chose I Don't Give A because she can just play it with a guitar.
3. Poor remixes. I blame Kevin Antunes. Stuart Price creates beats for a living while Kevin mashes them up. Bitch please, there are a lot better mash-ups on Youtube.
4. Too much going on. While they can boast of the technology, Madonna doesn't seem to have control over everything. With too much going on, you can see some videos focusing on other things beside Madonna.
5. Vocals. Madonna is at her worst when it comes to vocals but she makes it up with dancer-like choreography.

Suggestions:
1. Why did they not include Cherish on the band parade part. She could dance with "quarterbacks" and even if it's just simple dance steps, it's a great track.
2. Love Spent would be a better choice than I Don't Give A.
3. There is this remix of "Dress You Up" by Darren Hayes that she should've sang.
4. Instead of Human Nature, she should've sang Secret. I heard this dance remix and I like it and it even has the spoken parts of "What It Feels Like for A Girl" in it. That would certainly fit the "Masculine/Feminine" part right?
5. She needs to have vulnerable moments. Where was "Take a Bow?" This is a perfect time for her to sing it right?

I wish I was Madonna's creative director. She should give a "For the Fans Tour". :)

1 comment: