Why Madonna is still ‘Queen of Pop’
World-wide, Madonna is still known as “Queen of Pop.” If the world media isn’t going ga-ga about her ongoing Celebration
concert these days, it’s all because the global concert tour began in October of last year yet.
Today’s media have decided they can earn more by saturating their coverage on a younger entertainment phenomenon whose followers are easier to dazzle. That phenomenon is Taylor Swift, whose Eras
concert tour set forth March of this year. The biggest chunk of her fans are Gen Zs who are more dependent on their handheld ubiquitous gadgets that can dispense information with lightning speed. Much of media today have mastered digital transmission of words, pictures and sound.
Madonna is 65, and still easily fills up venues of 20,000 seats. She began her Celebration
in such a venue, the O2 Arena in London on the night of 14 October. She pulled off more than two hours of singing, dancing, emoting scenes like an actor, and talking sense about the concerns of the world and threw in a bit about her more personal concerns, such as her health that was endangered a few months before the scheduled global concert. In June last year, she had what her manager called “serious bacterial infection” that landed her in ICU at a hospital and prompted a change in her concert tour calendar which should have been on the run in July 2023 in Canada.
Naomi Clark of Live Nation/ PA wrote on 15 October last year: “...The US superstar delivered a spectacle for the ages at The O2 in London on Saturday, treating thousands of adoring fans to more than 40 songs from her four-decade career, a host of extravagant outfits and a variety of theatrical stage set-ups...
“For her first looks of the night, the 65-year-old donned an elaborate black gown and silver headpiece before unveiling a punk rocker-style outfit and what appeared to be a knee support on her left leg.” The outfit was for “her powerful renditions of ‘Nothing Really Matters’ and ‘Into The Groove.’”
Madonna went on to do her hit “Burning Up,” but had to stop the show briefly afterwards as, she explained, there was a problem with the sound and they had to “press the reset button.”
Clark further shared that Madonna apologized for the delay and kept the crowd entertained by recalling anecdotes from her days in her first band when she was “broke and hungry and making zero cash.” She confessed she “date(d) men who had showers and bathtubs” as she had no way to wash at the time.
‘Like A Prayer’
Madonna made up for the wait by launching into lively versions of “Open Your Heart” and “Holiday.”
Continued Clark: “The energy moved to a darker, more ritualistic place for her performance of ‘Like A Prayer’ as a group of shirtless dancers hung off a rotating structure in the centre of the stage while the singer wore a black robe during her performance.”
She then sang her “Little Star” in honor of her daughter Lourdes, who was celebrating her 27th birthday, then paused the show to speak about her “heartbreak” over the suffering in Israel and Palestine. She intoned: “We all come from love and it’s important to know that right now because there’s a lot of really crazy things happening in the world that are so painful to witness.
“All of us are suffering watching what’s happening in Israel and Palestine. It breaks my heart to see children suffering, teenagers suffering, elderly people suffering. All of it is heart-breaking.
“Even though our hearts are broken, our spirits cannot be broken…
“We are altogether very powerful people, we can unite in the dark and evil or we can unite in a place of light and love.
“And if we all had that collective conscious, we could change the world and we can bring peace — not only to the Middle East but all over the world.”
She wasn’t that serious the entire concert, of course. The show also featured a sensual rendition of her 2005 anthem “Hung Up” in a red slip dress alongside a host of topless dancers.
The singer, reported Clark, later cranked the energy even more for her 1990 hit “Vogue,” with her younger daughter Estere and eldest daughter Lourdes making a surprise appearance on stage. The daughters joined their mom to pay homage to the New York ballroom dance contest culture. The dancers dazzled in energetic choreography in extravagant outfits for Madonna and Lourdes who graded the dancers 10s across the board and Madonna’s support act Ru Paul’s Drag Race winner Bob The Drag Queen played the role of emcee.
Madonna’s other daughter, Estere, donning a gold jumpsuit, also showed off her dance moves for her mother and older sister. Later, daughter Mercy James took to the stage to play the piano while her mother belted out her track “Bad Girl.” A son, David Banda, also played guitar from a box suspended in the air for a country and western section of the show.
The superstar praised her children for supporting her while she was ill. She confided: “It was a crazy year for me and I didn’t think I was going to make it, neither did my doctors… But the angels were protecting me and my children were there, and my children always save me every time.”
She added that her secret to surviving is thinking “I’ve got to be there for my children,” before she struck up the chords to “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor.
A photograph of the late Sinead O’Connor was eventually shown on the large screens and Madonna draped a Ukraine flag over her back before launching into “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.”
She ended the song by encouraging the crowd to chant “no fear.”
‘Like A Virgin’
The superstar closed out the show with a walk down memory lane as dancers donned a number of her classic outfits, including her “Like a Virgin” bridal dress look, while she sang her 2015 track “B **** I’m Madonna” and a medley of tracks for her Celebration and Music albums.
How did her sexy numbers feel?
Holly Wainwright, executive editor of Mamma Mia website magazine, reported on 20 October last year after watching one night of the three-day concert in London: “Don’t be alarmed, but right now there’s a 65-year-old woman simulating masturbation on stage in front of 20,000 people.
“Not only that. She’s getting lap dances from all comers. She’s being touched and rubbed and pulled and groped, tied up, even. A man in a jockstrap, bottom exposed, is pretending to perform oral sex on her.
“She’s wearing lingerie, sometimes. A corset, sometimes. And a stretchy knee brace familiar to any of us who, these days, have a bit of a twinge down there.
“Oh, and her children are watching. Participating, sometimes. Some of them are adults, some of them are kids. It’s a family show that is very definitely not a family show.
“What it is, is a radical act. And it’s glorious.
“Of course, the woman is Madonna.”
Wainwright elucidated: “If you are Generation X, every song she’s singing in these shows means something to you, and each one will conjure a specific visual image in your mind.
“A tutu and a gondlolier for ‘Like a Virgin.’ Monroe satin and fur for ‘Material Girl.’ The bleached-out pixie cut of ‘Papa Don’t Preach.’ A cowboy hat for ‘Music.’ Legwarmers for ‘Hung Up’...
“If you are not Gen X, you probably know Madonna only really as an older woman who is constantly being told to put her clothes back on. Who’s had some dodgy face work, perhaps. Who maybe shouldn’t have embraced TikTok so hard during Covid.
“In a world where the most powerful people in music are Taylor Swift and Beyonce, and you’ve lived through Britney Spears and Gaga, you might not grasp how ground-breaking and important she was and is.
You might think, even, that she’s a bit... sad.
Madonna isn’t sad. She’s gloriously, unabashedly herself. Consistently controversial...”
And how did some of the US shows this year do?
Mikael Wood of LA Times on 5 March described the show at Inglewood Forum (in Los Angeles) as: “...a breathless twohour, forty minute-plus mammoth, visually enthralling, techno-savvy concert covering her 40-year career...”
He stressed: “You have to respect Madonna’s idea of a nostalgia trip...Only a churl would deny Madonna the right to a victory lap, so monumental is her standing in pop history — not just as a maker of indelible songs and genre-defining videos but also as a cultural pathbreaker whose commitment to feminist and queer ideals continues to open lanes in the mainstream even now.”
“Celebration” will cover various cities in the US until 14 April. From 15 April, the Queen of Pop will be enthralling the Mexicans and huge crowds of adoring tours all the way to the 20th at Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City.
The show has more than two dozen of Madonna’s songs divided into seven acts with nine costume changes.
Madonna is 65 and still easily fills up venues of 20,000 seats. She began her Celebration in such a venue, the O2 Arena in London on the night of 14 October. She pulled off more than two hours of singing, dancing, emoting scenes like an actor, and talking.