Cardiff press reports/reviews

[Camacho]

DM

We suggest you to read the following BBC News article which features lots of details on the European leg of the tour, which has to be adapted to the STADIUM shows and an exclusive interview with Chris Lamb:

Final preparations are being made as Madonna kicks off the European leg of her ’Confessions’ tour in Cardiff.

The show on Sunday at the Millennium Stadium will be the biggest arena yet for the world tour, which started in the Los Angeles in May.

Around 59,000 fans are expected for the show, the first of 21 dates across Europe, including eight in London.

Adapting her show to each venue, the singer will include an equestrian theme during the opening in Cardiff.

The star’s tour director Chris Lamb, from California, has worked with Madonna for 20 years.

He and his "army" have been constructing the set in the stadium since Monday. With 150 workers over from the USA, Mr Lamb said they also employed around 200 local people.

"We’ve done 35 shows in America in indoor arenas, this here is the first stadium show for two years," he said.

"People are not coming to see a rock concert - this is a show, closer to theatre than a rock concert."

Mr Lamb said the cost of the concert was "enormous" but added it was all relative the whole expense of the tour.

After two decades of working with Madonna Mr Lamb believes the singer will never retire.

"I don’t think she’ll ever stop.

"She’s a perfectionist, focused and she knows every little thing about the show," he added. "She wants to outdo herself and challenges herself."

And with regards to the set she "comes up with the basic idea and is involved from square one."

The tour director said the set was "enormously technical" and was state of the art with its video show.

However two large silver "disco horses" backdrops placed on each side of the stage have not been approved by Madonna yet.

Even though she’s seen the drawings Mr Lamb awaits her verdict before they get final approval.

The media, invited to the stadium on Friday, were not allowed to photograph them.

DJ Paul Oakenfold will open the Hung Up singer’s concert at 1900 BST and will perform his set for around an hour and a half before Madonna’s two-hour show.

There will be a "golden circle" to hold around 3,000 fans in front of the stage on a first come first serve basis.

Madonna’s tour continues at Wembley Arena and finishes in Prague before it moves to Japan in September.

CONFESSIONS FACTS:

Stage and equipment weighs 200 tons

Eight pairs of shoes and boots and seven costumes are worn nightly by Madonna

22 dancers perform

There are 600 costumes in the show

$2m crystals embellish a giant disco ball

[Camacho]

ic Wales

Morgan on the icon that's Madonna Jul 28 2006

Icon? Diva? Mother? After more than two decades at the top can anything else be said about Madonna? Academic, playwright and grandmother Elaine Morgan provides a fresh look at the musical 'genius'

Elaine Morgan, Western Mail

Write About Madonna? I don't know anything about her.' 'You can find out, can't you?' 'But why me?'There's no answer to that.

It must be because most of the commentators on her latest tour have been reduced to saying things like 'She's done it again!' and 'What remains to be said?'

I take it as read that she must be extremely good at what she does, because in showbiz you don't stay at the top for decades on the strength of silly stunts like wearing a pointy bra.

When she shot to fame in the 1980s there were instantly thousands of 'Madonna wannabes' wanting to imitate her, and one of the secrets of her success is that she's always had something in common with them.

Little girls come in various kinds but in every playground a certain percentage of them, from a very tender age, are show-offs.

Whatever they're doing you'll hear them yell out at regular intervals, 'Hey - look at me!'

And all our lives would be poorer if there weren't people like that. There'd be no cinemas, theatres, ballets, opera, or circuses. So I'm always on the side of the performers.

When I used to write plays I was always grateful to them and sometimes amazed by them. It's a dangerous game, being an actor. Even if he's speaking words written by somebody else, he's the one that has to go out there and die inside if the audience is cold and the play doesn't work.

The difference between Madonna and the wannabes is a quality that in other contexts is recognised as genius.

She fits all the common definitions of the word.

'An infinite capacity for taking pains' or '1% inspiration and 99% perspiration'.

I can't evaluate her performances because music isn't my thing, but I can appreciate the work she puts into it, and the courage that keeps her coming back every time she's been written off.

If that makes me sound like a fan, I'm not.

What she does isn't my cup of tea, and sometimes I wish she wouldn't do it. If I had a daughter who regarded her as a role model, I'd be very unhappy about her particular brand of sexiness and exhibitionism, and the lengths to which she'll go to grab a headline.

That's the trouble with too much professionalism: if you set up a really well-oiled PR machine it takes great strength of character not to follow it wherever it leads.

It happens in politics too, I'm afraid. They have such clever computers monitoring public opinion that they simply let the print-outs dictate the policy.

However, Madonna clearly isn't anybody's patsy. She showed that very early in her career.

Rather like Charlie Chaplin and Doug Fairbanks when they created United Artists, she set up an organisation giving her complete control of her choice of music, which artists she worked with, and what kind of image she wanted to project. That's what makes her so hard to pin down.

Studio bosses always like to type-cast performers so that the public will know what to expect of them. Doris Day was always the girl next door; Bette Davies was catty; Katherine Hepburn was posh, and Goldie Hawn was kooky. They stayed within those guidelines. But who or what is Madonna?

Good question. She just won't hold still to answer it. You never know what she'll do next.

Three years after becoming an international star with multi-platinum hit singles and albums, she surprisingly accepted a leading role in a David Mamet play on Broadway. Mamet is a very earnest writer who makes like an intellectual, and Broadway is a very tough assignment - nightly hard work, axe-wielding theatre critics, no backing group, and no music to serve as the wind beneath your wings. It was almost as unexpected as Marilyn Monroe marrying Arthur Miller. But she got away with it.

A few years later she took on Evita. Okay, that was a musical but it wasn't her kind of music, and certainly not her kind of audience. It was aimed at a more mature and exacting public. And by then she'd been successful long enough for some reviewers to be sharpening their knives. A couple of films she'd made had been savagely panned. Her latest single had, for the first time ever, failed to reach the Top Ten. 'Washed up', people muttered. 'Eleven years at the top? Too long. Gerroff and give somebody else a chance.'

If that was the message being handed to her she just didn't get it. She never will.

I wonder what she's really like? I'll bet she's hell to work with, for one thing, because perfectionists always are, and she's a perfectionist. But in private, off the platform, what's she like?

Just when I began to speculate about this, I happened to see an item in this week's Guardian which mentioned that Madonna is presently on holiday in Miami, in a hotel room which costs £1,300 a night. Oh no. That's a different planet! How can you hope to get inside the mind of somebody who's been living in that rarefied atmosphere for umpteen years? What must it do to their brain cells and their personality?

I believe the only route to beginning to understand anybody is to look for things you have in common. Me and Madonna? In common? It's a tall order. I looked up various interviews she's given. She doesn't give all that many and she's got a good trick for putting the interviewer on the wrong foot (just in case he's going to take the mickey).

She reveals at the last minute that it's not going to be a tete-a-tete after all. There'll be twenty-odd other people hanging around as a diversion, and no prizes for guessing whose side they'll be on.

Granted all that, she really doesn't sound as if she thinks she's a goddess.

Asked about her work she says things like 'I think I've definitely improved as a song-writer ....I've been lucky to hook up with a lot of really talented people...I do think I'm a really good dancer.'

Would she like to complain about everybody wanting to get something out of her? 'Yeah but some people actually want to give me stuff too.' Does she think some critics malign her? Yes, sometimes. 'I don't think they were reviewing the film, I think they were personally attacking me.' (The films weren't really up to much, let's face it, but the critics were out for her blood too, and she'd have been lying in her teeth if she'd pretended not to suspect that.)

Oh and here's a revealing bit about one of her children. Her daughter Lourdes, three years old at the time. 'She's very, very fashion conscious. She does have an opinion on what I wear every day. She'll say 'That looks nice, mommy,' or 'I don't like those shoes'.' Now my children were all boys, and if I had had a daughter, heaven forbid that she'd have been 'very, very fashion conscious' at the age of three. But there you are, fashion is Madonna's bag, and that conversation does indicate a good democratic relationship going on there. 'Every day' is good. And little Lourdes (what a disastrous name) doesn't think mommy's a goddess. She thinks mommy could use a spot of advice, and has every confidence that her views will be taken into consideration. I liked that bit.

I liked this next bit too. She was asked if she was fearful of what might happen to her career as she got older.

She said, 'I mean if you lose interest in something, the chances are you'll find an interest in something else. I'm not afraid of that.'

Right on, sister.

Madonna opens the European leg of her world-wide Confessions of a Dancefloor tour at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff on Sunday.

[Camacho]

Welsh singers on Madonna

Award-winning opera star KATHERINE JENKINS

'I was never into boy bands when I was growing up. I've always been a classical music fan. So only the big, obvious singers filtered through to me then, people like Madonna.'

'The first pop song I ever bought was Material Girl. I loved the Marilyn-Monroe inspired video.

'I've got an invitation to see her at the Millennium Stadium and I can't wait.'

She has also performed her own version of the singer's Frozen for television show Madonna Mania on ITV.

'That was really fun. I really like doing things that people don't expect and I like to challenge myself.'

BECKI NEWMAN from The Hot Puppies

'She's sung some great pop songs; Material Girl, Like a Prayer and Vogue. She's worn some of the greatest outfits ever conceived and I'm referring, of course, to the Jean Paul Gaultier-coned breasted number. She's upset the Pope. She's hang-glided nude. She also hitch-hiked nude, but for a set of high heels and a hand bag. She's published both a children's book and a very adult book, which incidentally features Robert Van Winkle AKA Vanilla Ice. And nowadays, from what I hear, she's a very good mum as well. With a CV like that it's hard not to love Madonna.'

Singer JEM, who collaborated on Madonna's song Nothing Fails

'When I finally heard the finished song it was the strangest experience. It's not every day you hear Madonna singing words and melodies you sang into your dictaphone at two in the morning. I really admire her for being so involved in everything she does. The song sounds beautiful.'

Ex-Steps star LISA SCOTT-LEE

'I was inspired by Madonna and still am. She was, and is, an all-rounder. She can sing and dance and act and I liked to think I was like her. She's great.'

[Camacho]

The main TV news show in Cardiff "Wales Tonight" had exclusive access to the Millennium Stadium this afternoon.

Madonna would not give permission for full views of the stage to be filmed because she had not yet approved things herself, but the report shows some elements.

Tour manager Chris Lamb was interviewed inside the stadium about Madonna's alleged toilet requests!

Visit madonna-tv.com for RapidShare, MegaUpload and Sendspace download links.

[Camacho]

Madonna's touchdown in Cardiff

Posted: 28 July 2006 - Thanks to MXV3

Todays edition of the South Wales Echo newspaper has published this story on preparations for Madonna's Confessions Tour touchdown at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff on Sunday - click on the article to enlarge and read.

[Camacho]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006340842,00.html

Booze that Material Girl!

MADONNA has found a neat way of keeping stage outfits clean on her UK tour — by spraying them with VODKA.

Her staff will use up to a bottle a night squirting it on sweat stains.

Her Confessions tour starts in Cardiff tomorrow and organisers were amazed when Madonna, 47 — who drinks only Kabbalah cult water — insisted on vodka backstage.

But an insider said: “It’s fantastic for perspiration marks. Alcohol kills the bacteria, keeping stage clothes fresher.

“It’s a trick they use in opera houses because the big divas perspire a lot.”

[Camacho]

icwales.icnetwork.co.uk

Madonna - I've seen your new-look stage set and I think you're going to like it

Jul 29 2006

Paul Carey, Western Mail

I MAY not be performing in front of thousands tomorrow night, but I have one thing over Madonna - I saw her new stage set-up before she did.

The queen of pop will debut the new-look set when she opens the European leg of her Confession on the Dancefloor world tour in Cardiff.

It will be her first concert in Wales despite a career spanning more than 20 years and the 47-year-old singer is pulling out all the stops to ensure it goes with a bang.

I had a sneak preview of what is happening behind the scenes in preparation for the main event.

And although there are plenty of top secret Props That Must Not Be Named, this reporter can reveal that fans are going to be awestruck tomorrow night.

This is the first stadium date on the tour and the production crew are taking full advantage of all the Millennium Stadium has to offer, with more of the roof being used than ever before.

Tour staff have been setting up since Monday and the stage looks awesome, extended with a catwalk and decked with a huge curved screen.

At 5,000 square feet it is almost double the size of a normal stage, by far the biggest set up in the Millennium Stadium since it opened in 1999.

Disco balls glittered above it, covered in $2m worth of Swarovski crystals and although I didn't see it, rumour has it that a "discofied" crucifix will rise from the stage floor with a surprise visitor on it.

Security has been unprecedented, with curtains fixed around the pitch area to prevent stadium staff and visitors taking a peek. Although I managed to get an eyeful, I was asked not to reveal certain elements for fear Madonna would learn about them in the media before seeing them for herself.

The superstar was not at the venue when I visited but is flying in later today. I did have a chance to talk to her production director, American Chris Lamb, who has known the star for more than 20 years.

"What you're looking at is probably one of the largest touring shows ever. There's 60 trucks full of equipment here," he said.

Although he was tight-lipped about exactly what would be in the line-up, Mr Lamb was clearly excited about tomorrow's performance.

He said, "This is a show, this is not a rock concert. This is a complete entertainment show. "

He wasn't the only one looking forward to the event. The Millennium Stadium's Paul Sergeant said, "Madonna is the biggest female artist in the world and we have seen from the stage today that it's a massive show. It's going to be one of those awesome occasions people are going to remember for a long time."

DJ Paul Oakenfold will get the party started when gates open at 5.30pm, with Madonna expected on stage at 8.30pm. The star of the show is expected to grant the seal of approval to the new set today and fly out of the city immediately after the gig.

She has reportedly made several diva-like demands, although Mr Lamb says the rumours about brand-new toilet seats are an exaggeration.

"What it is that we've asked for is a clean toilet seat," he said. "She doesn't want one that all the rugby players have used! It's a girl thing."

She has also asked for a bottle of neat vodka - but being a clean-living gal, it is intended to clean her stage clothes and get rid of sweat marks.

Madonna has already played 35 sell-out arena shows across America, to rave reviews. But exceptionally high tickets prices and her use of a crucifix during the set have attracted criticism.

Welsh fans have been asked to pay between £55 and £160 for tickets, with booking agents charging fee of as much as £13.

However it doesn't seem to have deterred the fans. A 59,000-strong crowd is expected to attend the concert. The first 3,000 to arrive will be admitted to a "golden circle" at the front of the stage, where the luckiest will be just four feet from the star.

Of course, the new stage will only be used if the queen of pop is happy with it. And if she's not? Will they be up all night changing it?

"Yep," Mr Lamb nodded. "She's the boss."

[mtzlplk]

Madonna’s tour continues at Wembley Arena and finishes in Prague before it moves to Japan in September.

oh no, NO MOSCOW?

[qaz]

I can't wait to see the full stage! Stadium concerst are so fun!

[Guest Beautiful Stranger]

“It’s a trick they use in opera houses because the big divas perspire a lot.”

[Camacho]

I can't wait to see the full stage! Stadium concerst are so fun!

huge disco horses for the stadiums :gggggg:

[Camacho]

Sunday MIRROR of course

30 July 2006

MATERIAL GIRL 'TOO COSTLY'

By James Harper

MADONNA'S first show on her British tour could have thousands of empty seats tonight - with fans driven away by ticket prices of up to £160.

The star's 59,000-capacity show at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium opens the European leg of her world tour.

But Welsh fans have baulked at the cost.

Sandra Davies, 35, of Caerphilly, said: "I was so disappointed when I saw the prices. There was no way my husband and I could afford to go."

And Debbie Jones, 27, of Newport, said: "You know it will be an amazing show, but does she really need to charge so much?

"She's a multi-millionaire and it's the fans who made her rich."

Tour manager Chris Lamb refused to say how many tickets are left, at prices from £55 to £160.

But he said: "The cost of doing something like this is pretty enormous.

"We have 60 trucks and hotels to pay for too."

[Camacho]

icwales.icnetwork.co.uk

Material Girl hits Cardiff

Jul 30 2006

Marc Baker, Wales on Sunday

GOOD morning, Madonna, and welcome to Wales!

The Queen of Pop and her film-maker hubby Guy Ritchie awoke in the five-star luxury of St David's Hotel ahead of her sell-out Millennium Stadium concert tonight.

Proving she's a pro even after nearly three decades as an icon, the Material Girl sound-checked all afternoon, perfecting the set-list for the first British date of her Confessions Tour, including hits Like A Virgin and Get Together.

The only stadium date of her global gigs, she turned up to okay the stage, which promises disco balls and two giant horse backdrops.

To make sure the 47-year-old had a good night's sleep, she stayed at the Cardiff Bay hotel, which has spent all week preparing for Her Madgesty's visit.

And Wales on Sunday can reveal her room service demands included several bottles of rainforest water, fresh flowers, candles and use of a private gym.

Security was tight as guests looked on in amazement at Madonna's troupe of 22 dancers, who were relaxing at St David's yesterday while her production crew lapped it up at the Card- iff Hilton.

The mum- of-two arrived at St David's in a blacked-out car last night, her limo zipping into the hotel's underground car park so she couldn't be spotted by fans. Once inside, Madonna was ushered up to her master suite on the top floor.

The hotel made every effort to ensure she was treated like a Lucky Star.

With giant bouquets of white roses next to her huge king-size double bed, special Kabbalah candles were also dotted in her room to keep away negative spirits.

And in case real ale fan Madge was thirsty, several bottles of Fiji Water were put on ice.

A fitness fanatic, Madonna - who has demanded a new toilet seat at the stadium after hearing footballers would've used the loos - was also given access to her very own private gym which included use of a new vibrating Power Plates machine.

Madonna - who will storm into the Top 10 tonight with her latest hit Get Together - already owns several of the £6,995 special machines which remove the need to actually work out.

Madonna, who will tonight take part in a series of breathtaking acrobatic displays during her two-hour show, was also expected to have made use of the hotel's special pilates and yoga fitness rooms.

Bosses there were waiting to see if she would follow in the footsteps of pop star Robbie Williams by mingling with fellow guests in the hotel spa.

After breakfast this morning, Madonna is expected to spend the day chilling out before making final changes to her show. Although gates open at 5.30pm, she is not on stage until 8.30pm.

And in true Madonna form, the show promises to be as shocking as ever.

With sexy fetish costumes by French fashion designer John Paul Gaultier, Madonna is set to arrive on stage in a giant disco ball rocket ship.

Fans will then be treated to hits from her latest dance album and will get to see Madonna sing her smash hit Live to Tell whilst pinned to a crucifix, while figures about the scourge of Aids spool across video screens.

Madge fanatics will hear new arrangements of hits Lucky Star, La Isla Bonita and Erotica.

The show will end with Madonna turning the stadium into a huge disco with songs from her latest album.

But to make sure we're left begging for more, Madonna will end the show with her smash Abba-esque hit Hung Up without an encore.

Huge video walls will then ask fans: "Have you confessed?".

Madonna's European leg of the tour continues at Wembley Arena, London, on Tuesday and finishes in Prague before it moves to Japan in September.

[Dr Lecter]

Daily Star and Express also have reports about her failing to sell out the stadium, it mentions she does Wembley and others, but then doesnt say how well they have sold

BERKS

[Ste_Dub]

I suppose we'll find out how well Cardiff sold when billboard print the numbers from the show.

We've heard this before for other gigs that did in fact sell out, pure media hype!

[Guest Beautiful Stranger]

Even with all the England shows, she sold 62,000 tickets at Slane on the RIT...

There is no reason she wouldn't be able to sell 2,000 or more less than that to fill up the Cardiff stadium

[Ste_Dub]

Even with all the England shows, she sold 62,000 tickets at Slane on the RIT...

There is no reason she wouldn't be able to sell 2,000 or more less than that to fill up the Cardiff stadium

Plus a lot of Irish people will be travelling to Cardiff because the show won't be stopping off here and the stadium in Cardiff is much easier to get to and from than Slane. Still Slane was a fantastic show.......!

[MCHL]

Madonna drinks Fiji water?

WHAT DO THE BERGS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS?

[Apples388]

Madonna drinks Fiji water?

WHAT DO THE BERGS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS?

'Tis true - our goodie bags at the I'm Going to Tell you a Secret premiere had a bottle of Fiji in them. I still have mine opened.

Oh and she's been photographed with bottles of Vittel as well..

I know too much. I swear I'm not Madiva.

[Guest maverick25]

Memories of Slane!

[Ste_Dub]

From BBC:

Fans arrive for Madonna concert

Madonna will change her outfit seven times during the show

Around 59,000 fans have arrived in Cardiff as Madonna kicks off the European leg of her world tour at the Millennium Stadium.

The show is Madonna's first-ever performance in Wales.

The Millennium Stadium is the biggest venue to date in the 'Confessions' world tour, which began in Los Angeles in May.

Plans have been put in place to deal with the extra traffic expected from the influx of fans to the city.

The show in Cardiff is the first of 21 dates across Europe, including eight in London.

Adapting her show to each venue, the singer will include an equestrian theme during the opening in Cardiff.

'CONFESSIONS' FACTS

The show was rehearsed for 1000 hours over a period of 12 weeks

There will be 27 performers, including the band, 22 dancers, and Madonna herself

The stage and equipment weighs 200 tons

Eight pairs of shoes and boots and seven costumes are worn nightly by Madonna

The disco-ball rocket ship for the start of the show weighs one-and-a-half tonnes

400,000 watts of power are used for every performance of the show

The tour director said the set was "enormously technical" and was state of the art with its video show.

Chris Lamb, from California, said 150 workers from the USA, along with 200 local people had been constructing the set since Monday.

"People are not coming to see a rock concert - this is a show, closer to theatre than a rock concert," he said.

DJ Paul Oakenfold opened the singer's concert at 1900 BST.

He was due to perform for around an hour and a half before Madonna's two-hour show.

Traffic Wales said it was expecting motorways and major roads leading into Cardiff to be busy before and after the concert adding it had put in place plans to cope with the extra traffic.

Project manager Simon Jones said: "We work with the council, the stadium and the emergency services to ensure that the event runs smoothly."

The gates at the Millennium Stadium are opened at 1730 BST with the concert due to finish at 2230 BST.

Madonna's European tour continues to Wembley Arena and finishes in Prague before it moves to Japan in September.

[Dr Lecter]

Filling up then

[Riverwide]

Ooooh!!!

[nightcutter]

Looking good!!!!! Can't wait till tuesday night at Wembley

[Dr Lecter]

Had a text from Lolly, who posts at Mooopy

Cardiff is overrun with RBBISH GAIS and he rues the day Madonna donned a cowboy hat, as everyone is wearing one

[Riverwide]

Ugh! The cowboy hat thing is SOOO 5 years ago!

[Dr Lecter]

Riverwide (centre) along with QB and Johnnox rethink their tour costume ideas after their trial run through doesnt get a good reaction

[Dr Lecter]

Yay i loved the big pictures either side on BA, i think they were like Roman or Greek statues...and in TGS when they had a woman in a mask either side on the stage

[Dr Lecter]

3 am Girls get ready to write condemning review on HALF EMPTY CARDIIFF STADIUM for tomorrows report

[acko]

My friend txt me:

were front of catwalk

couldn't c shit, 2 high

moved 2 side

got a feeling it will b pants..pfff

(but then, he's really short)

& then:

(...) 3 people of railing

(msg incomplete)