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jonski43

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Posts posted by jonski43

  1. I don't expect anyone at Madonna's stable to admit to anything as they will get lynched by the press. She never comments when she gets sued etc. She just settles discreetly. In this day and age, admitting culpability to anything is suicidal as it will cause even more people to complain.

    They are hoping this will blow over and most people will just put it down to a bad experience. LiveNation are monitoring complaints over the next few weeks as it takes a while for them to come in.

    Therefore, it important to complain straight away and deal with it. All fans ask for is a decent show which, in this case, many did not get.

    She has got three more tours coming up and she needs to make sure the casual fan is looked after. Her core fan base alone will not fill stadiums.

  2. ^ Jonski I'm sorry you had a bad experience. Mine could have been better as well. The sight lines I had were fine in my block. But the sound was shit. And like people have said the sound was so quiet you could hear people around you talking to one another better than you could hear Madonna. Where we sat there was a time delay of about 1-2 seconds so her vocals didn't match her mouth on the screens. But I still enjoyed the gig and so did my friend - who as a casual fan didn't want to pay more than £65. So to the arseholes here who think 'cheap skates' get what they pay for please try and be rational enough to realise that not everyone can pay for expensive tickets and that for £65 you should at least expect to hear the artist LOL.

    Wembley stadium bills itself as being brilliant for concerts and boasts that it has no restricted views to its amazing, ahead-of-it's-time architecture. I belive this, looking at it there clearly are no restricted views and where rigging would have blocked views at the back of the stadium those sections were not occupied. But Livenation should not have added extra blocks like 529 if it means video screens could not be seen.

    I think we can chalk this one up to 'experience'. But of course people will be peeved if their night out was marred - just like yours was. I'm suprised at some of the c***ish attitudes from members here to your situation. I wonder how they'll feel if the gig they go to gets a technical fault or if they can see the screens either? Lets hope so.

    And on the subject of transport we left half way through GI2M because I knew that thousands would be heading for the tube. I've been to Wembley arena for gigs where 10,000 attend so I know what a bitch-fight 70,000 more would entail for a stadium gig exodus. When we arrived the TFL staff were already closing off underground platforms due to to amount of people. This isn't new - it's what they always do. But it's a bit of a nightmare for the passengers very late at night. IMO Madonna should have started at 8:30. We all know she likes to keep people waiting but Wembley as any UK resident will know is in the arse end of nowhere. It's a terrible location for events even if you live in London.

    Thanks - It does surprise me just how many people here will just sit and be treated like crap by some corporate company just because someone is a "celebrity". Madonna is a great artist but nobody treats me like shit. I am just going to do what I can to let LiveNation they can't treat people like dirt. All I ever expected was a reasonable view and decent which I did not get.

    Some people seem to think I was expecting Madonna to take me to my seat personally. :tongue:

  3. Right. I am back. I started this post.

    Yes, when I got back from the concert I was bitterly disappointed so I came to the forum where I share a common interest with others about a woman who I think is a true musical talent. I blew my top and shot my mouth off but where better than a fan forum? This is exactly what a forum is for - to discuss all things Madonna - good and bad.

    However, I had had a terrible evening - this was my fifth Madonna concert in my 25 years as a fan. I have seen her at old Wembley, Earls Court, Leeds and new Wembley. This was the only time I have complained. Yes, I got cheap tickets - I'm sorry, but I have never been in a financial situation where I could afford the top-priced tickets but it does not make me any less of a fan or even a person. I have over 700 records of hers and continue to enjoy her music. Hard Candy is a superb pop album.

    I have to say I have been very disappointed how people turned on me here. You'd think that people with a common interest would support their associates but no. There have been some pretty shitty comments on here directed at me.

    However, I am pleased to say, since I last posted, there has been a lot more posts explaining that others were in the same situation.

    As I said, I have been to similar gigs before so I am able to comment objectively on the quality of the concert.

    Overall, apparently, the sound and views were excellent on Thursday. My criticism is that the seats we were sold should not have been because the views were not good enough and the sound was terrible. These were sold as 'Side View' tickets but there was no mention of 'Restricted Views' as they do at the theatre. The concert appeared to be sold out but it took ages to get everyone in which may have affected the start time. It was the same at DWT, we were still trying to get in half an hour after she was due to come on.

    I have had similar seating positions before all of which were fine. The stage design this time meant that the side walls came right out leaving only about six feet of the main stage visible and the walkway. Consequently, we saw none of the main video screens and for some reason, the side screen was sometimes not on at all. The big circular one was only used occasionally too so most of the video work was lost.

    However, the main problem was the terrible sound which now appears to have been caused by a bank of speakers going. This clearly affected the seats in the top tiers causing it to be muffled and quiet. You could not hear the songs; Borderline and Human Nature were really bad. Often it was only when she got to the chorus could you really hear the vocals. It took me a while to work out Spanish Lesson as there was just no bass or vocals to guess it. People were chatting all over the place because the volume was so low you could quite easily talk without raising your voice.

    I thought she sang live and haven't got a problem with that. The round screen had some great graphics such as DWRY. I didn't see any of the video backdrops such as 'Here Comes The Rain' as the side screen was angled so badly.

    At previous concerts, I have had similar seats and been able to see the screens, a reasonable amount of the stage and hear very well and I have never complained.

    When I booked the seats online, it was on the day they released a new load a couple of weeks ago. I thought I may as well go. By the time my friend confirmed several hours later, it had made no difference to the seats that we could get. Only six pairs had been sold in that time so I pretty much just had to take those on offer.

    Overall, I think that the tickets that I had should not have gone on sale. I have rung and written to LiveNation and they said they are monitoring how many people complain and will respond in a few weeks once they have got all the details.

    As for the transport issue, when we were on the tube on the way in a voiceover said that special extra trains would run between 10 and 11. Clearly, they had not worked in conjunction with the stadium if she is supposed to come on between 8.30 and 9.00.

    I left during Give It 2 Me. It took 20 minutes to get on to the trains. Hundreds of people were already leaving and with so many people going into the Underground it really slows down so I can totally understand how thousands could not get onto the train. I think it is ridiculous that a capital city's transport network is not geared up to be integrated with huge events like this especially as it is so far away from the centre where people need to get their trains and buses out of the capital. God help us when we stage the Olympics.

    I do think Madonna has a duty of care to her customers. She has been touring for 23 years and should have a decent enough management team to be able to stage a show on time. I don't get the 'She's Madonna, she should be late' thing. She's a professional performing artist whose future career is based on touring now that album sales are in decline. If she pisses people off, they will just spend their money elsewhere.

    So, thanks to those that supported me or at least listened and understood. I'm just a fan who came to a fan forum to have a gripe which is, afterall, the purpose of a forum.

  4. But that is the point!

    I have had cheap seats before and know what to expect. Yes, the view won't be as good but to be not able to even hear what the song is? To not even be able to see the screens that are supposed to be there for the people in other locations. It was so quiet you could have a conversation without raising your voice.

    At the theatre, you can get 'restricted view' seats and you know what to expect.

    We couldn't see or hear. I kept having to tell my friend what the songs were.

    And £65 is a lot of money - if someone stole that out of our wallet you would be mightily pissed. Also, there were all the additional costs of transport etc. The day cost well over £100 in all.

  5. thanks for someone backing me up. I bought the ticket on the strength of the Cardiff video as the show looked great. I think it is a great tour, set list etc. I have had similar seats so new it wasn't going to be the best but this was just a complete joke.

    Secondly, it is amazing how many people seem to miss the point of a forum. It is a place where we vent our anger and frustrations. There really were hundreds of people very angry people in the sides and I think this is a point that is perfectly justified to raise in case some others experienced the same thing.

    The other post was for pics and reviews from people who could see what was going on. We couldn't even hear what some of the songs were!

  6. Fuck off closing this thread. There were loads of really pissed off people there tonight who had paid a lot of good money. It was the worst concert many people had been to. Everyone was talking about how bad it was.

    Although I don't expect any sympathy from the dry old queens that parade around this board. Just wanted to see if anyone else had experienced the same thing.

  7. ^ First of all you didn't need to make a seperate posts. Sometimes bad sound happens at concerts & that doesn't mean her production is substandard. It's probably her biggest most grande show & many people including myself think it's fantastic. You just had a bad experience & now you are being a psycho!

    I've every right to be psycho. I got totally ripped off and I'll bloody make a separate post as it dealing with a specific problem. I want to get some info to complain.

    The production was substandard. The staff back it up saying there have never been other problems with other concerts.

  8. Just been to the Wembley gig and it was the shittest of the shittest ever. I got one of the recently released tickets in the gods. I have had similar seats before but these were awful. They should never have been released - we couldn't hear or see even the screens.

    Live Nation have ripped people off. Anyone got the email details of the bosses at LiveNation as that show was fucking disgrace.

    Hundreds of people were desperately trying to get to the unsold seats in an attempt to hear and see what was going on. The staff were saying that no other concert had such bad acoustics so it had nothing to do with the venue. It was Madonna's shit stage show.

    PS: fuck off if you are going to post about should have spent more money. I don't expect the best view but a view and to be able to recognise the songs is not asking to much.

  9. I don't see most of her work as gay. Just the fact she is a ballsy successful female artist earned her that title but most of her songs are just pop and not in any way camp.

    COAD is probably the gayest of the lot but looking at the top ten I am looking at it from a camp factor and the list clearly isn't otherwise it would Erasure, Pet Shop Boys and the Village People hogging the top spots.

  10. The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff is not some backwater village hall. It has great connections and copes with massive concerts all the time and visitors from all over the world.

    I think the problem she has toured quite a few times in the last few years and this album hasn't got the reception COAD had. With the economic problems going on etc, what is the attraction? She also launched it on the last bank holiday weekend of the year when everyone goes away and there were a shed load of other festivals going on. And her ticket prices take the piss.

    I've not seen or heard anything on the tv or radio about it either. No mention of it on Radio 1, so no hype to clear up the last of the tickets.

    There are still tickets available of all prices too for the London gig.

  11. yeah, it's a fair cop that the outfits are the same but let's face it, many of the looks these girls go for are pretty generic now. Every tart on the block wears basques, bustiers, stockings, suspenders, skimpy shorts.

    Can't say any of the costumes Madge has worn are particularly original. Even the Kylie ones look like they ripped off Keep It Together on the BAT in the first place. Feel sorry for the male dancers though. They do look a bunch of twats in their basques.

    And Grace Jones did the boxing thing thirty years ago. :boxing:

  12. Okay. I fucking cheated and looked at one more performance! LOL. I am SO weak!

    Buy my GOD! Epic is all I can say. Freakin amazing as all hell! And the song she mixed it with I hear on Sirius all the time. I had no idea who sings it but I found that its Meck-Like Home.

    One of the most chilling inducing performances of her career! I cant imagine what its going to be like live!!!! Madonna does it again. :dramatic:

    I've already posted this along with the mp3 of the Meck song.

  13. Holiday from WTG Tour and Gambler from VT are both examples of how rock versions can work for her.

    I'd prefer it if she just walked around the stage instead of stand there with a guitar but let's face it, I imagine it is very enjoyable for her to play it from an artists perspective which must be respected.

    Glad to see Vogue had some life in it after the disappointed RIT version. Can't wait for that demo to leak so I can practice my moves ;)

  14. And here is a review from the Times. I must agree with some of the sentiment towards the end about meaningless video montages, just like the 'Sorry' montage. Just the usual assortment of clips of world leaders and 'gurus' to show us she cares about things. New songs, same old message, same old money-making machine. She should save the politics for Lourdes and Rocco.

    Madonna at the Millennium Stadium

    American singer Madonna performs onstage at the Cardiff Millennium Stadium on August 23, 2008 during the first concert of her "Sticky and Sweet" world tour

    Madonna opened her ’Sticky and Sweet’ world tour in Cardiff

    Stephen Dalton

    Hours before Madonna launched her "Sticky & Sweet" world tour in Cardiff last night, the phenomenal pulling power of history's biggest female pop star was evident for miles around. Heavy traffic tailbacks clogged main roads into the city, while a carnival atmosphere prevailed near the venue, where stallholders enjoyed a brisk trade in pink furry cowboy hats and feather boas. I am still wearing mine.

    Never mind that the Millennium Stadium was only two-thirds full, or that tout tickets were changing hands nearby for half the original £90 asking price. And never mind that the diva kept us waiting so long (she was more than an hour late) that the excitable crowd eventually began to boo loudly. Yet when she finally arrived, her amazingly taut 50-year-old body wrapped in skimpy burlesque gear and shiny top hat, the sheer totalitarian spectacle silenced all doubters.

    The two-hour show was divided into four chapters: Pimp, Old School, Gypsy and Rave. As ever with Madonna, dazzling theatrical touches abounded. Most were achieved using brilliantly programmed, billboard-sized, mobile video screens that allowed her to duet with Britney, Kanye and Pharrell – and to dance with no fewer than three virtual Justin Timberlakes. Early in the set, a vintage car materialised during the deluxe disco anthem "Beat Goes On", gliding up and down a catwalk protruding into the audience. Fantastic.

    Later, during "Spanish Lesson", Maddy’s dance troupe appeared as hooded monks, eventually shedding their robes to reveal brightly hued matador outfits. This jumble of costume changes and disconnected images was often confusing: one minute we were watching a slightly scaled-down version of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, the next a stage musical of "The Da Vinci Code".

    Maddy’s latest album, "Hard Candy", accounted for nine out of the 22 numbers played. It is a decent record, well received both critically and commercially, but it takes a hefty dose of misplaced self-belief to favour bland filler such as "Heartbeat" or "She’s Not Me" over "Like a Virgin", "Material Girl", "Justify My Love", "Cherish" or half a dozen more ######ling omissions.

    Throughout the show, Madonna self-consciously referenced the 1980s Manhattan which shaped her early career. There were robotic dancers in glittery crash helmets – Daft Punk meets Damien Hirst – plus chunky hip-hop beats and computer-game graphics galore. "Into the Groove" and "Music" came backed by animated Keith Haring artwork and a superbly realised, graffiti-splattered New York subway train. Meanwhile, Maddy and her team sported Day-Glo legwarmers and performed synchronised skipping-rope dance routines. Highly impressive, in a "Kids from Fame" kind of way.

    The boldest digression of the evening was the Gypsy section, a full-blooded campfire singalong affair. For "La Isla Bonita" and "You Must Love Me", the latter taken from the musical "Evita", Madonna gathered a band of fiery acoustic players around her, led by Alexander Kolpakov, director of the Russian folk music and dance ensemble Via Romen. Clearly her recent fascination with the gypsy-punks Gogol Bordello has left its mark.

    Of course, this kind of musical tourism could easily be dismissed as tacky tokenism, a cheap holiday in someone else’s mystery. But in reality it was audacious, surprising and rather splendid. Madonna should consider an entire tour or album featuring gypsy-folk arrangements of her greatest hits.

    Less convincing were the grating interludes in which she strapped on a guitar to play mildly raucous, ersatz garage-rock versions of classic singles, including "Borderline" and "Hung Up". Oh dear. Not that revved-up riffs should be the sole preserve of male rockers, but Madonna’s flirtation with power chords and feedback had all the plastic-punk conviction of Mel C or Kelly Osbourne.

    Equally disappointing was the lack of vintage Maddy scandal. There were no mock crucifixions, no simulated lesbian orgies, almost no gratuitous swear words. Instead, we were treated to earnest but meaningless video montages of Al Gore, Gandhi, Aung San Suu Kyi and – inevitably – Barack Obama. Woolly sentiments prevailed. No religious groups were offended in the making of this show.

    Closing with an oddly anticlimactic "Give It 2 Me", "Sticky & Sweet" is an archetypal 21st-century Madonna tour: hugely impressive, technically slick, musically uneven, and slightly soulless. Compared to other recent mega-shows in comparable venues, such as those by Prince or Leonard Cohen, it lacks warmth and wit. But in the premier league of sense-battering, unit-shifting, song-and-dance spectaculars, the robot queen of pop remains unrivalled and undefeated.

  15. I think they are uninspired. First one looks like every bloody hippy chick going, second looks like Xtina's old cast offs from that video and the robe is just Frozen recycled.

    She just seems to be saying 'Looks kids, I may be fifty but I can still wear the same stuff as you guys'. She used to set trends, now she just proves she can keep up.

    They may look better live.

  16. Whenever I see anything like this I take it with a pinch of salt. So much of what we read is just pr postings. Nobody wants to read that the tour plans are going well and things are on track. If that had happened and we had been given a definitive set list we would not have had forty + pages worth of speculation. The press need an angle to maintain our interest

    But I have realised I am on a site full of Madonna fans so telling a load of drama queens that most of the news reports they read are made up is probably a futile idea. :queenbitch:

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