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Camacho

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I really want her to pull out all the stops on this one. It is unlikely she will do Moscow anytime soon again. Or Houston for that matter.

james

I dont think she will ever do Houston

I love your signature! It's SO true! :)

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rawstory.com

Against the odds, Madonna rocks Moscow

Deutsche Presse Agentur

Published: Tuesday September 12, 2006

By Nick Allen, Moscow

She was to be kidnapped or crushed with her fans by a stadium roof, eternally damned by the church or forced to cancel by petty incompetence and greedy intrigue. But against all the odds, Madonna performed in Moscow Tuesday night to a roar of acclaim. Whether fired up by irritation at the problems, or coolly tapping a quarter of a century of performing excellence, the 48-year-old pop diva delivered a blistering show for some 50,000 people in the Russian capital's Luzhniki stadium. With the song I Feel Love she embarked on the set of her controversial Confessions tour.

In the preceeding weeks, the biggest music event of Moscow's year began to resemble a grotesque soap opera with an ever changing cast, as a succession of figures proclaimed that they were the real organizers.

Promoters and police clashed over the venue, supposedly owing to security considerations, and after the gig was pushed back a day, furious fans were given less than a week to swap their tickets for the concert planned by the university for new ones at the stadium.

A Moscow architect whose buildings suffered two horrific collapses said powerful reverberations from the music could literally raise - and bring down - the stadium roof.

Extra security was arranged after British media claimed that the Russian mafia wanted to abduct the singer, her son Rocco and daughter Lourdes.

Russian Orthodox Church believers tore up Madonna's picture at small rallies round town, angered mainly at the song Live to Tell, where the singer undergoes a mock crucifixion in a crown of thorns.

And all the time, her fans tried to forget the debacle of the scheduled Eric Clapton gig by Red Square a month earlier, cancelled at the last moment amid conflicting rumours about the reason.

Meanwhile, the scalpers had a field day marking up thousands of mysteriously channelled tickets that were officially priced at 1,500 rubles (56 US dollars) to 25,000. Days before the event, VIP seats were reportedly selling for more than 95,000 rubles in a country where the average monthly salary is around 10,000 roubles.

Somewhere in the melee voices could be heard calling for what most people wanted: a show that lived up to her reputation as a performer and Moscow's as a city that successfully hosted concerts by other top acts like the Rolling Stones, Robbie Williams and Joe Cocker.

"Maybe Madonna's fans will get to see not some bellicose champion of depravity and other heresies, not an instigator of petty political squabbles, but a singer whose show simply deserves respect," the Novaya Gazeta newspaper wondered on the eve of the concert.

It didn't look possible, with showbusiness insiders lashing out at a constantly deteriorating chain of weak command in the concert's organization. Some blamed the singer's US representatives, Live Nation, for trying to maximize profits by hiring Russian ground operators who were out of their depth from the start.

But, as they say, it was all right on the night. Moscow had its Holiday, while the mafia and other sundry forces and calamities were left to strike another day.

Madonna's Confessions tour began in May and is expected to break all box-office records for a female artist, with anticipated gross revenues of 200 million dollars.

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50,000 watch Madonna's Moscow debut

MOSCOW (AFP) - Some 50,000 spectators, 7,000 police officers, and a handful of Orthodox Christian protesters congregated at Moscow's largest stadium for Madonna's controversial debut concert in Russia.

A week after a hundred believers gathered to let Moscow know that the American singer was "under the influence of the devil", threatening an "inquisition" if she came to Moscow, police said they held 10 Orthodox protesters near the concert.

The public, however, appeared to ignore the Russian Orthodox Church's call for a boycott of the concert, with tickets selling out in record time.

Police said the concert went off without incident, despite the fact that Madonna defied church warnings against "exploiting Christian symbols" by singing from a cross at one point during the show, ITAR-TASS reported.

----

Some AP pics here:

http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?e...p;c=news_photos

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from www.bbc.co.uk

Madonna has played her first concert in Russia, singing suspended from a cross in a segment the Orthodox Church said was blasphemous. The singer performed in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium, marking the end of the Europe leg of her Confessions tour, despite threats of religious protests.

About 7,000 police joined tens of thousands of fans in the stadium. The show passed off without incident.

Madonna had kept a low profile since arriving in Moscow on Monday.

The gig was delayed to avoid a clash with 11 September anniversary events.

Crown of thorns

The 48-year-old singer has outraged many Christians in Europe with the mock crucifixion.

The singer is in need of spiritual help

Father Vsevolod Chaplin

She began the show descending from the roof in a horse-rider's outfit but for the controversial segment wore a crimson blouse and a crown of thorns.

Despite the controversy, all of the tickets were highly sought after. The cheapest cost 1,500 roubles (£30), higher than Russian's legal minimum monthly wage of 1,100 roubles (£22).

All of the fans went through metal detectors and faced searches of their bags.

One, Igor Antipov, 27, who had travelled from St Petersburg for the concert, said: "It's pop music and modern art. The Church is another part of our life. I'm an Orthodox believer and I can see the distinction."

Russian Orthodox groups have been protesting in Moscow

But Orthodox Church spokesman Father Vsevolod Chaplin told the Pravda website: "This lady has been glorifying human passions with the help of religious symbols for years - crosses, statues and beads.

"Now she thinks it is time for her to crucify herself in public. It means the singer is in need of spiritual help."

Last Friday, Dutch prosecutors said a priest had confessed to making a hoax bomb threat while unsuccessfully trying to stop Madonna's concerts in Amsterdam.

Madonna has defended the scene.

"I don't think Jesus would be mad at me and the message I'm trying to send," she told the New York Daily News in May.

The Confessions tour began in Los Angeles on 21 May and concludes with two concerts in Japan - in Osaka and Tokyo - next week.

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Guest Little Red

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?N...4&PageNum=0

Russians give scream of joy at Madonna show

12.09.2006, 23.19

MOSCOW, September 12 (Itar-Tass) -- Russians gave a scream of joy as Madonna finally appeared on the Luzhniki stage to give her Confessions show.

“Hello Russia! Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for coming,” was her reply.

The show started with Future Lovers, as the singer wearing a black jockey’s wear and a whip appeared from a giant crystal flower. The Live to Tell came fifth, showing the singer on a Swarowski-decorated cross in a bright red blouse and a crown of thorns.

All in all, Madonna will sing 18 songs, including those from her new album and old hits.

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Guest boytoyville

I take it she didn't do anything extra special for this show then? I hope we get some video on youtube from Moscow during future lovers and live to tell...I bet the crowd reactions were great.

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Guest Little Red

someone on Tribe received a text message from somebody at the show saying that she sang Give Peace A Chance before or after DW.

Guess we'll have to wait for confirmation on that.

bbcrussianzc7.th.jpg

Мадонна

Мадонна

Мадонна

:clap::thumbsup::angel:

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Guest Little Red

I'll just keep posting away....

From smoothdog2000 on Tribe:

not got a lot more to add but did get another text from Tom saying that the show was the same other than that- he said after Let it will be she said she had been in show business 24 years and it's always been her dream to come to Russia- the Russian crowd went wild! Then all the crew came on the stage and she sang 'Give peace a chance' but the Russian's didn't get it and thought it was the end of the show! lol! That's all he wrote so far

amalia

Oh! I've just returned from the show! Yes she sang this song which came to all of the fans as a BIG surprise. But noone knew the words and we fucked up Embarassed . As for the cameras - they were not allowed but security almost didn't check it, so i've brought mine and a lot of others did. I saw ppl shooting videos, so i hope it'll be online soon/

somebody else mentioned that they spoke to Jamesy (of madonna-tv) after the show and that we should check his website soon! :)

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Interesting Washington Post article (with some recycled material):

Madonna's Russian 'Confessions': Good for the Sale

By Peter Finn

Washington Post Foreign Service

Wednesday, September 13, 200

MOSCOW, Sept. 12 -- At 6:48 on Monday evening, the Russian news agency Interfax finally broke the suspense that has gripped this city for weeks, issuing a terse bulletin: "Madonna arrives in Moscow."

Wearing a fur-trimmed black parka more suited for Siberia than Moscow in September, the singer slipped into a country that has been experiencing a fever of excitement and excoriation.

At Luzhniki Stadium on Tuesday night, more than 50,000 people attended the singer's "Confessions" tour concert, where the best seats cost more than $900 -- nearly twice the monthly salary of an average Muscovite.

"People had a good time," said Tatiana Praslova, a 20-year-old student, after the concert. "She was great. A great performer."

Not everyone, however, got into the groove.

"This vulgar pop star is abusing Christian symbols," said an elderly Orthodox woman singing hymns with a small group of female protesters outside the concert. She refused to give her name, saying only, "I am a sinner."

The concert of the year was -- as is the Material Girl's wont -- the controversy of the year. Madonna's use of the cross as a prop has spawned protests across Europe and led to the arrest last week of a priest in the Netherlands who confessed to calling a fake bomb threat into the Amsterdam stadium where she was performing.

Russian believers got particularly agitated: Fundamentalist Orthodox Christians declared Madonna the subject of a holy inquisition, and protesters drove a stake through a picture of the singer, whom they labeled an "American Satanist."

Further, the architect who designed the stadium said it could collapse and kill thousands. And the Kremlin took the unusual step of issuing a statement that President Vladimir Putin and his two daughters, contrary to rumor, would not be dining with the pop diva.

The protests were driven by a number in the show when Madonna, wearing a crown of thorns, sings while raised on a cross.

"We declare a new Holy Inquisition that will fight against the sacrilege of crosses, icons, Russian Orthodox symbols," said Leonid Simonovich-Nikshich, head of the Union of Orthodox Brotherhoods, at a protest in the city this month.

The hierarchy also weighed in, calling on believers to boycott the show. The church said, through a spokesman, that Madonna "needs spiritual assistance."

But for the thousands of young Muscovites who streamed into the stadium Tuesday evening, the concert was a measure of their city's emergence as a world-class capital.

"She's here because we have money now," Mikhail Zelony, a 25-year-old business analyst from Moscow, said before heading into the show. "All the controversy is just good PR -- for her and for the church. We love a big fuss."

For years Moscow was a backwater for international rock acts whose star had faded in the West (example: Deep Purple). But the city, flush with oil money and rampant consumerism, has lately become a destination, drawing artists such as Sting and the Black Eyed Peas this summer. And Tuesday night the streets around the stadium were crammed with black Hummers and high-end German sedans depositing the city's elite for an evening out that some thought might never happen.

Madonna's visit to Moscow, her first, was plagued by controversy from the start. The concert was initially supposed to be held at Sparrow Hills, overlooking the Moscow River. But the city police objected to the location, saying it couldn't be secured. Two suicide bombers killed 16 people at a rock concert in Moscow in 2003, and officials feared another terrorist attack.

The promoters also reportedly demanded that windows be bolted at nearby Moscow State University so students couldn't listen free.

After more than 30,000 tickets were sold, the organizers switched the venue to Luzhniki Stadium, built for the 1980 Olympic Games, forcing everyone to line up again to get new tickets. The promoters held a press conference to assure the public that Madonna was still coming.

Then the designer of the stadium said that part of the structure could collapse if the frequency of Madonna's sound system somehow got in tune with the stadium's natural vibrations. That hypothesis might have been dismissed as simply bizarre except that the architect issuing the warning, Nodar Kancheli, built a swimming complex that collapsed here in 2004, killing 28 people.

In the end, the stadium and the singer survived.

The early reviews were positive. "I am a believer, and maybe it's not right, but it was beautiful," said Katya Glasunova, an 18-year-old student, after seeing the song on the cross. "We don't have a right to judge. This is her vision."

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Daily Mail (UK) with even more recycled info:

Madonna 'crucifixion' act enrages Russian church

Pop star Madonna sang suspended from a cross during her first Moscow concert on Tuesday, defying a plea from the Russian Orthodox Church to drop that part of her act because it was blasphemous.

The 48-year-old U.S. pop star has outraged Christian groups across Europe by staging a mock crucifixion on her global "Confessions" tour.

She made no changes for her show in front of about 50,000 ecstatic fans at a Moscow stadium that had been the main venue for the 1980 Olympic Games.

For her entrance, she descended from the roof of the arena inside a glistening ball and dressed in horse-riding gear.

Later she changed into a crimson blouse and hung from a huge cross with a crown of thorns on her head

Madonna, a lapsed Roman Catholic whose shows have been denounced by the Vatican, has attracted accusations of blasphemy throughout her career.

The Russian Orthodox Church called on people to boycott the concert and religious groups have staged protests including one where they drove a stake through a picture of Madonna.

But that did little to dampen enthusiasm among Muscovites who have lapped up visits by Western pop stars who have made sporadic trips over the last 15 years ago.

The concert was the only one Madonna is giving in Russia.

Tickets on sale from official outlets cost between 1,500 and 10,000 roubles ($55-$370).

But black market tickets were on sale before the concert for up to 78,000 roubles ($3,000).

"We are not against Madonna. We're against her blasphemous acts during the concert," Father Sergei Zvonoryov, a member of the Moscow patriarchy press department, said.

"Crucifixion, cross, diadem of thorns on her head. All this is a parody on the crucifixion of Christ," he said.

Police said some 50,000 people had thronged to the Soviet-built Luzhniki stadium to watch the gig, marking the end of her European tour.

Riot police and lines of army cadets monitored thousands of Madonna fans who streamed to the stadium.

Around 7,000 police and interior troops were on duty inside the stadium itself during the concert, Russian news agencies said.

Police detained a handful of radical Orthodox believers protesting against Madonna by singing hymns and holding crosses outside the stadium, local news agencies reported.

But fans had only words of support for Madonna's use of religious imagery.

"It's misunderstood. It's pop music and modern art," said Igor Antipov, 27, who came from St Petersburg for the concert.

Russia's Orthodox Church has been able to fill a vacuum in faith since the fall of Communism in 1991 and has grown in influence and power.

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From ANI Press Agency:

Madonna’s Moscow crucifixion goes without a hitch

London, Sept 13: Queen of pop Madonna proved that religious threats and angry protests are not enough to put a damper in her plans as she went ahead with her concert at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium.

And though the diva had been the target for religious threats due to her mock-crucifixion stunt that she performed at other European venues as part of her ‘Hung Up’ world tour, she didn’t disappoint fans, singing suspended from a cross in one segment.

Madonna’s Moscow concert, that was delayed by a day so as not to coincide with 9/11, marked the end of the Europe leg of her Confessions tour.

And although people attending the concert claimed that there was nothing “blasphemous” about the mock-crucifixion stunt, Russia’s Orthodox Church spokesman Father Vsevolod Chaplin told the Pravda website that the ‘Material Girl” was in serious need of “spiritual help”.

The concert, however, went off smoothly and without any incident.

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