EAST RUTHERFORD - October 4 - PRESS Reports/Reviews/Pics

[Dr Lecter]

at he last one

[GimmeSomeMo]

Didn't Frank Micelota use to do all the stills from live shows and videos and stuff? He's good.

[GimmeSomeMo]

Not so this time around. Instead of performing at the crowd, she was performing for and with them, bringing them into her world with warmth and appreciation. Even when she scolded the few in the audience who weren't on their feet with unprintable language, she was jovial and endearing.

True.

[Guest boytoyville]

Wow, amazing review after amazing review of the North American Opening! Great to see this show getting the reviews it deserves here in te states!

[Guest Danny86]

Madonna opens American leg of tour at Izod Center

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/inde...can_leg_of.html

Stubborn button-pusher that she is, Madonna couldn't make it through her Saturday night concert at the Izod Center in East Rutherford -- the opening show of the American leg of her "Sticky and Sweet Tour" -- without a few Sarah Palin references.

First came a short rant: "Sarah Palin can't come to this party! She is not in my show! She will never be in my show!" During her punk-metal version of "Hung Up," she introduced a purposely grating guitar solo with the line, "This is the sound of Sarah Palin's husband's snowmobile when it won't start." Finally, she donned eyeglasses for the show's closer, the ecstatic dance number, "Give It 2 Me."

Palin's ticketmate John McCain got far harsher treatment. In a video interlude, Madonna grouped McCain with history's villains (example: Adolf Hitler) and Barack Obama with history's heroes (example: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.). Even by pop-concert standards, this was absurdly heavy-handed.

Then again, Madonna wouldn't be Madonna without a little overkill. The show, which is also coming to Madison Square Garden and Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall, was a characteristically lavish affair, with correspondingly lavish prices ($55-$350). She made her grand entrance on a throne, and led a cast of 27 (including dancers, instrumentalists and backing vocalists). There were lasers for "Ray of Light" and "Give It 2 Me"; a catwalk with conveyor belts, extending out to a mid-arena mini-stage; a boxing ring for two dancers to face off in during one of Madonna's costume changes; and, during "Into the Groove," an elaborate group jump-rope routine, plus videos adapted from the artwork of the late Keith Haring.

A video featuring a piece of candy working its way through some intricate, futuristic machinery accompanied "Candy Shop." And Madonna's costumes often had a whimsical flair. During "4 Minutes," for example, she wore a football player's shoulder pads, turned into something colorful and glittering.

For "She's Not Me," a song directed at a romantic rival who "started dyeing her hair/And wearing the same perfume as me," some of Madonna's dancers dressed as former versions of herself -- the street urchin, the dominatrix and so on. Madonna ripped the wig off one and threw it on the ground, then indulged in a full-blown, theatrical tantrum.

Guests vocalists on Madonna's recent "Hard Candy" album (Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Timbaland) appeared via videotape, singing or rapping their parts. Four video Timberlakes actually contributed to "4 Minutes," moving around the stage on portable screens.

An extended gypsy/flamenco segment featured support from the Russian group the Kolpakov Trio and included, among other songs, a radically reworked version of "La Isla Bonita." "Borderline" got an overhaul, too, with a spunky new-wave pop arrangement. And "Music" was remade as old-school electrofunk.

When not reinventing her old songs, Madonna was usually playing new ones -- nine of the show's numbers came from "Hard Candy." There usually wasn't much substance to the lyrics ("My sugar is sweet," she boasted in "Candy Shop," while "Spanish Lesson" offered lines like "Yo te quiero means I love you"). But generally, the beats and hooks were strong enough -- and there was so much else going on, visually -- that you didn't notice.

There were a few pensive moments in the show, such as the longing "Miles Away" (a new song about the difficulties of a long-distance romance) and the stately ballad "You Must Love Me" (from "Evita"). Late in the evening, Madonna asked for requests and, after fans held up signs for "Open Your Heart," sang that oldie with the audience clapping along and just one musician, the drummer, playing along.

But in general, the show was about the new. It was also about spectacle, and dancing (Madonna's middle-aged athleticism is nothing short of astonishing), and blowing off a little steam. "Express yourself, don't repress yourself," she sang in "Human Nature," and she followed that advice, no matter how fanciful or (in the case of the McCain/Hitler video) puerile her ideas were.

[Guest Hafo]

The United Press International (UPI) syndicated review! It most probably be shown on papers all over the world:

Madonna shines at New Jersey concert

http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2008...75961223221961/

HACKENSACK, N.J., Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Turning 50 has not dulled the glow emitted by Michigan native Madonna, who debuted her latest tour at the Meadowlands in Hackensack, N.J., critics said.

Age was no factor as the U.S.-turned-British resident sang and danced for nearly two hours Saturday night, the New York Daily News reported Sunday.

"Madonna lived up to her reputation as the queen of pop," the New York Post wrote, adding the "Sticky and Sweet" tour could be her best live effort to date.

[Guest Hafo]

Newsday.com Backstage Pass section:

Madonna @ Izod Center, 10.4.08

http://weblogs.newsday.com/entertainment/m...nter_10408.html

Forget subtlety.

Madonna's Sticky and Sweet tour, which made its American debut Saturday night at the Izod Center, is overwhelming, a musical shock-and-awe overstuffed with intense techno beats, roaring guitars and an unshakable feeling of standing at the edge of the apocalypse.

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.

She played nine songs from her dance-oriented "Hard Candy" album, beefing up "Candy Shop" and "Beat Goes On" enough to open the show and counting on the new single "Give It to Me" to be big enough to close it. The bulk of her oldies -- from "Borderline" to "Hung Up," either got the metal-guitar riff treatment or got sped up or both.

The result was dizzying, with Madonna flying across the stage so relentlessly that her dancers often took the stage in shifts just to keep up with her. Unlike previous tours that were more about staging, costuming and interpretive dance, the “Sticky and Sweet” tour (which hits Madison Square Garden tonight, tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday) is about partying in the midst of turmoil. The Material Mom sure does have a knack for timing cultural shifts doesn’t she?

The best of her re-imaginings was "Into the Groove," which, despite its new tougher techno backbeat, retained its innocent quality as Madonna jumped rope as playful Keith Haring images bounced on all the massive video screens. The new treatment telegraphed the heavy metal guitar versions of “Borderline” and “Ray of Light,” a continuity that helped the wild, far-flung show hold together.

Everything seemed amped-up so much that when it slowed down slightly, the show deflated a bit, even though Madonna's delivery on the "Evita" ballad "You Must Love Me" was truly lovely. That small respite was a momentum-builder to hammer home the final segment of the show, which included revved-up versions of “4 Minutes” and “Ray of Light” and a thunderous “Like a Prayer.”

With this tour, Madonna somehow conjures up the distraction while still referencing what we need to be distracted from. “Sticky and Sweet” succeeds at moving minds and feet, though, this being Madonna, the latter always comes first.

[Flip The Switch]

The United Press International (UPI) syndicated review! It most probably be shown on papers all over the world:

Madonna shines at New Jersey concert

http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2008...75961223221961/

HACKENSACK, N.J., Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Turning 50 has not dulled the glow emitted by Michigan native Madonna, who debuted her latest tour at the Meadowlands in Hackensack, N.J., critics said.

Age was no factor as the U.S.-turned-British resident sang and danced for nearly two hours Saturday night, the New York Daily News reported Sunday.

"Madonna lived up to her reputation as the queen of pop," the New York Post wrote, adding the "Sticky and Sweet" tour could be her best live effort to date.

I think CT was too "european" for the States, comparing S&S. This concert shows the biggest names like Pharell and West, and its less theatrical, and more fun. That's probably the media is liking this show, besides her persona on stage and the good work.

[GimmeSomeMo]

I think CT was too "european" for the States, comparing S&S. This concert shows the biggest names like Pharell and West, and its less theatrical, and more fun. That's probably the media is liking this show, besides her persona on stage and the good work.

I think this show was conceived as a stadium show that's why its less theatrical and more 'broad' and in your face. CT had beautiful little moments like Forbidden Love to Isaac or Drowned World to Paradise that would be lost in a stadium. This one is big, bad and loud and just gallops at breakneck speed.

[HolidayGuy]

CT was pretty well-received, critically, in the USA. But, this show does seem more fun, to the casual audience.

S&S only has 1 more IC-era classic than CT had, so it's not a matter of her doing more classic oldies.

[Guest Hafo]

But look at which classics S&S has! ITG! Vogue! Music! Like a Prayer! Hung Up! It's like the Ultimate Madge PentaFecta (sans LAV, I give you that) completely reinvented.

[Apples388]

Perhaps it's too early to tell but it seems this tour will be better received by American audiences than the Euros..

[lori]

But look at which classics S&S has! ITG! Vogue! Music! Like a Prayer! Hung Up! It's like the Ultimate Madge PentaFecta (sans LAV, I give you that) completely reinvented.

And Borderline. Don't forget Borderline. After 23 years. What a treat.

[HolidayGuy]

True- and don't be leavin' out "Borderline" and "Ray of Light" among that list. Both tours have LIB, Music and HU and ROL, though- her biggest tour-to-tour overlap in a while.

Also, with CT- "Live to Tell" undoubtedly is a classic, but being a ballad, it was less "fun," esp. with the message behind it. Terrif in its effectiveness, though.

[Littlebastard]

Even our biggest paper(Journal de Montreal) in Montreal had a journalist at the show to review it for today's paper calling her "Untouchable" and RAVING about the show on how great it is in french! Fantastique!

[Guest Danny86]

For Madonna, Beats and the Clock

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/arts/music/06mado.html

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — “Tick-tock, tick-tock,” sang Madonna’s backup singers as video screens and subwoofers blasted to life at the Izod Center. Time obsesses Madonna on her Sticky and Sweet Tour, which made its first American stop here on Saturday night.

Time means beat and rhythm, and it means the pop history encapsulated in the hits she has been making since 1982. It also means the aging that Madonna defies with workouts, image makeovers and what looks like plastic surgery. A 50-year-old working mother, Madonna can no longer be seen as a clubland ingenue, a Hollywood glamour queen, an iconoclast rejecting a Catholic upbringing or a kinky provocateuse, and she won’t be any kind of dowager yet. Time has brought out her core: careerist ambition and a combative tenacity.

Has there ever been a colder pop sex symbol? For all the invitations in her lyrics, Madonna has always projected more calculation and industriousness than affection. She works; her audience looks and pays, becoming another conquest.

“I can keep on going through the night,” she insisted in “Heartbeat” from her latest album, “Hard Candy” (Warner Brothers), which provided nearly half of the concert’s songs. That was the point: There she was, 50 be damned, spreading her legs, strutting, pushing her dancers around, even doing double-dutch jump rope steps without a tangle.

Madonna built her career on her assets — her ear for hooks and beats, her looks, a predictive fashion sense and an instinct for pushing cultural hot buttons — and the Sticky and Sweet show insists, even demands, that they still have their effect.

She pumps up the volume, piles on the beat and mixes the unstoppable and the baffling, the thrilling and the ridiculous. The set had four thematic sections: the present-day dance floor, the old school, the big wide world, and political and spiritual aspirations (via the dance floor). For thumping electro songs from “Hard Candy,” she had the album’s hip-hop guests — Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Timbaland — performing on towering video screens, sharing the proudly mercantile sentiments of songs like “Candy Shop.”

The old-school section, with a backdrop of animated characters invented by the artist Keith Haring, riffled through original elements of hip-hop culture — break dancing, disc-jockey scratching, double-dutch and graffiti — along with (inexplicably) some pole dancing. Since punk and hip-hop were contemporaries, Madonna also picked up an electric guitar for a enthusiastic punk-pop version of “Borderline.” Her moves were aerobic, not erotic; in one song, other dancers spotted her as if they were personal trainers.

Then came a high-fashion, geographically scrambled international romp, as dancers did flamenco, tango, Indian and Middle Eastern moves. The Spanish-language “La Isla Bonita” moved to Eastern Europe as Madonna brought out a gypsy-style band, with fiddle and accordion. It accompanied her in the one song that exposed her voice: the ballad “You Must Love Me,” with woeful sustained notes.

Madonna turned to messages: a save-the-world video that torpedoed its good intentions with overkill, juxtaposing John McCain with Hitler and Barack Obama with Gandhi. Although her outfit and a mop-with-bangs wig made her look like a bad 1970s comic-book character, Madonna was close to inspirational in an electrocharged version of “Like a Prayer,” with golden-rule religious teachings projected overhead. She followed it awkwardly, with guitar-slinging rock versions of “Ray of Light” and, returning to earthly things, “Hung Up,” with a feedback finish. She wants punk’s old rebel credibility.

“No one is ever going to stop me,” Madonna proclaimed in her finale, “Give It 2 Me.” But as the show ended, the last glimpse of Madonna was a video close-up of her sweaty, unsmiling, exhausted face. She had worked hard, and showed it.

Madonna performs on Monday, Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday at Madison Square Garden.

[rafter69]

what time did she start last night?

[FreeMySoul]

She started a little bit after 9

here are over 100+ HQ pix from the show:

http://www.madonna-connexion.com/news.php

[Guest boytoyville]

Perhaps it's too early to tell but it seems this tour will be better received by American audiences than the Euros..

It definitly seems that way. Glad to see it getting the appreciation it deserves. It's so fun,energetic,& free. I was extremely excited to see Re-Invention & Confessions but I have more anticipation for these one than both of those combined!

[Guest Danny86]

She started a little bit after 9

here are over 100+ HQ pix from the show:

http://www.madonna-connexion.com/news.php

Thank you!

Whoever said the opening is not iconic enough?

[Camacho]

Amazing pics, and she looked just as gorgeous up close live. By the way, her body is cut but she didn't look like the Hulk ready to combust like tabloids show her as lately.

[Guest Sinisin]

Great reviews and best pics yet!

[GimmeSomeMo]

Amazing pics, and she looked just as gorgeous up close live. By the way, her body is cut but she didn't look like the Hulk ready to combust like tabloids show her as lately.

Oh totally. She just looks really lean and in shape and her arms are fit but nothing like the veiny man arms of pap pics.

[Subhuman]

Amazing pics, and she looked just as gorgeous up close live. By the way, her body is cut but she didn't look like the Hulk ready to combust like tabloids show her as lately.

She does look great up close, whatever she's had done looks much better in person. Also, every time I see her up close I'm still amazed at how tiny she is. She looks fantastic.

[Guest valhum]

Great reviews

[Mario24]

the show deserve these reviews.. it very good and fun ...

[Guest Hafo]

The BBC report, featuring (who else?) our favourite Madonna fan!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7654283.stm

[JR!]

The BBC report, featuring (who else?) our favourite Madonna fan!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7654283.stm

[Guest Little Red]

Thank you!

Whoever said the opening is not iconic enough?

I still think it's a bit anticlimactic to have her come out on that throne on ground level, which is tiny compared to the splitting cube that wows you at the very beginning. When I first saw it I was expecting her to come out on an elevated platform, thinking of BA or DWT opening.

[markm]

Madonna turned 50 earlier this year, but you wouldn’t know it from the way she looked Saturday night as she opened the North American leg of her Sticky & Sweet Tour at the Izod Center in East Rutherford.

The Material Girl looked as stunning as ever. It’s just too bad the show was a bit of a downer. Touring in support of her latest album, “Hard Candy,” Madonna played a two-hour set that was much more toned down than the high-flying “Confessions on a Dance Floor” mega-production. Fans who wanted to dance the night away on this tour were probably disappointed, as there were only a few numbers that took on a club-like atmosphere.

Madonna did not help the night get off to a good start by going on at 9:20 p.m., about 40 minutes later than a press representative said she would be taking the stage.

The show opened with a video intro that followed a pink ball around what was probably a candy factory before Madonna appeared, dressed in a hot black dress and hotter boots, singing “Candy Shop” while sitting on a chair holding a cane. That was followed by “Beat Goes On,” with large video screens projecting Kanye West, and featuring Madonna and her back-up dancers riding in a white car, which moved down the catwalk to the second stage at the center of the arena.

Video montages broke up the show into four parts. The first break featured “Die Another Day,” her James Bond theme song, as two dancers playing boxers sparred and eventually found their way to the ring on the second stage. “Into the Groove,” one of Madge’s best dance songs, was turned into an exercise video, with Madonna and her dancers jumping rope while wearing bright colors. But the melodic “Heartbeat,” from the new album, helped get things on the right track.

“Borderline,” which has not been performed live since “The Virgin Tour” back in 1985, featured a rock riff, which actually worked. There were a few other surprises in the show, too. During “She’s Not Me,” also from the new album, Madonna walked to the second stage where she played, and at times kissed, the female dancers who were dressed in some of her most iconic images: the “Material Girl,” the “Virgin” bride, the “Open Your Heart” outfit and the “Vogue” look. Then the song exploded into a rush of beats.

“Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You,” one of the best songs from “Hard Candy,” was performed with Madonna singing on top of a piano. It was a strong moment, but it would have been better had she not been practically concealed by the circular screen over the second stage.

Madonna tried to get the crowd going with “Spanish Lesson,” an abysmal track from the new record, but the crowd was not buying it. “Miles Away” was nice, and established a real connection with the audience. But then it went away again with a mixed up version of “La Isla Bonita.”

Things reached rock bottom with a Romanian folk interlude, although the musicians did go on to help her perform “You Must Love Me.” The violin, especially, was beautiful.

The final video interlude featured Madonna’s call to action – showing horrors of the past followed by world leaders such as Mother Teresa, the Delai Lama – and presidential candidate Barack Obama (who received lots of applause).

“4 Minutes,” featuring vertical screens on the main stage with video projections of Justin Timberlake singing, was just OK. What was better was the techno version of “Like A Prayer,” which really got the crowd going. But then the show ended on a low note, with “Ray of Light,” which is overrated as a dance song; an attempt at an acoustic, crowd-interactive “Open Your Heart,” which failed; a rock version of “Hung Up,” which barely featured the signature Abba melody, and a lackluster “Give It 2 Me,” which does not have the pure joy or energy of a classic hit such as “Holiday.”

Madonna always wants to change and reinvent herself, which is fine. But when you are charging $300 or so a ticket, fans expect to see some of the songs they love. Would it be too painful to perform a classic version of her older hits? Just once?

Madonna performs at Madison Square Garden on Monday, Oct. 6, Tuesday, Oct. 7, and Friday, Saturday, Oct. 11, and Sunday, Oct. 12. All shows are sold out.

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/200...15/-1/newsfront