ah where to begin on wednesday night’s experience at madonna‘s third & final show here in los angeles??? i might as well start from the beginning…we arrived about 7pm encountering very little drama (aka traffic) getting there and parking was fairly easy (…but a bit pricey at 25 bucks!) the place was already jumping as people were running here & there all a flutter over ms. madge! i tried not to get too excited beforehand since i always build myself up too much and then i get letdown – i was playing it low key all day long!
my seats were to the left if you were looking straight at the stage and fairly close but the best thing was nabbing aisle seats so there was just a drop more room to spread out plus the venue (the forum) was considerably smaller than the staples center where i saw her 2001’s drowned world tour! the show was supposed to start at 8 but it was around 8:45 when the lights went down and madonna invited us to forget our problems…and for two hours i forgot about everything except that woman on stage – i was mesmerized! i’m still in sheer awe and now i am totally getting a case of writer’s block so i am just gonna go ahead and break it down into smaller bite size chunks – musing on a few of the songs i enjoyed best…
LIKE A VIRGIN
oh my goodness! so she did this song on a horse saddle which was on a pole…we so scored when it was performed on our side of the stage and it was quite close! ok so i don’t even consider myself a ‘crazy’ madonna fan but let me tell you when she is feet away from singing a song you were listening to at the age of seven – you kinda freak out a bit – it blew my mind! the pole & saddle were circling so everytime it swung around everyone went nuts in our section – hands up people – hands up!!! plus she sounded quite good and was doing all these crazy stretches – she can bend her body like nobody! she was in such amazing shape – and seeing her up close like that was fucking brilliant – something i will never forget!
SORRY
this song was shimmy central! her second single had everyone on their feet – i barely sat down the entire show but we had these people next to us – they must have been in their 50’s and looked like nice people but they seemed a drop out of place – so by the time this song is building into a rave-like crescendo – i think they thought everyone (especially me being so close to them) was insane! i didn’t give one crap though! i hadn’t got my dance on like that since my days of NYC clubbing (back when it was good) with gal pal CK and i was sober! the buildup of this song whipped everyone into a frenzy! the lights were flashing – hands were flying – hot dancers dancing…and there in the middle of it all was our beloved madonna telling us ‘she heard it all before’! it was just one of those experiences that makes you lose yourself and totally be in the moment…other awesome dance your ass off songs included get together, isaac, jump, let it be, of course ray of light & music!
LIVE TO TELL
this is like my one & only criticism of the show – this song peformed on a mirrored crucifix came way too early in the show for me – i was all pumped up and dancing and as much as i love this song it was a drop of a buzzkill for me – it was amazing though – she sounded great but i was on such a good high from the first few songs that it just felt a little jarring – it was so funny though – those people next to me seemed quite uncomfortable with madge writhing up on a cross with a crown of thorns atop her blonde locks – they did keep me quite amused…i almost asked them ‘do you guys need to leave?’ but of course i would never do that! and when madonna made some stabs on bush everyone was clapping like crazy except those sticks in the mud sitting next to me – i was like why did they even bother coming? who knows…
I LOVE NEW YORK
of course as much as i love los angeles…NYC is still the best city in the entire world and i love this song – it just got me all thinking about new york and getting semi-emotional – i was so glad she included this song on her tour…when i saw her last time it was only days after sept 11th which loomed heavily on me at the time so when she played this song last night it was a good release for some long-time pent up feeling…it’s really hard to describe but i hope someone will get me on this and i can only imagine how this song will go down in NYC when she plays there in june & july – i would love to be there for that…as high as the energy was last night it will be tripled in NY! we all love NY!
DROWNED WORLD/SUBSTITUTE FOR LOVE
by far my favorite slow song she sang – sitting down and just singing us all a gorgeous song and by this point it was a much needed break to breath and calm down! i drank about five bottles of water and was dripping with sweat – it was VERY hot but apparently was cooler than the first show she played on sunday it was great to chill it out for a few and listen to a song i loved since i first heard it open her ray of light album – she was just as sweaty as everyone else and appeared so adorable and vulnerable during this number but she soon had us back on our feet…
LA ISLA BONITA & LUCKY STAR
these are some great classic songs redone with a fresh twist – skipping around in a white leotard outfit and then donning a cape with lights on the inside she totally takes you back with these numbers – all of the dancers were incredible – the boys were adorable (i guess i really didn’t notice the girls much…) everything was impeccably timed and it all flowed like genius!
HUNG UP
this was the final number of the night (so sad) and of course everyone was running at 200% by this time! she had us all chanting time goes by so slowly – gold balloons were dropped from the ceiling and by the very end she just hung up on us and the lights came up! oh man i could barely feel my feet – i was floating my way out of that place…i hadn’t been in such a good mood like that in a long time! i so needed to just let loose and enjoy myself and this was more than the perfect situation to do just that! we were able to get out of the lot pretty quickly and there was NO traffic on the way back to hollywood where we stopped to get some much needed food & drink over at in & out burger…i was ravenous!
over all i was and still remain stunned 24 hours later! i even listened to madonna at work today…it was far better than her 2001 concert! i literally can’t say it anymore – it was that good – if you don’t have tickets and were thinking to go – please do yourself and try to get your ass a seat! there are still some tix left in various cities…check out all the fun stuff over on confessionstour.com – gosh this was such a long post but i really wanted to write up something fun & from the heart on it! so here is to you madonna – you kicked major ass and popbytes is way proud & impressed – much love to you always! thank you – thank you – THANK YOU! i am so beat and thrilled for this holiday weekend – popbytes over and out…xxoo!
PS many thanks to the way comprehensive awesome fansite madonnalicious.com for some awesome pictures to help spice this post up – i didn’t want to bring my camera although i am now kicking myself a bit over it but i’m not going to stress on it too much…