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MADAME X IS A RAY OF LIGHT

LONDON JANUARY 30 2020

 

London, Thursday January 30th. A night to remember, that’s for sure. And a night that went a bit faster than expected… 

After weeks of fearing that this show might be cancelled too – the fear seriously remained until two hours before the start – my patience was rewarded. And boy, what an amazing Xperience this show is. 

I traveled to London alone, having a VIP Crave ticket knowing that I was gonna meet and eat with other fans. One of the many things that make these tours so special: meeting new and familiar faces from all over the world. At 5:30 I walked over to The Palladium, my hotel was one street from the venue. Check in for the diner was at Aqua Nueva restaurant, right across the venue. I received my VIP laminate and was guided to my table. I was seated at one of the single-ticket-tables, where I met Paolo from Italy, Alyssa from Las Vegas and Kevin from New York. The diner was great, quite fitting for a VIP experience. 

After the diner we received our little red cards with our seat numbers written on it and we were escorted to the VIP entrance, which was great because this way we could skip the long lines of people waiting to enter The Palladium. Everything was so well organized, it all went very smooth. The barcode of my ticket was never scanned throughout the evening, which surprised me.

I got to my seat, which was at the left wing. I was lucky though, because three seats next to me remained empty, so I could ‘upgrade’ three seats which made me end up at the aisle. Yay! It was now 8:30, the supposed starting time of the show. After starting only 10 minutes late the night before, this night she kept us waiting until almost 9:30. Still a very okay time for a Madonna show. This late start came with a surprise though… She started with Vogue, which meant she skipped the whole first section: God Control, Dark Ballet, Human Nature and Express Yourself. She also skipped Crave. Quite disappointing, because the first two are amongst my favorites on the album. I don’t know if she skipped these because of her injuries or because of the supposed curfew for London theatre shows. 

That said, Madonna was shining like only Madonna can. She looked amazing, I was fourth row and now at the aisle, so I had an amazing and close view. Wow. She was in a very good mood and quite talkative. Her voice was very strong too. Also, I really thought her dancing was smooth and she seemed to have fun. Not moving in a stiff or painful way, which I expected because of her injuries.

The beer chair moment lasted only like a minute, she ended up with a guy who couldn’t speak a single word of English. Quite painful for both him and Madonna. She quickly ended the conversation by telling him that there are many schools in London that teach English. 

Highlights: I Don’t Search I Find, Crazy, Medellin, Come Alive, Frozen. And that split second moment she was dancing close to me in the aisle during Medellin. Was it Medellin…? I can’t even remember because I was completely mesmerized by her amazing looks, her shiny eyes and smile and by having her only inches away from me.

Extra surprise: after the show I met Aaron, M’s make up artist, outside of the venue. We talked for about an hour, about his work, his interaction with fans on social media and of course about Madonna. Such a nice and kind person he is. 

What an amazing show. If you’re lucky enough to see it: you’re up for a unique Madonna experience. Like you’ve never seen her before.

Marc Nijenhuis

The Queen of Pop overcame injury to deliver one of her most memorable shows yet in London.

Such drama before Madonna could even take to the stage for her first theatre tour since 1985! Would she arrive drastically late? Would she cancel at the last minute? Tenterhooks all round. 

Monday was supposed to be the first of a planned 15 nights at the Palladium, cancelled on doctor’s orders. It was the 10th dropped concert of the Madame X Tour, which began in New York in September and gathered complaints for its late start times. 

But tonight at 8.45pm, there she was, dressed as a bloodstained, eyepatch-wearing revolutionary soldier. She was also a spy, a protest marcher and a Portuguese fado singer in the course of a tireless, imaginative show that was far from shrunken arena pop. Thanks especially to an extraordinary troupe of dancers, it was a spectacle that felt more powerful up close.

Like Bruce Springsteen, who showed a different side of himself in his recent Broadway run, and Kate Bush, whose live comeback was more theatre than concert, the 61-year-old has unearthed something new late in her career. The Madame X album may have plummeted out of the charts in an instant, but here its songs dominated and found their purpose.

Batuka, tuneless on record, was euphoric when performed with a mass of smiling, rump-shaking Batuque drummers from Cape Verde. I Rise was far more powerful when backed by footage of anti-gun protests and gay pride marches.

There were awkward moments. Her knee problems slowed her movement, her three youngest children didn’t need to be wheeled on to shout slogans, and a male fan walked onto the stage to her obvious fury. But towards the end, the Bollywood clatter of Come Alive and gospel uplift of Like a Prayer were pure joy. If she can manage this 13 more times, a lot of Londoners will be very happy.

Until February 16, lwtheatres.co.uk

More at EveningStandard

Madonna made a triumphant return to the stage last night as her Madame X Tour finally arrived in London.

For a while, it was touch and go if she’d even make it to curtain up, after an injury to her knee sustained on the road last year lead her to axe her planned first date at The London Palladium.

But while once the show kicked off, just a measly 20 minutes behind the planned 8:30pm start time – it was clear the wait was worth it.

Delivering a truly staggering two-hour performance, Madonna has transformed her Madame X album into a jaw-dropping live work of art.

The Madame X Tour unashamedly focuses on Madonna’s fourteenth studio album – bringing the Lisbon inspired record to life.

 

★★★★☆ “I never quit!” Madonna told her fans in a statement in late December. Unfortunately, she had done just that — on doctor’s orders. Madonna’s Madame X tour features the reigning queen of pop playing a gruelling six-month schedule of smaller venues, in keeping with the intimate sound of its accompanying album, but even controversial superstars feel the effects of age and a knee injury left her in severe pain, leading to the cancellation of ten dates including her first in a run at the Palladium. Given all this, you could only come out of this bravura show and think: what a trouper.

By her own admission, Madonna is not the greatest singer, dancer or anything else, really. What she does have is the drive

Full article at The Times (subscribers only)

Rating: 

To be honest, I was nervous I wouldn’t be able to write a review of Madonna‘s long-awaited Madame X show last night.

Not because she cancelled – again (this has happened ten times so far, due to an unspecified injury, said to be a dodgy knee and hip) – but because the Queen of Pop has built up a reputation for being ridiculously late on stage during this tour.

Not fashionably late, a whole diva TWO HOURS late, forcing fans to dance into the small hours, on a school night.

But last night at London’s Palladium, Madonna remembered her manners. And painful hip and knee be damned, she dazzled, the absolute trouper she is.

Yes, she looked sore and stiff at times, yet the next minute she was performing an impressive handstand and writhing athletically on a grand piano lid. At 61, she’s still got it. She can dance.

The Madame X tour comes with a difference. She was intent on it being an intimate, and interactive event, and had hence banned all phones.

Everyone was instructed to place their device in a lockable pouch on arrival, which only security could open, as you left or slipped out to designated phone zones.

Although we had been warned, there were wobbly scenes, reminiscent of the daemon splicing scenes from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, as phones were silenced, muzzled and wrestled away. ‘But I neeeeed it…’

It did mean, however, that the usual distracting glow of a thousand photo screens being held aloft was absent which made a refreshing change, and Madonna stressed how wonderful it was ‘to look into the audience’s eyes’, as they fretted about missed calls from the babysitter.

The show opened with a motto from the late American novelist James Baldwin: ‘Art is here to prove that all safety is an illusion… Artists are here to disturb the peace,’ and finishes with police riot shields, attacking dancers under a video montage of a street riot.

All the time, Madonna looked on, clad in a sequin-encrusted Revolutionary war costume, complete with tricorn hat and eye patch. The 1984 pop princess, performing a sassy ‘Holiday’ on Top Of The Pops, in rubber bangles and leg warmers, seemed a very long way away.

She took the ‘immersive, interactive’ theatre feel even further, by climbing down into the audience at one point to truly terrify some poor soul in the ‘posh seats’ and steal a swig of his beer. She also took a Polaroid selfie, which she auctioned, on stage, to raise money for her Raising Malawi charity. It went for £1,500 – around the price of a top ticket.

We all know Madonna has an opinion or two, and isn’t shy about sharing them, which means anyone who likes their concerts light on sermons, and heavy on bop-along-old favourites, is going to be disappointed by Madame X.

She takes on everything: gun control, abortion, Donald Trump, sex, religion, family, rape, violence, slavery and Brexit in her lyrics and soliloquies between songs. Some golden oldies made it, however.

There was Vogue, La Isla Bonita and Express Yourself, and Like a Prayer which had the diehard fans delighted. A lot of material came from her Madame X album, of the same name, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

It’s said to be one of her best to date, combining a strange mix of disco, and Portuguese fado music, inspired by her move to Lisbon three years ago, to further her son David Banda’s football career.

In fact, the show was very much a family affair: three of her adopted daughters, seven-year-old twins Stella and Estere and 14-year-old Mercy James joined her on stage along with a crowd of women at one point, to chant (disturbingly) ‘I’m not your bitch!’, after performing Nineties hit, Human Nature.

Later, she performed Frozen while a video of her beautiful, and athletic, 23-year-old daughter dancing played in the background.

Let’s hope her medical woes have been laid to rest: she still has 14 gigs to get through in the capital. Somehow, I think she’ll do it.

More at DailyMail

Image copyright RICARDO GOMES

Madonna has resumed her Madame X world tour in London, after cancelling dates in Portugal and the UK due to injury.

The star took to the stage wearing knee supports but otherwise refused to make concessions to the “indescribable” pain she has recently been experiencing.

She performed high kicks, yoga poses and even the splits during a highly-polished, two-and-a-half-hour show.

And she told fans she was “happy to have made it” to the Palladium after scrapping her first UK show on Monday.

“How could I not do a show in London?” she added.

‘Intervention’

The Palladium seats just 2,286 people – which made Wednesday night’s show Madonna’s smallest-ever full-length concert in the UK; and her first time on the West End since appearing in David Williamson’s Up for Grabs in 2002.

It provided a chance, she said, for a more “intimate and thrilling” artistic experience.

As a result, the audience were required to store mobile phones in sealed pouches as “an intervention for us all”. However, Madonna admitted that even she was getting anxious without a phone nearby.

“I’m having little panic attacks,” she joked. “I’m like, ‘Why is no-one taking my picture?'”

Image copyright RICARDO GOMES

But the gambit worked: Freed from distractions, the audience gave the concert their undiluted attention; while Madonna seemed to relax and have fun without a phalanx of tiny cameras recording her every move.

At one point, she slipped into a British accent and recalled how she’d been ridiculed for developing similarly plummy vowels during her marriage to Guy Ritchie.

“I didn’t know what anyone was talking about until I heard old interviews of myself,” she said. “And then I was horrified and flabbergasted. Why did you let me do that to myself?

“It’s all Guy Ritchie’s fault,” she decided. “He made me to it.” (Perhaps because of the theatre setting, the crowd booed her ex like a pantomime villain).

Feel-good throwbacks

The off-the-cuff banter made Madonna, who’s often been perceived as imperious and stand-offish, seem refreshingly accessible. But that looseness was often at odds with the heavily-conceptualised musical segments.

The heart of the show had to do with Madonna’s life in Lisbon, where she moved in 2017 to support her son David’s aspirations as a footballer (“yes, I’m a soccer mom,” she accepted).

Uprooting the family wasn’t easy, she said, and she struggled with loneliness until David gave her an ultimatum: “You’re pathetic, you’re chubby and you need some friends.”

In Madonna’s retelling, she found friendship and sustenance in Portugal’s fado clubs, where “I took my loneliness and turned it into something good”.

Image copyright STUFISH

Traditional music percolated the show: Madonna rebuilt Isla Bonita in a fado style and covered Isabel De Oliveira’s Fado Pechincha. During Batuka, she introduced the Orquestra Batukadeiras – a group of female hand-drummers from Cape Verde – one of whom danced with a bottle of rum balanced delicately on her head.

But Madonna being Madonna, there were also dancers in gas masks, nuns playing cellos, cameos from her children (NB: very cute) and urgent messages about school shootings and climate change.

Thematically, it was supposedly tied together by the character of Madame X, a secret agent / prisoner / cabaret singer / cha cha instructor / equestrian / prostitute – but the concept never quite gelled.

Instead, music was the unifying force – from the feel-good throwbacks of Vogue and Like A Prayer to more recent tracks like the gospel-infused Come Alive and I Don’t Search I Find, which updates the deep house grooves of the Erotica era.

Fans attending the star’s 13 remaining London shows will be pleased to learn she arrived on stage within 20 minutes of the advertised starting time, in contrast to the US leg of the tour, where audiences were often kept waiting for several hours.

“I’ve been warned by Westminster council,” she confessed, adding that an “iron curtain” would fall over the production if she broke an 11pm curfew.

Image copyright STUFISH

However, there will be lingering fears over the star’s health, and the fate of future shows.

So far, 10 of the tour’s 93 dates have been called off after the star was ordered to “step back” from performing by doctors.

“I have injuries that have plagued me since the beginning of the tour but I must always listen to my body and put my health first,” she wrote on Instagram over the weekend, after cancelling the opening date of her residency at the Palladium.

Although she seemed in good spirits on Wednesday night’s show, Madonna did admit things were “not good in the knee and the hips”.

But she also made light of the injuries, after asking for a chair to be brought on stage during one of her monologues.

“Normally, I kneel for about 20 minutes here,” she said, a gleam entering her eye.

“I’ve been told I’m very good at it.”

Setlist

• God Control
• Dark Ballet
• Human Nature
• Express Yourself (a cappella)
• Papa Don’t Preach (string introduction)
• Vogue
• I Don’t Search I Find
• American Life
• Batuka
• Fado Pechincha (Isabel De Oliveira cover)
• Killers Who Are Partying
• Crazy
• La Isla Bonita
• Welcome To My Fado Club
• Sodade (Cesária Évora cover)
• Medellín
• Extreme Occident
• Rescue Me (Dance Interlude)
• Frozen
• Come Alive
• Future
• Like a Prayer
• Encore: I Rise

More at BBC

Despite all her late starts at previous shows, M actually started quite on time at a little before 9pm! The show was finished around the clock of 11pm, M did keep saying throughout the show that she was meant to stop on time.

She did not perform either Sodade or Crave this time and did not make any changes to the choreography. She was in good spirits and seemed to enjoy herself a lot.

Madonna addressed her ‘fake British accent’ from when she permanently lived in London. She said she wasn’t aware of it at the time but when she looks back at interviews from those days, she’s like ‘why did you people let me do that?’ she said she blames it on Guy Ritchie as he ‘forced’ her, and that comment was met with boo’s from the crowd. 

The chair for the polaroid moment was out before she could ask. The polaroid sold for 1500GBP, at first she only got the 1000GBP offer which she wasn’t very happy about. 

She seemed to be enjoying performing ‘Come Alive’ the most. Fans agreed that it was an absolutely spectacular show!

Most people have been notified by Ticketmaster that their tickets to the Madame X Tour are finally ready. 

If you log into your account the barcodes should be visible by now, if not, try back later. They’re working on it today.

Madonna : Madame X Tour – The London Palladium

Hi there, Your tickets are now ready! We know it’s been a bit of a wait, so thanks for your patience. All the details have now been finalised and your tickets are ready for you to access. Find your tickets in your Ticketmaster account, or in the Ticketmaster App. When you go mobile, your tickets will not be emailed to you or be available for print. For more information on using the Ticketmaster iPhone app, please click here and for the Android app, please click here. If you have any other queries please visit our eTicket FAQs. We hope you enjoy the show!   Best Wishes, Ticketmaster Customer Service

Madonna is bringing her highly anticipated Madame X Tour to the UK this month.

The pop icon will headline 14 shows at the London Palladium from January 28 until February 16.

The residency will see her play rare and intimate shows to her fans, performing material from her 14th studio album ‘Madame X’ alongside classic hits.

The first show on January 27 was cancelled due to an ongoing injury but today (January 28) the singer posted on Instagram: “Hello London …….. We Finally Made it” (sic).

This confirmed to her fans that the shows will go ahead as planned after they were left worried the entire Palladium run would be cancelled.

If you’re heading to one of the 14 shows then you can find out the setlist and merch info below, or if you want to get your hands on last minute tickets then you can find out how below.

Can I still get tickets?

Although plenty of tickets were snapped up in the initial release – which led to extra shows being announced – fans can still get their hands on limited tickets to every show.

According to Ticketmaster the best availability is on dates February 4, 12-13 and 15 with tickets available here.

To search for tickets for all dates go to ticketmaster.co.uk/madonna.

Alternatively if you’re looking for a specific seated section or date you can get resale tickets from fan-to-fan site Twickets.

The website only allows fans to list their tickets at face value or less, and buyers are protected so you won’t be ripped off or scammed.

To see availability for all dates go to the Madonna page here.

What are the stage times?

We won’t know the set times until the first night of the 14-night run, but fans have reported a stage time of around 10pm at previous shows in Lisbon and the US.

Doors: 6:30pm

Show stars: 8:30pm

What will the setlist be?

This is the setlist she’s been performing on the US leg of the tour according to setlist.fm and it’s expected to be similar when Madame X arrives in London:

• God Control 
• Dark Ballet 
• Human Nature 
• Express Yourself (Acapella chorus) 
• Vogue 
• I Don’t Search I Find 
• Papa Don’t Preach 
• American Life 
• Batuka 
• Fado Pechincha (Isabel De Oliveira cover) 
• Killers Who Are Partying 
• Crazy 
• La Isla Bonita 
• Medellín 
• Extreme Occident 
• Frozen 
• Come Alive 
• Future 
• Crave 
• Like a Prayer

Encore: 

• I Rise

What merch will be available?

These pictures from the opening night of the tour in New York City showcase just some of the merchandise that will be available at the show in London.

Madame X is rolling into town — albeit a little while after schedule.

Madonna was set to begin her mammoth run of shows at the London Palladium on Monday, but was forced to cancel it at the last minute, saying: “Under doctors’ guidance I have been told to rest for a few days”.

It seems the recurrence of an unspecified injury, one that has plagued her tour so far and forced her to cancel nine other concerts, flared up just before she was set to start her London performances.

Let’s hope any medical woes have been put to bed, as the Queen of Pop still has 14 gigs to get through in the capital – and judging by the reaction from critics and fans, the sprawling, multi-discipline show is well worth the wait.

If you’ve got tickets for any of Madonna’s Palladium dates, here are seven things you can expect.

You won’t be able to take your phone with you

A sea of phone screens floating above the crowd is an all too familiar sight at concerts these days, but that won’t be the case at Madonna’s London shows. In fact, the no-phone measures have been in place throughout the tour so far, in both America and Portugal. Upon arrival, fans are asked to place their devices in secure bags, given back to them after the gig. It definitely makes for a more intimate experience, but means you’ll have to go without that killer Insta.

You could bid for a one-off Polaroid snap (but it’ll cost you)

Without any phones at the shows, and with press photographers even banned from attending, pictures of what goes on inside the theatres are few and far between. It means that any snaps from the night are hot property — especially when they’re taken by Madonna herself. In each of the gigs so far, she has taken a moment to take a Polaroid picture and immediately auction it off to the highest bidder. The price is said to have regularly gone beyond four figures, with as much as €5,000 paid at one Lisbon concert. Despite reports of Madonna ridiculing fans for low offers, it’s not a money-grabbing exercise on her part – the money is donated to charity.

You might be able to share a beer with Madonna

The Madame X shows so far have been about much more than just the music. Madonna has been taking time out from the singing to tell jokes — “Ladies and gentlemen, this is what it’s like to have Mozart coming out of your pussy!” is one of the more talked-about lines — and indulge in a fair bit of audience interaction. She seems particularly fond of singling out a beer-swilling audience member and taking a sip of their drink. If you do end up down the front of the stalls, pint-in-hand, then be warned that you might have to share it.

Madonna is bound to make a typically bold political statement

Madonna has never shied away from being staunchly political in her music, and the Madame X tour looks as if it is carrying on in a similar vein. Attendees at her previous concerts have reported changed lyrics in some songs — most notably in Papa Don’t Preach, in which Madonna has been changing the lyrics to “I’m not gonna keep my baby”, in response to the battle for women’s reproductive rights — as well as taking swipes at Donald Trump, gun control and more.

There will be plenty of new songs in the setlist

The setlist has been changing slightly throughout the Madame X tour, but Madonna has consistently been featuring a high number of songs from that latest album of the same name. That’s not necessarily a bad thing — the record was one of her best this century, and proved she could still incorporate contemporary styles into her music — but it does mean some fan favourites from yesteryear won’t get an airing. That said, you can still count on hearing the likes of Vogue, Papa Don’t Preach and Like A Prayer.

Things could go on late into the night

“A queen is never late”. Those were the words of Madonna back in November, responding to criticism over her tardiness at a number of shows on the tour at that point. Whether or not you agree that pop royalty can run on a different schedule to us mere mortals, Madonna has certainly been keeping fans waiting, with various reports of shows not starting until hours after they were meant to. With the concerts themselves lasting longer than two hours, it means that fans at the Palladium should be prepared for the possibility of staying out until gone midnight.

It’s going to be a visual feast

A Madonna show is always theatrical in the extreme, and all of that stadium-sized flamboyance is still crammed into these smaller venues. Audience members at previous shows have reported multiple costume changes — with that now-infamous eyepatch staying on for most of them — with upwards of 40 backing dancers and singers, enhanced by a variety of big-screen videos and visual effects.

More at EveningStandard

And the band arrives at The Palladium! Beware of security though, they’re quite strict!

Thanks to Ralf de Smit