Thirteen shows of which twelve experienced in the Golden Triangle and a surprise treat in Olympia (Paris), the most relaxing and impressive tour I have ever experienced: THE MDNA TOUR.
After releasing my favorite Madonna album (after “American Life”) MDNA, it was finally time for the world tour that we all anticipated so much.
I was waiting in the lobby of the head office of Universal Music in Holland for our meeting to discuss the promo for the upcoming “MDNA” album, when the news dropped. The official digital announcement for Madonna’s live show in Amsterdam was a fact. Pre-sale started for ICON members and I was nowhere near a computer. If we weren’t experiencing stress enough for the meeting, we were now simply stressing out. We thankfully managed to get our tickets and the meeting for MDNA went ahead as planned.
As usual we planned our tour by looking at the itinerary, where to go and what to skip? Barcelona was a must for me as I missed this stop during the Drowned World Tour and since I was so obsessed with all the news reports on this tour, I just had to see the venue for myself. So we did. Unfortunately for me it meant I needed to fly which I hate with a passion, but Madonna has this way of making me breaking down my own barriers. Birmingham was announced later for which, yes I had to hop on a plane as well.
Of course it was a dream come true learning that M would be playing the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, the ArenA that she originally planned to play wasn’t available due to dance festival Sensation and the organisation didn’t want to postpone their date.
I simply couldn’t stay spoiler-free when the tour kicked off in Tel Aviv. In fact, it is impossible when posting daily news on a website, I also was just too damn excited. Without question leading up to my first time seeing the show in person, I had seen the entire show from various clips on YouTube.
Barcelona June 19, 2012
Hans and I took a cab to the Schiphol airport very early in the morning, our flight departed at 06.00 so we needed to be there no later than 4 in the morning. I took my Oxasepam to become more relaxed and a short while after we were allowed to board the Transavia plane. The flight was OK not much scary stuff happening thank God, Barcelona was extremely cloudy though when we arrived. At the airport we found the bus that was able to take us to the city centre. Arriving there we found out we needed to walk up to 25 minutes on the boulevard to reach our hotel, at one point it even started to rain (what a way to start our tour!)
At our hotel we couldn’t check in yet, so decided to walk around and explore as we both had never been to Barcelona before. A little while later we decided to pick up our MDNA entrance tickets at the box office of Palau St. Jordi, however it was too far by foot, a taxi wouldn’t take us and the bus driver completely ignored us, so we went to a shopping mall instead. We found out that the shopping mall included a Fnac store and there we could pick up our tickets too.
It wasn’t until later that evening that we finally found some banners advertising the MDNA show, they were on large poles right next to the water.
Barcelona, June 20
The day of our very first live MDNA show, beautiful weather but bloody hot too. We told ourselves to take everything in all at once, be relaxed and avoid stress. We had never been to Palau before, had Early Access tickets and weren’t familiar with the roll out yet, we still headed to Palau quite early.
By bus we went up into the hills on our way to Palau, arriving there around 3 in the afternoon. The sky was bright blue and the sun was sizzling, we were happy to be blessed with shorts and hats. Palau was a very impressive, beautiful arena with a gorgeous view. There were a lot of fans already queuing in the hot sun. We met Dave who had spent the night there (respect). After talking for about five minutes we heard loud noise coming from inside the arena and realized we were hearing the intro to the show. Goosebumps all over immediately. She wasn’t starting the soundcheck already? It was still quite early, we found out later that this was the backing tape and M wasn’t there in person yet. Even though I had seen many clips of the show, to hear it ‘live’ sent shivers down my spine, my heart started to beat a little bit faster and I was getting overly excited.
Girl Gone Wild followed quickly, everyone in the queue ‘woke up’ and started to sing along and jump to the beat, a while later we heard Papa Don’t Preach. I became a bit stressed and wanted to find out where the queue was for the Early Entry ticket holders. This turned out to be around the corner of the arena full on in the boiling hot sun. There weren’t any toilets to use, for men it was easy to do their business in the bushes, for the women not so much. There wasn’t anything around to buy drinks or food as well; even though Palau area was gorgeous the organization could’ve been a lot better. Quite a queue had formed already and upon arriving a number was written on our hands (do these ever work?) I found a tree (no not to pee) to find some shade. The waiting started; something we said we wouldn’t be doing this tour.
Over 2 hours later we were told that the iPad lady was coming and we all had to form a line and hold the gate with our right hand, our left hand was free to press the iPad. Like a bunch of crazy bulls everyone threw themselves at the gate, holding on to it for dear life (I love how people always follow each other’s actions). This situation was a bit too bizarre for me, Miss iPad had to start her quest and we were all ready to be judged, like a kettle waiting to be slaughtered for their meat. I sat down and waited for the infamous iPad to reach me, however the organization decided to stop with this ‘circus’ about 3 people in front of me. Then they left without mentioning anything to the people still holding on to the gate. Well, there you are looking like Bambi about to be murdered, and for what? Absolutely bizarre. I was sick and tired of the waiting, not able to empty my bladder and not able to fill my stomach. Security and organization weren’t keeping us up to date on when we could enter the arena and of course no one there spoke English.
After receiving an MDNA watch and even more frustration due to the waiting, the kettle were finally let inside the venue a little before 19.00. The first thing I did was finding a toilet; Madonna wasn’t soundchecking anymore so we missed out on that too. Once inside we first sat down a minute, it didn’t take long for M’s crew to come up and talk to us; it was so lovely to meet everybody. Thankfully we managed to get into the Triangle still. My dinner existed of a cheese sandwich (lovely…NOT).
Because this was our very first show we remained inside the Triangle as we didn’t want to miss out on anything happening. I really liked Martin Solveig’s set. Dave was in the Triangle as well, he did manage to win a wristband by pressing the iPad. Suddenly this handsome man walked into the Triangle and everyone around us went nuts. We had no idea who he was, so we just stood there and watched the whole thing happen. Girls wanted to approach him, but then didn’t as they chickened out? A little while later someone poked me on the shoulder, turning around it was the handsome young man. He complimented me on my tattoo and said that his sister had seen Hans on Spanish television. We got to talk a bit, while being watched by the girls who were aware of who he was. We found out that this was actually Jon Kortajarena, he starred in the Girl Gone Wild video and had a fling of some sort with M? Ha-ha good to know!
It wasn’t until 22.15 that the lights went out, we were up at the front on the right of the Triangle, the excitement became unbearable! The intro is spectacular and the visuals are mind-blowing (so is the sound though, poor eardrums). It was the first time for me during a Madonna show that I thought the dancers were just as stunning and as exciting to watch. There she was….OMG….OMG…Girl Gone Wild…the entire Triangle was shaking; everyone jumped and danced to the beats. Because this was my first show I really wanted to see the show, so I wasn’t going crazy like everyone else. I was extremely impressed by the opening, Madonna seemed in good spirits and that worked like a charm. From beginning to end I watched the show with my mouth open, I was so amazed. Madonna has such an incredible energy, I don’t know how she does it, and she truly is Superwoman. The only thing I would’ve left out was the little Born This Way bit, every LG reference is simply one too many. But this would’ve been the show I would’ve created if I were to direct a show for her. I might have added Love Spent and Falling Free to the set list though. After the show I was soaked with sweat and was in need of fluids. The first thing I did was buying a Coke, never in my life have I been so happy with a bottle of coke. After this we walked away together with Dave down the hill by foot, once there we still had to walk the entire boulevard up to our hotel. Arriving there we were completely exhausted.
Barcelona, June 21
We started the day with a small breakfast in our hotel; only to hunt for the local newspapers right after. There were quite a lot so we bought them all (two of everything? YES two of everything please!) We walked back to our hotel when we needed to cross the street, I don’t know what happened exactly but I fell down and hit the concrete HARD. To shield my face from hitting the road, my hand and left knee took the blow. I was not amused! I managed to walk back to the hotel and ask for some antiseptic and surely the reception didn’t have any (probably a luxury thing in Spain to have a first aid kid in your hotel). Hans went to find a pharmacy at 9 when the stores opened so I could ‘fix’ myself a bit. After this typical start of the day, we walked back to the shopping mall in the afternoon and ate some pizza. Took the bus again to Palau, it was another hot day in Barcelona. We relaxed a bit in the shade and when the doors opened we lined up in the queue.
This time we decided to enjoy Martin S. from outside of the Triangle, where we ran into the crew again and had a nice chat. A while later we ran into Guy Oseary in the Triangle; he was surprised to see us, said hello and took a photo (published on his Twitter and M’s Facebook later). I immediately found out that wearing glasses AND sunglasses together was NOT a good look. M started the show at 22.15 and sure enough it was a blast! Right before Masterpiece she thanked her fans “without you I’m nothing”. Rocco seemed to be a huge hit with the crowd and everyone wanted to touch his hand as much as Madonna’s. I admit; I adore Rocco too! After the show it was the ‘long walk back ho(tel)me’. Tomorrow we got to go back to Holland.
Amsterdam, June 22
Very early in the morning we took a taxi to the Barcelona airport, this time no Oxasepam as I wanted to try and sit this one out without drugs (not a good idea). After checking in we sat down and waited, my stomach was a bit upset (probably due to the pizza from the night before) so I didn’t eat much. We flew with Transavia; unfortunately things didn’t go well from the start. They started the boarding too late, once we got in I found out Hans and me were sitting behind each other instead of next to each other. I simply went and sat next to him and let the Spanish people fight over my seat. Everyone took too much hand luggage, so a lot had to be brought back and checked in with the suitcases. All the while the pilot didn’t say anything or announced a delay of some sort. Finally when the plane started to move, it had to explore the entire trail and then it had to wait in order to get the OK for take off. We were already late with a 30-minute delay.
It became apparent that it was very windy in Amsterdam and turbulence was expected….well turbulence is something I learned indeed while landing. It took the pilot 45 minutes to land the damn thing. It was extremely windy and the plane was going up and down and moving from left to right and then some. Since we were too late we had to wait until we could set foot on the ground and the plane had to circle above the airport until it got the signal it was OK to land. I completely panicked and couldn’t take it anymore. Imagine flying in circles while the plane is going up and down, shaking from left to right due to turbulence…..NOT GOOD. When we finally were safely on the ground, I was thanking everyone that I was still alive and told myself NEVER to fly anymore, screw Birmingham I am NOT going! What a terrible company, terrible pilot, terrible stewardesses, terrible weather, terrible plane and terrible service!! I was so happy to be home that I could not stop smiling ALL day.
Berlin, June 27
At 6am we drove off by car on our way to Berlin, we’ve done this before during Sticky & Sweet in 2008 and it was very doable. We printed a map so that nothing could go wrong, unlike 2008 when we wound up in the vlothoerstrasse (when translated it says something like fasthookerlane). It was one straight long trip on the highway, nothing much to do but steer the wheel and singing along to cd’s. We arrived in Berlin after a mere 6,5 hours; we found our hotel quickly as it was right next to a busy street. After checking in we could enter the room. Despite the bad weather (yeah of course there was rain), we decided to explore the neighborhood a bit (walked in the wrong direction though, as usual) and eat something at Subway. We did find a supermarket with a bunch of German newspapers that included quite a few articles on M though.
Later Caroline arrived in the same hotel as us. Right across the street from our hotel was a pizza restaurant called something with Al Capone in its name. We ordered pizza there and even though we didn’t quite understand the wit of the waiters and their timetables, the pizza was utterly delicious!! M had arrived in Berlin that same evening and was staying at the Soho Hotel right near the Alexanderplatz.
Berlin, June 28
Everything today evolved around the so terribly important EK (European championship soccer). Tonight Germany was going to play against Italy, but Madonna would be playing her own battle as well tonight in her MDNA show. So every German ‘fan’ was in doubt, should I stay or should I go? I can understand that it must’ve been an awful decision to make; I sympathize with everyone that chose to stay home and watch soccer…more so since Germany lost to Italy that night.
The weather had taken a turn for the better and it was sizzling hot! No cardigans, vests, long jeans and jackets but hats and shorts it was. We took the subway to the o2 together with Caroline in the afternoon. We didn’t need to switch to a different metro as this one was going straight to our stop; it was quite far from our hotel. Caroline had an Early Access ticket so she wanted to join the queue ASAP. There wasn’t much shade at the o2, but thankfully there were toilets and a place to eat something. Being a vegetarian is quite difficult in a country where everyone lives on curry sausages. During the wait we met up with Neil, Tony and Fred, thanks to them and the laughter the waiting passed by quickly. We spoke to a lot of people who knew us from our website and were filmed by local television crews.
Once inside the venue we ate some fries (soooo healthy) and the extremely expensive soft drinks (6 Euro’s!!) only to get 2 Euro’s back when returning the cup. Martin Solveig played the same set as in Barcelona but this time added Love Spent to it (God I looooooooove this track). M started at her regular time of 22.15, but right before there was a lot of booing going on (the Germans were upset by losing the game I think). M was spectacular, only bit that was a bit of a letdown was the fact that Rocco wasn’t there to perform with his mum. During Human Nature her heel got stuck in her pants, which made her say “oopsy daisy”. She missed a few words in Open Your Heart. The crowd was a bit tame and only came alive when she started to sing Like a Prayer (hallelujah, I KNOW this song!!) Despite the many rumors on playing empty seats due to the soccer game, this arena was packed. Because M had started too late, we had to run to catch the last subway back. Since everyone attending had to get that one, we were absolutely crushed inside. I leaned against the doors with my pink hat and thinking to myself ‘what the hell am I doing?!’ Exiting at our stop it was time for our ritual ‘drink coke, eat chips and look at pictures’.
Berlin, June 29
A non-Madonna day today. So what else to do but playing ‘tourist’ and going to the Alexanderplatz. When you’re there why not go to M’s hotel? And if you cannot find the hotel, why not take a taxi? Of course the driver managed to agree on the ride, only to drive 15 seconds down the road and telling us we had reached our destination! And yes, he still charged us…. Stupid tourists! Oh my, the driver of that taxi must’ve been laughing at our stupidity, I don’t blame him, I was being an idiot. Of course there isn’t a flute (or piano) to see at the damn hotel. Other than a terrace on the roof WITH swimmingpool, everybody up there was wet from swimming, and we down here from sweating our asses off. We felt like two ridiculous nerds, looking up at that terrace on the roof instead of doing something useful, so that is what we did….we went back to our hotel (now that is something you can call: useful).
We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe that evening and sang along to Fun’s We Are Young, a song that has been following us since Barcelona. The burgers gave us a bit of a tummy ache though, so it wasn’t that much ‘FUN’ for us.
Berlin, June 30
Another sunny day in Berlin! This time we took the train to the o2, much more relaxed and a bit faster too. We had Early Access tickets so we could access the arena a bit earlier. When entering we saw Lola dining with some other crew members. We decided to remain in the back of the arena while we had Triangle wristbands, and only enter the Triangle right before M would appear. We bumped into Monte, had a nice chat and took a pic. After this we saw Guy and discussed Dutch syrup wafers which we gave to a few people in the crew (they loved them). We also saw Tony (wardrobe) and some dancers. Everyone confirmed they were all very much looking forward coming to Amsterdam.
Once in the Triangle we spoke to the ladies who are in charge of hair and make up, they interviewed us with hairspray cans. M started at her 22.15 and she was truly feeling it tonight. Something went wrong with her Gang Bang motel room set; wires became tangled in the set leading it to slide on stage sideways. Thankfully technical people were there to sort the problem or the Triangle people would’ve been squashed by the motel room. Now THAT’s what I call a Gang Bang! M spoke of the meaning of Saggaro Jo during her speech, if you heard her speech you know that if we say “Saggaro Jo motherfucker” we are standing up for our rights and stepping on apples.
After Like a Prayer we exited the arena to prevent another ride back home as sardines in a box. Thankfully this worked out and we had a nice relaxing ride in the train back to our hotel. Surprising how many young people in Berlin drink alcohol on the streets, I needed to mention this, so there…done.
Amsterdam, July 1
Time to drive back to Amsterdam; unfortunately we didn’t have a printed map for the way back, so we made a mistake getting out of Berlin. Once on the highway things were fine, halfway through our trip we started to get really tired though. Back home I really needed to rest, I had a feeling I was getting a severe cold as well. I needed to be ready to welcome The Queen to my hometown Amsterdam!
Amsterdam, July 7
Madonna already arrived in Amsterdam and had been spotted at the Conservatorium hotel (right around the corner of my mother’s house) and in several clubs. She also rented the largest theater at the Tuschinski to watch my favorite movie this year so far (Intouchables). Wise as I am, I didn’t visit her hotel, neither tried to find her anywhere in Amsterdam, because I was sick and felt absolutely terrible. I did run into Monte Pittman on Friday, we chatted and came up with the idea to arrange an in-store for him on Sunday morning in FAME music store. I called and emailed but unfortunately it was too short notice for FAME to arrange sound equipment for Monte so the entire thing didn’t go through unfortunately, maybe some other time!
It was time for The Queen in my own city (she was practically playing in my garden), what an amazing feeling! Intoxicated by Codeine (not cocaine), Vitamin C-1000, nasal spray, aspirins and antibiotics I made my way with Richard and Hans to the Ziggo Dome. Thank God the weather was sunny and it was hot out which made the waiting bearable. We ran into our friends and had a great time. After handing out a few ‘I MDNA’ postcards to the waiting crowd and giving some more syrup wafers to the M crew, we went for a beer and some coke at a nearby pub. It was very crowded on the ArenA Boulevard; the people in white were not there to attend a kaballah meeting or wedding, but to attend Sensation. The people in shirts saying stuff like ‘Madonna is the queen’ or ‘there’s only one queen and that’s Madonna’ were there for M. The surrounding pubs were playing a lot of Madonna, so it got us in the mood.
Once inside the Ziggo we noticed how incredibly small it actually was. We heard that M did her soundcheck with the crowd, something we missed out on as we simply needed to enter the arena without stress. We dumped our stuff in a locker (why does only the Ziggo have lockers? this is soooo convenient), ate some fries and enjoyed Martin Solveig (isn’t it just a CD he plays every night?) Hans had a photo pass thanks to Live Nation and with M’s management approval; he stood next to photographer William Rutten and took pics together with Dutch press. Ziggo was packed, absolute sell out.
Richard and I were in the Triangle, extra special as it was the first time for Richard to see M play live. As I did not bring a jacket, bag or other unnecessary stuff I was free to jump around as much as I could. I went crazy from the start and jumped non stop (oh my gosh…it is true you just get more energy when you actually move instead of staying still). M seemed to be enjoying herself and had quite a long speech prepared right before Masterpiece, she spoke about racism, Saggaro Jo and her ‘real fans in the triangle’ leading of course to booing by the people on the sides, wrong choice of words Madame! After Like a Virgin the trap door/stage did not go down, so she remained on stage with the piano. I was confused as Nobody Knows Me interlude started and she was still there. She seemed confused as well and looked around; eventually she was led off the stage by a crew member. Technical people immediately went to work as she needed the same stage to sing the next song I’m Addicted. They fixed it in time and she performed I’m Addicted as it should. I was jumping up and down constantly; Guy Oseary found it quite amusing as he kept laughing. During Like a Prayer she accepted a necklace given by a fan (surely the very next day everyone seemed to have brought necklaces, but she didn’t accept them anymore). It was an amazing show, terrific night and my fave part of the tour so far. Too bad it rained cats and dogs when leaving the Ziggo. Richard loved it as well (duh). Thanks to the adrenaline rushing through my body I was still wide awake at 4 in the morning.
Amsterdam, July 8
I woke up feeling miserable again (voice was gone), the weather seemed to feel the same; sun was gone, rain, wind and downright ugly…UGH! No visit of Madonna to this country is complete without a bit of rain. We went to the Ziggo later than yesterday due to the god-awful weather. We sheltered at the Ziggo until the doors opened. Madonna was still busy with her soundcheck; she was very talkative and asked fans to sing a song while she waited for sound to be fixed. Fans sung Deeper and Deeper and Physical Attraction. Our stuff was thrown into a locker again and we ate a vegetarian sandwich.
The entire MU team was in the Triangle tonight making it extra special, this time all four of us went crazy. Rocco was present at the shows in Amsterdam, after being absent in Berlin. M was in good spirits again. During her speech before Masterpiece she said she heard a rumor that someone in the audience wanted to propose to someone during her show. Unfortunately M looked the wrong way and two people who hadn’t arranged this said they wanted to propose. The person who had actually arranged this with M’s management was sadly overlooked, so M did not approach the right person (she couldn’t have known though, because the wrong people shouted at her that they were the ones, while in fact they were not). The next day this turned out to be news and the entire world picked up on it. We noticed a lot of people on the sides sitting down during the entire show. People please learn that when you spent quite a sum of money for a musical event that contains mostly dance music; to get up from your seat, grab your ass and move it. Come on and join the fun, pretend to be young, let loose, go crazy and take M as the perfect example. We did go crazy and jumped non stop, amazing evening!
Amsterdam was definitely my favorite part of this tour! Nice to find out M and Brahim had visited the Anne Frank house and were in a boat on the canals in Amsterdam. We were told later by Guy Oseary that she really enjoyed Amsterdam and it was a relaxing time for her.
Cologne, July 10
Again we were in our car on our way to Germany, this time to Cologne, an amazing city! The drive went fine until we reached Cologne; we slept in a hotel somewhere in a God forgotten place near the Lanxess arena. People sent us all over the place, I know they tried to help but in the end we’d been driving around in circles for 1,5 hours! When we finally found our ‘designer’ hotel, we checked in and decided to pay the city centre a visit. What a ‘designer’ hotel is doing in such a suburb is still a mystery to me. The weather was sunny so that was good; we first started by eating and drinking something at our beloved Starbucks. Then visited a few shops, the city centre looks just like our well known Kalverstraat in Amsterdam. There was no question that we had to pay a visit to the incredible and breathtaking Dom.
When we were done playing tourist we went back to the hotel and brought some newspapers with us. I decided to lay down a while as I still wasn’t feeling very good, the weather joined me and it started to rain. Took the metro on time (2 stops) to Lanxess while it was still raining, bought our dinner at Subway as we did not know whether Lanxess had food inside. Picked up our early entry tickets and waited until we got in. It didn’t take long, once inside we had to wait in another space for a few minutes. When entering the arena, M was sitting on the stage busy discussing something. Instead of seeing the well known soundcheck routine we heard the music to ‘Je t’Aime Moi Non Plus’ and M sang a few words of it. We were very surprised to see and hear this. We heard she was planning on doing ‘something special’ for Paris, so immediately thought that this had to be it. She was very busy discussing the new track with her band and eventually said “we’ve got a lot of work to do guys” meaning she was not happy with how it sounded at the time. She continued her full soundcheck with the familiar songs we all know, it was a great experience to be part of this.
After the soundcheck we went to explore the tiny arena a bit. The Lanxess arena was a paradise when it came to food and drinks; from pasta and pizza to fries, champagne and cocktails, everything was available! Thankfully the Subway sandwich didn’t fill our stomach so bought some delicious French fries with a load of ketchup on top. M started her show quite late, a little after 22.15. During Best Friend/Heartbeat the screens turned black for a few seconds but the issue was quicky solved. During ‘Vogue’ Lola walked into the Triangle and cheered dancer Chaz on, when M came her way she went backstage again. Right before Papa Don’t Preach the dancers with the ‘scary’ masks stood beside us waiting to get on stage, I was looking at them with such a bored expression that they decided to try and scare me…..they succeeded. There was quite a lot of interaction between the dancers and the people in the Triangle, urging us to start dancing during Like a Prayer and Celebration. During her speech a fan had to tell her what Saggaro Jo meant, only to be followed by a little competition who could scream Saggara Jo the loudest. Unfortunately there were also some drunk people in the Triangle bothering absolutely everyone. This one guy was such a pain in the ass and at one time he literally hung onto my derriere, when security tried to remove him he became violent and was escorted out. I don’t get why people need to get drunk during an M show, you have your MDNA right there in front of you.
When the show was over we decided to walk back to our hotel, wise decision as the metro was out of order. Only to be suddenly walking on the freeway and crossing a train track to get to our hotel, not such a wise move after all…..but then again we were looking at our pictures in our hotel room only 20 minutes later.
Amsterdam, July 11
Driving back to Amsterdam today. Arriving at my house I dove into my bed trying to catch every second of sleep that I could as I simply needed it. Needed to go back to Hans later that evening to spend the night there, the next day we had to catch the Thalys to Brussels. Ate some pizza with my mom, drove my car to Purmerend and spent the night.
Brussels, July 12
Early morning (so what else is new) by bus to Amsterdam Central Station, did I tell you already that it rained (again?!) and oh yeah some thunder and lightning made it quite the party. We didn’t think things would get any better in Belgium. At Amsterdam Central Station we took a look at the magazines and the newspapers; the everlasting negative Belgian media was already advertising M’s show as ‘how to NOT grow old, look at Madonna’ and ‘Madonna is playing empty seats tonight’. I still have no clue whatsoever why Belgian media loves it so much to constantly come up with this negative crap. You’ll get that I did not spent a dime on those newspapers, stick ’em up your negative arse!
The Thalys brought us to Brussels ASAP; here we wanted to take the metro to our stop (our hotel was situated next to the stadium). Of course it was crowded as hell and surely there was only one booth selling subway tickets…..After finally getting them and hopping on the subway, we arrived and searched our hotel. We could not find any Holiday Inn’s but after informing with someone walking there we found out that the hotel had changed its name to Alliance hotel (aaaah…..good to know!) After checking in we saw in the hotel brochure that they offered lunch between 12-14 so decided to go for it as we wanted to eat. Only when we informed about it they told us that the kitchen was closed. Things weren’t getting any better…..so we walked on to the balls (aka Atomium) where food was extremely expensive, but it wasn’t better elsewhere.
When picking up our tickets at the Friends & Family window, we ate some take-away pasta and lined up to get inside the stadium. I had to line up in the queue for women as men were forbidden to search the opposite sex. Funny that I wasn’t even looked at, silly rules for absolutely nothing. M was still busy with her soundcheck when we entered; she sang the usual songs and added I Don’t Give A to it. After this she spoke with some of the fans and remained on stage for quite a while. She was very stern in explaining to her team where they had to put carpet in order to prevent her from falling due to expected rain that night. It was very interesting to see how M really is ‘the boss’ when she speaks; everyone gathers around her and don’t really comment but listen in silence. At one point Guy Oseary came up to us and said he wanted to interview us on camera. He asked questions such as: what does M mean to you? How many shows have you seen? We have no idea what this will be used for though.
I was absolutely outraged when I found out that you had to pay to use the ‘disposable’ dixi toilets, the most disgusting toilets around. Usually using the toilets in a stadium or arena is free (ticket is already expensive enough), but of course HERE you had to pay 0.50 cents, an outrage! Despite the many negative media comments on the stadium being far from sold out, it was only the restricted view seats that remained empty (those weren’t available for sale anyhow). So I have no idea which miserable cow keeps spreading this negative BS, but it is BS nonetheless. Martin Solveig spinned his CD and the audience seemed to like it (or shall I join the hype and say that people were already departing the stadium?). After eating a sugary wafer and being entertained by all the various costumes, we were ready for another dose of MDNA.
The show was about to start and it started to rain, this remained so for the entire evening. I tried to shelter under the ‘roof’ of the stage, but immediately got into a fight with a bitter guy telling me he was there before I was. This guy was jumping up and down, running around the entire Triangle, bothering everyone. I still feel that you have no ‘reserved’ spot in the Triangle, if you keep on running around; everyone is entitled to take up your old spot. However I didn’t feel like arguing as Madame Ciccone was on stage. M told the crowd she had a bit of a cold (oh yeah lady, I know ALLLLL about it) and wasn’t very happy with the singing in the rain. But still even though dancers were helping her with umbrellas during Like a Virgin, she at one point took over and got literally soaked by rain in her new very sexy lingerie. Two thumbs and two toes up to The Queen for being such a pro. Such a shame though that even though M requested for people not to smoke, they still did. Security didn’t gave a damn either.
After a very rainy show we walked back to our hotel, the room stank of shit and piss and our carpet was soaked….ugh! I don’t know which idiot had been pissing on our carpet but we weren’t very happy about it.
Paris July 13
We got up early and were present for breakfast at 6.25, which would be served around 6.30. We asked the ‘friendly’ receptionist if we were allowed to sit down and wait for it to which he responded “well actually that is really not the intention”. I told him that this wasn’t very good customer service and sat down anyway. We were a bit done with the unfriendly people and the promises made that couldn’t be delivered. While the ‘American’ breakfast was put up (5 minutes late), we noticed that the ‘cook’ was eating with us as well. Never have I experienced a worker in a hotel, eating together with the guests. Also there was nothing ‘American’ about the breakfast as well. After 5 minutes we were done and left the hotel quickly. Arriving at Brussels station we took a look at the newspapers, of course they were full of BS and so didn’t buy these. Brussels was over for me and wasn’t planning on looking back.
Took the Thalys to Paris, upon arriving we took a taxi to our hotel which was near the Gare du Nord. Again we were in a ‘design hotel’ WTF is a design hotel?! We couldn’t access the room so decided to pay Lucky Records a visit (it’s a ritual), and left there empty handed (too expensive). We walked to the Chatelet but unfortunately it needed to rain again, so were quickly done with the strolling around. Walked back to our hotel and on our way stopped at a supermarket to buy something to drink and eat, the Lions (candy bars) that I bought turned out to be 4 months passed their due date….
In the evening we met up with Fred, had a drink and ate some pizza (with goat’s cheese, soooo delicious) near Hotel de Ville. When back in our hotel we were kept awake by a couple in the room next to us who were busy with a competition who could moan the loudest. Oh my God what kind of idiotic TV shows is the German RTL broadcasting? Mitten Im Leben? I have never EVER been so ashamed of my fellow human beings, watching that….
Paris, July 14
The day of the show! During the day we walked around a bit and drank something at McDonalds, a shame that you’re bothered immediately by someone begging for money and then getting an attitude when you’re not giving any. He looked a lot like MJ as a zombie in Thriller, it wasn’t a pleasant sight. Later on when getting ready for the show we ate pizza (yeah pizza again, one day we’ll turn into one) at a place near Gare Du Nord and again an MJ zombie Thriller look-a-like walked in to beg for money….he smelled as though he hadn’t bathe for months…and then you’re trying to swallow your pizza.
We took the train to St. Denis and walked the bit to Stade de France. The sun was shining so we had a good time waiting for our tickets at the F&F window. After receiving these, we ran into Dutch fan Romano and drank a beer and some coke. During the wait we heard M soundchecking Beautiful Killer and Die Another Day but didn’t think it would be performed that night. Once the gates opened everything went incredibly slow just like in 2008 with S&S, the only thing you can do is try to get in front to make things go a bit faster.
Inside the Stade de France we hung out with Fred. The Triangle was filled with family & friends of the crew as well as invited friends such as Jean Paul Gaultier. We were having a great time and spoke to several crew members and even ran into Rocco. We didn’t see much of Will.I.Am as we were eating French fries (it is very important to eat healthy during a tour.)
Right before the show started a lady came up to us in the Triangle named Debby, she said she was with the crew and had seen the interview that Guy taped with us in Belgium. She wanted to know how we were able to afford such an expensive hobby. We had a great chat, and she was extremely friendly, lovely lady. When the show started we were absolutely prepared to see and hear the special soundchecked Je t’aime. Stade de France was a complete sell out and the stadium was packed, even the Triangle looked stuffed. MDNA was amazing as usual and we jumped up and down quite a bit. During the infamous Marine Le Pen image in the Nobody Knows Me interlude, there was a huge applause from the crowd. Right before the show started it was advertised that tonight’s show was going to be filmed, Guy Oseary couldn’t tell us whether this was for a future DVD release or something else.
All songs came and went, but no Love Spent and no Je t’aime unfortunately. Then there was Celebration and the show ended as usual. We were surprised and just stood there with a huge question mark on our foreheads ‘where was Je t’aime?’ Didn’t she have the guts? Wasn’t she satisfied with how it turned out? We decided to walk to the metro station, however when we got there we figured this was a different station from ours and we had to take the train. We had to go all the way back to the stadium as the train station was in the opposite direction. There was police all over and they were not helping. Only later were we told to hurry as there was only one train going and it was about to depart. My small legs were absolutely broken from the running and I was exhausted. When arriving at the station the police didn’t even check our tickets and hurried us into the train, right behind our backs the doors closed and the train departed. That was a very close call! I was completely out of breath.
Amsterdam, July 15
Our train departed to Amsterdam in the beginning of the afternoon, everything went well and arriving at Amsterdam Central Station we took the bus back to Hans’ place in Purmerend. I there took my car and drove back home to Amsterdam, no more shows for a few days, needed to recharge my battery a bit before I had to fly (yes again) to Birmingham.
Birmingham, July 18
After a long day of working I had to gather my stuff together in order to leave for Birmingham that evening. I ate something at home, grabbed my things and walked to the tram to go to Station Zuid, however the tram didn’t come (just my luck) so needed to walk (20 minutes). Getting at the station the train for Schiphol arrived so I was there in 5 minutes. I met Hans at the airport and swallowed an Oxasepam immediately as I was extremely nervous for flying again. The flight with Transavia really had done nothing to ease my fear of flying.
Now we flew with KLM and I heard much better stories about that airline. We boarded on time and everything went fine. The weather was extremely bad in Amsterdam, very windy and rainy so this bothered the plane a lot while taking off. But when we finally got through the showers and thunder, there was no more turbulence thank God. The weather in Birmingham was better than in Amsterdam so we arrived safely in the UK.
Reaching customs I was asked why I was visiting Birmingham so I said “I am here to see Madonna”, he misunderstood me and asked “you’re here to see your daughter?”. Oh well, decided on a taxi as it was quite late and we weren’t familiar with the era. It was a 30-minute drive to our hotel, but we were right near the city centre. Our hotel was quite big and luxurious so that was good, the only thing we didn’t like as much was that there weren’t any windows in the room that we could open for some fresh air causing the room to smell of mildew. Happy for some English television though, finally some shows that we could actually understand!
Birmingham, July 19
After the ritual of checking today’s newspapers we explored the city centre, which we loved. We spent quite a while on the outside terrace of Starbucks. I bought the UK version of the W.E. DVD at HMV as that one has more extra’s than the Dutch release. We decided on Pizza Express for dinner that day. In my life I have never eaten a better pizza than Pizza Express’ Padano pizza (goats’ cheese), so this was a real treat to me. There was almost no one there (it was 4 in the afternoon) so we ordered our pizza but after 45 minutes our table was still empty. On my neon pink sneakers I asked where my goat was (it’s cheese anyhow)….goat appeared to not have been given to the kitchen, so kitchen was not aware of our hungry stomachs. Our heavenly pizza was delivered ten minutes later and it was very enjoyable. Things went wrong again when we got the check, we were promised a compensation for the waiting, but we couldn’t find that on the receipt and Hans was charged 3 beers while he only drank 2. Again we couldn’t find a waiter and they seemed very busy with the non existing guests in the restaurant. We were late for picking up our F&F tickets so we were about to walk without paying for the damn thing, when suddenly the manager came and gave us a 10GBP discount.
Arriving at the NIA (10 minute walk) it started to rain (oh my gosh…what have we done wrong and to who? why are we being punished like this?) Our tickets in our pockets ASAP and then ran into Mario and Paolo, thankfully they had an umbrella (ella ella ella) for shelter. Our seats were in Block E row B, very good seats in front of the catwalk however they were at the end of the row and this giant hulk of a security guy was right in front of me which limited my view. Decided on Triangle instead which worked out thankfully and made two M fans who were seated in the back extremely happy with our block E tickets. We were dead tired of Martin Solveig’s set, but DJ Alesso was a disaster, this wasn’t music this was just LOUD. Please let me play some music, I’ll put on ‘James Brown is Dead’ and everyone will go nuts. It was very sweaty inside the Triangle, M started at her well known 22.15.
Some technical difficulties right after Revolver, M waited for her motel room to get on stage but this never happened. The screens remained closed and M was forced to improvise the entire ‘Gang Bang’ act. No fighting on the bed, but on the ground, no shooting criminals coming down from the ceiling, but shooting (probably) birds instead. Justify My Love was a fuck up again, this time the screens wouldn’t close so the video couldn’t be seen properly (I think the screens were just toying with M) causing everyone to see the preparations for Vogue. When I’m Addicted started, the stage didn’t rise so we heard her but didn’t see her, it took a while but eventually there she was. Also the curtains in the Triangle under the stage leading to backstage area weren’t closed, so every time M exited the stage I saw her walk through the tunnel. During the speech she asked a fan “does that bother you”, pointing at the fact that there was no motel room during Gang Bang. This was a unique show to experience as our last full MDNA show.
Amsterdam, July 20
It was Hans’ birthday today; we had a lot of spare time as our flight didn’t depart until the afternoon. After our breakfast we headed to the airport. This time we were seated at the emergency exits so there was a lot of room and no one sat next to us. This was a very pleasant flight, no turbulence, no rain and no wind. The weather was extremely sunny in Amsterdam so that was a warm welcome! Richard came to pick me up in his car from the airport.
Paris July 26
Completely unexpected there was the announcement of M’s special intimate show in the Olympia venue in Paris. We were very clear from the start: we are not going, money is gone, and we are done with it. But a true M fan wouldn’t be one if she decided on going anyway. To us it was clear from the start this would be a different show than the full MDNA show we knew. The ‘something special’ for Paris that M had talked about, was this and not the Stade de France one. Train to Paris was too expensive, and the coaches had the wrong time tables so going by car was our only option as the next day I had to be present at work again.
At 8 in the morning we drove our car to Paris, twice we drove the wrong way, but after 6 hours we made it to Paris. We parked our car in Fred’s street and spent the day at his house. It was boiling hot in Paris that day and any form of cooling down whatsoever was welcome. A large group of fans had spent multiple nights in front of the Olympia to be the first to get in. Respect. It ain’t something I will ever do again, too many nightmares looking back at the 27-hour queue back at the Olympia in 2008. Later we took the metro the Opera where Olympia was situated. I tried my best to look like a guy I think, cap, shirt, sneakers….when it’s this hot I don’t give a damn about my looks (does anyone?)
When the tickets were in our pockets we ate something with Fred and Gil, can you guess what we had for dinner? Rice? pasta? fries? No of course it was pizza time again! The waiter got me a wrong pizza, so I had to wait for my goat (again!) When we were stuffed we walked around, chatted to fans, ran into Debby from the crew again and were photographed by M’s crew (appeared on M’s Facebook later). First we were told we were getting in at 7.30, but it wasn’t until over an hour later that we finally got entry. Was very pleased with the free Vita Coco though that was handed out.
When we entered the Olympia we found a spot on the left side of the stage. M didn’t appear on stage until 22.45 (while the live stream was advertised with start time of 22.15). She opened the show with Turn Up The Radio and then performed the entire second and third section of the show. What occurred to me during M’s speech was that a few people right near the back (where I was) were pointing their middle fingers to M and shouting things in French at her (at one time I heard someone yelling ‘jail jail jail’). I had no idea what their intensions were.
After stripping at the end of Human Nature she surprised everyone by not performing Like a Virgin but walking back to the main stage and singing the most amazing version of Beautiful Killer / Die Another Day. Olympia was shaking with excitement. The performance was absolutely amazing and I really wondered why she hadn’t included this in the set list from the start. After this she continued with the much talked about Je T’aime which received a huge cheer from the crowd. The performance was genius, Like a Virgin in reverse, this time she was the one in charge and not the dancer. This too was just stunning! After this M left the crowd and the show was over. I expected a Like a Prayer or Celebration to end it, but Je T’aime turned out to be the final song. Immediately I noticed some people started booing, some of them were holding up pre-printed banners saying stuff as ‘queen of Botox’. I was a bit surprised by this and left the theater quickly. Outside there was a huge number of police, what seemed a bit over the top for me at the time. We took the metro back to Fred’s house only to get inside the car immediately to start the long drive back through the night to Amsterdam. No peace and quiet for us!
Amsterdam, July 27
We left Paris rather quickly and drove all night on a complete boring and dead road through Belgium back to Amsterdam. Our fantasy was playing games with us, bushes became people, tires next to the road were moving and I saw flies everywhere. Yeah we’d been up for 22 hours straight and we were getting extremely tired. We took a lot of Dextro Energy and energy drinks to keep us awake. I was at home a little before 6 in the morning, dove into my bed and tried to sleep. The first two hours my head was a big mess, I saw nothing but freeways and turns before my eyes. At 8 I fell into a more relaxing sleep and then woke at 11 to head to work until 6 that day. I wasn’t alert during my work at all. I spent the day trying to stay awake and was shocked by the enormous amount of negative response to M’s performance. Fans had called M a slut and a whore, threw bottles on the stage and demanded a refund. Of course this was the media talking and blowing things up as usual.
I knew that some fans were disappointed in the length of the show, but for me personally it was quite clear from the start this wasn’t going to be a full MDNA show, I can understand how others feel differently. You are still the boss of your own wallet and money and on who and what to spend it on. To me it was worth it seeing M in such an intimate setting with those two absolutely outstanding new songs. I spent the rest of the day watching the stream and absolutely loved it.
Amsterdam, July 28
Woke up with a bitter taste in my mouth about the entire negative BS on the Olympia show. I felt very bad about the whole situation and how M was portrayed in the media, thought it was so unfair. I decided to do some internet browsing and quickly stumbled upon a few Twitter accounts where Marine Le Pun supporters clearly spoke about how they succeeded in trashing her performance. I decided to put up some facts on the show, what really went on that night. I wanted to inform people on the real events and not what media wrote that wasn’t even there in person. My facts were put on the website and immediately shared by numerous Facebook accounts and websites (thank you); it was also mailed to M’s management. I was happy to learn that they and M had read it, I was asked to provide proof of the MLP supporters and later M’s statement was released.
Thankfully media picked up on M’s statement and some justice (I feel) was done. Olympia needs to be remembered as the night where she performed two amazing new songs that were such a spectacle that will remain in our mind forever, but more importantly people need to listen to her speech again.
New York, November 11
From the start of the announcement of this year we were in doubt whether to go and see Madonna in New York or not. I have never crossed the ocean before while being a Madonna fan to see her there. I have such a fear of flying that I just prefer not to use that type of transportation. Flying to New York means being stuck in an airplane for 8 hours…..
We had planned a few shows in Europe already and when the special showcase in Olympia was announced we were like ‘yeah, this schedule is good the way it is’. But shortly after the show in Olympia we were suffering from serious withdrawal symptoms knowing we wouldn’t be seeing the show live anymore. We then decided upon travelling to see the show in Zurich Switzerland last minute. But unfortunately some personal circumstances made it impossible for us to travel there; we were extremely depressed to say the least.
New York remained an option, but the distance of flying was the only reason for me not to go. My mother however wanted to visit New York as well and proposed a short holiday to The Big Apple and combine it with Madonna. So we did. My mother, Hans and Peter booked the trip, hotel, tickets and I requested my dose of Oxasepam. Tickets to the MSG show weren’t an issue through the Family & Friends request list. When a second show was announced, we immediately added that one to our schedule as well (well if we are there anyway…..)
We chose not to announce it on our website as well as on Facebook that we were flying to New York. This all happened in a time where Madonna had to cancel a show due to laryngitis as well as hurricane Sandy. So to say the least there were a few circumstances that could cause for the whole thing not to happen. Why announce something when you aren’t even sure you were going to make it? We decided to announce it, when we were actually there
Sunday morning November 11 was the time to depart Amsterdam and fly to New York City! I brought my dogs to a dog shelter the day before, the one thing I had serious problems with. At Schiphol we met up with Hans and Peter, after checking in we waited to board our Delta plane. Everything went according to plan and it didn’t take long to be high in the sky. The flight lasted for 7 hours and 50 minutes; I spent time by watching Intouchables and Bruce Almighty. Once we landed in New York, we saw the remains of the snow that had fallen only a few days prior. I expected some sort of Schiphol but JFK looked nothing like that.
With a famous Yellow cab we went through Queens to Manhattan, we were staying at the Edison Hotel right near Times Square. It was absolutely impressive to see the huge billboards, lights and hundreds of thousands of people. We went to explore Times Square and the neighborhood a bit. This was overwhelming, the buildings were huge! It truly made you dizzy. Of course we had a bit of a jet lag due to the six hour time difference, so we made it an early night and were in bed by 21.00 local time.
November 12
The weather in New York was beautiful, it was around 23 degrees celsius with sun, I was back in my favorite season for a minute (Summer). Spent my time in Central Park enjoying the surroundings, did some shopping at Macy’s (loved Madonna’s Truth Or Dare shoe line, didn’t have the cash for it though, the clothes at Material Girl not so much). Then time for another breakfast at Andrews.
That evening we all walked to Madison Square Garden to pick up our tickets. Around 18.30 we got our tickets and Golden Triangle wristbands at the Family & Friends window and then we waited to get in. What occurred to me the most was that the merchandise was a lot cheaper than in Europe. New merchandise had been added such as the Justify shirts, white MDNA watch, but the one item I really wanted (the white hoodie) wasn’t there. So many people came dressed in Madonna related outfits, so many nationalities here. Also A LOT of Madonna tattoos, something that appears to be a regular thing among Madonna fans nowadays, I remember back in 2001 that everyone was shocked I had a Madonna tattoo……there’s nothing shocking about it anymore.
Once inside we thought that the MSG was very petite (not a lot bigger than the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam). After showing security our triangle wristband, we entered our favorite spot in the Triangle. We ran into a lot of familiar faces, always good to catch up with your long lost family around the world (we all have the same passion anyway). Quickly we met up with Guy Oseary, always good to catch up! After chatting, getting thanks for coming and taking pictures he went on to photograph more fans. Madonna’s dancers were all present in the Triangle and were showing some of their tricks during Martin Solveig’s set (yeah still the same set). Kalakan was there as well taking pictures with everybody. We met up with Tanja Dexters and Jochen, they travelled to NY from Belgium for the shows too, we had a lovely time with them.
Right before the show started (yeah the start time had been extended to 22.45 now, we were lucky in Europe) we spotted gossip king Perez Hilton and Kelly Osbourne in the Triangle. The Triangle wasn’t as full as in Europe which gave everyone plenty of space to walk around
‘BONG…..OMG’ the well known intro started, it was so good to be here and see it again! Crew member Jean Michel Ete entered the Triangle and was incredibly surprised to see me there. After a stern but warm welcome hug by him, I turned around to face The Queen again. The show was as expected, absolutely incredible. There were some changes to the show comparede to what we saw in Europe. First there was the addition of the Bible during Gang Bang. Right before I Don’t Give A, the dressed dancers from Papa Don’t Preach followed her onto the catwalk. Madonna’s speech was dedicated to the victims of hurricane Sandy and why tragedies always have to happen first to make us take care of one another. Like a Virgin was really extended compared to the performance in Europe. She stripped down to her body stocking; the purpose was ‘I am stripping for you, what do you do when a girl takes her clothes off, you give her money’. It was Madonna’s way of raising money for the victims of hurricane Sandy. On top of the piano she gave us a true Basic Instinct/Sharon Stone moment. The performance was so much better than in Europe, true perfection. Suddenly someone tapped me on my shoulder, when I turned around it was Debby! Debby is a crew member of M, we had met her previously in Paris (Stade de France) and then again at Olympia. She was so surprised to see me “I didn’t know you were coming!!” she gave me a big hug and we chatted for a while, I just love her!
My personal highlight came right after Like a Virgin, finally I got to hear and see Love Spent in person. One of Madonna’s best songs ever, she delivers this in such an emotional and personal way that it just grabs you. Just gives you one conclusion: what an artist, what a performer!’ Celebration was mixed with Give it 2 Me which just added to the already very danceable song, it was a huge party. When the show ended I was just so happy to have seen it again. Madonna was excellent as usual, but seemed somewhat tired.
November 13
The weather had changed completely from the day before, it was very cold outside. I wore a sweater, vest and jacket all together. It rained and it was grey. After visiting Greenwich Village, so we headed back home asap.
That night my mother and Peter came along to watch tonight’s show, yeah they just had to see it. Picked up our tickets and wristbands at the Friends & Family window again. We heard right before the show from Jochen that there would be two new songs + a special guest. We doubted the two new songs bit, didn’t sound like something Madonna would do, and the special guest we thought would probably Nicki Minaj. When the show started it was clear that this show would totally overpower the first night at MSG. Madonna was so spot on, so cheerful, naughty and so much attitude. Suddenly right after Open Your Heart we were treated to a very surprising performance of Give it 2 Me, just to add to this surprise suddenly there was Psy with his infamous Gangnam Style. Madonna and Psy performed this together only to follow this with a performance of ‘Music’. The whole MSG just went wild, this was so unexpected and so amazing. Everybody danced along to the famous dance, Madonna’s smile was killer! Masterpiece was left out tonight, but who cared anyway, since we got what we did?
The audience was just in ecstacy right after this surprise performance, this had been so amazing! Madonna was so spot on, Candy Shop was so sensual, Madonna flirted with Brahim like never before. Like a Virgin was once again an absolute highlight, she was in such good spirits that she once again extended this performance. While laying on the stage she licked her microphone and pushed it away. She wasn’t happy with the dollar bills thrown onto the stage, so just said that she would touch people if they paid her. She walked up to someone and he got to put a dollar bill inside her pants. When she wasn’t happy she sat down on the piano and put her feet on it. She was just hilarious! The show continued like this, Celebration was back to its old style without Give it 2 Me in it. Afterwards everyone just stood there like ‘did we really see this, did this really happen?’ This was without doubt Madonna’s best performance ever. It was unspeakably good, not to be explained, no words. Such a performance just confirms what you already knew; Madonna is simply the best live entertainer out there, no one has such attitude, such beauty, such sensuality and such balls.
The remaining days of the week we spent in New York and did some regular sightseeing, visited a cinema, the usual. On Thursday night we flew back to Amsterdam at 11pm. I hadn’t slept in 28 hours when we arrived back in Amsterdam on Friday. First I picked up my dogs, did some shopping and then completely fell apart. Slept for around 14 hours and felt like I was on a ship for three days, I am not good with jetlags!
What an amazing way to end my MDNA Tour, Madonna’s best tour ever. Finally crossed the ocean to see Madonna in New York, only to witness her best live show ever, what an experience!
MDNA pumps like the blood in my veins……
Conclusion: This is the 6th tour I have seen of M in person, as always a blast, meeting new people and foremost knowing who your real friends are and those that only like you when you can ‘do’ something for them.
Respect for Madonna for putting up such an amazing, fantastic and impressive show, her best live production to date. I’d like to thank my friends, M’s crew and management for the lovely times!
Kimberly van Pinxteren (2012)
