Live Nation regrets to confirm that Madonna’s Madame X concerts previously scheduled for November 30th, December 1st and 2nd at the Boston Center Wang Theatre are cancelled due to doctor’s orders. We are sorry and regret the disappointment to fans in Boston.
Madonna quote: Please forgive this unexpected turn of events. Doing my show every night brings me so much joy and to cancel is a kind of punishment for me but the pain I’m in right now is overwhelming and I must rest and follow doctor’s orders so I can come back stronger and better and continue the Madame ❌ journey with all of you.
As we are unable to reschedule the Boston dates due to the tight scheduling through the balance of the year, refunds will be automatically issued to the credit card on which they were ordered.
Tickets purchased online and over the phone through TM, and tickets purchased at the Box Office by credit card will be automatically refunded. All other tickets need to be returned to point of purchase.
Bad news for Madonna fans heading into the Thanksgiving weekend.
The legendary pop culture icon has cancelled her three upcoming Boston shows over health reasons, citing “doctor’s orders.” The cancelled Boston shows are November 30 and December 1 and 2 at the Boch Center Wang Theatre.
Madonna elaborates: “Please forgive this unexpected turn of events. Doing my show every night brings me so much joy and to cancel is a kind of punishment for me but the pain I’m in right now is overwhelming and I must rest and follow doctor’s orders so I can come back stronger and better and continue the Madame journey with all of you.”
Madonna’s tour will resume December 7 in Philadelphia. No other shows on her Madame X Tour will be affected.
The Boch Center states: “As we are unable to reschedule the Boston dates due to the tight scheduling through the balance of the year, refunds will be automatically issued to the credit card on which they were ordered.”
People have been receiving their copies of the Barnes & Noble ‘I’m Breathless’ exclusive on yellow vinyl, so today we have added it to our discography along with other Breathless era pressings:
//// On 22 and 29 February 2020, on the occasion of MADAME X TOUR PARIS, two exclusive after shows dedicated to Madonna’s entire career (on 2 dates), with Madonna’s official producer and remixer DJ, Miss TRACY YOUNG !
These two after shows will take place as follows :
//// SIDE ONE : on February 22, 2020, the evening will be devoted largely to Madonna songs of the 80s and 90s, with unpublished and new remixes of the singer played by 3 djs ! > Her video clips, television appearances and performances will be remixed live by a VJ throughout the evening, accompanied by drag shows and dancers …
//// SIDE TWO : on February 29, 2020, the evening will be devoted largely to Madonna songs of the 00’s and 10’s, with unpublished and new remixes of the singer played by 3 djs ! > Her video clips, television appearances and performances will be remixed live by a VJ throughout the evening, accompanied by drag shows and dancers …
22nd february line-up :
//// VJ DOC TERRY (more infos soon)
//// Tracy Young (MIAMI) Dj / Producer / Official remixer of Madonna. She’s Madonna’s official remixer and a talented dj and producer. Madonna chose her remix “I RISE” (TRACY YOUNG’S PRIDE INTRO RADIO REMIX) for her 50th anniversary Stonewall concert for the World Pride in New York, and her remix of “CRAVE” for her “Madame X world tour”…
//// DJ Rafa Nunes (PARIS) Dj / Producer. Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Rafa started Djing 17 years ago in his home city, using vinyl. Back then, he mixed for fashion shows, had two radio programmes and was a resident DJ in luxury restaurants. Nine years ago, he moved to Paris to start his international DJ career in Europe. Today he has 3 international residences : Paris : Raidd Bar (7 years of dj-residence in the most important gay bar of Paris). Brussels : Revelation Party (4 years of dj-residence) Berlin : BLF (5 years of Residence playing in the 2 more important gay event in Germany, Eather and Folson Berlin). Winner of ¨Best Fetish DJ of the Year” of 2015 by Leather Pride Belgium in Antwerp. The start of his career Rafa was using vinyls and now he use the new sampler by Pioneer : DJS-1000 to make a “mix on the fly” (doing a remix alive with all the samples and elements). He was also a resident of the biggest Bear Party in the World, Beardrop, for two years. He has also played for Cox Bar and many more…
Diplo is a huge Madonna fan. In addition to working with the iconic pop star in the studio—he collaborated on “Future” from her new album, Madame X—the DJ-producer also attended the 2015 Met Gala with her. (They were rumored to be dating around this time.) He’s publicly declared his admiration for her on multiple occasions, once telling Rolling Stone, “She created the world we live in. It already sucks to be a woman in the music industry, but to be a boss woman is even harder.” Last night, Diplo kept up his devotion to Madge by attending her concert at the Wiltern in Los Angeles—and his concert look proved he’s the ultimate fanboy.
PHOTO: BACKGRID
His outfit began with some Madonna merch: a vintage “Music”-themed tee from 2001, featuring Madonna in a blue western-inspired look. (That year was the singer’s peak cowgirl moment; remember “Don’t Tell Me?”) The rest of the ensemble also paid homage to the “Music” video’s rodeo vibe: he wore a tapestry-style zip-up jacket, brown trousers, a huge belt buckle, and suede cowboy boots. He didn’t forget his trustee cowboy hat either—something he also wore on the 2019 AMAs red carpet.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 30: Madonna performs onstage during Pride Island – WorldPride NYC 2019 at … [+]
GETTY IMAGES FOR PRIDE ISLAND
It’s a Monday night and about an hour before I am ready to leave to go see the final night of Madonna’s takeover of the Wiltern for her “Madame X” show I get a text from her publicity firm telling me the show is running late due to technical issues and not to arrive at the venue until 11.
Of course the late starts have become a very public issue for an otherwise very private show, where no phones are allowed and you are transported into her incredibly elaborate and unique world. Someone even attempted to sue her for the late starts.
She addressed that during a speech on the theme of the show, “Artists are here to disturb the peace,” quoted from, as she put it, “The great James Baldwin.” In the speech, as she talks with the audience about fighting for freedom she warns them you won’t always be popular, you won’t always have the most Instagram followers and you won’t always be on time because being a freedom fighter takes time.
“Madame X” is Madonna at her best, unapologetic, uncompromising, unyielding and in complete control. She isn’t going to apologize for not finishing until 1:30 on a Monday night. And hell I saw Prince many times where he didn’t even take the stage until two. Rock stars, or in the case of Prince and Madonna, pop stars with rock star swagger, adhere to their own rules. And that’s what makes them special and why we love them. It is the attitude and their ability to express and do the things we wish we could but often aren’t allowed to.
Madonna can start a show after 11 on a Monday. For most people you can’t just say, “F**k it,” as she does in the show, “I’ll start work when I want.” This said if you are going to keep people out until two on a Monday night you better have the show to back it up.
“Madame X” is a revelation. It is, in its own way, as revolutionary in live performing as Vegas residencies were when everyone like Rod Stewart, Barry Manilow and others started doing those years ago. “Madame X” feels like a play thanks in large part to the incredible projections that act as another character. It is performance art, and brilliant performance art with a message.
The show, as has been documented, starts with the aforementioned Baldwin quote being typed onto the screen as two silhouettes looking like 1940s film noir characters act out a noir sequence.
It is hard to properly do justice to the immersive nature of the show. In much the same way there are those big blockbusters that have to be seen on the big screen, “Madame X” needs to be experienced to be fully appreciated. Madonna has, not surprisingly, because she is a marketing mastermind, done the show a tremendous service by banning phones. It’s not a piecemeal work.
Sure there are a ton of Instagrammable moments, but as compelling as the individual moments such as “Like A Prayer,” “Vogue,” “Papa Don’t Preach” and “Medellin,” with Maluma projected onto the screen larger than life so it feels like he is there, are, it would be a disservice to see them in their 30-second snippets.
In great complete works of art, which “Madame X” is, there are of course highlights, like the ones I mentioned above, particularly “Like A Prayer,” which is stunning. But you likely don’t watch one episode of Stranger Things or one scene from a movie, read one chapter in The Great Gatsby or when the Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band came out people didn’t just listen to “A Day In The Life.” You listened from start to finish.
In “Madame X” Madonna takes you through an arc, so as much it is a joy to hear songs you know like “Express Yourself” songs such as “Frozen” and the powerful encore of “I Rise” are just as important moments in delivering the message of the show. And in her uncompromising manner she has a lot to say, from the speech she delivers on reproductive rights and the nine states trying to overturn Roe V. Wade in “Papa Don’t Preach” to the videos of activists in “I Rise,” Madonna backs up her thesis, “Artists are here to disturb the peace.”
As she says, it’s not always going to make her most popular. But Madonna has been the most popular. And as great as she was, at times as that, Madonna as an outspoken artist pushing herself and the live form is way more compelling, fascinating and ultimately rewarding.
The ticket office for 22/FEB/20 will be open on Wednesday 27 November at 5:00 p.m. HERE
Raph, Beardrop db db and www.dbprod.fr are happy to present you on February 22 and 29, on the occasion of Madonna’s world tour, two EXCEPTIONAL AFTER SHOWS of MADAME ❌TOUR in Paris at the YOYO – Palais de Tokyo with the dj and official remixer of the singer, Miss Tracy Young & Guest ( Rafa Nunes on 22 and Kamille Louis on February 29) and the VJ DOC TERRY !
The ticket office for 29/FEB/20 will be open on Wednesday 27 November at 5:00 p.m HERE
Thank you to our friend RAPH to organize these beautiful events!
MADONNA: The queen of pop and eccentricity has turned into an Axl Rose of sorts, with her start times moved back to 10:30 p.m. and her tardiness a nightly mystery, at The Boch Center Wang Theater in Boston for three nights, Saturday-Sunday-Monday, Nov. 30-Dec.1-2.
When Lil Nas X met Madame X, they chewed the fat, drank some beer — the same bottle of beer — and an audience of millions got to watch on, thanks to the power of social media.
During her Los Angeles show earlier in the week, Madonna strolled over to the “Old Town Road” rapper, who appeared to be just another fan, and immediately made a beeline for his brew.
“That looks so thirst-quenching, may I have a sip,” she asked. When The Queen of Pop requests a hit of your beer, you give it up.
“If I drink this, I’ll be getting some of your backwash,” she asked again. Apparently so. “Kinda sharp, your backwash. Might cut my tongue,” she said, rather enthusastically.
It’s all good. No harm done. “I’m in the presence of a legend, I’m just happy to be here,” the rising star responded.
After breaking the ice with a cold one, the pair got chatting about Lil Nas X’s hometown, Atlanta (“I’ve been to Atlanta, Georgia like three billion times,” Madonna claimed), and does he, in fact, ride horses. “I’ll teach you how to ride, baby,” Madonna declared, as she led a round of “Old Town Road.”
The pop legend posted her getting-to-know-you exchange with Lil Nas X as her Madame X tour visited L.A.’s The Wiltern on Monday (Nov. 25).
We wrap up our American Life discographies with the last single taken from the album: ‘Love Profusion’.
Love Profusion was also used in an Estee Lauder commercial and therefore free samples of the new perfume were given away with the CD singles. Madonna recorded a music video for the track inspired by the Estee Lauder commercial. Unfortunately Madonna has never performed the track live during any of her world tours, even though rumoured to have been part of the original Re-Invention tour setlist.
We have collected 24 pressings in the discography HERE
WELCOME TO THE WOOD – A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM REVIEW
photo: Grant Kretchik
Pace University’s School of Performing Arts fall mainstage season kicked off on November 20th with a new Madonna-inspired adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Fourteen Madonna classics were woven through the original spoken text of Shakespeare. The show is a collaboration between the acting and dance program at Pace.
The production, “Welcome to the Wood, A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is directed by Grant Kretchik, the head of the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) Acting Program at the Pace School of Performing Arts, and choreographed by Jess Hendricks, featuring Pace’s BFA’s Commercial Dance dancers. The creative team is comprised entirely of Pace University students, including set designer Brett Martinez, costume designer Arin Goldsmith, lighting designer Elijah Sullivan, sound designer Julia Riley, and props master Colleen O’Brien. The production is stage managed by student Lindsay Jones and company managed by student Emily Huber.
“It is as elegant as it is erotic, as sophisticated as it is sensual, and as timeless as it is tempting,” says director Kretchik.
photo: Grant Kretchik
I was invited to peek in during their final dress rehearsal on Tuesday night and was able to stay long enough to witness the first act. Scurrying down Spruce Street to the Schimmel Center of Pace University in downtown Manhattan, which houses the theatre in which the show is performed, I had no idea what to expect from this production. Before the show, campy elevator music style Madonna songs filled the auditorium and definitely set the tone for the self-aware delight, beauty, and bawdiness about to take place. It was actually quite endearing to see the younger college student crowd bopping and dancing to the songs. Being a huge Madonna fan, my feelings were obviously bias about the fantastic idea for the show, but that also would lean me to being a harsher critic than most. The show began with an elegant Shakespearian vibe with a slight juxtaposition of modern technology, almost easing you into the coming fanfare. Soon, classic Madonna songs from every era of her career were wonderfully and delightfully sewn into the fabric of the 400-year-old play as if they were meant to be all along. Even the floor design had similarities to the tiles in the background of promotional photos for her current “Madame X” Tour. The choreography was certainly fresh and frisky with occasional nods to some of Madonna’s wildest live performances and subtle references to some of her most iconic imagery. I’m actually not even sure some were intentional, but as a deeper kind of fan, I noticed them for sure.
And now we fast forward to Friday night when I got to see the full production in its entirety. I was surrounded by some of my favorite Madonna fan family members and we all got to experience it together. The second act is where the story really went into overdrive. Hearty jabs at the current administration in the White House were in full force as the ‘ass’ in which Titania falls in love with, thanks to a magic potion from the show’s protagonist Puck, resides in Nick Bottom wearing a bedazzled MAGA hat as a metaphor for Trump. It was a very risky addition to the show’s structure and nuance, that became fully realized in the epilogue as the play within the play features the actors portraying various characters in the current circus that is the White House. Melania’s infamous “I Don’t Really Care. Do You?” coat makes a guest appearance as well as Sarah Huckabee Sanders and more of the usual suspects.
The four young lovers, entangled in a bizarre set of love triangles were cast triumphantly and their success in delivering their Shakespearean verse as well as embracing the music of Madonna was absolutely brilliant. The idea that most of the actors, who are college students currently, were most likely not even alive when the songs in the show were released not only shows their incredible acting abilities but also the true power, relatability and longevity of Ms. Ciccone’s catalog.
Being that the story is about female empowerment, various incarnations of forlorn love, hopeless romanticism, dramatic love triangles and more…Madonna’s penchant for the melancholy and the mighty power of the female makes her songs the joyously perfect accoutrements to this classic Shakespearean tale. Among the many musical highlights is a short version of “Frozen” where all the fairies hide under Helena’s skirt and as their limbs protrude and create tension from beneath the garment they add to the dramatic splendor of the songs musicality. It actually reminded me of similar choreography from “Justify My Love” from The Girlie Show back in 1993. Do you remember?
Obviously, “Express Yourself” finds it’s way into the early section of the show as well as “Open Your Heart”, “Like A Prayer”, “La Isla Bonita”, “Like A Virgin”,“Material Girl”, a very cleverly used “Papa Don’t Preach”, “Sorry”, “Justify My Love”, and a rousing finale featuring probably one of her penultimate classics “Vogue”. The choreography for the ballroom call to arms was so edgy and exciting, I could definitely have seen it on an actual Madonna tour. Campy and sensual nods to her game changing Marie Antoinette inspired MTV VMA performance were basically built into the theme of the show’s costumes.
It was a joyous marriage of Shakespeare and Ciccone that was so well conceived and executed, we hope to eventually see the production take wings and end up possibly on a Broadway or off-Broadway stage in the future. Throughout the show I also pondered what would be going through her mind if Madonna herself was in the audience and able to witness a true celebration of her biggest and most iconic messages and melodies. We will certainly be following up to see where this ambitious and stupendous production goes in the future.
Most of us know music legend, Madonna, is on her latest tour titled Madame X. She’s garnered headlines already because first off, this is Madonna – a sixty-one year old icon who is still actively performing, and well, she may have been late and a fan pushed a lawsuit against her tardiness. Who cares! It’s Madonna! Recently, I was one of the lucky people who were able to see her latest tour and I have so many thoughts I need to share with you.
I was first blue-balled by the Madame X tour. A great friend of mine dangled the idea of being a plus one the prior night, but a friend he had took him up on the offer. I was a little bummed, knowing the price of a Madonna ticket during the holidays wasn’t necessarily in budget. I would be blindsided when the same friend, who saw the show the night before, asked if I wanted to go – he was getting tickets – again. Obviously I couldn’t pass up the offer, especially if someone is wanting to see the show again; this had to be good. The two of us would head to The Wiltern, a swanky spot in Los Angeles’ Korea Town neighborhood.
Upon entering the establishment you are absolutely required to lock your phone in a secure, magnetic bag. Basically it’s like a pouch that has one of the retail stores detectors on it – and only an employee could release it for you. It’s legit unbreakable. It’s a little shocking at first. Our phones are not only probably our biggest addiction, but a comfort zone. Immediately you have to be a little insecure: I’m in my later 20s, so my phone is regularly superglued to my hand. #Triggered. After grabbing a cocktail and venturing to the restroom (which in my opinion had to of been better than a bathhouse in the ‘70s), it’s time to take your seats among the Madonna fans AKA your gay peers.
We were close to the stage. It’s not a grand ballroom or the Staples Center, it’s intimate. The people around us couldn’t be more friendly. Without the lifeline of our phones, it’s bizarre to remember what it’s like meeting strangers in person is like. The fun conversations with our neighborhoods didn’t last long, because shockingly, Madonna was on time! Time to start the show…
Right off the bat we are showcased a prologue of the show. Madonna tells us to basically let loose, we’re going to be uncomfortable, but at the end of the day this is art. It’s not a concert, but theater, artistry, and she’s making certain that we walk away with conversation rather than just “That was amazing!” and the like. This introduction is projected on a screen in front of the audience as “Madonna” types it out to us on a typewriter. With the punch of every letter, an African American performer is “shot” on stage – he moves with every hit of a bullet. Eventually, Madonna lights up the stage and performs her newest work but every so often treats us to an oldie that gets everyone up and dancing. It’s sensational, moving, and without question the best “concert” I’ve ever been too. Madonna takes you out of your world and introduces you into hers. It’s basically like a cult – and I was honored to drink the juice.
Madonna outperforms those who she has decades of age on. She does the splits not only on the stage, but upside down in the air while hanging from a harness. It’s insane – she was doing cirque de solei! A surprise was her children who performed along side her for a song, it was a tender moment if you knew what her children look like (my friend pointed them out to me). She speaks softly to the audience often. Seriously, I felt like we were having more of a chat with Madonna than watching her perform – and she did plenty of her songs, 80% new, 20% classics. The experience is magical and worth every penny. Her message is clear throughout: This is an inclusive, diverse environment. It’s Madonna’s world and she has invited us in. It’s magical and Madonna needs to be cherished at all costs.
However, there were a few scandalous moments during her performance. While the gunshots are a little alarming – seriously, there should perhaps be a warning before heading in (I didn’t see one) – she also protests against police brutality and is incredibly vocal against reigning President Donald Trump. I’m not a Trump supporter, but I’m also not a devote Liberal, so there were moments of intensity that pushed an agenda. But, this is Madonna and I knew what to expect and wasn’t going to be someone who’d walk out of the glorious performance I was watching. This is Madonna’s art and it’s a site to be seen by anyone. She’s truly the eighth World Wonder. You must see Madame X.
Shout out to the guy next to us who literally passed out and convulsed on the floor. I hope it was the magic of the performance that you fainted from and not a letter of the alphabet that is used as a party drug…
he gunshots and fake blood splattering onto the motel bed made me flinch and look away from the stage toward my mother. She seemed unbothered, smiling and clapping her hands.
We were at my first Madonna concert. A mere 13-year-old, I had never seen anything like it before.
I had been expecting the 52-year-old singer to simply run through the hits my mom always turned up on the local oldies station. Instead, Madonna opened the concert by falling down from an elevated glass confession box she had shattered with a makeshift rifle. In a skintight black bodysuit, she began belting out a song off her new album that I had never even heard before.
Naturally, my life was changed.
The whole concert was a wonderfully weird, violent mess, and I loved every minute of it. By the end of it, Madonna had pretended to shoot and kill half of her backup dancers, stripped down to her lingerie and rolled around on a piano, whirled around a baton while dressed up as a cheerleader and transformed herself into a nun — all in the span of two hours. I was enthralled, yet also so confused.
This was my SoulCycle-loving, Lululemon-wearing, eye surgeon mother’s hero? The mother who constantly told me to cover up with a sweater before I left the house?
Like most people born in 1998, I’d thought of Madonna as a figure permanently stuck in the ‘80s, forever belting out “Like a Virgin” in an endless, outdated loop. The closer I began to look, however, the more I realized Madonna’s ubiquity, not just in the world but in my daily life.
Legend has it that I first appeared to the world as “Ray of Light” poured into the hospital room from my mother’s birthing CD. And while most kids grew up dancing along to the Wiggles, I jumped along to “Material Girl” and “Like a Prayer.” My bedtime reading was “The English Roses,” a children’s book written by, you guessed it, Madonna. I guess it was only a matter of time before I got on board.
journey with all of you.”
Paris : Raidd Bar (7 years of dj-residence in the most important gay bar of Paris).
