The Celebration Tour Opening night.
OMG I still can’t believe I witnessed the opening night of The Celebration Tour. Calling the tour a greatest hits tour would be a real understatement. It’s way more than that. The Celebration Tour makes you timetravel through 40 years of Madonna. Music, Costumes, Stories and a Madonna who looked fitter than ever before. This all in a show wich lasts more than 2 hours.
It was really my dream to witness the opening night of Madonna’s tour. My dream came through.
The past week I felt really sick, but nothing will stop me from seeing my idol live. On Friday the 13th we took the early train from Amsterdam Central station to London St Pancras International. When we arrived we took a taxi to our hotel near the O2 Arena. Directly located on the other side of the Thames, what could go wrong… Well it turned out to be an almost 2hr walk. Luckily it was only 2 stops away by underground. There was also a direct cable car connection. The hotel was really good, friendly staff and had a great waterview.
After checking in, we went for a drink and a quick lunch. By the time we went to the O2 Arena i started to get really nervous again. Is it really gonna happen, was flashing in my head all the time. But it was still one day prior to the show, so EVERYTHING could still happen, to make her decide to cancel her first night. After arriving we took some great pix of 3 huge billboards with the tour logo, some other promo and one from her sold out dates.
We spotted an outdoor merchandise booth, which was not open yet. Inside the arena there was a pop-up shop. The shop was still completely empty, only the logo on the outside was visible. I’m not a big fan of the whole tour logo and merchandise, but it did look a bit better on a black background instead of red. Still I can’t get used to it. The classic images swiped in a bit, looks like using a trial version of some photo app on your phone. But hey, this is only my personal opinion, like this report is my personal experience. A staff member told us, they were aiming to open the store on Saturday at 10am. There was not much more to see, so we decided it was cocktail time, and went back to the hotel. Chilling, relaxing, talking and having some food. Counting away the hours before I could finally go to bed, because the next morning would be MADONNA DAY.
We wanted to be on time for the store opening. The next morning we had a nice breakfast and went back to the O2. After waiting about 20 minutes we could enter the O2 Arena shopping mall. Unfortunately when we arrived at the Celebration store, it wasn’t open yet. We had to wait another hour, but we could already have a sneak peak of the merchandise through the window. Opening time, and everyone jumped on the rack with Blond Ambition bombers… Like a bull reacts to a red flag.
I didn’t want to buy much, because I prefered to spend my money on tickets and not on merchandise. Also because London was unexpected, and not calculated in my budget. The BAT bomber I ordered online, but when I tried on a medium (which I pre-ordered), it didn’t fit as good as a large. So I decided to buy the large bomber, because it’s a really good quality bomber and to cancel my pre-order. Personally I don’t have much with lithographs, but when I saw a X-static Process litho, numbered to 500 I couldn’t resist, so I bought one. The staff told me it was 1 litho of 4, but I wasn’t interested in the other 3. Apparently all 4 came in the same package, so that was a nice surprise.
Speaking of surprises…. There was a really cool Madonna/Maripol black rubber bracelet set, which I wanted to buy for fun. I had 2 sets in my hand, one to use and one to keep. Almost at the counter to pay, I found out they were 50 Pound per set….. I mean, at Claires you can buy them for 1 Pound. It was almost funny to see how many people in the queue for paying, threw back the bracelets in the bowl. Heading back to the hotel for lunch and some chilling before it was time to go to the Arena again.
We went early, around 3:30pm, so we could eat a delicious pizza without any rush. The shopping centre which is attached to the O2 Arena was already filled with people who were going to see tonight’s show. Great to see so many familiar faces, and to talk and hug with some nice fellow fans. People I met throughout the years, who are always friendly and down to earth. Some who became really good friends. Who I also see besides M events. Always looking forward to seeing my Madonna family during tours or other M events. I stopped worrying about the ones who only recognise you or say hello when the wind comes from their right direction.
To be honest I didn’t have a clue which ticket I had. I found out that night that we were standing in Pit 1, I could cry!! After entering the stadium, we discovered that the pit was still empty, so we could stand front row. Really my Celebration Tour adventure couldn’t start better….Madonna started about 10 minutes before 9pm. I’m not gonna say much about the show. Don’t want to spoil the excitement for other fans, by describing the show in detail.
There was a major technical glitch after the first 2 songs, besides that it went all good. What an incredible show, only Madonna could come up with a show like this!! I was really flabbergasted. I cried, danced, laughed and screamed. It was one big emotional rollercoaster. A true trip down memory lane. After the show we went for some drinks, before taking the underground back to our hotel.
The next morning we had an early train back to Amsterdam. Broken by lack of sleep and being in good health, I can look back at an AMAZING start of The Celebration Tour.
Nex stop: Antwerp (first show).
Dave Crombeen
