Again another three years later I hear through ICON (Madonna’s official fanclub) that there is a possible tour coming up. They’re saying the show will start in Europe, in London, so that is a very good sign! I immediately contact ticket agency Keith Prowse to ask if they can get tickets. They say that they can and I already reserve for two people (I know that my Dutch friend will be coming along) My boyfriend decides not to come as he doesn’t feel like hanging around a stadium all day.
July 10
Today the ticket sale started in London for The Girlie Show on September 25th in the Wembley Stadium! I was so excited to know that I was actually going to be at a world premiere of a show! I phoned Keith Prowse and they told me that they had received no confirmation as of yet. But after three very exciting hours they could confirm our tickets, they told us that probably a second show would be added! Indeed two days later the second show was announced and we could complete our journey. We booked a trip and hotel. I decided to stick with these two shows in London and not book more dates. Still two more months to wait until the tour would begin!
The Girlie Show London England
Hoek van Holland – London September 23
Today we are going to London by train and by boat, the following day we would walk through London and go to Wembley Stadium. When we’re in the train to ‘Hoek van Holland’ we already have so much fun, but I do feel that we’re very nervous. I brought my camera and lots of film rolls and of course the vouchers that we have to switch in London for the real tickets. Once we arrive we enter the boat and to celebrate the weekend we have a beer, but not more than one hour later we go to our cabin and hit the sheets.
London September 24
Early morning we arrive in Harwich and take the train to London, again the weather is great! We get to our hotel, dump our stuff and hit the town. Then we’re searching for Keith Prowse to switch our vouchers for the tickets. When we get there we’re told that we can only switch these tomorrow at Wembley Stadium. This sucks! means that we cannot just queue at Wembley as we don’t know which entrance is ours. But hey, we’re not going to let that spoil our shopping fun.
After a bit of walking around we end up at Madonna’s hotel (The Lanesborough) and there was almost no one there. I tell my friend that I don’t plan on hanging around for hours as I think it’s a waste of time. There isn’t too much happening at the front of the hotel, we do see Madonna’s brother Christopher leaving, some fans are running after him (come on guys get a grip). We decide to check out the back entrance of the hotel, there are a couple of people there including a car who will drive Madonna to Wembley we believe. We climb onto the gate and wait. After no more than 15 minutes the unthinkable happened, Madonna exits the hotel with her bodyguard and I shoot some great pictures! Before she enters her car she looks at me with the biggest smile ever and then the car takes off.
Wow! She looks amazing with the short blond hair! After this nice but unexpected experience we ate dinner and went to bed early.
London September 25
We ordered room service at 5 am in the morning and I took my breakfast with me. The weather was cold, windy and chilly and I didn’t really feel very well. London was still asleep but the closer we got to Wembley, the more we realized that we made the right decision as more people had thought of it. We decided to sit and wait at Turnstile D even though we still didn’t know if that would be our entrance, but we just decided to take the risk. Of course we started talking with other people there, sharing experiences and thinking of what songs she would be singing tonight. Somebody tells me that she will be performing ‘Justify My Love’ twice, why twice? I just hope she will perform a lot of songs off of ‘Erotica’.
At noon my friend goes to the box office to change the voucher for the tickets and yes of course, the tickets say Turnstile C and we’re at D! My friend was expecting some friends to come around who hopefully had entrance D so maybe we could switch. And yes thank God, they indeed had D and were prepared to switch, but my friend had to convince them though. The weather is bad, cold and windy and it seems like it’s going to rain, gladly it didn’t. It’s about time for me to put my camera away and the last hour of waiting has arrived. When the gates open we go up the stairs and then I get searched, but they tell me to walk on, I have such an honest face, lol! I just ran to the stage and mission completed I am in the first section of the stadium! My friend is right behind me and we make a deal that I will give him all my films when they’re full during the show.
The stage looks amazing, it’s huge and on both sides there’s an image of a person with a mask on. And on top of the stage is the title ‘Girlie Show’ and of course there’s the catwalk which we’re really close to. The support act starts ‘UNV’ and they’re quite good. Then it’s time for the world premiere of The Girlie Show, all we see now is a huge red curtain covering whatever is going on on stage. Then we hear music coming from the speakers and then we see a clown on stage and the curtain drops, a pole with a naked lady on it. First everyone thinks ‘it’s Madonna’ but soon we see that it’s a dancer. Erotica starts and the dancer comes sliding down the pole. Suddenly Madonna comes up from the stage and starts ‘Erotica’, WOW!! Amazing!! I am already taking pictures!
After Erotica she comes walking down the stairs onto the catwalk she drops stuff and clothes, puts off her mask and starts ‘Fever’. The crowd is going nuts, we’re all just so exited as we don’t know what else Madonna has in store for us. Fever is just spectacular and I got to take some great pictures, she ends this with a ‘Lovely way to burn’ and disappears into flames, or so it seems. First I think I hear Rescue Me but then a new version of ‘Vogue’ starts. The new version is just amazing, everybody loves it. ‘Rain’ is the first moment to really sit back, relax and enjoy (not that we’re doing that), an amazing version! Madonna’s voice amazes me, strong, clear and just very good. Then it’s disco time and Madonna comes down on a huge discoball to sing ‘Express Yourself’. She takes us back to the 70’s with the colourful costumes and the crazy afro wigs. M is on the catwalk a lot and she then performs Deeper & Deeper. Madonna takes the time to say something to the audience after ‘Why’s It So Hard’ about aids and then starts a very moving performance of ‘In This Life’. Wembley is silent, and Wembley listens to Madonna’s words, and we all start to get a bit teary when Madonna herself has trouble fighting her tears. She then walks up to the stage and the curtain closes.
After her dancers dance to ‘The Beast Within’ Madonna rises up from the stage dressed in a suit. She starts her song with a German accent and then finally when she gets to the chorus we know which song she’s actually singing ‘Like A Virgin!’ This version is so original, we never expected this! Bye Bye Baby is being performed the same way as at the MTV Awards. She ends the song by telling us that she hates fucking women! I can already imagine the headlines tomorrow. The most unexpected song of the night has to be ‘I’m Going Bananas’, but it’s absolutely hysterical and she mixes this with an amazing version of ‘La Isla Bonita’. She takes her time after ‘La Isla Bonita’ and thanks God ‘for not raining on my show’ and gets down on her knees. She asks if we like the show, if we like the band, and tells us that after a year of being beaten up, she feels great thanks to our positive energy.
When she announces that she needs a vacation, we get a military style ‘Holiday’ which rocks the place! ‘My jock is loose, my pants are tight, my balls are swinging from left to right!’ Holiday is amazing and everyone sings along and just dances their asses off. After ‘Holiday’ we’re waiting for the encore, which results in ‘Justify My Love’ which is absolutely breathtaking! I feel like I am watching a painting come to life, truly the highest form of art on stage! I never really liked the song, but this performance just gives it a whole another meaning. After another pause Madonna sings ‘Everybody’ and I just go crazy! But then suddenly security notices me taking pictures and takes me to the side of the stage and have to empty my camera. The films are being destroyed in front of me, I am just so thankful that I gave the other film rolls to my friend! I am not allowed back into the crowd, so I leave the stadium and buy some shirts and the tourbook. I decide to go back to the hotel and wait for my friend there.
A little while later my friend arrives and yes he still has the films! He told me that he was doubting to throw them away when he saw I was taken away, but luckily he didn’t. We then got a bite to eat and went to bed.
London September 26
The fire alarm went off in our hotel, but it turned out to be a false. As expected the newspapers are filled with reviews about Madonna’s show. The reviews are fairly negative but still they like to overdo it, which makes their reviews absolute rubbish. Still we buy the newspapers. We decide to check out a record fair, where I find the Deeper And Deeper promo 12″. We then went back to Wembley, this time without camera as I wanted to really enjoy tonight’s show.
When we get there it’s very crowded, I get my voucher and walk up to the box office. When it’s my turn, the lady takes the voucher and doesn’t come back for a while. When she comes back she asks how we ordered our ticket, and so I tell her. The lady tells us that tickets have been stolen on their way to the stadium and that our tickets probably were part of that package as well. Unfortunately there’s nothing she can do as the show is completely sold out. I am pissed off and walk back to my friend, at first he thought I was making a joke but when he saw how serious I was, he believed me. We called the Dutch agency they told us they could give us a refund but only in Amsterdam, and not get us new tickets.
What to do now? We’re certainly not going back home, we’re here, so we’re going to see the show, just don’t know how yet. We found one ticket through a security guard of a girl whose friend couldn’t come because she was sick. So that was one ticket, now just needed to find another one. The other available tickets were all seated ones, and way too expensive. Then my friend went out to search and after almost one hour he had found me one, but the dealer wanted too much money. My friend told him 30 pounds and not a penny more! The dealer gave in and we got our second ticket! When we compare our tickets, it turns out that mine looks a bit different, and I come to the conclusion that I might have bought my own stolen ticket.
When I enter Wembley now, I am being turned inside out by security. We then ran to the left side of the stage as we were on the right side yesterday. We’re in the first section of the arena so are free to go wherever we want to. The show again is just amazing, and now we get to see things that we couldn’t see yesterday. Now I get to see all of ‘Everybody’. Madonna comes back after ‘Everybody’ dressed as the clown, takes off her mask and sings ‘Everybody is a star’ and then she leaves.
London is a fact, both shows are over and so are our dates! We noticed how funny and relaxed Madonna was. We head back to the hotel, take a shower and go back to bed.
Harwich – Amsterdam September 27
After breakfast we head to Liverpool Station to catch the 10 o’clock train to Harwich. My friend wants to buy some more newspapers but the train is almost ready to leave and he still has to pay. But he makes it on the last second and all that for a bunch of newspapers! When we’re on the boat I notice that my voice is almost gone and I decide to imitate Joe Cocker, which doesn’t sound too bad. When we arrive back in Amsterdam, my boyfriend Peter is waiting for me. I jump off the train and run up to him, but he’s instantly concerned about my voice. But my friend tells him not to worry as my voice will come back (he knows, he’s seen me like this before).
What an amazing weekend with lots of great moments, bad moments (the tickets being stolen and the destroyed film rolls). Hopefully I get to see Madonna again very soon!
Hans Schaft
