Hahaha. Hi Alex. It is called the "reinvention tour" since she is apparently going back to do her greatest hits but "reinventing" them throughoutt the performance, as opposed to her last Drowned World tour that just focused on the newer material. I read on some site though that she said she hated the word "reinvention" and wants to kill it off this way by overuse, and since that makes no sense it's probably true, as w/ everything else about her right now.
I am actually going to be seeing this Tuesday night, so I can post a report here in a while afterward if you'd like. I have never seen her live before and am excited, but more so because she's actually going to be performing a lot of the older songs I care to hear. I hated American Life -and was indifferent to Music, and while I wish I could have seen her at her peak from the Blonde Ambition / Girlie Show days, I'm interested in the following alleged setlist:
Decadent Dream
pening sequence: The process (+ Medley)*
1. Xstatic Process
2. Hollywood
3. Into The Groove
4. Live To Tell
5. Die Another Day/ Easy Ride**
Destroying Egos
6. Express Yourself
7. American life
Freedom Of Thought
8. Nothing Fails
9. Deeper And Deeper/ Bad Girl
10. Papa Don`t Preach
11. Don`t Tell Me
Back
12. Nobody Knows Me*
13. Holiday
14. Lucky Star/ Burning Up/ Like A Virgin
15. Love Profusion***
15. Crazy For You***
16. Music (intro of Me Against The Music)
Spirituality
17. Frozen
Awakening
18. Bedtime Story
19. Like A Prayer
Back in Biz
20. Vogue
Set may vary on some shows
***On Nr. 15 some venues will get Love Profusion and some Crazy For You
**Easy Ride is only played as intro and outro of Die Another Day. Remember Mer Girl/ Sky Fits Heaven! it`s also part of the Decadent Dream section and is not going to be part of the 3 final sections.
Express yourself has totally rewritten lyrics (Stuart Price as I know).
Papa Don`t Preach: the whole song is used with a few changed different lyrics in relation to modern politics.
Don`t Tell Me "a flower power thing" M.
Nobody Knows Me: Madonna is not going to sing, you`ll get to see her first steps of her carrer on screen (samples of I`m So Stupid are used too)
Madonna will do a short but funny Medley for the first time since her Who´s That Girl tour with Lucky Star, Burning Up and Like A Virgin. (a lot of dancing)
Holiday is going to change places with Music on some dates, so they both be the first part of the encore.
(this not clear at the moment!!!).
The Back in Biz section may vary with the Awakening section. (But they want to have a good structure so ...........)
*Madonna not on stage.
The Vogue lyrics are changed on some party, it`s extended version of nearly 8 to 9 minutes (the longest song of the show!)
I was excited to read that as she has never performed "Bad Girl" on a tour before and it is in my opinion one of her best songs. Of course, her singing it is contradicted by this other report, so we will have to wait and see. Look edward o, BURNING UP is still mentioned in this one:
David Figueiredo (MIR) gives following information on the performances and setlist. Since we posted the entire setlist before, we filled in the blanks for all the songs included.
"The show starts with Vogue, as informed. The arrangement is more modern but still very similar to the original song. There is no change in the lyrics of the song. No mention of Britney or anyone else new.
She is indeed singing Hanky Panky, as well as a song from Evita, but not one of the showcase songs. It is one that is very near the end of the movie [Lament].
American Life is one of the first group of songs sung. It starts with sounds of helicopters and machine guns and it includes the rap part.
'Imagine' sounds beautiful. Very simple with a dramatic, electronic slow beat.
She sings one of her nineties dance hits in a jazzy way. Very nice.
She is not singing Bad Girl or Dress You Up as previously reported.
Into the Groove starts with guys playing Bag Pipes.
Holiday is the closing song and is totally new. The arrangement is totally different.
She sings 7 songs from American Life, not including Intervention, which she sings as a medley with Mother and Father. Hollywood is a mix and it appears to be a dance break for her to change clothes.
She shot a video (like Paradise in the Drowned World Tour) to use as a another break to change clothes.
She is singing two songs from the first album [Holiday and Burning Up], two songs from the Like a Virgin era (but not from the album) [Into The Groove and Crazy For You], one song from True Blue [Papa Don't Preach], two songs from Like a Prayer [Like A Prayer and Express Yourself], two songs from I'm Breathless [Vogue and Hanky Panky], one song from Erotica [Deeper And Deeper], one song from Bedtime Stories [Bedtime Story], one song from Evita [Lament], one song from Ray of Light [Frozen], two songs from Music [Music and Don't Tell Me], 7 from American Life and a cover of Imagine.
American Life is sung like the remix on the Remixed and Revisited Version. Very angst rock. At the end she starts shouting the part of "do i have to change my name"?
Burning Up is part of the set also. It is done in a very rockish style, kind of like Gambler in the virgin tour.
Surprisingly, (at least to me) she sings I'm So Stupid. The mix is a bit different than the album song. The beginning is very cool.
Express Yourself is amazing. The new version has a great groove and it ends in a military style beat, kind of like Holiday in the girlie show.
The new arrangement of Music is very contagious. Love it. It is indeed the last song, followed by the encore, Holiday.
Like a Prayer is beautiful. It is dancey, but very peaceful also.
Missy does rap in Into the Groove as previously reported.
I'm guessing (I'm not sure on this one) that the rumour of dancers wearing bellies as if they were pregnant might be true. She is doing Papa Don't Preach (to which she adds a verse of American Life at the end).
Die Another Day is very similar to the Album Version.
Nobody Knows Me is great. 2nd song right after Vogue.
Frozen is beautiful (as usual)
Mother & Father is sung slower and more acoustic and she adds a verse from Intervention in the middle."
~ As you can see, there are conflicting reports on the use of I'm So Stupid, Dress You Up and Love Profusion.
Here are the requisite attempts at "shock value," which I guess she has to rely on since how else are we supposed to get press?
There are reports today that Madonna's Re-Invention tour will include the megastar being frazzled in an electric chair and is said to be quite literally her most shocking show yet.
After their MTV snog last year, it seems her Madgesty and pop princess Britney Spears are now trying to outdo each other when it comes concert controversy.
And harking back to that girl-on-girl action, Mrs Ritchie's latest stage extravaganza will also apparently feature simulated lesbian sex when she tangos with a female dancer.
But Bush will come under fire in a big anti-war statement in her performance of 'American Life' - it's claimed the sound of bombs dropping and video footage of war in Iraq will accompany the track.
If the rumours are to be believed fans can expect to see scantily clad pregnant women parading around on stage for 'Papa Don't Preach' and the electrocution scene will come in a blaze of fireworks at the end of the song 'Lament' from the musical 'Evita'.
John Lennon's 'Imagine' will also get the Madonna treatment, with the star breaking down in tears in front of pictures of starving children while she sings the track.
Madonna recently added another date to the UK leg of the tour, with a performance at the Manchester Evening News Arena on 15 August.
I've heard that the American Life/Express Yourself part will be done military style in order to make some anti-war statement....but the electric chair thing? Some sort of anti-cap't punishment statement, or just an excuse to sit her saggedy-ass down after 2 hours ?? We'll see!! I LOVE how everyone just automatically adds the "breaking down in tears" part, inherently assuming the artificiality!! Oh, and here is the predictable press already even before we've started --->
21 May - Controversial show already slammed
Madonna last night sparked controversy as it emerged she is to use Iraq war images to boost world tour ticket sales. As West troops prepare to return to the Gulf, the Queen of Pop is planning to beam pictures of the victims of the conflict from her stage. The region's MPs last night made a plea to the multi-millionaire pop diva to abandon the stunt. Madonna is no stranger to scandal, enraging the Catholic Church by kissing a Jesus effigy in her Like A Prayer video and last year puckering up to pop princess Britney Spears in a publicity ploy at the MTV awards. But her latest stage performance is thought to be her most outrageous yet. Fans of the megastar, who has an estate in Wiltshire, will see her "electrocuted" on stage and involved in simulated sex scenes with a female dancer.
Yet it is the war footage that has caused the most offence. The images will be shown at a time of heightened sensitivity over the Iraq conflict and come in the wake of a series of shocking photographs of soldiers abusing prisoners in the Middle East. Following six weeks of fury last year, Madonna withdrew a video for the single American Life which shows her singing against a screen of bombings and warplanes. Speaking in March 2003, she said she made the decision "out of sensitivity and respect to the forces". But now it appears the singer has changed her mind again - this time for her provocative Re-Invention tour which comes to the UK this summer. It is another controversy from the singer who is upsetting West ramblers by banning them from walking on her Ashcombe estate.
And MPs last night questioned her latest move. Adrian Flook, whose Taunton constituency covers the base of 40 Commando who are set to return to the Gulf, slammed Madonna's show as attention seeking. He said the 45-year-old singer would do anything to attract attention. "If you haul yourself around the world for 20 years you will pull off any stunt to get noticed," he said. "As the ultimate material girl she's got to keep satisfying her audience. It's a strange show, but she must have the rights to use the footage. If she wants to call it art then that's her view."
Ian Liddell-Granger, MP for Bridgwater and a former Army major, said: "I think it's not the most appropriate time to do this. I think she's perhaps misread the situation. It is art, but artists must have responsibility. I would ask her to reconsider." The Tory added: "We have 40 Commando down here who may be sent to the Gulf and I think her timing is not right. Their families will be preparing for the prospect of them going out there and this will be particularly sensitive for them. I think she's got it very badly wrong, she's misread public opinion. Art is not an excuse to think you can do whatever you want."
Wiltshire MP James Gray also questioned Madonna's motives. He said: "I haven't seen the video, but one wonders why she is doing this. If she is a pacifist making an artistic statement about the horrors of war, then it is somewhat legitimate, but if she is using the sights of war to sell concert tickets, then that is not on. But, would one attack Wilfred Owen and the war poets for using the horrors of World War I to cynically sell their poetry books?"
Mother-of-two Madonna, who is married to film director Guy Ritchie, will also be seen "rising from the dead" on her tour while singing Bedtime Story, influenced by her Kabbalah faith. As she sings a cover version of John Lennon's Imagine, she will break down in tears in front of pictures of starving children.
Madonna, whose fortune exceeds £180million, is currently embroiled in a costly legal wrangle with Warner Music over her failing record company Maverick, which is millions in debt. A timely tour of some 50 dates worldwide will yield hundreds of millions of dollars, which will help fund the bitter legal battle.
Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie have both converted to the Kabbalah faith, an offshoot of Judaism. The Kabbalah claims to explain how we can make the best of ourselves and our lives. And in secular terms that is something Madonna is particularly good at. Her personal wealth is estimated at £180million and she has made more money than any other female entertainer in the music business. People such as Leonardo da Vinci and Shakespeare are said to have been influenced by the Kabbalah teachings. Other high-profile converts include model Jerry Hall and Kirk Douglas. Madonna became involved in the Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles which was founded by Philip Berg. Other celebrity members include Roseanne Barr, Sandra Bernhard, Elizabeth Taylor, Laura Dern and Barbra Streisand. (source: West Daily Press, thanks to DrownedMadonna)
― Vic (Vic), Sunday, 23 May 2004 06:31 (twenty-two years ago)