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| Madonna (Photo: Kevin Mazur / Getty Images) |
Madonna may have rolled into San Francisco’s Chase Center for “The Celebration Tour” burdened with a lot of tour questions and baggage, but she left town after two triumphant nights of spectacular retrospective performances. Initially plagued with Madonna’s health scares, controversial photos that contributed to concerns for her well-being and a lawsuit in New York state for starting the concert well after the posted start time, what should have been characterized as a victory lap seemed to be more of a mine field. But the icon who shouted out “I am your San Francisco treat!” Wednesday night seemed hell-bent to carry her legacy forward. And while the 65-year-old wore a very visible knee brace and her choreography seemed at times a bit stiffer and methodical than the past, fans were overjoyed to party with the woman who is undeniably the biggest female pop star of all-time.
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| Madonna (Photo: Kevin Mazur / Getty Images) |
The crowd was onto the late start and when a DJ took the stage at the posted showtime of 8:30, less than 5% of the seats were filled. But the night kicked into gear at 9:50 pm with Bob the Drag Queen emerging from a tunnel with a huge Victorian-era gown ensemble and providing a fun monologue and audience play to get the crowd fired up. After about five minutes of vamping and ramping up the audience, Bob disappeared below the stage and a crowned Madonna emerged swiveling on the elevated center stage in papal-like robes to sing a heavy version of “Nothing Really Matters.” While the lack of any backing band throughout the show was obvious, she put to rest any fear that audience members may have had from the troubling news of last year. Madonna looked terrific, healthy and sang the song ably. The only sign of any vulnerability was the large knee brace she wore on her left leg throughout the performance. As with everything Madonna, she made the truth evident with a black brace vs. any attempt to hide it with a nude color.
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| Madonna @ the Chase Center (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Act 1 focused on Madonna’s early climb in the New York scene and a spirited “Everybody” saw Madonna dancing with 15 dancers on a center stage that consisted of multiple circles that rotated at different speeds and in different directions. “Into The Groove” saw Madonna leading her dancers on a parade up the stairs and down the left side of one of the catwalks that jutted far out across the Chase Center floor and then concluded with her announcing “That’s right. I still got it; in case you doubted it.”
“Listen up,” Madonna told the now capacity crowd, “I’m going to tell you the story of my life. Are you ready?” Madonna moved to an androgynous dancer made up as her younger self “I want to introduce you to someone very special. Me. This is me 40 years ago. I live all of me. My bad hairstyles. My bad husband choices,” she joked. Madonna picked up a black electric guitar and launched into a super-charged “Burning Up” that demonstrated the power of her music when delivered as a straight-ahead rock song. Her guitar chops and intensity begged the question of what would have been had she gone for a heavier rock fork vs. the pop star path she chose. She ended with a Hendrix touch of bringing her guitar up against the amps to draw out loud feedback.
Next, she stripped off her jacket down to tight shorts and a bustier top and took to chair dancing and posing with a nicely choreographed and sexy “Open Your Heart” with Madonna showing she hasn’t lost a bit when it comes to role of provocateur and temptress. A comedy bit ensued with Madonna being denied entry into a club by an obnoxious doorman, before she was finally acknowledged and let in. The performance of “Holiday” that followed was high on the choreography but not as energy intensive as the previous numbers. It culminated with a disco mirror ball and a mourning of the end of the disco era freedom and the onset of AIDS as Madonna draped a fallen dancer in her coat as they were both lowered beneath the stage.
Act II began with a powerful and touching “Live to Tell” that saw Madonna elevated above the crowded stage on an open elevator-like platform as the screens surrounding the stage showed the faces and names of dozens of deceased victims of AIDs including her early collaborator Martin Burgoyne and Queen’s Freddie Mercury. Without the need for additional dancing, Madonna was able to demonstrate her singing voice is alive and well! By the time her elevator came in for a landing there were hundreds of photos of victims on all the screens. Madonna took on what was once a huge Catholic controversy with a performance of “Like a Prayer” that featured a cross-illuminated roulette wheel of loin-clothed men in black hoods striking a crucifixion pose before dancing. The song ended with a tribute to Prince with a guitarist with a cartoonish Prince costume playing a squealing guitar solo before vocal elements of “Let’s Go Crazy” were added in.
Act III began three virtual boxing rings set up on outer stages – framed with laser ropes as she presented an interpretation of “Erotica” with dancers faux boxing in the multiple rings and Madonna in a boxers robe before she removed it to reveal a high heeled boots and a negligee as she took to a bed with a lookalike from her “Blonde Ambition” era and simulated sexual positions until she was lured away by a pile of nude costumed male dancers for “Justify My Love.” The screens projected an up above view that was reminiscent of the magical choreographed swimming scenes from Busby Berkeley musicals of the 1930’s. From there, the men exited the scene and Madonna was blindfolded and then entertained and caressed by topless female and male dancers throughout “Hung Up”. “Bad Girl” saw her shun the theatrics to deliver a torch singer version of “Bad Girl” accompanied by her Mercy on grand piano.
Act IV featured the most flamboyant moment of the night as a huge production of Vogue was delivered as a scored fashion show with Madonna and a guest judge as Bob the Drag Queen lead the mayhem as dancers became increasingly wild. Throughout the entirety of the evening, Bob added terrific entertainment element serving as ringmaster for the entire concert and kept the energy way up even during more transition-style pieces. Vogue ended with Madonna’s daughter Estere coming down from a DJ position to do dance with Bob shouting “Like Queen, like daughter!” From that huge production number, Madonna finished out Act IV with scaled down versions of “Human Nature” and “Crazy for You” - though the end of the last song saw the center stage impressively turned into a giant inferno.
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| Madonna fans @ the Chase Center (Photo: Sean Reiter) |
Act V saw Madonna emerge with a witch theme to “Die Another Day” with witch-costumed dancers spread across the entirety of the stage areas. “Don’t Tell Me” featured a transition to sexy western wear and led into “Mother and Father.” Following the song, Madonna donned an acoustic guitar and told the audience the story of a childhood cross-country vacation that took her and her family from her native Michigan to San Francisco. “San Francisco looked like heaven to me,” she said as the audience roared. She performed a beautiful stripped-down version of “Express Yourself.” and then spun the guitar behind her back for a fun “La Isla Bonita” as the rhythm got the entire crowd up and celebrating before she transitioned to a very truncated version of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.” It was perhaps the only moment of the concert that really seemed like a miss where Madonna’s vocals were short-changed instead of spotlighted.
Act VI turned the Chase Center into a huge dance club as a pulsing “Bedtime Story” led into a bombastic, hypnotic club mix version of “Ray of Light” with Madonna once again flying over the crowd in a long straight-haired wig and an outfit that was like a human mirror-ball. The act concluded with a celebratory “Take a Bow.” A long video segment followed that focused on the friendship of Madonna and Michael Jackson and featured a “Billie Jean” – “Like a Virgin” mashup before dancers emerged for the final act spread throughout all the stages in various Madonna costume incarnations from throughout the years for “Bitch, I’m Madonna” before she wrapped up the show. The tour was aptly named as it was indeed a night of tremendous celebration of all things “Madge” with a completely engaged crowd. As Madonna herself provide in one of the night’s many video segments, “The most controversial thing I ever did was stick around.”
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