Madge's Stadium Gig

Madonna had her big outdoor gig at Dodger stadium earlier this month. My class was canceled that night and an extra ticket became available at a slightly discounted rate, so I decided the time was right to cross this iconic artist off my list of big names that I really should see once. She joins other such luminaries as Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, Paul McCartney, The Who and The Rolling Stones as acts who I can now say I saw live.

Big shows in arenas are not my thing, so to go to a baseball stadium for a live gig seems preposterous. However, for musicians on a living legend sort of scale, you often have no choice. Madonna does stadium-size shows in other countries on a regular basis, but has never done them in the U.S., with the exception of 'Live Aid' type of extraganzas for which she is not the only act. She usually does arenas, often multiple nights in some cities. This and I think one other show in Miami were an experiment to see if she can draw for this size venue. Dodger stadium does not play host to too many live shows. Elton John played here in 70's and other package rock shows took place then, but you hardly ever hear of them nowadays. I think The Police may have played here on their reunion tour last year.

So, I hopped in the car with some new acquaintances and set off for Dodger stadium at about 6:30pm. It was stop-and-go nightmare traffic all the way down Sunset Boulevard. We took an alternate route on SillverLake Boulevard, winding around the reservoir and ending up on the other side of Dodger stadium and more traffic lining up to get inside the stadium, though not as bad as if we had stayed on Sunset.

The concert ticket said 7:30 as the start time, but I knew there was no way the show would start that early. We arrived in the stadium at about 8:30 and there was an opening act--DJ Paul Oakenfold-- who just looked like guy behind a desk. "Could be doing spreadsheets for all we know." remarked one of our companions.

One fortuitous event was that we got bumped down one whole level from the top deck to the reserved level of the stadium. This was due to the show not being sold out and the music promoters (Live Nation) deciding to close up the top deck--pretty common occurrence at live shows. So, despite news reports of it being a capacity crowd, this was not the case. Nevertheless, there were plenty of people crowed into that venue, many off them on the playing field, which had huge tarps over it and folding chairs. The stage was situated where the outfield bleachers would be. The areas on the sides of the bleachers were also closed off. I would estimate there was 40-50 thousand people there, approximately the amount that would have attended two arena shows.

The show finally got under way at 9:50 pm as the house lights cut out and the stage lights came on. Onstage was large box shaped contraption that eventually raised up to revealed old Madge and her dancers. She had a live band playing behind her, pushed was to the back of the stage in practical darkness. It was a full-on audio/visual extravaganza, with video screens left, right and center. The ones on the left and right had mostly footage of what was going on on-stage and the center one had pre-filmed bits timed to go with whatever song they were doing. The Jumbotron screens sure came in handy for those of us in the stands, who despite being moved a bit closer were still a million miles away from the action and needed the aid of the screens (or in my case, my binoculars) to see exactly what was going on down there.

Sound was mostly clear and loud and everything was expertly timed and choreographed down to the last dance move and lighting cue. It is hard to say for sure how much actual singing was going on on-stage. It is pretty apparent that a great deal of it is mimed. Choruses in particular seemed beefed up with pre-records. It is hard to criticize her because this is the norm for shows like this. I mean, how in the hell can you be running around, dancing, skipping rope (for one early 80's/NYC/electro/Double Dutch/Keith Harring graphics assisted rendering of 'Into The Groove"), pretending to box ('Die Another Day', complete with boxing ring that popped out of the end of catwalk at the end of the stage), writhe around on a piano ('Devil Wouldn't Recognize You'), go all Eastern European Gypsy hoe-down on us (complete with Romanian folk group, violins and all), and not be out of breath, much less sing in key?

Another thing that Madonna seems to favor these days is to strap on the old electric guitar and pretend she is some guitar hero. This is kind of comic, in that it appears that the thing may not be even turned on and the guitar sounds are courtesy of her guitarist who lurks in the shadows behind her. But whatever, the instrument is basically another prop she uses and gives her an opportunity to perform a few songs standing mostly still, looking cool, and not having to dance some more. This rock-tastic approach was used for her re-arrangements of old songs like 'Borderline' and 'Hung Up' which now have crunching rock arrangements that actually worked well. In general, Madonna is willing to perform the oldies, but she has reserved the right to reinvent them to her liking.

One has to put away any misgivings about how "live" the music is and just remember that this is a "show" in the purest sense of the word. It's like the circus or a magician and it's best to forget about how it's being done and just sit back and enjoy the spectacle. If there were any doubts about how Madonna really sings and how it sounds on stage or on record, the proof was in the acappella version of 'Dress You Up' she performed as a crowd sing-a-long--actually one of the more enjoyable moments of the night. She sang and the crowd would respond with the next line. However, when she tried to hit the highs in the chorus, she struggled mightily. She actually stopped the song early and said, "I think we have to stop. I'm butchering my own song."

Of course the crowd were eating out of her hand all night long. Madonna fans are as impassioned as they come. It is telling that the crowd really came alive for all the old stuff. Abouta third of this show was devoted to the new album, "Candy Shop", and the material went down well. Latter day hits were trotted out: 'Music', 'Ray Of Light', 'Human Nature', 'Die Another Day'. But if the song was something from the 80's, say anything from "The Immaculate Collection" album, the crowd went berserk and sang along: 'Vogue', 'Borderline', 'Like A Prayer', 'Into The Groove'. Madonna still sees herself as a contemporary artist, and like any such artists, doesn't just want to rely on all the old stuff that they made their career on. She will give up some, but will do them in an updated way and then mix in things from throughout her career and the new album. I think she achieved the right balance with this show and is not ready for the oldies circuit anytime soon.

Oh yeah, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that, yes, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake were there and performed with Madonna, just not together. Britney came out during 'Human Nature', sang a bit of the chorus with Madonna and that was pretty much it. Justin joined Madonna late in the show for a duet on '4 Minutes', which they performed together on the studio version. Very anti-climactic really.

Exactly two hours after it began, the big box on stage came back down with an 80's video game style graphic on it that said "Game Over". And so it was. I think myself and everyone else there that night went home pleased.

Here is the set list for the show / tour.

Intro/Candy Shop
Beat Goes On
Human Nature
Vogue
Into The Groove
Die Another Day
Borderline
She's Not Me
Music
Devil Wouldn't Recognise You
Spanish Lesson
Miles Away
La Isla Bonita/Lela Pala Tute
Romanian folk interlude
You Must Love Me
4 Minutes
Like A Prayer
Ray Of Light
Dress You Up (acappella version with audience)
Hung Up
Give It To Me