Madonna Kicks Off ‘Confessions’ Tour (Photos, Videos)

James Joyner @ Gone Hollywood | Monday, May 22, 2006

Madonna might be getting somewhat long in the tooth, but she’s still got the energy of a 20-year-old as her “Confessions” tour kicks off.

She was an equestrian, a disco princess and a black-clad rocker — plus she crucified herself on a mirrored cross — all in less than two hours. Madonna is known for her theatrical, action-packed shows, and Sunday night’s sold-out opener of her “Confessions” world tour was no exception.

More than a dozen dancers — who had as many costume changes as the Material Girl herself — provided ample eye candy. The enormous T-shaped Forum stage featured moving platforms that carried her four-piece band and three backup singers. A jungle-gym contraption lowered from the ceiling became a play place for Cirque du Soleil-style gymnasts, while multiple massive video screens flashed images of war, world leaders, nature and, of course, Madonna. The production was so tightly choreographed, it left little room for spontaneity. Even when Madonna flipped the crowd the bird, it felt scripted, not subversive.

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Wearing jodhpurs and a top hat and carrying a jeweled riding crop, the singer emerged from a giant disco ball covered with $2 million worth of Swarovski crystals. (Maybe that’s why the tickets cost up to $350.) Male dancers were the horses, wearing leather straps on their heads and bits in their mouths. Madonna mounted one and tugged on his reins as she sang the opening song, “Future Lovers,” from last year’s “Confessions on a Dance Floor.”

She dedicated much of the show to the album, playing nine of its 12 tracks. Selections from her other nine records were sprinkled in between. For “Like a Virgin,” Madonna climbed onto a kinky version of a carousel horse. It looked like a cross between a saddle and a motorcycle seat, black with silver studs. It raised and lowered and moved in a circle while Madonna gyrated atop it. “The show has just begun,” she declared before disappearing for one of the night’s half-dozen costume changes. Moving video screens obscured the stage and old-school breakdancing kept fans’ eyes busy.

Next, a mirrored cross carrying the singer rose slowly from the stage floor. She wore purple pants, a red blouse and a crown of thorns. Her feet rested on a tiny platform and silver cuffs held her arms in place. As she sang “Live to Tell,” from 1986’s “True Blue,” numbers ticked away on a screen above the stage. They represented the 12 million children orphaned by AIDS in Africa. It was the first of the show’s two overtly political displays. Just before Madonna hoisted a Les Paul guitar to accompany herself on “I Love New York,” images of world leaders — from Richard Nixon to Saddam Hussein to George W. Bush — flashed on a screen beneath bold red letters that read “Don’t Speak.” The guitar didn’t seem organic to Madonna, but she stayed behind it for “Ray of Light” and switched to an acoustic for “Drowned World.”

While Madonna still has her youthful energy and a looks great, she has managed to become almost a parody of herself. People go to see her shows for the spectacle rather than the art at this point. She is one of those people who can be simultaneously provocative and boring.

Update: Apparently, she’s gotten someone’s interest.

Madonna has once again ticked off religious leaders. During her Sunday concert in Los Angeles, which launched her first world tour in two years, Madonna sang “Live to Tell” while hanging from a giant mirrored cross as video screens showed images of third-world poverty. “Why would someone with so much talent seem to feel the need to promote herself by offending so many people?” the Church of England said in a statement, according to the BBC.

David Muir of the Evangelical Alliance also accused Madonna of “blatant insensitivity.” He said, “Madonna’s use of Christian imagery is an abuse and it is dangerous,” and called for her to “drop it from the tour.”