So, as I've sated, not a huge Madonna. Not for any reason, she's just not my Diva of choice (Our Lord and Savior: Kelly Clarkson). But I was super pumped to go.
Amy Schumer killed it. She did quite a long set. She said "My time is up, but if it's cool, I'll stick around a bit longer since Madonna won't be on for awhile." And so she did almost an hour. She was hilarious and you could tell she was super excited to be there. And she announced she's playing the Garden in June.
Madonna: First, I'm a HUGE tech geek. I love sets and design and all that. So I was just astounded by the sheer technical aspect of the show. So many trap doors and flying objects, etc. She comes in a big cage from the ceiling. It's all so overblown and epic. I loved it! The tone of the show was just fun. Music sounded great, etc. She was def. singing to a track for the dance numbers, but damn she went all out. She's 57 and she was killing it. There are stripper nuns. There is a big steel staircase that ascends from the ceiling. There's a huge video platform that does all sorts of tricks. She did a lot of acoustics sets. I didn't know she played the guitar, but she played the electric guitar, acoustic, and the ukulele. And on those numbers, to me, it sounded like she was singing live and she sounded great. She was a little awkward with her banter, but hell, maybe she was nervous. I was surprised to find she didn't really acknowledge the band or the back up singers. Or even introduce the dancers or anything. Maybe that's a little passe, but I figured she'd have a number where the back-up singers got to sing. They did a few numbers with just the dancers while a video played on the screen and pre-recorded track played. Which sounds lame, but those were honestly some of the best numbers. Really, really well done.
My only quibble was, as a newbie, not hearing the classics "as is." They were all sort of new arrangements, which I guess most of the people there were die hard fans, so maybe that was fun for them to hear? I didn't hate it. She did an acoustic "Who's That Girl" that was quite pretty. And the ending felt a little "Oh, now we're done." Like, usually, you'd end the show. The lights would go to black. The crowd would scream, and then the singer would come out and do like one or two songs. But there really wasn't a true sense of "oh this an encore." She ends the show by flying out and saying "Thanks, it's been great."
Oh! And the highlight of the evening to me was during Unapologetic Bitch, Amy Schumer came out and Madonna bent her over, ass out, and spanked her and humped her - much like the guy in Montreal? - and then Amy did this super cute/awkward/hilarious dance with the backup dancers. It was a highlight for sure.
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