Posted: 10/4/19 at 8:09am
Revised for better chronological coherence:
A friend a few years ago told me that one day I would meet Madonna and I thought he was of full of ****. It seemed too lofty a dream, foolish. I was wrong. My skepticism proved me a fool for that is exactly what happened to me tonight.
I’ll try to recap what happened tonight but I’m still in a bit of shock and some of the details are slowly coming back to me so I may have to go back and edit this post more than once.
So on this tour Madonna selects at least one person from the audience during one interlude and sits next to them to hold a conversation. This is something she has never done on any other tour partially because it’s hard to do something like this in an arena tour. However, on this tour she is doing smaller theater dates which are much more intimate and are cell phone free.
Since I knew I had a first row seat for Thursday night’s concert, I knew there was a shot that I would get to talk to her but nothing certain. One of the Madonna fans from Ireland that I befriended on Instagram messaged me Thursday morning to ask where I was sitting. I told him and he said OMG - That’s the seat she comes down and sits by and talks to the audience. Now I had already been thinking about what I would say if I ever got to meet her for years and have been refining it some since I knew my chances were better for Thursday night and now I knew the chances were very very good so I really began refining in my head what I would need to say. I also knew that if she started talking to me and I wasn’t engaging back she would move on to someone else so I had to stay out of my head and stay engaged with her.
I was told that if she was going to talk to me someone would tap me on the shoulder and talk to me while she’s performing Medellin. Partway into this song I was worried that maybe it wasn’t going to happen because I hadn’t had a tap on my shoulder and then the magic tap on my shoulder occurred. I turned to see him. He asked if I had been to this show before and I told him I had been here Tuesday night. So he said you know what’s getting ready to happen. And I replied, yes. Then he told me something which was hard to hear over the music but basically he said that she will come down and sit in the chair next to me which they had produced and they would tell me when to sit down and then I will have about two minutes to talk with her which would mostly be me answering the questions she asked. They also handed me a beer bottle to hand her when she asked for it.
So the number ended with her dancing with her son David and after some repartee between the two of them she looked over at me and asked David if he thought I was safe for her to sit next to. He replied that I had plenty of the merchandise from the tour so I should be OK. She said something to the effect of “merchandise, huh?”. She then approached the chair that was empty next to me and asked if it was free. I manage to say something like, yes it’s free.
Now I can’t be certain of the chronology of what happened next and some details are coming back to me as I retell the next few moments of my life. I may have to come back and edit this a few times.
Madonna: What’s your name?
Me: Kevin
M: Where are you from?
Me: Oklahoma
M: Do you live on a ranch?
Me: No (I realize at this point I’ve only responded with one word answers which is not very engaging)
M: I don’t know why I think everyone in Oklahoma lives on a ranch.
Me: I can see why you’d think that.
M: It’s a big state.
Me: yes (is it though?)
M: I’m not sure what to make of your answers.
Me: (panicking a bit) I know they’re short.
M: No that’s not it. They’re mystifying. Are you a secret agent? (I’m not sure whether she said all that or if I invented some of that)
Me: I’m Monsieur X
M: Oh do you speak French?
Me: Oui (She seems to like that answer. And although I have only been peripherally aware of audience reaction to our exchange that seems to get a big reaction from the audience as well)
At this point the chronology of what happens next is a bit fuzzy.
M: what do you do for a living?
Me: I work in criminal justice reform.
M: Criminal Justice Reform? (She seems to like this answer) I have some friends you should meet.
Me: I’d like that.
I do recall that I tried to silently offer her the beer bottle before she was ready for it. Also, later when she has the bottle in her hand she puts her hand down (with the bottle in it) between us and I think she’s trying to hand it back to me so I grab it, but she doesn’t let go so I release it.
I also remembered she asked me fairly early on if I was at the concert alone and I said yes. Then she asked if always came to her concerts alone. I said yes again. Again another two questions I answered with one word answers. It’s good I finally opened up.
At some point around this time I believe is when she asks if she can have a drink of my beer. I say yes. (It is the prop handed to me earlier by the man) She asks if there’s any backwash in it. I say no. She says she doesn’t believe me, that she sees something frothy floating at the top of the beer. She takes a drink anyway.
M: What do you think of the show?
Me: I love it. I danced so much I broke my crucifix. (This is true - I had the crucifix dangling from my belt loop and when I had looked down earlier, the bottom part had broken off)
M: let me see it. (I show her). It sure has. Jesus is going to be cross with you. (this spontaneous bit of humor cracks me up as well as the audience)
Me: I also tell her that I think the world would be a better place if it was more like a Madonna concert.
(She reminds me this isn’t a Madonna concert but a Madame X concert. I reply that she is right.)
M: She asks how the world would be better?
Me: it takes me a second to realize this relates to the last thing I said to her and I wasn’t prepared for her to ask this question but I’m able to stammer something about her show representing Freedom and that seems to satisfy her.
M: But these tickets aren’t free.
Me: yes, I know.
M: All of this (motions to the stage) isn’t free. I’ve got to pay for it somehow.
M: Have you ever Cha-Cha’d?
Me: Yes, with you.
M: Where? In front of the television?
Me: No, just now (during Medellin)
She seems to be winding down our conversation now to get back to the stage. I ask her if I can say one more thing. She says yes.
Me: On behalf of all my friends who didn’t survive the plague, I want to thank you for your artistry and advocacy.
She seems to both appreciate my heartfelt and personal message and also shaken by it. I’m also not sure what the audience reaction was, but she tells them this isn’t funny. I imagine she’s also thinking about all the friend she lost to AIDS. She pauses. A solemn look crosses her face. She doesn’t seem to know what to say. She still has the microphone, but I tell her I love her.
M: (solemnly) All your friends...
She certainly said something else, but I must’ve blacked out for a moment because I can’t recall it.
Someone that was there last night remembered the piece that I blacked out for:
“She told you. To all your friends. “this one’s for you” and she drank from the bottle again. Beautiful moment. Surreal. glad to have been there. Thank you too.”
She really seems to be winding up our conversation now, but I have one more thing I want to tell her.
Me: Can I tell you one more thing?
Madonna initially says no, but then says okay.
Me: On behalf of my younger suicidal self...
M: wait, please repeat that.
Me: On behalf of my younger suicidal self, thank you. There were times that the only thing that kept me alive was knowing there would be another album in a year or two (this is true; I do manage to hear the audience applaud this)
She initiates a hug and holds me for what seems like a nice long time. I hug her back. She is so tiny, but it’s somehow the best hug I’ve ever received. She whispers something in my ear that I can’t quite hear. I imagine it to be “I love you” or “Thank you” or “Take Care of Yourself”. I whisper “I Love You” into her ear. She gets up and as she takes steps back up to the stage, she looks back at me and tells me, “Thank you for staying alive.”
And then the concert resumed.
Updated On: 10/8/19 at 08:09 AM
