Wiretap: Have you Confessed?

operatorLA was lucky enough (thanks, Kurt and Rohit) to be given a ticket to go see Madonna perform last night at the Forum in Inglewood. This was the first time that he was in the actual presence of her Madgesty and he was not disappointed in the least.

One of the most exciting parts of the evening was the anticipation. Thousands of people coming together to share an experience. Would the crowd erupt as her first beats of music began? What were we to expect?

Always Controversial, always energetic- Madonna did not disappoint. The performance was non- stop and flew by in what seemed like mere minutes. Although her voice was not amazing (let's admit it, no one goes to hear her sing), her presence and sheer stamina make catching her live worth it.

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The lights in the Forum went out and the crowd jumped to its feet. Madonna's image appears on on the three huge display screens that moved across the stage, up and down during the performance.

"Can I tell you a secret?"

Music pumping, visual images appear- horses running on the screens. Dancers appear on the side platforms of the set. All in black costumes with leather accents. Muscle-bound men in leather harnesses and on leashes being controlled by other dancers. A huge disco ball starts being lowered from the rafters. When it makes it to the platform at the end of the long runway of set, the ball opens to become a stair unit from which Madonna emerges. Dressed in black velvet, lace and leather with a top hat that had a huge horses tail attached to the top, Ms. Ciccone proceeded to sing "Future Lovers" and domintate her stable of "horse-men".

Her first "Act" included "Get Together" and"Like a Virgin". The latter she performed on a carousel type horse saddle as she writhed, lunged, leaned and stretched into all different positions.

Then she told the audience that the show has just begun, before she exits the stage. Another runway is lowered which contained all types of jungle-gym looking contraptions that the dancers used to swing, jump, and do all sorts of mind blowing gymnastics on. The music segways into "Jump" at which time Madonna joins her dancers on the jungle gym. This song ends her first act.

The second Act begins with voice over narrations of personal stories of triumph. They are interpreted by dancers while a video montage plays in the background. Once the stories are told, the screens move and the LED curtain begins to rise to reveal Madonna crucified on a disco-ball mirrored cross.

She sings "Live to Tell" while images of children in Africa who have been affected by AIDS plays in the background. A tally of the number of children orphaned by this disease in Africa counts up during the whole song and ends at 12 million. She is then lowered off of her cross and sings "Forbidden Love."

This song featured some of the most innovative choreography in the whole show. At different point two men would stand side by side and use only their arms to dance and tell a story of intimacy. During the musical interlude Madonna joins two of these men for the arm "menage a trois" and then they are all lowered beneath the stage.

The lights come up on a man playing a ceremonial horn and singing the beginning of "Isaac." Madonna joins in and this section of the show includes "Sorry" and "Like it or Not." The act is finished off by an extended version of "Sorry" that included a video montage of world leaders and human atrocities.

Since we caught this show in LA, Madonna prefaced the third "Act" with the statement, "Please don't take this song personally." and then she began "I Love New York." The whole third Act which included "Ray of Light", "Drowned World", and "Paradise Not for Me" was all low key and much of it performed with Madonna behind her guitar.

In the final "Act", she began to move the performance to the dance floor. A disco version of "Music" a slower tempo, dancy "La Isla Bonita", a great re-imagining of "Erotica", and "Lucky Star" performed over the house music. As if these did not have the audience up and moving, she ended the night with "Hung Up" and dropped gold, mylar balloons from the ceiling. The stage lights went out and the show was over. No encore.


The show was tight, well choreographed and just good ol' fun. The costumes were mostly understated (minus a few spandex leotards here or there) and the set design was incredible. However, a majority of the kudos for the performance should go to Madonna's troupe of dancer/gymnasts. These kids tie the show together and don't stop moving."