So maybe she's in the middle of a divorce. Is there any more fitting time to take the stage with two apartment building-sized glowing M's flanking your every move? And maybe they changed colours all night long — from red to pink to lighter pink and then back to red again. Maybe there were frequent shouts of "Gay-eh-eh-eh" and maybe the crowd in the upper tiers brought the wave back to kill time before Madonna took the stage around 9:30 pm.
M-dolla gave Vancouver one giant "Mmm" last night and mmm-hmm, it was so good, that BC Place ran out of liquor an hour after the show started. Does this happen during BC Lions games? I doubt it.
On to more important things. Newsflash: Madonna is and always will be the icon's icon. Not only does she sing every song live, she also sings and dances at the same time, hard to believe when confronted by the Britneys (mostly a dancer) and Mariahs (mostly a singer) of today's pop music scene.
During "Heartbeat" from her latest album Hard Candy, La Ciccone took centre stage for a rhythmic breakdown and showed her legion of Vancouver fans that she can booty shake crunk-style like a 20-year-old freestyler from So You Think You Can Dance. If you want proof of a consummate performer, YouTube that clip and prepare to be surprised.
Maybe you should dig around online for a couple other eye-popping originals from her Sticky & Sweet tour. When's the last time you've seen shadowboxing on stage? And how about jump rope? Let's be honest here. That's a never for me.
I'm glad I negotiated last minute tickets because she also dipped deep into her back catalogue — performing Into The Groove, Borderline, Vogue and a for-Vancouver-only rendition of Like A Virgin during the audience request portion of the show.
Vancouver, I'd like to tell you that you are always full of surprises.
Surprise #1: talking to a random fan at the Level 7 bathrooms about the concert — "I got the trots, gotta run."
Surprise #2: the crowd leaving immediately after the last song which, just so everyone knows, means no encore. Not that Madge would actually perform one anyway — when she walks off the stage, she's done for the night. She hasn't performed an encore so far on her tour, which wraps up in Sao Paulo in December.
Surprise #3: the group seated behind us who asked us to stop dancing after the second song of the night. This was particularly brutal because, really, who says that at a Madonna concert? For the record, the only time they got up and danced was for Like A Virgin. I know, I know. Do not judge lest I be judged, but I could think of five good friends of mine who would've danced the entire show and been happy to have those seats.
Lastly: tick tock, tick tock, tick tock — I wish Justin Timberlake joined her on the stage for "4 Minutes." Is he too good to double-bill for Vancouver? You know you were thinking it. Why, cruel world? WHY?
(photos by Janet Rerecich)