Madonna is and always will be a star. Sure, her latest record, Rebel Heart, is kind of a disaster, and the album’s roll out was even worse, but in concert she’s in the upper echelon of performers.
Being a 30-year-old gay man, Madonna has been in my life since birth. I remember listening to her songs on the radio, and being transfixed by the men in the “Express Yourself” video. Madonna was always a queen in my heart, but she never was my queen. While I was sad I didn’t get to see her on previous tours, Saturday night’s concert at the Verizon Center was still one of the best shows I’ve seen in quite a while.
The queen of pop is in the midst of another reinvention, but this time looking back for inspiration. Nothing on her current record pushes the envelope, but it does re-frame her in the context of modern pop. Starting her set out with the Mike Tyson and Chance the Rapper-assisted “Iconic”, Madonna battled through waves of back-up dancers in gladiator-meets-Shogun gear before launching into a culturally appropriated version of “Bitch I’m Madonna,” which featured Geisha girls and fans.
With so much Rebel Heart, Madonna had little time for hits, but she still slipped some in. She took center stage to add rock riffs to “Burning Up,” turned “Dress You Up” into a Latin melody featuring “Lucky Star” and “Into the Groove.” And of course, she played “Like a Virgin”—a song so great, Madonna was obliged to perform it.
Seeing a Madonna show in 2015 is something someone in 1983 probably never predicted would happen. The Queen of Pop has stayed relevant through three decades and while she isn’t changing anything with her latest music, she is till captivating crowds like no one else—mostly through the edgy, boundary-pushing social commentary of her live show.
At one point, she said that Obama didn’t come to her concert because she might be “too provocative.” Truth be told, the show was titillating, and other than an interlude of a new song, “S.E.X.”—featuring back-up dancers simulating the act on beds and nun-strippers pole dancing to a song about what Madonna’s vagina tastes like (hint: “Holy Water”)—very little of the show was explicit.
Still, the entire set would make social justice warriors and Internet commentators scream, but at this point, does any of it matter?
Madonna has always used religion as a way to provoke, and her current show with Holy Cross stripper poles, a Last Supper set, and Southern Baptist-influenced preacher/video imagery kept in line with classic Madonna.
If only she timed her date with the Pope’s arrival in D.C.
