‘Moody’ Madonna pays homage to iconic career with dazzling ‘Celebration’ show in Dallas
Early in her show Sunday night at American Airlines Center, Madonna warned us, “I’m in a mood tonight, so get ready.”
Join the club, Madonna.
The 65-year-old Queen Of Pop didn’t start the show until 10:45 p.m., about an hour after the scheduled start time, which is already late for an arena pop concert.
For the most part, the late start didn’t seem to faze the 17,000 or so fans waiting.
But it likely sapped some of their overt enthusiasm, especially when the clock ticked past midnight. The couple in front of me bailed before the show finished at 12:45 a.m., presumably because they had jobs to attend to Monday morning.
This was the first of two shows at the AAC by the iconic pop princess and the 39th and 40th shows of the North American leg of her Celebrations Tour which started in December. The 54-show slate includes shows Thursday and Friday at Toyota Center in Houston and April 14-15 at Moody Center in Austin before concluding at the end of April with five nights in Mexico City.
The 26-song set serves to celebrate Madonna’s 40 years in the business, and to pay homage to the various eras of her career.
“Are you ready to take a ride with me? Are you ready to hear the story of my life?
That’s what the Celebration tour is all about,” she said. “Traveling through four decades of my life. That’s right. That’s four-zero. That’s called 40 ... !
I hope you’re ready for it.”
She performed songs from each of her 14 studio albums on a stage that stretched the length of the floor with various catwalks zigzaging through the fans. The stage included rising platforms and trapdoors that allowed Madonna and her 26 dancers to appear and disappear with the precision of a Broadway cast.
Massive retractable screens were used at various moments to help illustrate a specific moment of Madonna’s career. They were used to great effect during the most solemn section of the show. It was a one-two punch of two of her best songs, “Live To Tell” and “Like A Prayer.” “Live To Tell” paid homage to those lost to AIDS, with black and white images of the fallen appearing on the screens until the song’s climax.
The show was mostly an upbeat celebration, with emcee Bob the Drag Queen helping to introduce various segments of the show.
During a few songs, her dancers were dressed in the same iconic outfits Madonna has worn throughout her career, including the baseball uniform she wore in the film “A League of Their Own.”
The show is a nostalgic look at a pop career that had little to no blueprint. Madonna was and is a one-of-a-kind pop star who pushed boundaries, shocked the mainstream, and a fearless defender of gay rights, sexual freedom and female liberation. All of it was addressed Sunday night, whether it was with a subtle image displayed for a few seconds, or an in your face, ‘did-I-really-just-see-that’ moment, including topless female dancers, gender-bending outfits and body types that eventually all blended into the center of it all, Madonna.
She sang live (mostly) to recorded music for much of the night, but she played guitar for “Burning Up,” the first song she ever wrote. And her adoptive daughter and son each accompanied her on piano and a guitar for two of the more touching moments of the evening. Madonna still moves well for someone who turns 66 in August. She wore a brace on her left knee but never explained why. During various songs, she was lifted high above the floor in a carriage and moved from one end of the arena to the other, all the while singing and dancing 30 feet above the crowd.
“Some things you might not understand, but you’ll think about them tomorrow. And that’s a good thing,” Madonna told us early in the show. “This is not a disposable show. That’s some deep [stuff], right? I don’t like disposable art. Either you like it, or you don’t.”
For those of us who made it to the end (which was most of us), we definitely liked it. Even if we’re moving a little slow Monday morning.
Madonna setlist, Dallas, Texas, March 24, 2024
Nothing Really Matters
Everybody
Into the Groove
Burning Up
Open Your Heart
Holiday
Live to Tell
Like a Prayer
Erotica
Justify My Love
Hung Up
Bad Girl
Vogue
Human Nature
Crazy for You
Die Another Day
Don’t Tell Me
Mother and Father
Express Yourself
La Isla Bonita
Don’t Cry for Me Argentina
Bedtime Story
Ray of Light
Take a Bow
Bitch I’m Madonna
