Last night in TD Garden I saw my fourth Madonna concert in her Boston stop of the Rebel Heart Tour. After seeing her on her Drowned World Tour in 2001, Hard Candy Tour in 2008, and the MDNA tour in 2012, it was do or die for me when it comes to shelling out money to see Madonna perform. She has always charged a lot for her shows but hasn't left me disappointed--until the MDNA tour. Her age was showing as her dancing became less tight and frankly the music from that album mostly wasn't very good. After that show, I said no more Madonna concerts.
Then Rebel Heart happens. Though it is one of her worst selling albums, Rebel Heart is Madonna's best collection of music since Ray of Light in the mid/late 1990s. So when I saw that she was coming to Boston after some considerable hemming and hawing I decided to go. But this time I bought cheap seats--relatively speaking. I was not disappointed. Madonna has redeemed herself with her music and her live performing.
The set list has always been a tricky thing for Madonna shows. She, of course, wants to play her new material, but she has a hard time striking a good mix between new and old. She did it best on the Hard Candy tour, but she is mostly successful on this tour. She has eliminated most of the filler tracks on Reb el Heart (except Body Shop) and played mst all the of great tracks on Rebel Heart. In Boston the only great track excluded was her adult contemporary hit Ghosttown which she alternates with Who's that Girl as an acoustic track. You can't go wrong with either of those, but it made me wish she would just perform both like she did in Brooklyn. The title track of Rebel Heart was the stand out. I enjoyed most all the rest of the new material (again except Body Shop) including Holy Water which isn't one of my favorite tracks, but the stage arrangement definitely kicked up its game a notch.
As for her old material Madonna goes back on this tour--far. Minus two songs, she pretty much ignores everything after the True Blue album through MDNA. The set list was sprinkled generously with her hits from the 80s--many of which she usually doesn't sing live too much. It did my 1980s 15 year old heart good to hear her sing the forementioned Who's that girl, True Blue, and Dress You Up. But she went back even further to the song that was her first well known music video, Burning Up. The show ended with Holiday, and I know some disagree, but I think she should end every show with this song. It never gets old. It's a perfect concert ending.
Performance wise Madonna is realizing her limitations and that is OK. She still does plenty of dancing, but she leaves the complicated moves to her dancers. This gives her more time for singing. There was noticeably less lip syncing on this tour. It is also to her credit that she allows the dancers to shine without her. One of the best performance pieces was for Illuminati which is a song that she is totally off stage for making a costume change.
Whatever I gained in a lower ticket price, I lost in merchandise purchases which included two new T shirts and Madonna men's briefs. :), but I left a happy guy. Again live Madonna had been redeemed for me. I will definitely be back for show number 5. She didn't disappoint.
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