Here's me singing Beautiful Killer:
And here's another one that I sang earlier, Masterpiece...
Saturday 24 March 2012
MDNA to EMLA
MDNA was released yesterday and I love it! I'll write a proper report about it some time soon once I've given it a few more listens, but in the meanwhile, here's my favourite song off the album sung by me. Singing is practically my life, which is something I haven't mentioned on here before, and Madonna songs are what I love singing the most. Not necessarily my strongest suit in all cases but I have my right to sing them anyway.
Here's me singing Beautiful Killer:
And here's another one that I sang earlier, Masterpiece...
Here's me singing Beautiful Killer:
And here's another one that I sang earlier, Masterpiece...
Wednesday 14 March 2012
Music sounds better live! Part IV
The most recent Madonna tour experiences I have are from the Sticky & Sweet Tour, both legs of it. I saw the show four times in the two years Madonna was touring - in Frankfurt and London in 2008 and in Tallinn and Helsinki in 2009.
Part 1: The Sticky & Sweet Tour 2008
The Frankfurt show was the first Madonna show where I went with my mum. It was her first time seeing Madonna live despite being the one to accidentally introduce me to her music through In Bed With Madonna and Blond Ambition back in 1992. The concert took place at Commerzbank-Arena on September 9th and it didn't have special Golden Circle tickets, meaning that, like in Amsterdam, with enough queueing, you could make it into the Circle anyway. This was what we were planning on doing.
We arrived in Frankfurt the previous evening and spent the first night at our favourite airport hotel in Hahn before catching the bus into the city the following morning. We'd booked into a hostel in the Red Light District as we'd only be staying for one night and the hostel happened to be close to the railway station, which was practical as we'd have to catch a train to the show as well as back to the airport the following morning. My mum is not a hostel kind of person but she'd agreed to stay at one as I was a poor student still. Well, what do you know, after this experience she'll most likely never want to give hostels a try! When we got to the hostel, we were told that there'd been some sort of leak on the floor where our room was supposed to be and that they were sorry but we didn't have a room. I got furious! We were in a hurry to go to the arena and start queueing, and now this! They offered to transport us to somewhere they couldn't tell us where it was for accommodation and it all got so suspicious that my mum just decided to book us another room at a real hotel around the corner. Phew! Really, my only bad hostel experience! So anyway, once we'd left our stuff at the hotel, had a look around in Frankfurt and had something to eat, we left for the venue.
What to say about Commerzbank-Arena...Well, we got into the Golden Circle easily so that was good. But the sound was just so bad! There was a bad echo going around throughout the show and it ruined the atmosphere pretty badly. I was mostly annoyed because you just couldn't hear anything properly, it was all a big blur! I don't recommend this place for shows, so if you can, pick to see your favourite artist somewhere else. Anyway, Robyn was the supporting act, which was nice as I hadn't seen her live before. She sang Be Mine! and I was happy :).
And on to Madonna...sadly, I don't remember that much about the show as I was just so annoyed at the sound. Madonna didn't look too pleased, either, so my guess is she wasn't impressed with the sound at all...After all, she tends to be a perfectionist when it comes to these things. I think my mum got a bit of a bad impression of Madonna live as even though she could see her really well and everything, the experience just wasn't what it is when everything works the way it's supposed to. Also, because of my 2008 experiences of Sticky & Sweet, I was of the opinion that it wasn't such a great tour - until I saw the second leg in 2009, after which I thought Sticky & Sweet was among the best Madonna tours ever! But well, the best bits in 2008 were the following, and they were just as amazing right from the start as they were a year later:
1) The entrance! Very cool! Candy Shop, with Madonna as a sort of female Willy Wonka, on a huge throne. Loved it! One of my favourite songs off Hard Candy, too, so I thought it was a great pick for the opening song. This is from the official DVD, shot in Buenos Aires...
2) Into The Groove, with Madonna skipping rope with Keith Haring artwork in the background, also skipping rope. Loved it, loved it, loved it!! Truly!!
3) The video interlude for Rain/Here Comes The Rain Again and Devil Wouldn't Recognize You straight after. Too beautiful! Very powerful and emotional, too, if you're me.
4) Like A Prayer, mashed up with Meck's Feels Like Home - a slice of heaven!!! With the words "You shall not hate in your heart" all over the screens, the song absolutely hit home for me. A truly ecstatic moment!
But yes, all of these songs were much better in the 2009 shows I went to, even if they were good to begin with, so I don't know what was wrong with 2008. Maybe I just went to the wrong shows, who knows. Oh, and unfortunately I don't have any pictures from Frankfurt as my camera was elsewhere back then, travelling with my ex-partner at the time. We met up in London the day after the Frankfurt show, though, and went to the concert at Wembley Stadium on September 11th together.
We had standing tickets, so no Golden Circle for this show. We did start queueing pretty early but there was no point as the queues were ridiculously long even then and there was just no chance of getting anywhere near the stage. On top of everything, we got into a huge fight (yes, there's a reason why the person in question is and was an ex) and just went even further back because of that. Oh well. It was a different experience as I'd never stood anywhere that far from the stage before. It was quite fun to dance like crazy and have lots and lots of space all to yourself, but definitely not one of my best Madonna experiences. The sound was brilliant, though, but you just couldn't see a thing. Also, apparently after the show, there'd been a chaos involving people getting stuck at Wembley as because Madonna was so late, they missed their last train home. We avoided the chaos and got back to our hostel just fine, but there were lots of headlines about the incident the following day.
Anyway, another fun bit about this trip was us going to see Guy Ritchie's pub (back then also owned by Madonna), The Punch Bowl. We both felt too embarrassed about actually going in as it would've been so obvious we (or I) were just Madonna fans taking a sneak peek, so we stayed a bit further away and just took a couple of pictures. Now I don't even want to go in as Guy isn't among my favourite people in the world. But, the pub was featured in Madonna's documentary film I'm Going to Tell You a Secret, which is about The Re-Invention Tour, and Madonna and Guy had actually spent the evening of September 10th there for Guy's birthday. So, pretty cool!
On our way home, Antti Tuisku (a Finnish singer born in 1984, and a Madonna fan, too) was on the same flight from London to Tampere with us, apparently coming home from the same Madonna show we went to :D. He was singing "my sushi is raw, my sushi is raw" with a friend of his when we were queueing for passport control, and I was annoyed as in my mind, no one (apart from me) is supposed to have their own Madonna inside jokes...yes, I'm horrible and horribly jealous of Madonna. Glad they'd had fun, too, though :D!
End of part 1, to be continued...
Part 1: The Sticky & Sweet Tour 2008
The Frankfurt show was the first Madonna show where I went with my mum. It was her first time seeing Madonna live despite being the one to accidentally introduce me to her music through In Bed With Madonna and Blond Ambition back in 1992. The concert took place at Commerzbank-Arena on September 9th and it didn't have special Golden Circle tickets, meaning that, like in Amsterdam, with enough queueing, you could make it into the Circle anyway. This was what we were planning on doing.
We arrived in Frankfurt the previous evening and spent the first night at our favourite airport hotel in Hahn before catching the bus into the city the following morning. We'd booked into a hostel in the Red Light District as we'd only be staying for one night and the hostel happened to be close to the railway station, which was practical as we'd have to catch a train to the show as well as back to the airport the following morning. My mum is not a hostel kind of person but she'd agreed to stay at one as I was a poor student still. Well, what do you know, after this experience she'll most likely never want to give hostels a try! When we got to the hostel, we were told that there'd been some sort of leak on the floor where our room was supposed to be and that they were sorry but we didn't have a room. I got furious! We were in a hurry to go to the arena and start queueing, and now this! They offered to transport us to somewhere they couldn't tell us where it was for accommodation and it all got so suspicious that my mum just decided to book us another room at a real hotel around the corner. Phew! Really, my only bad hostel experience! So anyway, once we'd left our stuff at the hotel, had a look around in Frankfurt and had something to eat, we left for the venue.
What to say about Commerzbank-Arena...Well, we got into the Golden Circle easily so that was good. But the sound was just so bad! There was a bad echo going around throughout the show and it ruined the atmosphere pretty badly. I was mostly annoyed because you just couldn't hear anything properly, it was all a big blur! I don't recommend this place for shows, so if you can, pick to see your favourite artist somewhere else. Anyway, Robyn was the supporting act, which was nice as I hadn't seen her live before. She sang Be Mine! and I was happy :).
And on to Madonna...sadly, I don't remember that much about the show as I was just so annoyed at the sound. Madonna didn't look too pleased, either, so my guess is she wasn't impressed with the sound at all...After all, she tends to be a perfectionist when it comes to these things. I think my mum got a bit of a bad impression of Madonna live as even though she could see her really well and everything, the experience just wasn't what it is when everything works the way it's supposed to. Also, because of my 2008 experiences of Sticky & Sweet, I was of the opinion that it wasn't such a great tour - until I saw the second leg in 2009, after which I thought Sticky & Sweet was among the best Madonna tours ever! But well, the best bits in 2008 were the following, and they were just as amazing right from the start as they were a year later:
1) The entrance! Very cool! Candy Shop, with Madonna as a sort of female Willy Wonka, on a huge throne. Loved it! One of my favourite songs off Hard Candy, too, so I thought it was a great pick for the opening song. This is from the official DVD, shot in Buenos Aires...
2) Into The Groove, with Madonna skipping rope with Keith Haring artwork in the background, also skipping rope. Loved it, loved it, loved it!! Truly!!
3) The video interlude for Rain/Here Comes The Rain Again and Devil Wouldn't Recognize You straight after. Too beautiful! Very powerful and emotional, too, if you're me.
4) Like A Prayer, mashed up with Meck's Feels Like Home - a slice of heaven!!! With the words "You shall not hate in your heart" all over the screens, the song absolutely hit home for me. A truly ecstatic moment!
But yes, all of these songs were much better in the 2009 shows I went to, even if they were good to begin with, so I don't know what was wrong with 2008. Maybe I just went to the wrong shows, who knows. Oh, and unfortunately I don't have any pictures from Frankfurt as my camera was elsewhere back then, travelling with my ex-partner at the time. We met up in London the day after the Frankfurt show, though, and went to the concert at Wembley Stadium on September 11th together.
We had standing tickets, so no Golden Circle for this show. We did start queueing pretty early but there was no point as the queues were ridiculously long even then and there was just no chance of getting anywhere near the stage. On top of everything, we got into a huge fight (yes, there's a reason why the person in question is and was an ex) and just went even further back because of that. Oh well. It was a different experience as I'd never stood anywhere that far from the stage before. It was quite fun to dance like crazy and have lots and lots of space all to yourself, but definitely not one of my best Madonna experiences. The sound was brilliant, though, but you just couldn't see a thing. Also, apparently after the show, there'd been a chaos involving people getting stuck at Wembley as because Madonna was so late, they missed their last train home. We avoided the chaos and got back to our hostel just fine, but there were lots of headlines about the incident the following day.
Anyway, another fun bit about this trip was us going to see Guy Ritchie's pub (back then also owned by Madonna), The Punch Bowl. We both felt too embarrassed about actually going in as it would've been so obvious we (or I) were just Madonna fans taking a sneak peek, so we stayed a bit further away and just took a couple of pictures. Now I don't even want to go in as Guy isn't among my favourite people in the world. But, the pub was featured in Madonna's documentary film I'm Going to Tell You a Secret, which is about The Re-Invention Tour, and Madonna and Guy had actually spent the evening of September 10th there for Guy's birthday. So, pretty cool!
 | ||
| Me somewhere close to The Punch Bowl. |
End of part 1, to be continued...
Sunday 11 March 2012
Music sounds better live! Part III
Alright, time to go on with my posts about tour experiences! After The Re-Invention Tour, it only took Madonna two years to get going again, and with an amazing album, too; in my humble opinion, Confessions On A Dance Floor was Madonna's best album since Ray Of Light, and the tour definitely matched the greatness of the record.
So, it was the year 2006 and I was wondering where to go and see her this time. I ended up with standing tickets for the September 4th show at Amsterdam Arena in Holland. I don't know how and I have no recollections of buying the tickets - I do remember that I was a happy owner of a credit card by then, though. However, there were no specific Golden Circle tickets sold for the arena, which meant that, with enough queueing and a bit of luck, you could actually make it to the Golden Circle, which is the front area of the arena. It's in the shape of a circle - hence the name - and only a limited number of people are let in. Usually, they sell special GC tickets, but sometimes it works like it did in Amsterdam and anyone with a general standing ticket has the chance of ending up there. Of course, by then, I'd never been close enough to see Madonna's face yet and I'd never been in the Golden Circle. Needless to say, I was very much determined to get there! Luckily for me, I have tons of friends in Holland, and one of them, an avid concert-goer by the name of Marjon, told me that the best way to make it inside the arena among the first people once the gates are opened is to stay close to the fences on the sides, and by grabbing the fences, you manage to move on quicker than if you are stuck in the middle of groups of people trying to push their way into the security check. That piece of advice was GOLDEN!! Pun intended.
But, before the Madonna show, something else great happened. Madonna's long-term backup singer Donna DeLory had a meet & greet session at one of Amsterdam's many record stores! Woot! Now, to get in, you'd have had to buy her latest album so I didn't do that (bear in mind I was still a poor student in those days - it's a miracle I've even managed to make these concert trips happen in the first place!) but I did go outside the record shop to see her from up close. VERY COOL! I remember thinking that SO many cool things are happening in other countries and I'm missing out because I'm living in Finland...Anyway, here's Donna!
Okay, back to the concert itself! Except that since I still didn't bring my camera to the show, here's a silly picture of me with my ticket :D!
Right, on we go, then. So, we started queueing at noon and it was a long day since the concert started after 9 pm, if I remember right. Once we were let inside the venue, we did what Marjon had told us to do, and were indeed among the first ones to start running up the steep steps that lead into the arena and towards the Golden Circle - AND WE MADE IT!!! I cannot tell you how incredible I felt there and then - we were in the Golden Circle, I'd be seeing Madonna up close in a few hours!! My heart was beating so fast and I was crying! 14 years of being a fan and I was finally actually seeing her! Even to date, after many more shows, the Amsterdam show is my best Madonna experience because it honestly has been Madonna at her best since Blond Ambition and it was simply that special to finally see her properly.
The show started with Future Lovers/I Feel Love, and Madonna made her entrance at the end of the catwalk. We were in front of the main stage, on the right, so didn't see her properly once the huge discoball opened and she got out. It was a crazy moment as I knew she was there and that it was only a matter of time before she'd be in front of me. The tension was building like nothing else, and finally, she started moving towards the main stage.....I can't even write about it without going crazy all over again! Here's the London version...watch it and know how incredible it was, to actually be there! At 7:25, I saw Madonna for the first time ever and fell in love all over again...she looked very nervous, was tiny and just EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE I LOVE HER!!!!!
And then she'd go on to sing Get Together right in front of me...<3<3<3...Sorry about not being able to write a proper text here, there's just too much love, and love like this knows no words. Among the most incredible moments in my life, this concert is! Also, I love the way Madonna moves her body and how all of her dance moves are sharp and edgy and so much more than anyone else's in her shows, and it was just such a pleasure to see it all properly. Her body was and is amazing! Her muscles - I continue to be in love with her arms...Oh yes.
Well, some of the best moments...Like A Virgin, with Madonna on fake horseback, Jump with amazing parkour action all over the stage and the audience as well, Live To Tell live from the cross....one of the most touching performances I've ever seen, I was crying all over the place. In case you don't know, Live To Tell is only one of the best Madonna songs ever...
There were religious people having a mini-demonstration outside the venue when we were queueing, attacking this specific performance as obviously it's blasphemy to sing a song while hanging on a crucifix...It enrages me to come across with such biggoted people, to be honest, as the point of this performance was pure beauty and love: "In Africa, 12 million children are orphaned by AIDS." And then the words from Matthew 25:35 : "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, and God replied, Whatever you did for one of the least of my brothers, you did it for me." It's only to demonstrate how any one of us can be like Jesus and be good to those around us. It's portrayed in an extremely powerful way to leave you with deep feelings and the need to do your share in making the world a better place. I certainly had a lot of thoughts going on through my head during this show.
On we go to Isaac - what a beautiful, beautiful performance, and my two absolute favourites: Drowned World/Substitute For Love and Paradise (Not For Me). So much love in the air, Madonna asked us to repeat after her "we are one!!" etc. and to hug the person next to us, and we were hugging random people around us and feeling such connection to one another, it was the most religious experience I've ever had, and all for love and caring about one another.
The atmosphere at the show was unbelievable. The fans were polite and talked to each other, everyone was given lots of space to dance and have a good time, and everyone was smiling, singing and jumping around like mad! I had an amazing time, and I only needed that one experience as it was more special like that. I have high hopes for the new tour, though, so who knows, maybe Confessions actually has a rival in Girl Gone Wild? If that's the name of the 2012 tour, that is. But nothing will ever overcome this experience for me, I don't think.
So, it was the year 2006 and I was wondering where to go and see her this time. I ended up with standing tickets for the September 4th show at Amsterdam Arena in Holland. I don't know how and I have no recollections of buying the tickets - I do remember that I was a happy owner of a credit card by then, though. However, there were no specific Golden Circle tickets sold for the arena, which meant that, with enough queueing and a bit of luck, you could actually make it to the Golden Circle, which is the front area of the arena. It's in the shape of a circle - hence the name - and only a limited number of people are let in. Usually, they sell special GC tickets, but sometimes it works like it did in Amsterdam and anyone with a general standing ticket has the chance of ending up there. Of course, by then, I'd never been close enough to see Madonna's face yet and I'd never been in the Golden Circle. Needless to say, I was very much determined to get there! Luckily for me, I have tons of friends in Holland, and one of them, an avid concert-goer by the name of Marjon, told me that the best way to make it inside the arena among the first people once the gates are opened is to stay close to the fences on the sides, and by grabbing the fences, you manage to move on quicker than if you are stuck in the middle of groups of people trying to push their way into the security check. That piece of advice was GOLDEN!! Pun intended.
But, before the Madonna show, something else great happened. Madonna's long-term backup singer Donna DeLory had a meet & greet session at one of Amsterdam's many record stores! Woot! Now, to get in, you'd have had to buy her latest album so I didn't do that (bear in mind I was still a poor student in those days - it's a miracle I've even managed to make these concert trips happen in the first place!) but I did go outside the record shop to see her from up close. VERY COOL! I remember thinking that SO many cool things are happening in other countries and I'm missing out because I'm living in Finland...Anyway, here's Donna!
Okay, back to the concert itself! Except that since I still didn't bring my camera to the show, here's a silly picture of me with my ticket :D!
Right, on we go, then. So, we started queueing at noon and it was a long day since the concert started after 9 pm, if I remember right. Once we were let inside the venue, we did what Marjon had told us to do, and were indeed among the first ones to start running up the steep steps that lead into the arena and towards the Golden Circle - AND WE MADE IT!!! I cannot tell you how incredible I felt there and then - we were in the Golden Circle, I'd be seeing Madonna up close in a few hours!! My heart was beating so fast and I was crying! 14 years of being a fan and I was finally actually seeing her! Even to date, after many more shows, the Amsterdam show is my best Madonna experience because it honestly has been Madonna at her best since Blond Ambition and it was simply that special to finally see her properly.
The show started with Future Lovers/I Feel Love, and Madonna made her entrance at the end of the catwalk. We were in front of the main stage, on the right, so didn't see her properly once the huge discoball opened and she got out. It was a crazy moment as I knew she was there and that it was only a matter of time before she'd be in front of me. The tension was building like nothing else, and finally, she started moving towards the main stage.....I can't even write about it without going crazy all over again! Here's the London version...watch it and know how incredible it was, to actually be there! At 7:25, I saw Madonna for the first time ever and fell in love all over again...she looked very nervous, was tiny and just EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE I LOVE HER!!!!!
And then she'd go on to sing Get Together right in front of me...<3<3<3...Sorry about not being able to write a proper text here, there's just too much love, and love like this knows no words. Among the most incredible moments in my life, this concert is! Also, I love the way Madonna moves her body and how all of her dance moves are sharp and edgy and so much more than anyone else's in her shows, and it was just such a pleasure to see it all properly. Her body was and is amazing! Her muscles - I continue to be in love with her arms...Oh yes.
Well, some of the best moments...Like A Virgin, with Madonna on fake horseback, Jump with amazing parkour action all over the stage and the audience as well, Live To Tell live from the cross....one of the most touching performances I've ever seen, I was crying all over the place. In case you don't know, Live To Tell is only one of the best Madonna songs ever...
There were religious people having a mini-demonstration outside the venue when we were queueing, attacking this specific performance as obviously it's blasphemy to sing a song while hanging on a crucifix...It enrages me to come across with such biggoted people, to be honest, as the point of this performance was pure beauty and love: "In Africa, 12 million children are orphaned by AIDS." And then the words from Matthew 25:35 : "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, and God replied, Whatever you did for one of the least of my brothers, you did it for me." It's only to demonstrate how any one of us can be like Jesus and be good to those around us. It's portrayed in an extremely powerful way to leave you with deep feelings and the need to do your share in making the world a better place. I certainly had a lot of thoughts going on through my head during this show.
On we go to Isaac - what a beautiful, beautiful performance, and my two absolute favourites: Drowned World/Substitute For Love and Paradise (Not For Me). So much love in the air, Madonna asked us to repeat after her "we are one!!" etc. and to hug the person next to us, and we were hugging random people around us and feeling such connection to one another, it was the most religious experience I've ever had, and all for love and caring about one another.
The atmosphere at the show was unbelievable. The fans were polite and talked to each other, everyone was given lots of space to dance and have a good time, and everyone was smiling, singing and jumping around like mad! I had an amazing time, and I only needed that one experience as it was more special like that. I have high hopes for the new tour, though, so who knows, maybe Confessions actually has a rival in Girl Gone Wild? If that's the name of the 2012 tour, that is. But nothing will ever overcome this experience for me, I don't think.
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