Get Into The Groove!

The countdown to my first show on this tour has started! I'm off to New York on Sunday and when I get back, I'll see Madonna in just 4 days! EEEEEEEEEE! I've been insanely stressed out about the system they're using, i.e. the Golden Triangle. Basically, for Madonna shows, there's always a Golden Circle, which is the section right in front of the main stage. The tickets are expensive (around 120€ apiece) but by queueing for the day, you've always had the chance of making it to a really great spot. This time, however, in addition to the Golden Circle, they have the Triangle, which is the very front section between the triangle-shaped catwalk and the main stage, and for which you couldn't buy tickets at any point. Instead, anyone holding a standing ticket, whether it's general admission or GC, will get to a) take part in ICON's (the fan club) contest to win a pair of GT tickets, b) press a crew member's iPad while queueing to see if they've won an upgrade into the Triangle, or c) suck up to Guy Oseary, Madonna's manager, which I refuse to do because doing stuff like that is not in my nature. I think this system is ridiculous and unfair. I know for a fact that Guy Oseary is into people who look different or do something crazy in order to get what they want. I'm not like that - I'm a hardcore Madonna fan but it's a feeling inside me and I don't need to look strange or have Madonna pictures tattooed all over my body to express that. Anyway, this has been stressing me out for the past couple of weeks, but I guess at the end of the day all I can do is cross my fingers for luck and see what will happen. I never usually have any luck when it comes to these things but we'll see.

So anyway, this is my Madonna itinerary for the summer:

July 2nd, Copenhagen, Denmark. GC with Carola from Sweden.
July 4th, Gothenburg, Sweden. GC with Carola and Gabriel from Sweden.
July 12th, Brussels, Belgium. GC with my friend Tiina and Bea and Franc from Spain.
August 12th, Helsinki, Finland. GC with a bunch of Madonna fans from Finland.

And finally, another YouTube clip of me singing a Madonna song. This one is called Falling Free and it's one of the most beautiful songs off the new album. Sorry about never including my face in these but I just really, really, REALLY don't like being filmed, at all.

Right, I've had a long break in writing, but figured I should really get this post out of the way since I have new Madonna shows coming up and I want everything to be in a chronological order. I can't believe I'll be seeing Madonna again in less than six weeks! I'm going to her MDNA Tour shows in Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Brussels and Helsinki. Bring it!

In the meanwhile, though, here's my last update about the tours I've experienced to date. The second leg of the Sticky & Sweet Tour back in 2009. This was the year Madonna came to both Tallinn, Estonia and Helsinki, Finland for the first time and the shows took place on August 4th and 6th, respectively. I have to say that the thought of Madonna coming to Finland didn't actually make me happy - what it was like for me was "oh no, now the spell will break, everyone in Finland will have seen her soon". Yes, I like to keep Madonna to myself, I'm possessive like that. Also, even at the risk of sounding harsh, I'm just going to say this: Finnish audiences suck. Finns don't know how to have a good time and let loose. They think they do, but compared to people in Spain and Holland, for example, we're just lame. LAME. And it's boring to be in an audience like that, no matter who's performing, and I cannot even begin to imagine what it's like for the artist, who's after all used to amazing audiences all over the world. So, I guess, to sum it up, I wasn't happy about Madonna coming to Finland at all, apart from the fact that I was pleased I'd be saving a lot of money by not having to travel anywhere far to see her. Here's the deal, though: travelling somewhere abroad to see Madonna is the thing for me. Seeing her in my own country wasn't that big of a deal, quite the opposite, in fact, if you read what I just wrote up there.

But okay, the tickets for the show in Helsinki came out and it was a complete disaster. The system crashed and whatnot and fans didn't manage to get good tickets at all. I got a B ticket (A tickets were for the Golden Circle), which was disappointing for me, and this was after spending hours queueing outdoors in the cold with dozens of other people. None of my friends managed to get me tickets online while I was queueing outside, either. BLAH. But, then the Tallinn tickets came out and me and my friend Jaana managed to get Golden Circle tickets for the show there :)! Y-A-Y! We were so happy!

And then it was summer and Jaana and I were off to sunny Tallinn, Estonia. We spent a brilliant couple of days there, experiencing the crappiest hostel in the world (and YES, I'd go there again! What an insane place :D!) as well as the lovely city itself.

On the day of the concert, we walked to the Talling Song Festival Grounds at around noon, and were among the first people there. We got interviewed for a couple of newspapers and radio shows, which was pretty cool, though I have no idea if any of our interviews were ever published or broadcast anywhere. They opened different gates little by little, and eventually we were the ones against one of the gates to the actual venue, AND managed to make a run for it and ended up against the fence on the right side of the catwalk from our side. YAY!!!! This was Jaana's first time seeing Madonna so she got REALLY lucky!!

From left to right: Mervi (who we met while queueing), Jaana and me. I REALLY hate the way I look in these pictures but I'm going to have to post them as they're all I've got.

Myself and Jaana against the barrier by the catwalk :D!

Since I've already told you about the concert itself in my previous Sticky & Sweet update, I'll concentrate on the pictures now as for the first time, I actually had a camera with me. My pictures aren't too amazing but they're still something to look at :).

Madonna's manager Guy Oseary taking pictures of the audience :).

It was an amazing, amazing night and I loved the venue as well! It's a pity Madonna isn't going to Tallinn this summer as I'd so have gone there again. It was so great to be so close to her again!

With the Helsinki show, my spot was lousy. I was against the barrier dividing the A and B sections so basically I was as close to the stage as I would've been had I been at the back of section A. Not good enough for me. I was so embarrassed when the microphone was given to someone in the audience during Into The Groove and they didn't even know the lyrics...I wish I'd been there...Luckily, this year, all of my tickets are to the Golden Circle. I'm NEVER buying any other kind of tickets again!

I have to say, though, that the venue, Jätkäsaari by the sea, was amazing and probably extremely beautiful from Madonna's point of view as she could see the sun set, I think, during the show. From the audience's point of view, especially those at the very back, it probably wasn't the best place at all as you couldn't couldn't see a thing. Oh well, now they're building houses where the concert was, if I remember right, so there won't be any more concerts there. A nice one off for Madonna, though!

Anyway, here are a couple of my very bad pictures from the Helsinki show.