Live: Madonna, Houston
Like a herd of cattle, thousands made their way through a small door on the side of Minute Maid Park (home of the Houston Astros) to see the one and only Madonna on her “Sticky and Sweet Tour.” Some women were dressed in the “Like A Virgin” wedding dress, others in the “Desperately Seeking Susan” get up, and many donned short black skirts, long black boots and showed lots of cleavage. Some MILFs, others I wouldn’t touch with yours. The men, well, lets just say they were “colorful.”
The show was supposed to start at 7:30, however, she didn’t grace us with her presence until almost 9:25. For the next two hours, the baseball stadium turned into one big, thumping multimedia disco. Three huge video screens, and three smaller ones featured different images, including Justin Timberlake, all night long. At times it looked more like we were watching an Imax film than a concert. She did have a full band, but I think they only played on two or three songs the whole night. Most of the tunes were programmed, and many were lip-synched.
The Material Girl stayed with mostly new material; “Candy Shop,” “Give It 2 Me,” “Four Minutes,” “Ray of Light,” and she completely ignored her biggest tracks “Dress You Up,” “Material Girl,” “Open Your Heart,” “Express Yourself” and “Like A Virgin.” However, she did do “Like A Prayer,” which was actually uplifting because instead of knocking religion, she promoted it. Her message was “believe in The Spirit, no matter what you call it.” Being a Catholic, it was nice to see her not making fun of a religion so many believe in. It was definitely a kinder, gentler Madonna.
The most interesting part of the night was when she strapped on (no pun intended) the guitar. She’s actually not too bad, albeit a little stiff (no pun intended), especially on the tune “Hung Up,” which was half full band, half programmed with a big guitar finish which that included her grinding the amp.
She looked great, and she sang great when she actually sang. Her acoustic version of “You Must Love Me” from Evita was excellent, but the dancers have got to go. They have got to go. They are just awful. They don’t enhance the show, they take away from it. As do the video screens. It’s very hard to concentrate on the performer with a barrage of images coming at you non-stop. It would be interesting to see her do a show without all the fluff.
Now you’re probably wondering why the hell I was at the concert in the first place. There is only one reason…my wife. She is a big fan and it was a birthday present. She loved it and at the end of the night that is all that matters.
30 Days Out 
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