Confessions Tour

The Confessions Tour was the seventh concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna, launched in support of her tenth studio album, '' Confessions on a Dance Floor'' (2005). The tour began in Inglewood on May 21, 2006, and ended in Tokyo on September 21, visiting North America and Eurasia. Like past tours of the singer, it was divided into different thematic acts: '' Equestrian'', '' Bedouin'', '' Never Mind the Bollocks'', and '' Disco''. It received generally positive reviews, although Madonna's performance of her 1986 single " Live to Tell", which found her hanging on a giant mirrored cross wearing a crown of thorns, was met with strong negative reaction from religious groups; the performance at Rome's Stadio Olimpico was condemned as an act of hostility toward the Roman Catholic Church by religious leaders. Madonna responded saying that her main intention with the performance was to bring attention to the millions of children dying in Africa.

Despite the controversy, the tour was a commercial success; tickets quickly sold out as soon as dates were announced, prompting organizers to add more. With a gross of over US$194.7 million ($ million in dollars) from 60 shows with 1.2 million spectators, Confessions surpassed Cher's Living Proof: The Farewell Tour (2002–2005) as the highest-grossing tour for a female artist. It was awarded Most Creative Stage Production at the Pollstar Concert Industry Awards as well as Top Boxscore from the ''Billboard'' Touring Conference and Awards. Additionally, it was recognized as the highest-grossing music tour per concert in the 2007 edition of the ''Guinness World Records''. The concerts on August at London's Wembley Arena were filmed professionally and broadcast as a live special on NBC titled ''Madonna: The Confessions Tour Live''; afterwards, it was released as a live album and on DVD under the title '' The Confessions Tour''.

Background

In October 2005, Madonna performed " Hung Up", the lead single from her upcoming tenth studio album '' Confessions on a Dance Floor'', at the MTV Europe Music Awards; she then brought up the idea of a concert tour when she said she would visit Australia, having not performed in the country for more than twelve years. Following the album's release in November, she embarked on a promotional campaign and appeared on several television programs such as '' Wetten, dass..?'', ''Entertainment Tonight'' and ''Access Hollywood''. She also offered small concerts at London's KOKO and G-A-Y nightclubs. Later that month, she again mentioned the possibility of touring during an interview with ''Billboard''; "if I go n tour it would be next summer. And it would be all out disco, with lots of disco balls". On an interview with ''The Guardian'', she confirmed a tour for 2006, titled either Confessions or Confess Your Sins Tour. Jamie King, who had worked with the singer on her previous Re-Invention (2004) and Drowned World (2001) tours, told MTV she wanted to play small venues like New York City's Roseland Ballroom or the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles; "she likes things large, she likes things theatrical, but this time, being that 'Confessions on a Dance Floor''is an intimate album, we want to try to make people have an intimate experience". The singer herself said she wanted "to do a little bit of everything", before moving on to stadiums and arenas; that way, she deduced, she would not feel bored during the performances.

The tour was confirmed by Madonna herself on February 9, 2006, during a visit to ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show''; she added that she wanted to "turn the world into one big dance floor". It was set to follow her appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which was described as a "warm-up" for the tour. Titled Confessions Tour, dates were published on the singer's official website on April 3, with concerts on cities in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan. It officially kicked off at Inglewood's Great Western Forum, on May 21, and ended at the Tokyo Dome on September 21. The venue for the singer's first concert in Russia was switched from a hilltop site overlooking the city to Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium because of crowd control fears. On July, halfway through the tour, Madonna's manager Guy Oseary announced that the Australian leg to the tour had been dropped. The singer released a statement on her website:

Development

Both Madonna and Jamie King confirmed the set list for the tour would include "a lot" of songs from ''Confessions on a Dance Floor''; the former said she was interested in focusing on the new record, as she had already done the "old stuff" on the Re-Invention World Tour, while, according to the latter, "people love it he new albumand they want to hear it". King also said he wanted the tour to be "more interactive", thus he wanted to "put adonnaas close to her people — her fans, her dancers, her fellow supporters — as possible".

Production was headed by Chris Lamb while decisions were made "by committee", with Madonna having the final word. According to lighting designer Roy Bennett, the show was "extremely theatrical and very big", comparing it to "being in a nightclub or a disco". The stage was twice the size of Re-Invention's and included three runways that lead off to B-stages out in front and to each side of the venue; the main and largest one was lighted and ended in a small dance floor, while the smaller side runways had fences on them. The stage came equipped with a semi-circular, hydraulic rising and rotating center-stage, that had been used on Re-Invention, and three V9 LED screens that served as backdrops. Hung from above was a semi-circular LED "curtain" screen, that dropped down and covered the front of the center-stage during several numbers of the show to "add a 3D element", according to Bennett. Additional props included five disco balls hung from a central point that were lowered and raised for specific songs, a black mechanical saddle for " Like a Virgin"; a narrow contraption of monkey bars, used for the performance of " Jump"; a crown of thorns supplied by Cotters Church Supply, a huge mirrored cross and a massive fighting cage. The most expensive prop was a giant disco ball, from which the singer emerged at the beginning of each concert, encrusted with $2 million worth of Swarovski crystals. In total, 70 tons of equipment were used on top of the main stage; it took 2 private planes, 24 semi-trucks, 5 buses, 18 vans and cars to move the equipment from city to city. X-ray radiographies of the injuries Madonna suffered on a horse-riding accident were used as backdrops during the performance of "Like a Virgin".

The troupe included Madonna's lifelong backup singer and dancer Donna De Lory, vocalist Nicki Richards, Yitzhak Sinwani from the London Kabbalah Centre, Monte Pittman on guitar, Stuart Price as keyboards player and 12 dancers, including Sofia Boutella and parkour veteran Sébastien Foucan, with whom the singer took lessons. The concert was divided into different thematic segments, a custom for the singer's tours: '' Equestrian'', '' Bedouin'', '' Never Mind the Bollocks'', and '' Disco''. Jean Paul Gaultier was in charge of creating the tour's wardrobe. Designer Arianne Phillips, who collaborated with Gaultier, expressed that they based on "everything from ''Saturday Night Fever'' to ''Starlight Express'' to '' Fame''"; for the first act, the singer got the idea of incorporating a horse riding theme after one time when Gaultier took her to Paris' Zingaro theatrical horse show, which she "loved". Gaultier then decided to have the show's male dancers portray horses, with built-in saddles, harnesses and small saddle-like accoutrements perched on one shoulder. For Madonna's outfit, which included a black top hat with a horse's tail, he took inspiration from a look worn by Romy Schneider in Luchino Visconti's 1973 film ''Ludwig''. According to the designer, Madonna had "strong opinions" about how the clothes had to be made to withstand the demands of the choreography. Other ensambles designed by Gaultier included a "Biblical Chic" off-the-shoulder blouse and velvet cropped pants accessorized with the crown of thorns; jodhpurs, blouses and jackets made from "luxurious" fabrics such as taffeta, duchesse, satin, Chantilly lace and silk chiffon. In keeping with the disco theme of ''Confessions on a Dance Floor'', the designer also created a white suit based on the one worn by John Travolta on ''Saturday Night Fever'' (1977), a white one-shouldered unitard with ribbons of purple Swarovski crystals across the torso, similar to the one worn by the singers of ABBA; a white satin cape, lit from the inside, that had "Dancing Queen" embroidered on the back, and a pink sparkling jumpsuit. The tour's official poster used pictures taken by Steven Klein of Madonna during her promotional concert at London's G-A-Y. Paul Oakenfold was hired as the opening act for selected European dates.

Concert synopsis

The concert was divided into four segments: ''Equestrian'', ''Bedouin'', ''Never Mind the Bollocks'', and ''Disco''. It began with a video showing Madonna walking through a stable brandishing a riding crop, as dancers in leather bridles galloped throughout the three runways of the stage; then, a massive disco ball was lowered from the ceiling and opened like a flower bud to reveal Madonna inside, dressed in a skin-tight black riding outfit and wielding a crop. As she took her dancers' reins, she performed a mashup of "Future Lovers" and Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" (1977). The second number, " Get Together", saw Madonna writhing on the main catwalk. For " Like a Virgin", she rode a black leather-studded saddle while the backdrops depicted X-rays of her injuries. A steel monkey bars-like structure was lowered from the ceiling for " Jump"; Madonna sang while the dancers did parkour moves. Towards the end, the singer disappeared into the stage, giving way to an interlude called "Confessions", which featured three dancers narrating personal tragedies.

The ''Bedouin'' act began with " Live to Tell"; Madonna sang suspended from a giant mirrored cross, wearing a crown of thorns, as a death toll of African AIDS victims counted down on the screen above her. She stepped down off the cross to perform "Forbidden Love", which saw two men dancing with each other as blood cells flashed on the backdrops. "Isaac" began with Yitzhak Sinwani playing the horn; then, a female dancer in an oversized Middle-Eastern burqa danced inside an enormous cage with the backdrops displaying sand dunes. On "Sorry", which was performed with dancers inside of the cage, Madonna recreated the dance-off scene from the song's music video. "Like It or Not" closed the act and saw Madonna dancing alone with a chair. Afterwards, a video interlude depicting images of Adolf Hitler, Dick Cheney, Tony Blair, Osama bin Laden, Richard Nixon, George W. Bush and starving African children played on the screens. Set to a remixed "Sorry", it featured dancers krumping on the runways.

"I Love New York" opened the ''Never Mind the Bollocks'' segment. The singer played electric guitar, decked out in a high-collared black leather jacket, and changed the song's line ''Just go to Texas/ Isn't that where they golf'' to a derogatory term aimed at George W. Bush; the backdrops for the performance depicted the New York skyline. " Ray of Light" was also sung with the guitar and starbursts flashing on the screens. It counted with six male dancers dressed in black suits and white ties doing a synchronized choreography. For "Let It Will Be", Madonna danced energetically across the stage on her own, then sat down for a stripped rendition of " Drowned World/Substitute for Love". "Paradise (Not For Me)" was done by the singer and Yitzhak Sinwani. She played the acoustic guitar as images of Cherry blossoms flashed onscreen.

The final segment, ''Disco'', began with a video interlude of Madonna's past videos, set to radio-style mashup of " Borderline", "Erotica", " Dress You Up", "Holiday" and The Trammps "Disco Inferno" (1976). Several dancers in roller skates then appeared skating on the runways. Madonna emerged on scene dressed in the white Travolta-inspired suit to perform "Music"; the song included a sample of her 1986 song "Where's The Party" at the beginning. For "Erotica", she stripped down the suit to reveal a white leotard with purple stripes; the song's remix featured lyrics from the original demo known as "You Thrill Me", and saw the singer and the troupe dancing ballroom-style. The next song was a dance version of " La Isla Bonita", where the screens displayed clips of tropical islands. A "modernized" "Lucky Star" was performed by Madonna, Donna De Lory and Nicki Richards. Towards the end of the number, the song's beat slowly changed to that of " Hung Up", the concert's final number. This performance featured a sing-along with the audience and, at one point, confetti and golden balloons fell from the roof. The show ended as the phrase "Have you confessed?" appeared onscreen.

Critical reception

The Confessions Tour received generally positive reviews. Writing for ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'', Don Chareunsy opined that Madonna's previous tours, Drowned World and Re-Invention, "were excellent concerts ..but she stepped it up a few notches" for the Confessions Tour. Ben Wener from the '' Orange County Register'' reported that "No one – but ''no one'' – stages elaborate eye-candy productions like Madonna", adding that the "highly impressive" Confessions Tour was "multimedia, cross-cultural preaching to the choir on a scale only U2 has reached lately". According to ''The Palm Beach Post''s Leslie Gray Streeter, Confessions was "an exciting testament to energy, longevity and the sheer love of a beat". '' Slant''s Ed Gonzalez wrote that, "though spotty and compromised but often breathtaking, onfessionsis something of a coup after the fierce but icy theatrics of her Drowned World Tour and the shrill aggression of her Re-Invention Tour", and noted that Madonna "risked a personal connection with her fans unseen since the Girlie Show". ''Entertainment Weekly''s Chris Willman hailed it "two hours of unbridled horseplay - and fun", as well has her "most enthralling" concert, and gave it an A− grade. Brynn Mandel, from the '' Republican-American'', noticed how, for two hours "Madge kept her audience engaged, providing visual accompaniment as only she can to a list of hits, both recent and classic ..only icons can deliver a show like this"; the author concluded by saying: "though nothing less has come to be expected of the Material Girl, she once again proved herself not just a singer but an entertainer extraordinaire". ''The Sunday Times'' said Confessions found Madonna "doing what she is best at, and doing it brilliantly".

'' The Globe and Mail''s Matthew Hays considered Confessions an "example of the artist at her best: energetic, naughty, brazenly kitschy and wildly entertaining". Hays also wrote that the singer "seemed intent on proving something ..that she still knows how to have fun ..To accomplish that, she needed to captivate ..to nod to her past while maintaining the aura of an artist whose best is before her ndshe delivered". Writing for ''PopMatters'', Christian John Wikane felt that "even the most rabid anti-Madonna listener or cynical music lover would find elements of 'The Confessions Tour' impressive". The staff of the '' East Valley Tribune'' highlighted the singer's vocals, her "impeccable shape", and how " onfessionsdelivered on all sensory levels, ndfans were not disappointed". According to Edna Gundersen from ''USA Today'', "Madonna is as fit vocally as physically, effortlessly nailing tender passages or a demanding upper register after strenuous bump-and-grind workouts". The ''Boston Herald''s Christopher John Treacy affirmed that, "although it’s impossible to tell how much vocal management is going on during the more demanding, theatrical numbers, Madonna sounded rehearsed and on target" during the tour. For ''The Guardian''s Kitty Empire, the "finest moments in her set are all about physical movement", citing the performance of "Let It Will Be" as an example. Chris Willman also highlighted "Let It Will Be" as one of the best numbers, and deemed it "as rock & roll as anything Courtney Love will ever do". Ed Gonzalez praised the performances of " Get Together", "I Love New York", " Ray of Light", "Erotica" and "Lucky Star"; Brynn Mandel singled out the "requisite" " Like a Virgin", while Leslie Gray Streeter praised the "Music" number, included on the "delightful" and "campy" ''Disco'' segment. Writing for the ''Chicago Tribune'', Greg Kot highlighted the gay themes included on "Forbidden Love"; "the intent was unmistakable, and moving. Madonna has been a gay icon since she emerged in the New York City clubs more than 20 years ago, and with gay rights once again under attack, her gesture did not go unnoticed". According to ''Wales Online'', "we were promised a spectacle and that's what we got. While the songs were powerful, ..it was the all-round theatrics of the performance that threatened to leave the audience speechless. adonnawas a ringleader on the stage drawing everyone into her world, if only for two hours". The '' Miami Herald'' concluded that, although Confessions "lacks the surprise of 2001's Drowned World Tour and some of the better tunes from 2004's Re-Invention Tour .. adonnaseemed to be enjoying herself more on this one and so did we".

Eric R. Danton, from the ''Hartford Courant