“I love people heckling me”
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Ketel One Vodka
Heavy is the head that wears the crown – and apparently fragile was the crown upon the queen of pop’s head last night at the special New York City premiere of Madonna’s Madame X concert film at the Paradise Club atop the Times Square Edition hotel, The Guardian reports.
Madonna emerged from the pouring rain donning a slightly bent sparkling tiara above her blonde braids that boldly bore a profane phrase all-too-commonly heard on the streets of the Big Apple: “Fuck You.” The diminutive 63-year-old pop star also wore what’s become her signature over her four-decade career – fishnets and a bustier – in addition to white wraparound sunglasses and a gleaming plate necklace that read “Trust No Bitch.”
Filmed in Lisbon, Portugal, the film, released 30 years on from her defining documentary Truth or Dare, features footage from the singer’s 2019–20 tour that was curtailed by the outbreak of the pandemic.
What distinguished this tour and concert film from others was its smaller scale, consisting entirely of theater venues instead of stadiums or arenas. And that intimacy may not necessarily translate to the film, Madonna told the Guardian.
There’s a lot of moments where I talk to the audience, but we had to cut a lot of that down for time. I love people heckling me or calling out, I love talking to them about what was going on in the world, whether it’s Donald Trump or a natural disaster. I loved having that back-and-forth. We capture it to a certain point but not completely.
In Lisbon I had the chance to meet and share the great artistry of all these musicians in my show, and that was a wonderful experience for me.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Ketel One Vodka
Portuguese photographer Ricardo Gomes met Madonna while she was recording the album in Lisbon and was tapped to record behind-the-scenes footage for Instagram and eventually direct the Madame X film. He said:
Covid shut us out at the end – we were going to film more shows. The challenge was we had to find inspiration and go beyond the show to connect things and make the message even more relevant.
She was very injured the whole tour, but we can’t actually see that – she looks amazing and incredible.
A crowd of about 75 deposited their phones in locked pouches (a practice that was also enforced during the Madame X tour) before entering the dimly lit former cabaret space Paradise Club, which was transformed into a cozy theater for the night.
Guests including Drew Barrymore, Queer Eye star Antoni Porowski and Madonna’s son Rocco Ritchie downed Madame X dirty martinis and espresso martinis before the woman of the night introduced the film in inimitable Madonna fashion: “Artists are here to disturb the peace,” she said, quoting James Baldwin. Then: “Shut the fuck up and enjoy yourselves.”
Read the full story on The Guardian and check out these video reports below.
.@Madonna is taking us behind-the-scenes of her #MadameX tour in a new documentary coming to #ParamountPlus. She spoke with @Dometi_ about the importance of art, and why her new doc is the perfect amalgamation of everything she loves. ‘Madame X’ hits @paramountplus on October 8 pic.twitter.com/CvEqvVhJB1
— MTV NEWS (@MTVNEWS) September 24, 2021
