“We don’t need a biopic, we have The Celebration Tour”

MadonnaTribe friend and Community member Scion shares his story and his pictures from The Celebration Tour at the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm.

So it’s been around 36 hours since the concert ended and I’m currently at Manchester Airport awaiting a flight to Antalya. Yeah you read that right, I flew home from Sweden yesterday and now I’m off elsewhere. Surprisingly, this has been my first moment to sit and reflect.

When the tour was first announced, I was hugely sceptical that Madonna would be able to perform tons at a standard that would justify the prices – everyone who knows me knows that I’m pretty hard and straight when it comes to my opinions and feelings. I’m not one to hold back, express myself don’t repress myself and all that. I make no secrets that I haven’t been impressed by Madonna as an artist in years, and pretty much gave up extreme fandom after my two Rebel Heart Tour shows… So much so that I skipped Madame X entirely and broke contact with virtually all Madonna fans I was friends with, except my darling bestie, Jody.

When I saw the ticket prices for London I knew it wasn’t an option, I wouldn’t pay London prices even if it meant I was going to duet with Madonna herself. No, I had to look further afield. We opted for Stockholm, where ‘Gold Circle’ tickets were around £270 each including bank fees, around the same price as seats at the back of London’s 02.

Fast forward ten months and we were queueing up outside the Tele2, in 1degree celcius weather. It was around 6pm they let us in, before we all realised we had to queue for another hour because somebody was still soundchecking. Finally we were let in around 7pm, freezing, and feeling frankly less enthusiastic than we would have liked to have been at this point.

A huge stress on this trip (1st world problems undeniably) was whether or not we would actually be admitted to the area we had paid for. It was reported by numerous fans during the Antwerp concerts that the ‘Gold Circle’ had been oversold, and that some fans were instead relocated to a cheaper seat. I needn’t have worried, we found ourselves with pride of place, front row by the B-Stage where Madonna would later perform the entirety of Bad Girl.

Lateness. For once I’ll admit, it didn’t bother me. I was perfectly ready for her to come on at the time she did, around 21:50, and despite what some on X have said, I didn’t notice any unrest or frustration amongst the crowd.

I’ll keep my thoughts and feelings on the show relatively brief, but what I will say is that The Celebration Tour is arguably Madonna’s finest outing since 2006. I have seen her live four times, between 2008/9 and 2015, and the only experience I have had in the past that was truly incredible was Sticky and Sweet in Manchester. This experience was something else.

The costumes are incredible, and the dancers are a huge step up from any dancers I’ve seen elsewhere. I did notice that during The Beast Within, they were quite out of sync however! Awkwardly as well, the male dancer with the vividly red dyed shaved hair is very, very much like a guy I was dating twelve months ago… Who was also a dancer! Good job I was front row and could see he wasn’t him, or else I may have blushed.

The highlights to the show were Nothing Really Matters, which serves as arguably her most visually striking concert moment of all time, Into The Groove, a song that I adore in every rendition, Bad Girl and Rain (I actually don’t care for Rain, but I sang along and held my hand up to Madonna, who beamed a beautiful smile back at me – life made!!!).

Visually the show is stunning, it’s her best tour visually hands down, and I think I’d consider it her best concert outing. The show is a multimedia on stage biography of her career, thoughts and feelings. We don’t need a biopic, we have The Celebration Tour.

I know this will likely be my final ever Madonna concert. The show was wonderful but I’m a firm believer that it’s best to leave on a high than to continue on with something until it reduces into something less than it has been. My Mum and I commented repeatedly throughout the show that Madonna sounded poorly vocally, even when speaking to the crowd, and there were moments of the show where this really was apparent, such as Don’t Tell Me, Open Your Heart and Hung Up… We probably heard it clearer than most as we had an in-stage monitor speaker blasting two feet in front of our faces! What I will say also is that a lot of fans online have been speculating lip synch. From where we were stood, by said monitor, it was very clear exactly what was live and what was not, and I assure any reader, the majority of The Celebration Tour is a confident and live lead vocal, maybe even to her detriment when she could she the rest. Even her moves are confident, and despite the added stiffness or orthopaedic issues and age, she moves with a positive glow and control. Never does she look clunky or out of control.

Would I recommend the tour to any fan?
Yes.

Would I ever go again?
No, an excellent way to end on a high.

Do I believe Madonna would ever tour again?
Maybe, maybe not. I’m not sure she needs to – if she finishes now, she would certainly be ending on a high.

Thank you, Scion!

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