Making History Again
Madonna made music history again last night when she wrapped The Celebration Tour in front of the biggest crowd ever for a female artist on Copacabana Beach.
A free concert sponsored by Itaú Unibanco, The Celebration Tour in Rio attracted an audience of more than 1.5 million people, with reports talking about 1.6 or even 2 million. It took place on the middle section of the most popular beach of the most beautiful place in the world, right in front of the historical Copacabana Palace, the hotel that Madonna transformed into her headquarter for the past week, with a custom made bridge connecting the building and the stage area, allowing her, her dancers and her crew to travel quickly and safely from one place to another.
Over the past weeks a special structure was built on the beach, a sort of basement on top of which the main traditional elements of the Celebration stage were assembled once arriving from Mexico City. The set was adapted to the bigger scale of the venue by installing new hard screens on each side of the stage instead of the textile ones used in the arenas; the open air location also led to scrap the “time machine” elevator frame used in Live to Tell and Ray of Light and the huge squared element with downlighting that is used for numbers such as Bad Girl and that leans down during the ballroom scene for Vogue. Various elements of light design were also modified, improved or multiplied for the special show.
The result was an epic event witnessed in presence by the biggest crowd Madonna has ever performed for, watched live across the world by thousands more thanks to the live broadcast on the Globo TV network. A night described as both historic and insane by those lucky enough to make history together with the Queen of Pop.
After a few days of technical tests and two entire nights of rehearsals performed in the open air in front of thousands of fans gathered on the beach and sharing every moment live on the social networks, on Saurday, May 4th the party started with a warm-up by dj Barata followed by a set by Diplo. Madonna was announced for 21.50 but Bob the Drag Queen only appeared on the floor at 22.44.
The show was an energetic rendition of The Celebration Tour setlist with only one major alteration. With the flying frame missing, Madonna performed Live to Tell on the central catwalk walking towards the crowd, then she got elevated on the cube designed for Bedtime Story (that was only rolled up for half its height) and spent the song’s bridge sitting on a park bench. The images on the screens – a joint work with The Aids Memorial – have been adapted specially for her Brazilian fans.
The first surprise of the night arrived with Vogue as Madonna’s outfit and Gaultier-designed corset were re-imagined and tweaked with the bright colours of the Brazilian flag. The excitement raised even more when Madonna introduced the guest judge for the ball: the fabulous Anitta.
Madonna was very emotional during both her speeches throught the shows and kneeled down to thank Brazil with the entire Copacabana Beach lit up by the crowd’s cell phones. Mother and Father didn’t follow Don’t Tell Me and after Express Yourself and La Isla Bonita (with David playing guitar on the stage instead of flying over the pits in the cage), the special number of the night was revealed: a samba-themed version of Music with Brazilian superstar drag queen Pabllo Vittar as a special guest!
Later on the show Madonna remained on the cube after Bedtime Story to perform Ray of Light – she was also joined by one of her dancers for most of the song; a brilliant workaround for the missing flying cage. Bitch I’m Madonna (with elements of Celebration and Music) was once again the closing number of the show. With 81 record breaking tour dates, it’s been a Celebration, bitches!
