Hyde Park. July 17th 2012.
There are people everywhere, most of them are utterly beautiful creatures of the male species and even then, most of them are gay. To my left is a group of middle aged women in brightly coloured wigs, swigging away on cider, to my right a younger group of females in lacy bridal get up quite clearly on a hen do and in front of me are two very loved up, very tanned and quite obviously exotic (Brazilian was my best guess) men. Then there is my mum (40+), her best mate (60+) and I (19) in the middle of it all, sipping hideous tasting wine. Despite the obvious difference in each camp, from age to gender to sexual orientation, the atmosphere among us remains electric and at 8:37pm the reason for it all steps on stage and suddenly we are all united.
There. On stage. In front of me is Madonna. Music's biggest, brightest, most controversial and longest running leading lady and she is fabulous.
From the set, to the singing, to the production and the incredible anti-hate montage the whole show was flawless. According to my mother (who saw the Queen of Pop back in the 80s) Madonna has managed to quite gracefully and subtly adapt her shows to her age; sitting down more often and wearing considerably more clothing. This of course by no means suggests that she was not the Madge we all know and love, for even at 54, she still tight rope walked, climbed the set, played the guitar, rolled around on the floor and danced like no performer I have EVER seen. I was mesmerized.
Jean Paul Gaultier's signature touch on the show, mixed with Madonna's dark yet beautiful themes made the show visually stunning too. Not to mention that her costumes really were stunning. I need Jean Paul to design me on of those GORGEOUS sequin cape/clock things she had on. I'd be the sparkliest thing for miles and miles and I would absolutely love it.The whole things was fierce, wild and so clever. From getting back at exlovers, to being put down and trampled on then getting herself back up and to sticking her fingers up at the haters, Madonna's message shone loud and clear - She is her own boss. The interlude that included a subtle tribute to the child suicide victims was poignant and heart warming, making me wonder why everyone got so fussed that she flashed her nipple but no one even mentioned the show's strong leaning towards making things better withing society.
For me though, it was Like A Prayer that shocked me the most for there was not one person in that crowd who wasn't singing along or dancing or both (me). It was that sense of being united that I think she most wanted to get across and to me, music will always be the greatest way of joining people together and getting us to see that actually, we really aren't all that different.
To top it all off, she flashed her bum...
And what a bum it is!
Long live The Queen.
