Internal Jukebox: Live Review: Madonna @ Allphones Arena, Sydney

So very lucky to have seen Madonna again this past Saturday night, this time in Sydney, and wow, what a night. Brilliant once again and there were so many bonus songs. Madonna is the ultimate performer and the "Rebel Heart" tour is the definitive proof..

Now I did a full review last week, it can be found here:
http://theinternaljukebox.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/live-review-madonna-rod-laver-arena.html
So I don't want to cover the same ground, this is going to be more an opinion piece on people disrespecting my Queen! But before I hop onto my high horse, let's quickly talk about the bonus songs from Saturday. Firstly, Madonna re-added in the mash-up that was missing from Melbourne of "Dress You Up", "Into the Groove" and "Lucky Star". Wow, just wow. Such a feast for the eyes and ears. She told us she takes it out sometimes cause it is so high energy and it takes a toll, I can see why, it was breathtaking. Was hoping we'd get it as she was filming the show, and we did. Then there were the extras, we got "Take a Bow" and "Like A Prayer" back to back. Both were brilliant, and I am so excited I heard "Like a Prayer" at both shows I attended. Then later in the night she did an acapella version of "Hanky Panky" and it was exquisite. Plus we got to see "Game of Thrones" actress, Gwendoline Christie (Brienne) be the unapologetic bitch. Such a satisfying night that I am so happy I will get to relive on DVD.

There has been so much criticism of Madonna since she landed in Australia, fuck, since she first released music in the early 80s. And most of it is pure ridiculousness. We are led to believe that Madonna is washed up, an old lady who should retire. We are told she is certainly not relevant anymore, British tabloids (the ultimate beacon of truth - note the sarcasm) even tried to tell us that our Queen's shows weren't selling out in Australia. But the thing is, the more you talk about Madonna, put her on the front page of your papers, put her in your television news headlines, bitch about her on your social media; the more you talk, the more relevant she seems. If she were really washed up, would people still talk about her? Really washed up people are never heard from again, they don't have papers lying about them. Madonna is still the Queen, and don't the haters hate it?

Australia's media can be a true bunch of pricks. Britney Spears will never return after her one visit here as they did nothing but bitch about her; and the media treated Frank Sinatra so bad, a film was made about it years later. Back in 1993, the media lead us to believe that Madonna had offended the whole Aboriginal community by carrying a didgeridoo that someone handed her and that everyone who saw, "The Girlie Show" hated it. I remember watching the news and seeing vox pops of common stock complaining they didn't know all the songs and they felt cheated. Of course, in the 23 years that passed everyone who I've spoken to who went to the show have called it amazing. Those people never make the news, positive reviews don't sell ad space apparently.

The media likes to jump on the smallest whisper and turn it into a scream. Was Madonna late to some concerts, yes. Should she have been so late, probably not. But it has become the big conversation about the show. The media has dragged it out and turned that proverbial mole hill into a mountain. Then all those original folk who think they are funny jump on the propaganda and suddenly every person thinks it's hilarious to joke about the show being late. Seriously, you didn't write the joke and you are not as funny as you think you are. I was working in retail the day after seeing Madonna and a customer asked if she was late, I said no, and then she said, "Sorry, I shouldn't ask that, I should ask how she was, that's the important question". Lady, you are right. No one wants to talk about how amazing the show was. How tight the choreography was, how amazing she sounded, how years of memories all come to life in one night. The media wants to dictate our conversation, and we let them. We let them to sound funny but sound like fools.

The wonderful thing about Madonna is that she uses the negativity to create magic. She is unrepentant and unapologetic. While the show may be tight and structured (a preciseness very few artists could match), she sets parts in the show where she can talk to the crowd, and Madonna was in a talkative mood on Saturday night. People complain she swears too much, she turned it up higher, we were all encouraged to yell out, "Fuck, fuck, fuck yeah" many times. People complain that she abused a 17 year old fan (who has called it the best night of her life), Madonna makes a joke that she's been getting in trouble all week because of minors. People call her an alcoholic (ridiculous, could an alcoholic really perform with that much energy for 150 minutes?), so she jokes about it all night. But then there was the one that clearly hurt, the criticism of her talking about son Rocco during the custody battle. Madonna simply answered the critics by saying, "God forbid a Mother should miss her son". Amen Madonna. She was so open and brilliantly engaging, that it somehow made me love her more - and I didn't think that was possible.

Some of the more ridiculous things I have seen in this past week include yesterday's "Sunrise" on Channel 7. After the Seven network spent two weeks lying about Madonna, they reported in the nightly news that Madonna was having a breakdown; they had a feature with some trainers from Madonna's Hard Candy Gym. As the three women and one man danced, the head trainer spoke to Kochie and Sam and Kochie came out with this corker, "But what about us blokes, we can't dance as well as the girls". You could see the trainer's frustration, valiantly answering, "Well, Madonna does have more male dancers than women on the tour". 1962 called, it wants its values and misogyny back. The other one that got me all riled up belonged to former Channel V presented Andrew Mercado, who in telling us why he wasn't a Madonna fan anymore, said that Madonna should give up writing songs about the Catholic Church and her deceased mother. Um, what? Come again? Oh I'm sorry Madonna's love for her dead mother upsets you, that losing her at 5 has had a profound effect on Madonna's life. Could you be more heartless dickhead?

So why do people criticise Madonna so much? People would argue that she opens herself up to it by being so vocal and controversial, but it's more than that. Madonna is what we as a society are afraid of. She is a person who marches to the beat of her own drum, does what she wants, goes against the status quo and still managed to succeed. And by God, she did it as a woman. We are allowed to be a little wild for a few years, then we are meant to meet someone of the opposite sex, fall in like, have children, pay taxes, buy a house, retire and die. You are not meant to be a 57 year old woman in skimpy clothing who gives us pole dancing nuns. Older people retire, women are subservient to men and pop is a young person's game. Madonna says fuck it to all that.

Does Madonna need me to defend her? No, of course not, she doesn't give a flying fuck, but as a fan, a life long fan, it hurts me to see people be so shamelessly hateful to an artist I admire, respect and love. And I know this blog won't change anyone's mind. Those who love Madonna wholeheartedly agree with me, those who don't didn't read this and will continue to listen to everything force fed to them by the media. But I needed to get this off my chest, the haters have gotten me down these past few weeks. But now I choose love, I am a part of the revolution of love, and yes bitch, I am in Madonna's gang!