Fan Pictures: Paris Olympia (Part 2)

Ultimate Concert Experience were at Madonna's MDNA club show at the Olympia Music Hall in Paris on Thursday and shares these pictures with madonnalicious readers.

Comments

[Jim]

Hello Lee

I posted a comment in another thread about Madonna not seeing herself as still touring at this stage in her life/career.

I think the fact that she's on tour - especially such an unprecedently (for her) long one - shows that she does want to do it, it's just that she's doing it with a different motivation from her tours of the 1980s and 1990s. She's not hungry for it in the same way; her heart is centred on her family, which is where it should be in my opinion because a career, no matter how glorious, cannot provide the kind of fulfilment that close human relationships can. This is reflected in her creative output - its quality and its subject matter.

I was just looking at the years of her 12 studio album releases and the spaces between them: 1983, 84, 86, 89, 92, 94, 98, 2000, 03, 05, 08, 12. Surely it's more to do with the quality of the creative process in conjunction with the artistic choices which determines the outcome, rather than the time spent or the focussing on other projects. Personally I hated Confessions on a Dancefloor - even the title makes me shudder - as well as most of Hard Candy, and I've disliked almost all of her work with Jamie King, but it's at least partly a question of taste isn't it, and Madonna has chosen her direction and her collaborators without seeking my opinion :-) I don't think she, or anyone should deliberately try to please fans; it is usually a recipe for failure, like a caterpillar thinking about which legs to move.

I do think that Madonna has pulled out a heck of a lot of stops for the MDNA tour, and she has got my respect for that, even if I can't stomach the blood-spatters, and don't feel moved by some of the songs. It's a very ambitious show in terms of staging and choreography, for which she's had to learn new skills and has taken great risks which, if I were her manager I wouldn't have allowed! I greatly admire and envy her physical skills and her determination always to extend them. But to do the SuperBowl halftime performance, and 'W.E.', and an album, and a tour, and then to try to please fans who want another video for another single so that she can compete with Lady Gaga and the rest (it's this kind of thing that, I believe, she means when she says it's 'for the fans'), is too much even without a family to attend to, and be with, and have energy for.

The way I see it, Madonna's entitled to make music that doesn't appeal to me (of course!), but that is an entirely separate issue from the concerts/touring business model that prevails in the industry nowadays, and from things like the lapses in communication/clear advertising. The former will happen, guaranteed - disappointing but no big deal. The latter can usually be prevented and are business-to-customer mistakes to be put right.

I do take the view that, even when complaining to a most beloved artist having paid high ticket prices for a short performance, we can behave in a mature manner. Having now seen more footage of the after-concert reactions I think that a segment of the L'Olympia fans didn't behave as adults. I can understand expressing anger, but that can be done in an adult way too. Even political protests by Marine Le Pen supporters could be done in a mature manner.

[Lee]

I am a lifelong Madonna fan, but one who has become increasingly disillusioned with the Madonna "brand" since 2008.

For me, the rot started to set in with 'Hard Candy' and 'Sticky and Sweet' - I hated both with a passion. After the sheer exuberance M displayed during 'The Confessions Tour', 'Sticky and Sweet' was lazy and formulaic and - despite M's personal problems at the time (divorce) - she really didn't seem to want to be there, coming across as cold and detached.

Always willing to give people another chance, I waited with extreme anticipation for the release of 'M.D.N.A.' - wow, was I shocked and disappointed at what a truly dreadful album (imho) it was. Since the tour would be the 'M.D.N.A. Tour', I decided that this would be the first world tour of M's that I would not attend. And I haven't.

It seems to me that M is suffering with both creative block (or laziness!) and is seriously in the clutches of LiveNation. As someone posted on this site, I also believe that M does not want to be touring around the world anymore. Although I have not seen this Tour (apart from clips posted online), I have never seen such a backlash against a Madonna concert/tour. Even 'Drowned World Tour' did not (initially) have this kind of negativity around it.

It makes me wonder if M is entering another post-'Sex'/'Erotica' type phase of her career? I don't think M will attract vast numbers of NEW fans at this stage in her career (although she certainly did, albeit temporarily, during the 'Confessions' period), but she certainly needs to concentrate on her existing fan base. She needs a break from music and touring for a while, needs to stop putting so much energy into 'retail ventures' and get back to basics: producing killer music and killer concerts!

[Jim]

I am happy to report the simple, unvarnished, unadulterated truth:

Rob loves chips.

Touch ye not the bag!

:-)

[Jim]

Hello Steve

I'm afraid I don't agree with you about the politician-speak description.

Rob was drawing a distinction between Madonna's performing itself and the duration of the performance.

I agree with you on your central point though, since doubtlessly Madonna herself will have chosen the length of her performance.

As an aside, and not in relation to anything you have said, I'll add that no matter how unhappy anyone is, whether for political reasons or fan-based reasons, I don't think it's very adult to throw bottles on stage, even empty plastic ones. I think it's childish and boorish. Whoever did it and for whatever reasons they did it, they have made an unambiguous statement about their maturity (and perhaps their sobriety).

For those ticket prices I would've been unhappy with a short performance and an unfriendly ending too, and that's why I don't buy tickets (for anything, not just Madonna) when they're priced so high (Prince has made interesting comments on the current trend in ticket prices and its causes). Liz Rosenberg might think it's a reasonable price, but I'm not sure that she lives in the same world as most of the rest of us.

[Rob]

Did you hear any booing during her performance? No. That is my point. It's like giving me a bag of chips (which I love) and then taking the bag away after only a few bites. Is it upsetting to me that the chips were taken away, yes. Do I hate chips, of course not. So don't report "Rob hates chips". Utterly wrong to say that and utterly wrong to give an impression that Madonna gave a bad concert and that she was boo'd.

Jim, you have it right.

[Steve]

@Rob: sounds a bit like politician-speak: there was booing, but Madonna wasn't booed?

If there was booing, there was booing! It was Madonna and her management who decided upon the length of the show; therefore, if people were booing because the show was over, they were booing Madonna!

[Jim]

The media are populated by ageist people who, for years now, have made money out of falsifying stories about Madonna rather than being fair, balanced and factual about her and her performances.

I think Madonna's MDNA tour shows some of her best artistry ever. At L'Olympia the final performance was pure art all the way through. She was cooking on gas. I agree with you that the crowd cheered non-stop throughout, and the boos came when they realised it was over.

[Maddy]

Have u been there ? So don't talk about something u do Know and didnt see. Thanks

[Rob]

I watched the entire re-broadcast of the show and never was Madonna boo'd. The show was magnificent, creative, exciting. They only started to boo once they realized the show was over. They wanted more. Heck, so would I. The media, therefore, is misrepresenting the facts and lying when they say Madonna was boo'd. It was the length of the show that they were unhappy with (even though it was never billed as a full length concert). Why did they skip over the facts about the concert itself? Why does the media go to such lengths to slam her? How jealous can they be?