Madonna at Olympia Paris

This press picture shows Madonna and one of her dancers performing 'Je t'aime moi non plus' as a finale to last nights show at the Olympia Music Hall in Paris.

She opened the show with an energetic performance of 'Turn Up The Radio' that got the whole venue jumping, followed by 'Open Your Heart'. We then had 'Vogue' (which is breathtaking in such a small venue), with 'Candy Shop' and 'Human Nature'. A great Beautiful Killer/Die Another Day mix (which MUST be added to the tour) was followed by 'Je t'aime moi non plus' as the finale.

After a great show, in an amazing small venue, the billed 'Special Club' mini show caused problems with some fans, who when the stage crew came on to dismantle the set, turned on Madonna shouting 'Salope', throwing empty bottles on stage and demanding a refund. Yes there were angry fans BUT it was not the entire audience. Some were happy to have seen Madonna at such an intimate venue.

Picture from Press Association Via Yahoo! News

Comments

[Jim]

Hello Eric

Thanks for telling us your account of the events of the night.

When I saw the sign 'Sheila Forever' I was puzzled by it, but having read your account it makes sense now.

- -

Hello Wales1978

If you check what Eric has said about Sheila, for instance, you will see that she is a French singer with many same-sex-oriented fans and she is playing at the Olympia very soon. The person who held up the sign about Sheila is the one who held up the other signs, e.g. about money. Sheila has an English-language Wikipaedia entry that mentions the forthcoming Olympia gig, as well as an official home page the main page of which has a large advert on it for the Olympia gig. Le Monde has a report from 2007 that makes it very clear that Sheila is one of the artists with a large following of people attracted to their own sex. The article is behind a paywall but can be found on blogs online; it's called "Ces chanteuses vénérées par les gays".

Someone else mentioned that the DST no longer exists. That can be verified too. I found references online which said that it was merged into another deparment back in 2008.

To sum up, I find what Eric wrote to be credible, and until there is unambiguous footage of a protest by Marine Le Pen supporters or an official statement directly from French police or the DCRI I am taking the claims with a pinch of salt. I don't think much if any weight can be placed on the Examiner.com report, unless the produce something like direct quotes from French authorities which can be checked.

[wales1978]

erica i am so happy that this website proves what i have said and makes u out to be a liar. check the news story from today fool

[Eric]

> wales1978: Why would I make that up? I can't help it you like to use your poor imagination to invent little stories of your own about an event you didn't even attend to. Please keep on typing your miserable fantasies, you make our day.

[wales1978]

eric what you just explained sounded far too made up for me FOOL

[Eric]

Wales1978 > Because I was not too far from this guy and I heard him talking. Considering what he said and that the jokes on his signs (among others) were about Sheila, who is a French singer considered as a gay icon, the friends he was with and the way he behaved during the concert, I do know that he was gay. Because I heard him saying that he had heard while queuing that the show would be a 45 mn show case and that he wanted to show his disapproval. I find this stupid but that's what happened.

If you want to believe this stupid conspiracy theories about the National Front's infiltration just because you saw a guy with a sign showing stupid jokes, good for you.

I was there. You were not. So who's the fool now?

[Wales1978]

Eric - you wake up you're presuming this shaved head man was gay? Umm why? And why would someone turn up to a concert with a pre printed typed sign? Just analyse that fact alone and stop side lining the issue and the fact fool

[JC]

It was an intimate show, what ungreatfull Franchies and shame fans that was expecting the whole Tour concert in that little venue? really? having her so closed like you all had and acting so vulgar, very disapointed. This was an special show because France are going to a wrong direction with that crazy Bitch friking Nazy.Wake up people and look up for your future.IF WE DON'T LEARN FROM HISTORY WE MUST NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES.

[MAGGIE]

PEOPLE WAKE UP. PEOPLE TURNED UP AT THE GIG WITH PRE PRINTED FLYERS DISSING HER. C'MON WHO TURNS UP WITH NEGATIVE PRE PRINTED FLYERS FOR A CONCERT?? NO ONE ONLY THE FRENCH LEPAN PARTY. IT WAS A HOX, AND SADLY THEY ARE GATHERING ALL THIS NEGATIVE PRESS.

[Eric]

Dean: Show me where it was mentioned that it would be a 45 mn concert. The official announcement didn't mention this. Live Nation didn't mention it. The fanclub didn't mention it. L'Olympia said that this would be a regular show adapted from the MDNA tour.

The Liz Rosenberg intervention seems out of place: the Olympia concert was listed as part of a concert of the MDNA tour. Instead of calming down the situation and trying to provide some valid information, Madonna's PR rewrites history and avoid to deal with the issue.

The misunderstanding comes from the fact that anyone could speculate about what the show would be about but one would think that a €90 to €280 ticket would provide more than a 45 mn promotional concert like the one she did for Hard Candy in 2008. And if it was a promotional concert, why was it decided to make people pay? The format was the same as in 2008, except the price.

The director of L'Olympia was interviewed in the morning before the show and said that it would be an intimate (this has nothing to to with how long a show can last) and adapted version of the MDNA show. So the frustration is understandable. People like to know what they pay for: it avoids misunderstandings and everybody has all the necessary information to decide whether they will buy a ticket or not. Live Nation remained intentionally vague.

As for the infiltration of National Front party members in the crowd, this is ridiculous. Stop this silly and paranoid conspiracy theory... Don't mix a shaved- head gay man in his late 30's with a skinhead from the National Front. The audience was mainly made of gay men who totally despise the extreme right movements due to their positions on homosexuality. There was just one guy with a sign saying "Addcited to $$$" and some other stuff and he wasn't a NF member. The angry crowd was made of real fans who bought the tickets thinking it would be a longer show.

Everything went well until she left. I adored her performance, it was great, better than the standard MDNA tour in the stadiums. If there had been members of the National Front, they would have interfered during Madonna's speech and all the audience cheered when she spoke. As I mentioned earlier, her performance was great! And all the fans enjoyed the show, it was electric! I just wish I had all the information to avoid this kind of surprises. And by the way, was it so hard for Madonna to perform a few acoustic tracks? Some artists do that pretty easily...

[Maddy]

I love Madonna since 24 years and every body espacially fans were disappointed what a shame taking people as stupide you CAN love Madonna and be realistic about t way she lied. T show was incredible but she should gives her lessons of moral for herself and respect her fans and those who Paid for a date added to her mdna tour. All t people were ungry and it is normal. Let s all ask for a refund !

[Alex]

Apparently some National Front representatives wera among the audience. It could explain many things.

[Marie]

It was a mini concert. And an excellent show. The disgruntled fans should feel lucky to even see her sing in such a small venue. Millions of fans around the world would have loved to be there instead of those rude peasants.

[jeffrey]

Madonna does need to get rid of Guy Oseary. He is gonna just kill her career with all of the missed opportunities there have been with such a killer good album that MDNA is. This should have been another monster hit for her, but between Guy and Live Nations disasterous handling of it it has just had middling success. It is not a failure by any means, but it could have been HUGE! Sigh of sadness.....

[Dean Ismail]

they are not unhappy with the performance, but they are unhappy that the show was 45 minutes. What were they expecting??

When I heard about this show several weeks ago, I checked the details and it says the running time will be around 45 minutes. Which is exactly what it turned out to be.
It was even referred to as a mini, intimate concert.

In addition, the ticket prices are similar to the huge stadium venues of this MDNA tour. They paid the same price and get to see Madonna perform close up. The people paying same price for the stadium venues could see very little. It's all about being reasonable with your expectations.

The 45 minute issue should not even be questioned in any case as this is what's been stated from the beginning.

[Derek]

Perhaps if this had been marketed as a shorter show; to be on tour and say they have added another "MDNA," show, that implies an actual full-length concert as other cities have seen. Miscommunication is definitely causing a problem.

[Eric Pagano]

I LOVE Madonna probably more than anybody but with that being said i do agree with the angry fans who im sure paid good money to see her, regardless of the venue size M should know better and give her fans a FULL 2 hour set come on, with all her material its kinda disappointing,,,,,jus sayin.

[Kamui]

I don´t agree with violence, but fans deserve respect from Madonna and her management group...so there were angry fans But???...."but" what???....they were a minority and they do not deserve to be listened???

[Jeroen]

I was there and i loved the show. I already suspected it to last only 50 minutes. Shame on those nasty people booing her.
Loved the show, love Madonna and i would do it all over again if i could.