But she’s been much more than that. She’s been delightfully controversial, the head bitch to the underdogs, a relentless ally to the LGBTQ community and an artist crucified in the name of female liberation.
In her first of two consecutive Dallas tour dates Sunday night, fans filled the American Airlines Center, ages Gen X and above — save for the occasional child far too young to be there.
After a set by DJ Mary Mac 5 Star, which included many overplayed club songs such as “Sweet Dreams” and a remix of Madonna’s “Music,” the singer made her first onstage appearance, alone, dressed in a black robe and a silver, halo-like headpiece, harking to the days she was denounced as a sinfully bad influence by the Vatican.
Madonna seems to have forgotten that her core fans haven’t seen a line of cocaine since the premiere of Scarface, and started her show at 10:30 p.m.
A video reel and host/opener Bob the Drag Queen (dressed like Madonna, as Marie Antoinette) introduced the icon. As if anyone needed reminding: born in Michigan, Madonna moved to New York City alone, famously arriving at age 17 with $35 to her name. She hustled, persisted and conquered the music industry, and harder still, defended her title for decades. And, as Bob concluded, “She taught us how to fuck.”
Most important, she taught women everywhere to not give a fuck. Absent from the video were some incredible details of her remarkably resilient life: In her first year in New York, she slept on stranger’s couches, irritated local DJs — who ran from her in fear she’d keep pushing her tape on them — until her songs played in clubs, and was raped by a supposed “good Samaritan” who invited her to use his phone.
Madonna used religion as a theme in her Dallas show, even if she didn't play "Papa Don't Preach."
Eva Raggio
She’d soon ditch the robe for an ensemble that could pass for an Olivia Rodrigo tour costume (plaid skirt and leather jacket and boots) — if it hadn’t included a leg brace, which Madonna wore on her left leg.
The singer has sported the brace for years, and along with a hospitalization last year for a serious infection, it’s no wonder her choreography is far less athletic than we’re used to. Her voice often drowned in a mix of reverb and backing vocals but allowed an occasional glimpse of an errant pitch. Whether this was the result of a technical issue or simply her age, it made the performance all the more authentic, the core of Madonna’s brand, no matter the high spectacle and surgeries.
With her dancers dressed as ‘80s punks, she went through early hits including “Into the Groove,” “Open Your Heart” and “Holiday.”
Dressed in vintage concert tees or fully in costume as ‘80s Madonna, the audience adhered mostly to the theme of celebration. Even older women wore some tasteful fishnet tights.
A shirtless man in a Navy captain hat danced furiously. But with most of the audience members being respectably grown, they sat the second a song slowed down and rarely got back up.
The announcement of “Welcome to the New York City Subway” illustrated the theme of the show’s first act: a portrait of the artist as a Midwestern ingenue bursting with ambition.
She bossed the crowd around at times, and we liked it.
“I hope I don’t have to get into this repetitious behavior where I have to say things more than once to get a reaction,” she said. “Be enthusiastic the first time.”
Madonna spoke about her move to New York, “I was naive, idealistic. I thought I was gonna rule the world, but you can’t do that as a dancer,” she said, prefacing the first song she wrote on electric guitar, “Burning Up.”
As she recalled, she first played the song at a “tiny little nightclub where they threw beer bottles at my head, and told me to show them my tits. And I did.”
This is the tough block Jenny really wants us to believe she’s from.
The sound of thunder for “The Storm” played into “Live To Tell.” Madonna was elevated on a small structure as photo banners of Christopher Flynn, Keith Haring, Alvin Ailey and others surrounded the stage. A sign on the main screen read, “In loving memory of all the bright lights we lost to AIDS.”
A sound of tolling bells then came from behind the screen. A circle of crosses rotated with dancers in each compartment, hanging at times as if crucified. Madonna walked around the stage’s ramp with her head covered, along with dancers dressed as priests. The intro to the Sam Smith/Kim Petras hit “Unholy” lead to “Like a Prayer” as the stage’s floor lit up as if on fire.
Through the show, a few dancers appeared faceless, dressed as different versions of Madonna. As the cone-bra-wearing, high-ponytailed Madonna sat in a chair, the real Madonna (wearing a wig reminiscent of her “Marilyn hair” era) began touching “herself,” her early ‘90s likeness, someplace that would’ve sent Pope John Paul II to a much earlier meeting with his boss and maker.
The dance portion of the show, including “Erotic,” was a sparkling flawless spectacle. Many of the songs, however, were teased in bits, with only parts of ”Justify My Love” and a lone verse from “Fever.”
Madonna returned in a lacy blindfold and a red negligee, and was fondled herself by a woman dancer. No one expected less from a career provocateur (except perhaps for the parents who brought the elementary-aged kids), but by today’s standards, her act still seems rather tame. And we can thank Madonna herself for that.
One example of the singer’s broad influence on performance came perhaps inadvertently as Madonna slithered on the floor with dancers, this time her butt showing deliberately. (The singer has said that during her infamous, star-making “Like a Virgin” performance at MTV’s 1st Music Video Awards, she lost a shoe and began crawling to retrieve it, making it seem like part of the act. Her dress lifted up and she accidentally showed her behind during the performance. “You’ll never work again,” she said her then-manager told her backstage.)
Despite her most salacious moments on Sunday, the singer was controlled, unemotional and admittedly, “in a mood.” Vintage Madonna.
The video returned, showing short clips of her documentary Truth or Dare in which she fellated an Evian bottle, and the moment she did a “puke” gesture behind actor Kevin Costner after he called her show “neat.”
Madonna’s daughter Mercy James played a grand piano for “Bad Girl” as the singer sat atop it, channeling Michelle Pfeiffer, and at times Sharon Stone, by uncrossing her legs. She sat at the piano bench with her daughter as a faint smoke fogged the air, creating a truly cinematic scene.
This was followed by a vignette that included a male dancer kissing Madonna between her thighs and going to second base as she held up scorecards.
“I don’t make disposable art,” she’d told the crowd earlier, which held true throughout the night.
The biggest production was reserved for “Vogue,” as dancers walked the runway dressed in vintage fashion and her youngest daughter, Estere, stood at the DJ booth on the top of the stage. Her 11-year-old child then danced skillfully, close to her mother.
Then came the Western portion of the show, punctuated with the theme song of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Madonna wore a cowboy hat, starting off with “Die Another Die” and continuing with “Don’t Tell Me,” which got a surprisingly enthusiastic response.
She dedicated the next song, “Mother and Father,” to her own mother and her son David’s biological mother. And once again told the audience to be more enthusiastic so she didn’t have to repeat herself.
“I sound like a crazy person,” she said. “And I am. Who else would do this fucking job?”
Madonna has two biological kids (Lourdes, 27, with Carlos Leon, and Rocco, 23, with director Guy Ritchie) as well as four adopted kids. The criticism she received after adopting kids from Africa, she has said, was the most painful of her career.
Still, the singer told the audience that motherhood has been her greatest accomplishment, before making an unrelated joke. “What’s the difference between a terrorist and a pop star? You can negotiate with a terrorist.”
She then requested that everyone turn on the lights on their phones as she played a solo acoustic rendition of “Express Yourself” followed by “La Isla Bonita,” accompanied by a Spanish guitar and cello as she circled the crowd again on a rectangular lift.
The sound of recorded applause and street drums introduced “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina,” with onscreen photos of former Argentinian first lady Eva Perón and revolutionary Che Guevara.
This would begin an “In memoriam” segment that included photos of Martin Luther King Jr., Nina Simone and David Bowie.
The clips of interviews that followed no doubt were meant to remind us of Madonna’s radical stance against war, sexism and discrimination well before it was expected from celebrities.
As a cultural pariah, Madonna’s grandest act of defiance is that she holds firmly onto her throne despite sharing the seat with newer pop queens such as Beyoncé and Taylor Swift.
There’s been endless online chatter about Madonna’s surgically lifted face, but we reiterate the point that you can blame patriarchal standards for an aging pop star accommodating the aesthetic expectations that come with the job. Madonna would’ve likely earned similar criticism had she let her estrogen-lost facial hair loose and wrinkles take over as has Patti Smith — to each woman their own brand of rebellion.
Whether as a response to this or not, the last portion of the show featured AI art, adding to the overall celebration of culture, artistry and activism and the many messages like “No Fear” and “Resist.”
The song “Ray of Light” was treated to more of an industrial sound. In the box that moved above the crowd, wearing Kanye shades, a silver catsuit and a long, pink-tinted straight wig, Madonna sang “Take a Bow” in its entirety as a figure resembling death came up behind her.
The final segment was dedicated to Michael Jackson, showing photos of the King and Queen of Pop together while interpolating “Like a Virgin” and “Billie Jean.” About a dozen dancers then appeared dressed from Madonna’s differing eras: in the shiny black catsuit and cornrows of “Human Nature,” a red kimono, a baseball player (from A League of Their Own), the “Virgin” dress, in “Material Girl” pink.
The theme of loss, the message of resistance and the retrospective, jukebox-musical-type show felt much like a farewell tour. And it should be. After fighting a serious infection last year — not to mention a world that wasn’t ready, for 40 years — this would’ve been a high note on which to exit.
But if B.B. King could pack arenas even after his fingers lost most dexterity and Bob Dylan can keep touring as his song lyrics become entirely unintelligible, as long as she’s still moving — even with a knee brace — Madonna damn well can do the same.
And the truth is, we still need Madonna. With a steady avalanche of regressing politics burying progress, the artist is still using her stage to spotlight important issues.
She closed the 2.5-hour concert with “Celebration” and “Bitch I’m Madonna.” “And don’t you forget it,” she sang, all the versions of herself dancing off the venue’s catwalk.
Then, as she tried to lift her veil, which she aspirated into her face, her parting words would become, “God damn it.” Bitch, it’s Madonna, don't forget it.
Madonna's second concert at Dallas' American Airlines Center takes place Monday, March 25. See our parking guide for info on how to get there and where to park.
