live2tell75

Madonna began the third set of the show by playing the electric guitar for I Love New York another song from Confessions On A Dancefloor. The background of the stage was visually awesome with a lightshow of the NY skyline. She continued playing guitar for her hit, Ray Of Light. Very New-Wave looking early 80's dancers did another fast interlooking arm dance. She really rocked playing the guitar! You can tell that she has gotten more relaxed playing compared to her last 2 tours. Next up was Let It Will Be another track from Confessions On A Dancefloor. Like a song earlier, she was alone for this upbeat song. She worked the crowd and stage like no one else! Finally we were able to sit down for the next 2 slower songs. Drowned World from her Ray Of Light album was gorgeous accoustic as was Paradise (Not For Me) from her Music album. During the last part of Drowned World, Yitzhak rejoined her to sing the backing vocals and then did a duet for Paradise (Not For Me) During Paradise, large cherry blossom tree pedals fell on all of the large flat-screens, very beautiful. rayoflight.bmp She rocked out during I Love New York and Ray of Light. drownedworld.bmp Madonna slowed things down for the ballads: Drowned World and Paradise (Not For Me)

The next section of the concert was the news making part of the show for the last few months. This part began with 3 of her dancers telling stories or "confessing" some of the obstacles that they have had to overcome to become the person they are today. At the end of the confessions, Madonna rised from the back of the stage on a large mirrored cross. And she began to sign my all time favoriate song, Live To Tell. This was the first time I had ever seen her perform this song live. And let me say that this was awesome! A lot of the media have focused that she is on the cross. But of course they don't mention on all of the screens, images of starving children from Africa are shown. By the end of the song infromation is given on how to help the children in need. The next 4 songs were all tracks from Confessions On A Dancefloor. For the song, Forbidden Love 2 dancers did a interlooking arm dance which was very fast and cool. For the song Isaac, Yitzhak Sinwani joined her for the haunting Eastern duet. Her hit dance single, Sorry was a big spectacle like the music video. A big dance off/fight took place in the many cages on the stage. The crowd really loved this part and the song. The final song in this set was Like It Or Not, a anthem to her critics on how she is going to never stop. The song featured her alone with a chair on the main catwalk. She really controlled the crowd and the show with this song! forbiddenlove.bmp As was the song Isaak. live1.bmp Forbidden Love was awesome. live2.bmp Performing my all time fav Madonna song, Live To Tell!

Madonna, the Confessions Tour at The American Airlines Arena in Miami on Sat. July, 22nd.

WARNING-SPOILERS OF THE SHOW ARE IN THIS REVIEW! All Madonna concert photos are from madonnatribe.com and madonnalicious.com We arrived at the American Airlines Arena. We bought our merchandise and then took our seats. While waiting for the show to start there was a lot of people watching. A Madonna show has a very unique and deverse audience. Everyone from teenagers, babyboomers and even grand parents were there. But mostly the audience was made up of 25 to 40 years olds. Every type of race, straight, and gay people made up the audience. Lots of fun costumes. Many people dressed up as their favorite Madonna look from the last almost 25 years which was very entertaining. We saw a few special guests including Gloria Estefan and her husband Emilio, and Ingrid Casares. Finally after a lot of waiting, the arena went dark. A video of Madonna appeared on the large flat curved screen over the stage. She welcomed us while a large bass beat swept throughout the arena. She spoke the opening words of the song Future Lovers, a song form her latest album Confessions on A Dancefloor. On the many screens featured many different images of horses running around and Madonna taming them. On the 2 catwalks that jetted out of either side of the stage, male dancers complete with part riding gear, muzzels and long fur manes appered and waited. From the cieling in the center of the arena a huge bright disco ball slowly decended over the crowd. The disco ball landed at the end of the main catwalk that went from the main stage to the center of the arena. Slowly the disco ball opened like a flower, revealing a blinding light throughout the arena. Then there she was Madonna, in the center of the opened disco ball. She was in full equestrian gear complete with a riding crop! Her "horse" dancers gallaped their way to join her on the catwalk. She broke into the main part of Future Lovers. A very cool opening. The song, pulsated throughout the arena, the energy in crowd was so intense! Everyone was dancing! During the middle of Future Lovers, she did a few verses from the Donna Summer disco classic, I Feel Love in which Future Lovers samples, this made the crowd go wild! Throughout the song she and her other female dancers tamed and rode the male/horse dancers around the catwalk which was super hot! Next she went into another Confessions song and her latest single, Get Together. This was a lot of fun, this song was just her dancing and signing on the stage. Next up was an old classic Like A Virgin, in which she rode a saddle that rotated on one of the side catwalks like a merry-go- round. And let me just say I have never seen anyone ride a merry-go-round like this! She worked the poll like a acrobat stripper! To close the first set of songs was another song from Confessions and her next single, Jump. The song was cool with 5 of her dancers jumping and doing crazy acrobats on scaflting that had been lowered over the stage and catwalks. likeavirgin.bmp She rocked during Like A Virgin. discoball.bmp Once the disco ball opened, the show really took off! opening.bmp The opening of the show was amazing! The cinematography was gorgeous!

On Friday, Kevin and I, our friends, Olivia and Lynn drove from Tampa Bay to South Beach, Miami to attend Madonna's Confessions Tour on Saturday night. After a really tough night of sleeping Friday night, thanks to our neigbors next to us at the hotel that stayed up until 7:00am in the morning partying and screaming! I guess that's expected if you are going to stay on South Beach, a party city! On Sat. morning we had a nice breakfast at one of the many open air cafes in the Art Deco disrict. We did some strolling around The Lincion Center at the many different shops. I will say that this area is very pretty, from the gorgeous people, to the cafes to the very unique Art Deco buildings. We planned to go to the beach but we had our normal Florida afternoon thunderstorm so that was out. So instead we went to dinner at another nice cafe. After dinner it was time to grab a cab and head over to The American Airlines Arena for the Madonna concert. We're here at the American Airlines Arena, soon The Confessions Tour will take off! Olivia, Kevin and Lynn just a few hours before the show! Kevin and I are so ready for Madonna! Olivia and Lynn- The Art-Deco area was very cool. We loved our table for breakfast, we had the best view of all of the yumos! Very nice view! Our view at breakfast was very nice. Lynn and Kevin in front of the our hotel on South Beach. I think Olivia is so ready to see Madonna tomorrow night! Lynn, Kevin and me. This time tomorrow night we will be seeing Madonna!

I have always loved everything about IOA, but if they don't add something really big soon, it will loose it's top spot on my list. 1. Islands Of Adventure 2. Cedar Point 3. Blackpool Pleasure Beach 4. Epcot 5. Alton Towers 6. Busch Gardens Europe 7. Disneyland 8. The Magic Kingdom 9. Knott's Berry Farm 10. Six Flags Magic Mountain 11. Busch Gardens Africa 12. Disney's Animal Kingdom 13. Thorpe Park 14. Universal Studios Florida 15. Disney-MGM Studios 16. Sea World Orlando 17. Six Flags Over Georgia 18. King's Dominon 19. Chessington World Of Adventures 20 Disney's California Adventure

My top pics would be: 1. Splash Mountain at The Magic Kingdom 2. Valhalla at Blackpool Pleasure Beach 3. Popeye And Bluto's Blige Rat Barges at Islands of Adventure 4. Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls at Islands of Adventure 5. Timber Log Ride at Knott's Berry Farm 6. Journey To Atlantis at Sea World Orlando 7. The Congo River Rapids at Alton Towers 8. The Flume at Alton Towers 9. Escape From Pompeii at Busch Gardens Europe 10. Log Jammer at Six Flags Magic Mountain 11. Kali River Rapids at Disney's Animal Kingdom 12. Roman Rapids at Busch Gardens Europe 13. Grand Rapids at Boardwalk and Baseball (closed) 14. The Flume at Canobie Lake Park 15. Tanganyika Tidal Wave at Busch Gardens Africa 16. Jet Stream at Six Flags Magic Mountain 17. Storm Force at Drayton Manor 18. Loggers Leap at Thorpe Park 19. Congo River Rapids at Bush Gardens Africa 20. Journey To Atlantis at Sea World San Diego

Great trip report! Glad you had a good time. Makes me miss my favoriate coaster, MF. Hopefully I will get out their next year.

Has anyone heard if they are going to utilize the new giant sphere screens in the lagoon for the nightly Universal 360 show for Halloween Horror Nights? If not a HHN type show, maybe project clips from horror movies?

I just checked out the official HHN web page. The Express Pass prices have gone up as expected. But Dammmnnnnn! All Sundays, Thursdays, Monday the 30th & Tuesday the 31st, Express Passes cost $30.00. Except Thursday Oct. 12th which cost $50.00 All Fridays Express Passes cost $50.00 All Saturdays Express Passes cost $60.00!!!!!!! Along with regular RIP VIP Tours at night, they also have a new daytime behind the scenes tour called Unmasking The Horror Tour for $35.00. Anyone know anything about this tour? --Eric J.

Maybe it has to do with the old Studio 54 dance club of the late 70's and early 80's. They could probally do some type of a horror dance club like Hellgate Bar at IOA last year or the Vampire Dance Club Haunted House (can't remember the name) at HOS last year. --Eric J

^ If they use the same theme then it will still be fun. Sequels to houses can sometime be better than the original. I liked Scream House Revisited a lot. They have used the same theme for houses in the past but made it totally unique. I love when they use Norman Bate's character. Psycho Path maze in 94' was so much fun (my first ever house). And I totally loved Psycho: Through The Mind Of Norman Bates in 99'. So if they reuse a theme or do a take off of a old house, I'm sure it will be cool. --Eric J

Along with what Derek mentioned earlier, over the years they used the following areas when HHN was housed just at USF: Haunted Houses have been located in: The Boneyard (A tent haunted house) All of the Soundstages Behind the old Bates Motel / presently part of the Kidz Zone area. Jaw's Queue Behind Beetlejuice/Earthquake Queue Muder She Wrote/Hercules/Xena Building Inside the New York Backlot Sets Scare Zones have been located in: The Boneyard Hollywood The Central Park area by the water on the Animal Actors Stage side. Kongfrontation Building Amity area Can anyone think of any other areas at USF? So if they have it at USF I think there are a lot of possibilites. --Eric J.

I totally agree with everyone that says the Express Pass is worth it. The last few years I have gone on a Thursday night and we still got the Express Pass, it is the only way to see everything. So if there isn't a line early in the night, don't use your pass then, jut experience the attraction. Come back and ride/experience it again without a wait when there is a line. A good example of when the pass is well worth it: 2 years ago when HHN was held at both IOA and USF I had a group of 8 with me. 3 of these people had never been to Universal Orlando at all. The only night we could all go was on the extremley busy Sat. night. So the Express Pass was a must. We arrived at the park at 6:00pm (they usually open up earlier than the posted start time). I wanted to make sure we did everything, all the rides and houses. With the Express Pass we did the following in order: Point of Evil (Scare Zone) The Hulk The Disorientorium (Haunted House) Dr. Doom's Fear Fall The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman The Flying Unicorn Dueling Dragons (Fire) Hellgate (Haunted House) Fright Yard (Scare Zone) Castle Vampyr (Haunted House) Twister: Ride It Out! Revenge Of The Mummy Festival Of The Dead Parade We eat at Louie's Italian Restaurant Deadtropolis (Haunted House) Horror Night Nightmares (Haunted House) Shriek 4D Midway of the Bizarre (Scare Zone) Ghost Town (Haunted House) Horror In Wax (Haunted House) Field Of Screams (Scare Zone) Cat In The Hat Amazing Adventures of Spiderman (2nd time) Point Of Evil (Scare Zone) We got done around `1:15am. And yes we were exhausted! But we got to see 99.9% of everything. The only thing we didn't have time for was Bill and Ted. But I was happy that I got to see Bill and Ted last year. So if you really want to see everything then the Express Pass is the only way to go. I talked to some co-workers that went that same night and they only did maybe one haunted house and 2 rides the whole night! The lines for everything were and an hour-2 hours long! So I hope this helps anyone deciding if they should or shouldn't buy an Express Pass. The only thing that sucks is that every year the price, (like everything else in life) keeps going up. But it is still worth it! --Eric J

I have gone to 11 past Halloween Horror Nights. I have been going to HHN every year since 1994. With the exception of 2001 when I couldn't make it. You can say it is kind of a tradion. This time of year there are always reports of what the haunted houses are going to be called and what their theme is. Most of the time they bring up past names, but a lot of the time they are just place holder names. Granted, until they officially announce the names, then can we speculate if they are going to be just a copy of past year's houses. Even if there are a few past houses, I'm sure they will all be fun! I always have a good time at HHN and now also HOS. I think it all depends on the group your with. Even the lamest event can still be fun with the right group. Hopefully Robb and Elissa, you guys will be back for a Oct. trip. I defintley would be up for meeting with everyone at HHN, HOS, MNSHP and more. You guys should defintley check out Halloscream on a offnight like Thursday or Sunday night. I think you will be surprised how much fun of an event it is. --Eric J.

Hey Catrina! Defintley we will meet up! You guys should come down for Halloween Horror Nights this year or Halloscream in October! We would have a blast!

Hey Chuck and Mike! You guys got to come down to sunny Florida and visit sometime! The theme parks are always fun! --Eric J

^ Thanks Derek, for some reason the chicks seem to feel comfortable with me Thought this TR would be a treat for a lot of the fanboys! I think I work with a lot of nice shellias and blokes!

I totallay agree Casey! It was a lot of fun doing IOA with a buzz! Can you believe this was the first time I have ever had a buz at theme park. It is a totally different experience! It was nice not worring about getting on all the rides. It was a relaxed, fun day! I figured I could do this, my transportation was taken care of and I had been to IOA a gazillion times. No worries mate! --Eric

^ Thanks Lou, I am lucky that I get to work with a great bunch of people! --Eric J

Final pics: Stacy and I think today rocked! Like the back of the bus on the TPR UK trip, the back of the bus to/from IOA was fun! Everyone danced the whole way home! This is what happens when you mix a great day of IOA, drinks and and fun people. One of the best bus rides ever! Daryl is my peep! Like the bus ride up, the bus ride back was just as fun!

More Pics: Overall it is a nice family/kids ride. A random scene on top of one of the Seuss Landing buildings. You get some really nice views of the park on the train. The ride cars are really cute and they light up! Shawn, Amy and I are ready for the High In Sky Suess Trolley Train!

More pics: Shawn really likes his new Lost Continent female friend! Everyone looks super scared! Wait till they almost get attacked by the T-rex! Ken, Sara, Amy and Shawn are ready to see some dinos on the Jurassic Park River Adventure. We all want to get wet now! Even though it was a thousand degrees we all had fun in the super long Popeye line. And yeah we were THAT super excited group that I usually hate when waiting with in a long line! But when you're apart of the group its a lot more fun!

At IOA Heather H. seems to really like Dr. Banner! Whoa-We're in 3-D! Ok so we're suckers for a cute baby! Little Kylie is pretty cute and loves IOA! Even us restaurant peeps got to eat! What up peeps in line for Hulk!

We finally arrive at Universal Orlando! We were a very friendly group! And it's only 11:00am! I love my co-workers! Our crazy group! Finally at IOA!