Photo TR: Miami-Madonna Confessions Tour Concert Weekend

[live2tell75]

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!

[live2tell75]

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.

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She rocked during Like A Virgin.

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Once the disco ball opened, the show really took off!

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The opening of the show was amazing! The cinematography was gorgeous!

[live2tell75]

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!

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As was the song Isaak.

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Forbidden Love was awesome.

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Performing my all time fav Madonna song, Live To Tell!

[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.

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She rocked out during I Love New York and Ray of Light.

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Madonna slowed things down for the ballads: Drowned World and Paradise (Not For Me)

[live2tell75]

The final set began. On all the large screens flashed a gazillion images and videos from Madonna's past. A radio anouncer informed that we need to put our dancing shoes on cause they only play non-stop groove shaking tunes! Then the music of the 70's Tramps classic, Disco Inferno started to play while a video of Madonna in a retro red dress danced non stop on all of the screens. The see-through main curved video screen raised and dancers on rollerskates danced and skated all over the stage. The skater/dancers skated up and sown the cat walks. They did some amazing stunts! While the music of Disco Inferno was being played you would hear an electronic voice say "hey mr. dj" from the song Music every so often or "I want to free my soul" from the old Madonna song, Where's The Party. After a few minutes of the skating stunts, Madonna appeared out of the floor of the main stage with 2 of her dancers. Totally dressed up in Saturday Night Fever gear, she started to sign the song Music over the music of Disco Inferno. This was the best part of the show. The crowd really loved every minute of it. She did her "John Travolta strut" down to the end of the main catwalk. There she broke it down for about 4 miuntes of non-stop 70's inspired dancing! I thought the crowd was going to explode! After the explosive song Music, she and her dancers stripped off their 70's suits for more form fiting outfits. She and her dancers did a slow sexy dance to her old hit Erotica. This was very cool because she added lyrics from a song called You Thrill Me. I actually liked this version of Erotica better than the original. The dancing was very sensual and hot! After Erotica, Island beaches and swaying palm trees appreared on the video screens and Madonna went into an up-tempo version of the classic La Isla Bonita. The energy from Madonna, the dancers and the crowd was burning hot! She sizzeled and salsaed her way around all parts of the stage! At the end of La Isla Bonita, she collapsed on the stage and her 2 backup singers came out to her and told her she has to go on! So they put a 70's Abba inspired cape on her that read "Dancing Queen" on the back. A thumping beat pulsated through the arena and she began to sing her early classic, Lucky Star. She opened her cape to reveal a gazillion bright lights that lite up the under side of her cape. It was very cool to hear Lucky Star, I never thought I would hear that in concert! Towards the end of Lucky Star, she began to start singing "every little thing you say or do, I'm hung up on you" and she disappeared under the stage. The sample from the Abba song "Gimmie, Gimmie (A Man After Midnight)" started to get louder and louder in the arena. The video screens started showing the images of the Hung Up video. And then at the back of the stage, Madonna appeared with her dancers all in the leatard outfits from the video. She bumped and grinded all over the stage signing her hit Hung Up. The crowd was insane, the energy was so intense! Towards the end of the song, thousands of gold balloons fell on different areas of the arena. She made the arena sing "time goes by so slowly, time goes by so slowly" till the point that the audience made the arena deafening! At the end of the song, she stood with her dance troupe and the large curved screen covered the stage. On the screen appered the question: Have you confessed? What a cool ending to the show!

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Madonna bumped and grinded her way through the final number, her hit, Hung Up.

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One of my fav parts of the show, the "Music Inferno" set.

[live2tell75]

My final thoughts of the show: It was a lot of fun and tiring! I have seen Madonna on her last 2 tours: Drowned World Tour in 2001 and the Re-invention Tour in 2004. What I like about her shows is that they are always different! Drowned World will always have a special place in my heart because it was the first time I had ever seen her live. I enjoyed the dark and theatarical parts of the Drowned World tour. Re-invention 2 years ago was awesome, she sang a lot of her old hits, like Like A Prayer and Into The Groove which were amazing! The Confessions Tour was the most energetic! She was doing her cardio, aerobic workout throughout the show, forcing us to dance the whole show too! I have never been so tired after a concert! This tour confirmed that every time people think Madonna is done, she always has a trick up her sleeve! You would never know that she is almost 48, she did things that most 20 somethings couldn't even do! And I complained on another tread a few months ago about the cost of the concert being to high, well I can't believe it but it was worth every penny!

 

Next up- Photos from our day at the Vizcaya in Miami.

[live2tell75]

On Sunday we had a nice breakfast at another open-air cafe and the took in the sights of the Vizcaya, a gorgeous estate on the water front. This estate was the winter home to former vice president John Deering. We really enjoyed the grounds and the many elaborate rooms of the estate.

Kevin and me- it was such a gorgeous day, a lot breezier than in the Tampa Bay area!

The grounds surrounding the home were beautiful.

The many rooms in the house were full of rare anitiques. Olivia, Kevin and Lynn.

The Vizcaya, the winter home to former vice president, John Deering.

With Lynn at breakfast.

Kevin and me at breakfast.

[live2tell75]

More Vizcaya Photos:

The Vizcaya is a must if you ever visit Miami!

We love the Vizcaya!

My friend, Olivia. The many fountains were pretty.

I would love to live here!

The gardens area was a great place for photos.

The waterfront that the estate is located on was beautiful.

[SharkTums]

Awesome report Eric! I felt like I was at the Madonna Concert with you!

 

I'll never understand how these people have the energy to put on a show like that every night!

[live2tell75]

^ Thanks, Elissa. I guess that's how they stay in shape! These shows are quite a work out for them!

[BeemerBoy]

Vizcaya really is amazing. Great pics! Did you get any of the pool? It's also got many artifacts dating back to the days of Christopher Columbus. I know of at least one rug that I believe was brought over on one of his ships. Vizcaya is also one of the places where former President Reagan and Pope John Paul II had a meeting out in the graden section of the estate (for you political buffs out there). And for the movie buffs, this is the location where they filmed the "DO NOT GO IN THERE...WHEEEEW!" scene from Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

 

And on a sidenote, I actually took an illegal tour of the grounds (allegedly)one evening during senior year of high school. We were on a religious retreat (how ironic, huh?) at a place just down the road. After "lights out," a group of about 20 of us made our way "undercover-style" over to Vizcaya. We used thick blankets to scale the barbwire fences and then just wandered around the grounds until we saw a huge fenced in area with a Beware of Dogs sign on it. When we saw that the "cage" was open and empty, we hauled butt outta there!!! Why'd we do it? Because it was a ritual handed down from past retreats. Ah, good times...allegedly.

 

Kids, I don't condone this foolish behavior.

 

Anyway, nice to hear you got your money's worth at the show.

[live2tell75]

^ Thanks, Beemer, I didn't get any pics, of the pool, I wish I had thou. It was very cool how half of it was under part of the house. The artifacts were very cool. I liked the Roman marble tripod in the living room a lot. I wish I was able to take pics inside the house, but I totally understand they want to protect the furnishings.

[pianojohn]

Thanks for the concert report!

 

I actually saw Madonna in 1984 on the Virgin Tour at Cleveland's Public Hall. She had just released LIKE A VIRGIN, and EVERYONE there was dressed like her (except me!) I also remember the Beastie Boys opened for her, and they pretty much sucked. At one point, one of the boys bumped the table with the turntables causing the record to skip. Classy!

 

Madonna was great though, and performed almost all of the songs from her first two records. I remember she did "Gambler" with a strobe light going off the whole time. She also had 2 male backup dancer/singers.

 

Wow, that was 22 years ago!

[live2tell75]

I just added some Madonna concert photos to my concert review section of this thread. Enjoy!

[scottVishere]

LOL my sisters just is sein maddona tonight!

[live2tell75]

Update: If you couldn't go to the Madonna show this summer, then be sure to to checkout the concert on NBC this Wed. Nov. 22nd. from 8-10pm. The show was taped during one of her many London performances last August. I promise you'll be grooving during the entire 2-hour event!