K and I watched Madonna: The Drowned World Tour 2001 last night. Damn. I've never seen so much show on one dvd. The two hour concert included a contortionist, naked men suspended from the ceiling by their feet, a fight sequence on wires, a mechanical bull, ballet dancing, hentai (cartoon porn), and seriously, there was a whole lot more.
While the show was very overwhelming, I was amazed at the level and diversity of art in the show. The most artistic dancing, lighting, video, sets, etc. It was an awesome display of so many different disciplines. Sadly, the music wasn't quite to the level of the rest of the show. All the dancing, acting, jumping, humping... made it difficult for Madonna to sing at her usual amazing level. Also, the show had some slight remixes of sounds that I didn't like. Mostly I really didn't like what they were doing with the background vocals. They really muddied up some of the songs and distracted from others. I do love where Madonna's voice has come to after so many years of singing. Her low, rich vocals are haunting.
Many of the songs in this concert were very dark, painful songs which I found both disturbing and appealing. Madonna definitely had some strong statements to make in this concert. One song features her singing Nobody's Perfect while being abused by a samurai. The samurai part fit much better than you'd imagine, but seeing her treated that way was horrible. She quickly followed up that song with her wire-work fight sequence where she fights back and eventually kills the abuser. Very powerful statement. The show had many such threads of deep, painful statements. For the courage to go there and the brilliance to very cleary convey those messages I have to applaud Madonna and her design crew.
Overall I'm very glad to have seen the video and all that it showcased. It wasn't the most enjoyable performance by Madonna, but on an artistic showcasing level it was brilliant.
| March 6, 2004 10:51am | 
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