MadonnaTribe reader Jill wants to share with fellow Tribers her review, pics and experience from the re-INVENTION tour at MSG New York City June 20.
“The show started at approximately 8:45PM. I think it was about 8:30 or 8:40 when one of the lights got turned off and people started screaming, thinking that the show was starting. But then the light came back on, and my boyfriend yelled out, “COME ON, LET’S GET IT STARTED!!” HAHA, and he’s not even a real fan!
I had seats in section 209, which is toward the front of the arena on the left side of the stage, 2 levels up. The good thing about having a side view is that you can see behind the screens and the backstage area. Right before The Beast Within started, I saw Madonna backstage hopping up and down and pumping her fists! Everyone on that side who saw her started screaming of course. That was so incredible, and totally unexpected!
The downside to having a side view is that you can?t see the screens properly, and therefore I missed a lot of the video images that were shown. But hopefully I’ll be able to catch what I missed when the DVD comes out. What I did see of The Beast Within was cool – so creepy, but so cool! My boyfriend shouted, “SHE’S A FREAK!” and I had to laugh.
I had a reasonably good view of her from where I was, but I also had a really excellent pair of binoculars that allowed me to see her in much better detail. I could actually see the individual sequins on her corset, the smoothness of her skin, the texture of her hair – I know it’s not quite like being in the pits and seeing her up close with naked eyes, but I had never seen her in that way before and it was thrilling for me.
My binoculars also took pictures, unfortunately not the best quality in the world. But if you were in the right side pit, there’s a good chance that I took your picture that night – see if you can spot yourself!

I’m a die-hard Madonna fan, so obviously I loved the entire show; I don’t think I need to wax on and on about how fantastic it was, as most of you already feel this way. But I will tell you that even my boyfriend, who as I said is not a great fan of hers, said this about the performance: “Madonna rocks! She’s got a lot of energy. She really puts on a great show!” That to me is more of a testament to her artistry than any gushing that might come from a dyed-in-the-wool fan like myself.
I will just sum up what I thought were the best parts and the “less than best” parts of the show. The highlights were Vogue, Nobody Knows Me, the entire military sequence, Die Another Day, Lament, Like A Prayer, and the entire last section with the bagpiper and the Scottish kilts – especially Into the Groove. The crowd was really feeling American Life, even though this song was supposedly such a bomb in the US.

The “not so high” lights in my opinion were Hanky Panky (not a favorite song of mine), Deeper and Deeper (sorry, the slow version didn’t do it for me) and Mother and Father, which is a song I really like, but I didn’t think it worked very well as a live number. I would have swapped it out for Love Profusion – I think that song would have played live very well and juxtaposed nicely next to Imagine (which she sang beautifully, by the way). Mind you, the entire show is great, I just liked some songs better than others, as most of us do.
We watched closely when she started taking off her shirt to throw into the crowd. My boyfriend said, “She’s gonna start a riot with that thing!” Sure enough, there was a mad scramble as it came down in the left floor section. I wonder if any Tribers have caught the shirt, or know anyone who has. It would be awful if people just ripped it to shreds trying to get a piece of it. How many of us would actually kill to take that shirt home?

I also just want to say bravo to the Re-Invention Tour dancers – WOW!! You guys are great. The dancing interludes were just as captivating as the rest of the show – especially Hollywood – really high energy. I remember being at Drowned World and getting impatient between sets, especially during the Evita interlude. I was thinking, OK this is nice, now get Madonna back out here! But at Re-invention I barely missed her, it didn’t even seem like she was gone that long. So congratulations to the Re-invention Tour dancers – and bagpiper Lorne Cousin – you rock!

I’ll also echo what many of you have also said in your reviews – that this show goes by so damn fast! After the stage descended at the end of Holiday, I said to my boyfriend, “OK honey, let’s go,” as I was hoping to get ahead of the crowd on the way out. He looked at me incredulously and said, “It’s over?!?!?”

Yeah, it’s over. Another Madonna moment came and went, flying quickly past my eyes like a shooting star.

So savor the anticipation, kids. Enjoy every second you spend with her, because before you know it you’ll blink your eyes and she’ll be gone again.”

Special thanks to Jill for sharing her experience with The Tribe. If you too want your live pics on MadonnaTribe, be sure to keep sending them at share@madonnatribe.com. Thank you!