Our reader Thomas wants to share with all the Tribers his Madonna concert review from 22th August, Wembley Arena.

God, How can last night be wrapped up; the show was amazing! Madonna looked great, she sounded great and she gave her best in all time classic performance offering a new rock inspired sound and new remix renditions of die hard classic tracks.

I was one of the many lucky punters to get tickets for Madonna first ever and opening night London gig at Wembley Arena; upon arriving at 7:00pm the arena grounds were covered by groups and crowds of fans waiting for the doors to open. The crowds were swimming with Ticket Touts and market sellers, leaflets were also being given out advertising the release of Madonna’s latest children’s book and the Madonna “In Art” book.

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The fans seemed to turn up in their thousands and the outside merchandise booth and beer tent were swimming with fans trying to buy something, outside ground patrol did there job well keeping areas restricted and co-ordinating queue and entry to some areas. The lines for admission to the arena doors was unbelievable, the lines were further than the length of the arena and as traffic came to a holt due to the heavy demand of traffic trying to reach the event and the thousands of people walking to the venue it was clear that London had been turned upside down and the site of it was one to remember; thousands of people swarming round the arena, traffic at standstill, touts selling tickets for outrageous prices, queues up to half a mile long and sale stands almost being mobbed by public demand the sight was “Only Madonna could do this“.

The doors opened at roughly 7:10pm, the die hard fans made sure they got in first while the rest of the crowds just followed, still when the doors were open people queued for merchandise and drinks and more of the 13,000 member crowd continued to show up. It was crazy; loads of fans were sporting quilts, kabbalah bracelets, previous world tour shirts, military style clothing and even cowboy hats.

As soon as the doors were open the main attractions were the bar, the fast-food counters and the merchandise booths; staff were a little slow in processing orders but remained efficient and tried they’re best. The merchandise sold like hot cakes, the biggest seller being the ‘Madonna is my home girl‘ shirt and the tour programme.

The crowd members were generally much older, and there was a lot of foreign fans there, there were people from China, Brazil, America and Spain.. all sporting flags and shirts. There was also a surprisingly large amount of children, I spotted at least 5 10’s and under!. Still they were in the party mood and all sporting a cowboy hat.

Before the concert had even started Madonna was the talk of the venue, everyone reminiscing on the years and filling each other in on facts, the environment was really fun and everyone seemed to be getting on. People complimenting each other’s dress and asking them if they were excited. It was a really good atmosphere and perfect for the build up to the concert.

Come 7:50pm the crowds began heading for the arena and it slowly began to fill, I took my seats immediately and was so surprised how close I was to the stage for the first time in my life I settled for less and got less. The sound of Block 27 sounds bad enough but upon taking my seats I discovered I was incredibly close to the stage and had an amazing view of the stage, the monitors, the crowd and the stage extension.

8pm soon came and the arena wasn’t even half full, people were still turning up in there hundreds outside and the crowd really took their time in taking their seats. Upon an overhead speaking introducing the tour and the safety procedures the venue began to fill up more, now scraping half full. Come 8:30pm, the arena was almost full, a crazy group of people decided to start a stand up Mexican wave. It didn’t got anywhere at first until a whole block stood up and did the wave at the end left side of the arena and then the following block did it and it went around the entire arena and the floor seven whole time, every time a group lacked in the amount of people in the stand up wave they received a boo.

The arena now 98% and the crowd becoming restless starting stamping their feet and clapping at 8:40pm, the lights finally went down and “The Beast Within” started. The crowd responded mildly to the song as it isn’t that well known but they were still enthusiastic and kept on clapping, stomping, cheering and chanting.

8:45pm and Madonna finally made her entrance, dressed in classic and style lilac and gold embossed corset, with long golden locks of hair she looked amazing. She rose in air on a uplifting plat form and stroke many yoga poses while introducing the first live song ‘Vogue‘.

The crowd went mad when she came out and Vogue got everybody in the mood. She sounded amazing and she really got into the performance showing detail, care and precision in her performance. The first set of songs were great and her dancing was spectacular, more yoga and yet more new and classic songs. The audience went mad for ‘Frozen‘ and they chanted along the “Mmmmm” lyrics with Madonna.

‘American Life‘ came and the crowd again went ecstatic although they lacked in enthusiasm with cheering and dancing in some blocks they were generally good and supported her through out. Upon the extended-glass-bottom-stage being lower and Madonna strutting across it the audience went wild once more as Madonna fiercely belted out the lyrics and actually screamed “DO I HAVE TO CHANGE MY NAME!“.. She rapped incredibly well and the dancing was once more amazing. Upon Madonna reaching the end of the stage she came was even closer to me and my seats were once again a brilliant advantage and the whole set was visible at a great angle.

After ‘American Life‘ and leading to ‘Express Yourself‘ Madonna stopped and said “Are you all having a good time???“. The crowd of course chanted “Yes!!!” as Madonna sang ‘Express Yourself’, frozen alike it was popular and at some points it was hard to hear Madonna with the enormous loud echoing on the singing chanting of the fans.

During “Burning Up” Madonna classically turned around and said “God London, Its getting fucking hot in here!!”
She introduced “Material Girl” by saying “I swore I’d never do this song again and here I am about to do it“. Also after singing one the “and I am a material girl lines” Madonna said ‘And I’m not vein!!‘

The audience again went crazy for another classic, ‘Don’t Tell Me‘ saw lots more dancing with even enthusiasm from Madonna saying ‘I want you all to sing along!’.
She ended the song by singing “Don’t ever tell me.. Don’t ever tell me” while she gave her microphone to the audience and they screamed “STOP!” and she finished by singing “Don’t ever tell me to What Mother Fuckers?!?!”

Just prior to “Like A Prayer” Madonna noticed that entire left side of the arena was sat down, she walked over to the left Platform and said, “We are just getting this party started! . . .This next songs a dance song, so I want you all to get up!’. A few did but Madonna obviously didn’t receive the response she wanted so she continued by saying “Come on! Get up off your fucking arses!”

Before she started singing ‘Mother and Father‘ Madonna looked around the venue and realised she was playing for the first time at this arena, she said “Earl’s Court is a bit bigger than this place. But who says that size is important?“. The crowd once more went mad at this comment.

At the start of ‘Imagine‘ Madonna said ‘Now. I didn’t write this next song, but I wish I had’ she spoke for a few second about the song and finished by saying ‘Because I believe we can make the world a better place’

Just after a well performed ‘Papa Don’t Preach‘ Madonna took centre stage with a big smile and step forward and took a drink from one the technician crew, she held it up to the audience and said “Cheers!“. She then looked down onto the people on the floor and said “Is it true that Brits do it better?” the audience of course in their thousands screamed “Yes” and Madonna reheated saying “Do you Brits really do it better?!”. She finished by saying “You guys make the Tea!”

She seemed pleased by the response and she smiled, she then sang the opening line to ‘American Life’, she sang “Do I have to change my name?’ and she pointed into the audience and said “And don’t call me Esther!” she then said ‘Oh fuck’ and realised that she has completely contradicted herself when saying ‘Don’t call my Esther’ when taken into account with the interpretation of the fame scrutiny in the changing your name line in ‘American Life. She fell the floor with laughter and laid on her back for a while, she slowly got up and said ‘Ok! I fucked up!‘

During the encore set list Madonna said ‘Are you ready?‘ to the audience, the response was mild and she said ‘I’m going to give you one more chance. One more chance, are you ready?!!?” the audience went ballistic and Madonna said ‘Ok, remember I can only hear in one ear’ a tongue in cheek joke about her age.

She introduced ‘Crazy For You‘ by saying ‘This next song is dedicated to all my fans who have stuck by me through thick and thin‘ the audience once more sang along with Madonna in thousands and the entire atmosphere become so surreal.

She finished off the show with the highest degree of energy and professionalism, she didn’t once falter and she really did leave people in amazement.

The stage closed and the lights went up, the show was over and the arena empty 500x faster then it had ever been entered at, crowds grouped together outside talking about the concert while other fans waited by Earls Court hoping they would catch Madonna leaving.

She sounded amazing, she looked amazing, she danced amazing and her precision, energy, enthusiasm and integrity did not once falter. Tickets were worth every penny and she lived up to her name. A terrific show and an unforgettable memory.

Thank you Madonna.

Special Thanks to our reader Thomas