The line between music and theater continues to blur in Madonna (tickets | music)’s world. In many ways, her current “Confessions” tour is a better theater production than it is a pop concert.

In that sense, Madonna‘s live show is just catching up with the rest of her career – which, arguably, has had more to do with creating good theater than with making great music. Fortunately, she’s also released her share of memorable songs along the way.

On Tuesday (5/30), during the first half of a two-night stand at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA, the 47-year-old pop icon born Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone definitely delivered a dramatic visual presentation for the capacity crowd. She didn’t do quite so well with the musical portion of the concert.

One could certainly take issue with Madonna’s set list, which basically ignored the old hits in favor of the new dance material. Yet, the set list wasn’t really the problem here. To the contrary, Madonna definitely chose enough worthy songs to theoretically put on a very fine show.

The trouble came with how the theatric side of the show often overwhelmed the music, as Madonna and her cast of cohorts delivered big productions on somewhat modest numbers. The word that kept coming to mind was overkill.

Still, Madonna definitely entertained her fans with this over-the-top production.

Click on the Full Article link below to continue reading this review by Jim Harrington on Live Daily.

Much like 2001’s Drowned World Tour, the singer’s current “Confessions” trek – which supports last year’s “Confessions on a Dance Floor” album – was broken up into four segments.

The first was dubbed the Equestrian segment, which was a bit ironic, given that Madonna was injured in a horse-riding accident last year. As horses paraded on overhead screens and dancers wearing jockey-style gear gyrated on stage, Madonna appeared from the center of a giant disco ball and proceeded to sing the new album’s “Future Lovers” and the Donna Summer disco anthem “I Feel Love.” The singer continued with another “Confessions” track, “Get Together,” and then followed with the classic “Like a Virgin,” which was performed in part while the singer slid about on a horse saddle.

The second section, called the Bedouin segment, began as Madonna donned a thorny crown, took a Christ-like position on a huge cross and sang “Live to Tell.” Not surprisingly, that move has drawn a bit of controversy, but nothing that Madonna can’t weather. The main problem is that the cross move–like so many of the show’s theatric maneuvers–does nothing to further the music. If anything, whatever shock value comes from Madonna’s bold move seems to detract from the song.

The most surprising quarter was the Never Mind the Bollocks section, where Madonna embraced her inner-punk for a fun run through rock-and-roll-infused dance numbers like “I Love New York” and “Ray of Light.”

The last portion of the evening was a full-on disco party, highlighted by such fan favorites as “La Isla Bonita” and “Lucky Star.” The star closed the show with a fine version of the new album’s “Hung Up.”

Setlist
Future Lovers
I Feel Love
Get Together
Like a Virgin
Jump
Live to Tell/Confessions Transition
Live To Tell
Forbidden Love
Isaac/Shofar
Sorry
Like it or Not
Sorry Remix Krump Transition
I Love NY
Ray of Light
Let It Will Be
Drowned World
Paradise Not For Me
Music Inferno
La Isla Bonita
Erotica Disco Mix
Lucky Star
Hung Up

Source: Livedaily.com