MadonnaTribe member alanc612 has sent in his review and a picture of his ticket with pit pass for the Slane Castle show that he would like to share with my fellow Tribe.

“On Tuesday 17th August, I was one of the lucky ones to receive a telephone call from VH-1 to say that I won a pair of Dance Pit Passes for the Slane Show. As I leapt, ran around the room and screamed with delight I could not
believe the news that I had won.

The wait was finally over, August 29th 2004 was here and the Queen of Pop,
Madonna would play her first Irish show at Slane Castle.

At 8.45pm after a slight delay and a rain shower we were escorted to our relevant Dance Pits where we would spend the next 1hr 45mins which would
lead to the most memorable experiences that I would treasure and remember
for the rest of my life.

After 9pm as the Backstage crew hurriedly mopped up the stage from the recent
shower of rain, the giant side video screens then enclosed around us and
at 9.15pm as the opening segments of The Beast Within began, our view was
that of the Dancers taking their positions and finally to our ecstatic joy
our first glimpses of Madonna as she was being filmed for the documentary
I assume. As the screens opened up she took her position under the stage
and as Vogue began she rose up from the stage where I watched in awe as Madonna
and her Dancers danced with such slick graceful movements.

Next up one of my favourite numbers from the show Nobody Knows Me where Madonna
glided by us on the conveyor belt and whipped us into a frenzy. During Nobody Knows Me
I got my first of many close ups of Madonna of that night where after 20
years of admiring her on video and TV I had an adrenaline rush at seeing
her so close in the flesh. She has such a powerful beauty, radiant eyes and
a face of friendly warm expressions as she sang her heart out to an adoring
crowd.

At the beginning of Express Yourself she greeted her audience to rapturous
applause and then again invited the crowd to help her to sing along to Material
Girl. Looking out from the pit to see 80,000 Madonna fans waving their arms
to the music was a truly unforgettable experience, which again during Like
a Prayer and Music I got to see again.
With Deeper and Deeper she moved towards our Pit with one arm stretched as
we all frantically put ours in the air, she waved her hand across ours touching
mine in the process. At the end of Deeper and Deeper she again came over
to our Pit and took off her headband and waved it across our out-stretched
arms. We called her a tease to which she cheekily smiled and allowed the
headband to fall at her feet.

During Die Another Day the rain started again and by the time she was strapped
into the electric chair for Lament, Madonna carried on with such professionalism
as the rain pelted down around her without bothering her. Again as she took
the right hand side of the stage for Nothing Fails, she sang away and played
her guitar without a care in the world, she had her audience eating out of
the palms of her hand.
The rain stopped, very poignantly as she and the crowd sang the opening lines
of Don’t Tell Me and the Irish crowd loved the Bittersweet Symphony interlude,
The Verve having played at Slane in 1997. The audience went wild again and
sang along, arms in the air, to a rousing performance of Like A Prayer.
This is my favourite Madonna song and I was thrilled to see so many other
fans enjoying this song also.
It was lighters in the air for Imagine and again the view from the pit was
amazing, all the lights swaying to and fro.
For Papa Don’t Preach Madonna thrilled her Irish fans again by wearing “Irish
Do It Better” t-shirt and after thanking her fans during Crazy For You took
it off and threw it out to the crowd below.

Again the place erupted to the opening strains of Music and the crowd were
singing the chorus before the intro was over. For Holiday Madonna requested
our singing capabilities again, dividing us up to the people in the trees,
people at the castle and the people up on the hill that ended with the flash
explosions of paper around the venue. Madonna thanked her audience and she
and the dancers bowed and left the stage.
Our final image was that of the Irish Tricolour and the Re Invent Yourself
logo as the screens closed and the triumphant firework display began in the
brightly moonlit sky.”

Thanks to Alan for sharing his experience with the Tribe.