Madonna’s re.Invention tour tops the PopCult Top 10 chart compiled by showbiz leading website Hits Daily Double.

Madonna, The Re-Invention Tour at the Forum, L.A.

Seems like the cultural provocateur can still rankle the old white rockcrit guard even if this PG-13 show is tame by today’s revved-up Spears/Aguilera bopper-slut standards.

Maybe it was her temerity in covering John Lennon’s “Imagine” over video screen images of suffering children, not one of her high points, but overall, I admired the show.

Rather than a “Re-Invention,” it’s more a re-contextualization as Madonna straps on electric and acoustic guitar to prove classics like “Like a Prayer,” “Burning Up,” “Express Yourself,” “Material Girl,” “Get Into the Groove,” “Papa Don’t Preach” and “Holiday” aren’t just dance-floor diversions, but full-fledged pop-rock anthems worthy of Dylan-dom at least as much as divadom.

It’s staged as a non-stop three-ring circus, Broadway meets arena-rock, a series of “Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy” set pieces which serve as a showcase for the 45-year-old soccer mom trouper’s buff bod, Yoga stretches and impressive stamina.

The message seems to be little more than love one another, but not more than yourself, work hard to make your dreams come true and don?t let the critics rain on your parade.

Still, the very visible, perspiration-over-inspiration effort put into making the almost-two-hour theatrical extravaganza happen like clockwork every night also saps its humanity and, alas, any palpable eroticism (give us pornography or give us death). And while Madonna eventually does deign to come off her throne to relate directly to the audience?thanking them for showing up 24 hours after a stomach flu forced postponement (hey, what did she expect, they did pay up to $350 a ticket)- such openness was the exception rather than the rule.

Of course, it didn’t appear to bother the adoring crowd (many dressed in their favorite Madonna period, from post-punk Boy Toy and lacey Virgin Bride through Dominatrix and Guerilla Warrior), who sure squealed like they were getting their money’s worth. Proving every bit the show biz hoofer, say, Shirley MacLaine is, Madonna showed that, when it comes to pure spectacle, all the other teenpop wannabes still have a lot to learn from her majesty.

Source: Roy Trakin, Hits Daily Double