Thaks to J. Cristian for sending in this great review of Madonna’s second night at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

“After hearing of Madonna’s opening night in NYC, and the various glitches that happened that evening, I *couldn’t* wait until this Sunday to see her. I had to see her last night because I knew Madonna would be in top game form for the show since the previous night hadn’t gone so well (in terms of how the show, technically, is supposed to go for her). I left work, worked out, and despite not having enough money in my account… I said fuck it… and went to the box office to see if they had a good seat. I couldn’t believe: Pod B, Row 3 was available (making me 8 rows from the front of the catwalk). I got the ticket.

The fans around me varied. I could sense who the die-hard fans are, but as is typical in NYC, there were various people there who didn’t seem to really care either way about Madonna. For example, there was a guy behind me with his wife and 3 kids who had gotten his tickets from Clear Channel since he was friends with one of the promoters from that company. Anyhow, the crowd around me varied. By the time the show had started, me, and another girl next to me…had found our way to Pod A, Row 5 (5 rows away from the front of the catwalk). We couldn’t believe it (just for the record…the Pod sections aren’t separated…they just simple look that way on the TicketMaster seating chart – in other words, Pod A and Pod B are really just 10 rows in front of the catwalk put together, with about 10 people sitting in each row or so).

We’ve all heard various information about the actual show, but I gotta say I was *totally blown away* by this show. Re-Invention had been my favorite tour up to this point (in terms of seeing live – I never had the opportunity to see Blond Ambition live). I thought nothing could beat Re-Invention, but boy was I wrong. The Confessions tour really blows Re-Invention out of the water. Like a fellow fan/friend of mine said, the Confessions tour is much more about who Madonna is (I can see now the arguments stating Madge played it a bit safe for Re-Invention). Confessions is more creative, and is much more true to who Madonna is and what she represents. Despite the serious mood of some of the performances, the show never feels weighed down by the heavy themes. The show remains full of light in many ways (unlike her distanced Drowned World tour).

Madonna spoke to us *a lot*. The most memorable moment coming when she sat down and let us know she hadn’t slept for 3 hours the night before (no surprise there – something tells me she rehearsed this show at least once, for a full run-through before tonight due to the technical problems from last night). She also expressed how exhausted she was, but that our energy and excitement really had kept her going the whole time. Obviously, we went crazy for this. She spoke to us at various points, but really, it was the moment I am just referring to when she was the most personal with us. I couldn’t believe her energy and enthusiasm despite the lack of sleep.

Her performance was flawless… until the very end of the show. By the time she came to perform “La Isla Bonita/Lucky Star/Hung Up” – I could see she was becoming tired and that her dance moves weren’t as powerful as for 85% of the show she had already done. This was especially evident during “Lucky Star/Hung Up”. Being so close to her I could see how she wasn’t pumping as hard, nor dancing as hard as she had been doing for the majority of the show. The woman was exhausted I’m sure by this point.

The crowd? Amazing reaction for her. Everyone was on their feet, except for a couple of tracks (“Drowned World” – “Paradise Not for Me”). She only spoke to us once about not sitting down because we were standing up for everything else. I looked around me for first level tiers, 2nd level tiers, etc. – everyone was standing up for the entire show. In my opinion, the reaction from NYC for this tour was better then for Re-Invention. I was surprised at how many people around me knew all the songs off of the Confessions tour. The reactions to “Like a Virgin”, “Sorry”, “Lucky Star”, “Hung Up”… and surprisingly enough “Forbidden Love” and “Isaac” were probably the strongest reactions from the crowd. There was 5 young girls in front of me (probably mid to late 20’s) dancing their asses off who knew practically all the songs from Confessions…go figure. Brittany Murphy was there again, 2nd row, in the section right next to Pod A (again, these sections didn’t have all that much space…you’re a lot closer to Madge then you think you are if you’re on the floor). By the time we were midway into the show, lots of us were simply dancing in the aisles…including Brittany. Other spottings: Guy Oseary, Ingrid Casares, Jonas Akerlund, and Steven Klein.

Madonna truly kicked ass with this show. I have never felt of Madonna to kick ass…I always refer to her performances (well, most of the time anyway) as impressive, or incredible, etc. – but never have I felt Madonna kicked ass. For this show, this is the first time I’ve truly seen her kick ass in concert since the Blond Ambition tour.

My personal highlights: “Sorry” and “Ray of Light” – they were just such dynamic performances, and again, the crowd reactions to these two tracks was also especially evident. “Ray of Light” was just so fucking magnetic and energetic. Absolutely incredible, hearing that song live, and jumping up and down to it (along with everyone else) was just absolute magic.

Was this better then Re-Invention? Re-Invention still has the better opening in my opinion, BUT, this show overall is her best show since Blond Ambition in my opinion…and that’s saying a lot. I had a blast and sweated my balls off… ha, ha.”