Miami : Dolphins Stadium 11.26.08. 10:00pm

…Helicopters swarmed in the sky! You could see the Digital screens showing Madge’s “Sticky & Sweet World Tour 2008” from Miles Away (pardon the pun)… And Paul Oakenfold opened the show… Warming us up with some Kernkraft & Eurythmics remixes! Nice set Paul!

[ The MAIN EVENT ]

My best friend and I had another chance to see Madonna in Miami last night (we went to the Boston shows), and this was by-far the best Madonna concert I have ever heard of, save for that time she performed “The Girl From Ipanema” or that time she sand “You’ll See” during the DWT…

Madge went on 2 and 1/2 hours late (or for her… On time), but it was well worth the wait. The weather was amazing and on each side of the stage they had giant “M” banners decorated with jewels (something I did not see at the other S&S Shows)…. But when the lights went down, the crowd erupted into a deafening universal scream..

First up was “Candy Shop,” which as always got the people to “get up outta their seats.” Madge seemed a lot more “into it” than previous shows…. smiling and dancing hard.

We were sitting on the edge of our seats for “Beat Goes On,” which came next, as we were hoping for a special appearance by Kanye… He didn’t show… But that’s okay, cause Madge had other surprises for us…

“Human Nature” was 3rd, and pretty much exactly the same… She did say “bitch” a few extra times….. And Britney brought about a round of applause on-screen.

4th was the 4 minutes remix of “Vogue,” which rocked hard and brought the crowd into the groove.

…Next came the “Die Another Day” interlude, which is one of my favorite parts of the show…. Love the bangs, love the boxing…. nuff said.
6th on the list was “Into the Groove,” with the Keith Haring cartoons on-screen and Madonna doing a fantastic job at doubledutch jump rope without any spills. Can’t forget the mini mix of “Jump” thrown in there too… Makes me smile… And the crowd did a pretty good job singing along, while Madonna anounced that she was going to let Demitri “do her doggy-style” while we sang… and he pretty much did…

Than OUR favorite new song of the night… “Heartbeat” was much better this time around; Madonna seemed to hit the high notes more clearly…

#8 was crowd-pleaser “Borderline,” which Madge played guitar for… But she looked great with the wind blowing and the open sky above her…. Definitely a nice song for the crowd for those who weren’t too familiar with “Heartbeat.”

#9 was “She’s Not Me” which was so much better this time… Here’s why:

“This one’s for the ladies!” Madge exclaimed from the stage! And asked “Have you ever had a friend that wanted to do everything you did… include fuck your boyfriend?” All of her movements were on-point and extremely emphasized: she moved around the “fake madonna’s” with sheer force and when she re-positioned them, she moved them firm and hard and with gusto! She was totally into it. True icon status HERE.

10th Fedde le Grande’s remix of “Music” was next; it was also mashed up with a tiny bit of Missy Elliots “Gossip Folks” (which no one seems to know) and “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life” (which is a famous rave song remixed my thousands of djs, I think the best version is Richard “Humpy” Vission’s remix)…..This really got everyone pumped up and the lights combined with the pit jumping was insane! I was spinning in circles demanding that the people behind me jump! And they did!

11th was the Eurythmics’ “Here Comes the Rain Again” mashed up with “Rain,” really the only video segment that was probably not needed. (in this reviewer’s opinion), fun fact, the chandelier-esque screens at the end of the runway had a tiny section broken, so there was a black rectangler blocking out a portion of the video….. The two asian-style dancers that move so slowly but quickly with their feet always make me squirm– such endurance to move like that.

#12 was “Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You” which was the same as all the other shows… Madge on the piano… But like I said before, she was just totally into it…. Madge has been quoted as saying that this song is one of her favorites of the new album as well. The whole night she was smiling…

#13 “Hables Espanol” Madonna shouted as she launched into “Spanish Lesson” sliding all over the stage in her gypsy garment…. Was a fun little number and I loved when she rocks during the “if you do your homework” part…

#14… new fan favorite (and next single) “Miles Away” is always appropriate around talks of divorce… Only this time, Madonna didn’t ask us to sing-along as usual, instead she demanded “I want you guys to sing all the words to this next song.” Kinda a lot to ask when you know half the crowd are oldies in the nosebleeds who don’t buy the new stuff… Ballsy, but it paid off…. it warmed everyone up and you could only see hands clapping.

#15 “La Isla Bonita” the “pala tute” version…. same as the LiveEARTH gig, but still one of the highlights of the show for me. I read the review of this part in the Miami Herald… That guy’s an idiot…. She sounded on-top of her game, and I think he’s just confused with her voice going high and being silly on purpose…. Gypsy style tramp and fabric, it was hard rocking La Isla, with the hand-claps and “Ooo Ooos” and all!

#16 Was the “Doli Doli” interlude where Madonna did her shot… And it looked kinda painful… I don’t know what’s in the glass….?

#17 “You Must Love Me” …I have to say, I have watched this song a lot on youtube, and at the part where she says “Frightened you’ll slip away…. ” and repeats “you must love me,” when she pauses that last time, the crowd would not stop cheering…. WOULD NOT STOP! Then she said… “I have to finish the song.” And then she did.

Now, here’s where the things get interesting and start to change from ALL the other shows:

#18 “Get Stupid” was edited so that O`Bama was along onscreen at the end floating over us… Definitely a moment of unity…. All hail the new JFK!

#19 “4 Minutes” FREAK SHOW! A spotlight hit the end of the runway, and there, standing alone was THE REAL LIVING Timbaland dressed entirely in white for his intro!!! The song went on, sending the crowd into a frenzy… Even waking up the chick next to us, passed out from her overdose of liquor & loaded hotdogs. If she was dancing… Things we definitely starting to climax! I got on top of my chair in the pit screaming Timbaland’s name! A HUGE SURPRISE!

#20 “Like a Prayer” Everyone was up, even the people in the sky boxes were up! People were jumping and going at it like acid rock at a 70s disco! A huge number for Madge and a giant crowd pleaser!

#21 “Ray Of Light” sounded polished and was much better than previous times I’d seen it… Although the rock guitar format closely mirrored the “Confessions” version, it still kept the people going and had me close to passing out…. Amazing visuals on-screen!

#22 Request song: “Material Girl” First of all, Madonna asked the requestee’s name, and he said Juan, to which Madonna replied (it being Miami) “Oh, how original.” Well, my friends, Juan is no original. He is an idiot. A die-hard can tell you Madonna does not like this song. And for the record, I had never seen it live, and frankly, this was the only let-down of the night…. Although she did sing just about the entire song… About 3 minutes of it with two verses… But come`on Juan! How about “Everybody” or “Don’t Tell Me” or “Nothing Really Matters” or “Deeper and Deeper.” Anything else!
But the crowd did a nice job and remembered all the lyrics… And so did she.

#23 “Hung Up” was the same as all the other shows. And when Madonna gets to the part where she says “this is what __________ sounds like” before scratching her guitar, she instead said “Queen… to… take King…” chess talk. I don’t know exactly. But everybody was jumping!

…her best U.S. Show, with the Best U.S. Finale! “Ladies & gents, Pharell!” Madge proclaimed atop the stage as we all jumped in the air with ONE hand in the air, as Pharell of Neptunes fame rolled out for “Give It 2 Me” true pimp-style dressed like a fly Rican with Michael Jackson dance moves…. Everybody was out of their seats and everybody was jumping! We were running all over the place!!! And I mean ALL OVER THE PLACE! ALL OVER DOLPHIN STADIUM FIELD! IT was out of control!!!! And it was worth every fucking ounce of effort! (Hat’s Off!) That’s it, from the United States!!!

Thanks to Kc & Steph (who also went to Boston shows).