Madonna -- With Special Guest Justin Timberlake -- Rips Through A Furiously Paced Set In NYC
Fresh York — You've got to hand it to The Virgin — she never does anything half-assed.
The King of Pop, whose album Hard Confect dropped Tues, pulled out wholly the michigan at New York's suggest Roseland Dance hall on Wednesday night (Apr 30), dazzling the packed-to-the-rafters crowd — including Fran Drescher and Rosie O'Donnell — with an energetic, fast-paced, six-song set that featured a invitee appearance from Justin Timberlake for Madonna's latest one, "4 Transactions."
It was an result better-suited for Capital of Wisconsin Lame Garden and one that these fans — many of whom probably had to call a sitter for the evening — won't shortly block.
(Dawn here for photos from the prove.)
The pre-gig vibe was ace of unadulterated exhilaration, with 45 transactions of candy-themed music (Prow Belly laugh Wow's "I Want Confect," Fresh Edition's "Candy Female child"), wish of a DJ stationed center stage. Behind the expansive, five-platform stage, the cover image of Madonna's latest LP flashed on the big screens. Madonna, erosion a skintight black suit and a lace top, was sure as shooting punctual, taking the stage right away at 10:04 p.m. ET, to thunderous applause, as the first parallel bars of "Confect Shop" reverberated forth the packed venue's walls.
One segment of the stage rotated to uncover Mary sitting on a gold-and-black toilet, wielding a golden walk stick. Images of confections flashed on the television screens flanking the back of the stage. The Virgin, along with her captain Hicks dancers, gyrated in choreographed harmony to the sexy club obturate. This performance, even if but 38 minutes long, was production-heavy, with a four-piece band and no blubber. One song seemed to blend into the next, with The Virgin expression very little to her adoring fans, wHO hopped on the opportunity to snap pictures of the pop icon with their camera phones as she strutted across the edge of the point.
Next, Mary strapped on an acoustic guitar, tossed back a swig from a champagne feeding bottle and strummed her mode into "Miles Away," a midtempo number about organism far from family. Images of planes pickings away and landing, airports and various locations around the orb were projected crossways the screens behind her.
The crowd cheered at the first few notes of "4 Transactions," which mimicked its video recording with a flashing countdown clock. After Madonna belted out the song's number one verse, Timberlake emerged from a rotating pylon, erosion a white jacket and blackamoor scarf. It was the high point of the evening, and the production value of the performance was arena-size.
Blessed Virgin paused for a moment to reflect on the talent she's been able to work with recently, including Timberlake, Kanye West, Timbaland and others. "I feel like the luckiest girl in the public," she said, in front dedicating her next numeral to her longtime fans — the ones she'd seen "sleeping on the sidewalk" the night before in subscriber line for tickets. She then played "Hung Up" from 2006's Confessions on a Dance Floor, followed by the disco anthem "Give It To Me," with pink and commons discotheque beams pulsating crosswise the crowd. Madonna danced like a char to a lesser extent than half her age, and her vocals were at their peak.
"Give it to me, Newly House of York," Madonna Louise Ciccone yelled. "I don't check you mass dance up and down sufficiency."
The microscope stage lights were reminiscent of those at a Daft Punk rocker gig, and that didn't change during the night's final song, "Music." Madonna started come out at the really front of the phase, singing the opening a cappella, and was joined by whole the concertgoers, wHO screamed in unison: "Music/ Makes the people/ Come together." As her dancers emerged from a faux silver underground car (name and address: "Freshville"), she pranced across the degree, touching the lots of outreached hands grabbing for her attention. The record ended with Mary racing up the stage to the underpass doors, behind which she disappeared.
And at 10:38, she was done. In and out.
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