Madge Madness

It is absolutely no secret that I adore Madonna. She is not an amazing singer, although her dancing is pretty top shelf. She is calculating, and always a fan of publicity stunts. What I love about her, though, is that she is an incorrigible appropriator. That is, she will take ideas from all obscure cultures, religious sub-sects, underground sex clubs, and all other diversions and bring them together into an audio/visual presentation / concert / marketing strategy, make it mainstream, and make herself rich and famous off of her product.

Just recently, she took her show on the road again with her Sticky and Sweet Tour. Heavy on musical selections from her recent album, Hard Candy and peppered with past poppy pulses, M managed to assemble an entertaining musical production that referenced high tech video games, Romanian gypsies, the birth of hip-hop break dancing, and the pseudo-rave Japanese party scene, all while keeping the narrative cohesive.

Josh and I met up with the tour in Chicago on October 29th and managed to sneak my DSLR and telephoto lens past security. These photos made the risk worth my while.