I know the Celebration Tour concert is practically sold out. People care, I get it, but what do they care about? The music? I honestly, but respectfully, doubt it. I suspect that many in attendance will be more interested in what she’s wearing or if she vogues during the show.
(If you’re old like me or a fan of nearly forgotten pop culture, “vogue-ing” was a thing and Madonna co-opted it from the LGBTQ+ community — which she has always championed — at the end of the ’80s.)
Part of me wonders if a good portion of the crowd wants to see the plastic surgery disasters up close. At the very least, it’ll be a spectacle at Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix on Saturday night. Neon green mesh tops, big black bows and smoky, black-rimmed eyes will be out in full force.
Madonna represents so many things to so many people. If anyone is a walking, talking, accent-jacking dichotomy, it’s her. Part sex object and part sexual liberator, Madonna is remembered for the ground and hearts she broke over the years, possibly even more than the music itself. Maybe that’s a good thing.
This is not a Julius Caesar/Brutus moment. I come neither to praise nor bury Madonna, but to ponder what the world of 2024 thinks of her: What does Madonna mean today?
I recently posted on social media that I was conducting an “unscientific poll” about Madonna, and asked what people thought of her. It was the day of the outage, and after Facebook came back online, the responses to my poll poured in. People have a lot of thoughts about Madonna.
My first exposure to Madonna came from my bedroom wall. I don’t remember where I got it, but at some point in 1983, I came into possession of a poster of Madonna in a black shirt that was down over her shoulders with an exposed bra strap. I was almost 14 at the time, so that bra strap peeking out was plenty interesting to me.
On my 14th birthday, I received a cassette copy of her debut record, “Madonna,” from my aunt, and like a dutiful nephew, I listened to it. To be honest, I didn’t hate all of it. In fact, I liked the first few songs a lot. It just wasn’t an everyday listen for me in those days or ever.
To be fair, “Lucky Star,” “Borderline” and “Burning Up” are as good as any first three songs on a pop record. They move and they make you want to move with them. When I listen to the album now, it takes me back to a time and place in history where a slightly dangerous young woman grinned at me from behind perfectly placed sunglasses that allowed me to see her beautiful eyes.
Madonna embraced the paradox of the innocent slut in the early days. That’s what the good people at Sire Records were probably going for, and she was game to go along for the ride. But she was also smart enough to parlay that power into being a badass boss witch for much of the 1990s.
A friend who’s a bit older than me shared that when the album first appeared, people were not keen on it at all. He worked in a record store in 1983 and remembered that the album did not catch on until her label reissued the first set of singles after her persona started garnering attention. This made a lot of sense to me; I think I had the poster before I had the record.
In hindsight, there were more weak moments on “Madonna” (and all her records) than stellar ones, but if you were like me and wanted to dance with someone you found attractive, you better get into the groove, as they say. By the end of 1984, Madonna had become a product, more style than substance, although to her credit she did strive for a more substantial impact on culture as she got older.
For example, as a fashion icon, it’s hard to say that she’s ever truly had a peer in the pop music world.
At every high school in the land in the mid-1980s, there were what we called “Madonna-wannabes” who dressed like their idol. A friend recently pointed out that Madonna copped her style from Cyndi Lauper. This may be true, and when the film “Desperately Seeking Susan” came out in 1985, I was certain I’d seen some of that look on people like Exene Cervenka of the band X about eight years prior.
Madonna performs at Gila River Arena on Oct. 22, 2015, as part of her Rebel Heart world tour.
Jim Louvau
While there are zero arguments I can make that would credibly dismantle Madonna’s place as a trendsetter, it certainly had a shelf life. Does anyone under 35 dress up as Madonna for Halloween anymore? A few weeks ago, I asked my fourth-grade class — I’m a teacher — if any of them knew who Madonna was. No one raised a hand or even registered the faintest look of recognition.
Again, this doesn’t prove any point other than the obvious one — that time has passed. Lots of time. Enough time for me to forget the annoyance of pushing fast-forward on my tape player to get through songs like “Physical Attraction” and “Everybody” to get back to the A side back in 1983.
The older version of me kind of likes “Everybody” now. It’s charming in a way that Madonna and her more recent releases simply are not.
Aside from the startling physical transformation chronicled in the media last year, in Madonna we have a once-attractive, confident and extremely self-possessed woman who used to face life’s crossroads with innovation and a willingness to embrace and enhance new trends. Unfortunately for many fans (including several of my poll responders), they wish she would have exhibited her trademark strength by allowing herself to age gracefully.
Part of me would have expected Madonna to be fully embracing life in 2024 as a sex-positive senior citizen, rocking a few wrinkles and sporting a cone of gorgeous silver-gray hair. But she’s always chosen her own path, so I’m fairly unsurprised that recent YouTube videos show her doing a version of Prancercise on stage with a porcelain face barely capable of expression.
Musically, Madonna has definitely wished upon her last “Lucky Star.” I’ve tried to listen to some of the recent stuff, but it’s missing what I would consider Madonna’s soul, that iconic combination of spunky and sexy.
Listening to 2019’s “Madame X” is a bit of a “What the fuck?” moment. It’s the last full-length album of new stuff Madge put out, and it’s devoid of hooks. Having a solo session with Madonna’s 1992 “Sex” book would be 100 times more exciting and there’s a good reason you won’t see any of those songs live in concert these days. In fact, you’ll only see a few songs in her lengthy set that aren’t old enough to drink legally.
At least Madonna realizes that those fortunate enough to be able to fork out a sizeable chunk of dough to see her in 2024 want to hear the hits. If you love her music, I imagine you’ll be happy you went, as long as you don’t listen too closely. Setlists for the Celebration Tour show plenty of old favorites like “La Isla Bonita,” “Human Nature” and “Crazy for You,” though they’ve been shortened and the stage show is heavy on video and pre-recorded bits.
The old gal is 65, so I suppose it’s kind of awesome that she’s still performing at all. Love her, hate her or pity her, Madonna evokes emotion in people to this day. That’s enough for any artist: to make people feel. Time will tell if future generations remember her for more her image than her music, even though today, the music is what think of when we think of the Material Girl.
Well, that and a certain poster.
Madonna. With Bob the Drag Queen. 8:30 p.m. Saturday, March 16. Footprint Center, 201 E. Jefferson St. Tickets available on Ticketmaster and through resellers.
Tom Reardon
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