Madonna – Rebel Heart – Review (Club Section 200 Row D Seat 14)

We arrived at the Bell Center before 8 p.m. Our seats were in the Club Section, half way up the room, above the first section of seats, and between those and the nose bleeds. Prices started at $150.00 @ for Club seats. We got great seats for what we paid for them.

DJ Diplo spun some records for an hour prior to the show starting promptly at 9:30 and ran exactly 2 hours, start to finish. The stage was backed by a full wall panel of screens reminiscent of past Madonna shows. The walls move left to right and up and down to allow set pieces to be slid onto the stage from behind the set.

The runway consisted of a cross/heart shaped configuration with two false floors in the stage allowing for set changes and moving people up and down throughout the show. It was a simple light set up hanging in the ceiling. The lights hanging on stage were a bit more complex.

The floor of the stage was square and opened and closed, rose and fell, and had projection screen that went along with the back stage wall panels. For several numbers the stage rose diagonally which allowed the set to be tilted towards the audience.

It was quite spectacular.

The projection screens along with the stage were some of the best settings I have seen on a stage. And Madonna is very well known for screen technology to go along with the show. What you see on stage only makes the presentation all the more better.

It wasn’t as massive as the stage set of Confessions. That entire stage set up and configuration was much more massive than tonight’s simple set. The projection screen technology was the best part of the show production.

The opening scene, with all screens screaming, opened with ICONIC, featuring a voice over by Mike Tyson. It was pure production value !!!! Madonna was lowered to the stage in a cage from the ceiling. Probably one of the best numbers in the entire show. Like I said below, the stage set and the projection screens on the back wall and on the floor, were the best part of the show.

However …

I was not wowed by the show. It kind of left me flat. I knew the music she was singing or not singing because of several montage pieces with active screen montage and sing overs. The set list included a bevy of old music, set to new melodies and styles.

There were whole sections of music that was retooled out of the original keys and styles, into a mish mash of cha cha cha, latin style presentation, that really did not do much for me. At several points in the concert, the oldsters who were sitting in our section were on their feet dancing in the aisles, if there were aisles to be had.

I really was not moved to get on my feet at any point in the show. BAH !

She sang almost the entire Rebel Heart, save one or two numbers that did not make it into the show. However during some of the video montages, the actual production video, was shown backing other tracks that were sung or presented as sung.

I lost perspective sitting in the crowd, versus seeing it live on film. We were so high up from the floor, that I was having to choose whether to watch the simulcast on the video screens above the stage or watch the floor show going on below us.

My camera did an ok job at some of the photos below. it is a first generation cell so it is not as swanky as the new phones on the market. By the time we got home, entire film clips of the concert that we had just left were online. So there were very savvy social media folks recording live video and uploaded it already.

I still think the Confessions Tour was and IS my favorite tour, for production value.

Yes, every good gay man should see Madonna once in his life to knock her off our Gay Bucket Lists. It was an ok show. Like I said to hubby on the way home, maybe it will warm on me once I see the concert on film. I will remember it better getting to see it from the stage perspective and not from so far away.