Madonna at Air Canada Centre – 09/12/12

Photograph courtesy of Igor Vidyashev If Michael Jackson was the king of Pop, and he was, then Madonna is the queen of Pop. And she is. She is the world’s best-selling female recording artist in history with more than 300 million records sold worldwide, also considered to be one of the “25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century” by Time for being an influential figure in contemporary music. but after what I experienced on Wednesday night, I’ll go a little further to call her, the queen of entertainment. 30 years of controversial yet evolving career in perhaps one of the most brutal industries on the planet has taken Madonna to the position where not many of the “stars” have experienced before. It is, indeed, not easy to be the queen.

The show started at 10:25PM, with quite possibly the most epic, theatrical intro I’ve ever witnessed in my life. Right on the stage, behind a gigantic catwalk all the way into the center of ACC, dancers dressed in monk outfits in front of a virtual cathedral projected on a humongous screen which opened up for a balcony to come through and bring the queen on the stage to start the night with Girl Gone Wild, freshly out of her twelfth studio album, MDNA. Highly detailed choreography, videography and visual effects combined with the deep-digital production of the music, established a unique contemporary/modern/futuristic atmosphere from the beginning. Madonna and her crew of performers, dancers and tumblers continued with Revolver. Lots of blood, lots of gun shots and lots and lots of choreography.

At 54, Madonna still has the full capability to lead, dance and preach as she did in the prime eras of 80’s and 90’s, however, it’s getting harder and harder to know exactly, how much of what we hear live, is actually live? So basically, if you were interested in only pure live performance and sound, you would have got something to be disappointed about, but who would go to Madonna’s concert, only for the music? Madonna took her many Torontonian fans on a ride that only she could create. She expressed herself in every imaginable way, and invited everyone else to do the same. I thought it was a pity that she was the only one to do so by stripping down to her bra and thong and showing the “Free Pussy” tattoo on her back, but everyone seemed to be having quite a good time anyways.

Goin’ through the roller coaster of Madonna’s suspended marching band, crossdresser Vogue models and her legendary hits-catalog (including Papa Don’t Preach, Hung Up, Prophecy, Turn Up the Radio, Candy Shop, Human Nature and Like a Virgin), we came to the end of a non-stop, two hours long set, with the classic Like a Prayer, followed by Celebration. A perfect ending to a perfect night of self- expression and unity, for the sake of entertainment.