Madonna Time Tunnel: Madonna In America

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Time Tunnel: Madonna In America

In three weeks time Madonna finally plays her first-ever concerts in Britain. Who can wait? Well, we couldn't for starters, so we summoned Ian Cranna and flew him straight to Philadelphia. And this is what he saw...

“One million and one tents!"

Excuse me?

"One million and one tents, hee hee hee! Look!" squeals Benedict the West Indian cab driver as we drive into the centre of Philadelphia from the airport. Sure enough, over to the left of the freeway are two giant stadiums and all around them, taking advantage of the glorious summer weather, are literally hundreds of fans camping out in small tents. There's also a huge traffic jam at the exit off the freeway leading to the stadiums, even though it's still only midaftemoon, and the Madonna concert won't even be starting for at least another 30 hours. It's ruddy Madonna mania!

Except it isn't. These people are actually here for tonight's concert by Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead (grizzled old hippy group from the '60s). For this is America, where not only has good ole "rawk 'n' roll" never died, but it's now actually staging something of a comeback.

Madonna (who's playing tomorrow night) is a big star in America of course - she's on the cover of both Cosmopolitan (which is boasting the beauty and vegetarian diet secrets which have turned her into the exact opposite of her former popcorn-eating, floozy self) and the scurrilous National Enquirer, which carries a truly touching story about Madonna's supposed latest reconciliation with Sean Penn. "Will you take me back as your husband? I'll love you and honour you forever!" Sean is quoted as pleading, down on his knees on a plane flight to Miami for the opening night of Madonna's tour. According to the Enquirer, "Madonna took both his hands in hers and replied lovingly 'I will!'" (Shucks!)

The next day the tents and the lines of traffic have all gone. Surprisingly, for someone who has sold more records (30 million) in America than since Elvis Presley in the '50s and The Beatles in the '60s, Madonna's concert has not sold out. Not remotely sold out, in fact - some 6,000 seats (about an eighth of capacity) remain unsold. Clearly there are limits. to Madonna's superstar popularity, even amongst her own record buying fans. Hmmm . . .

The Veterans Stadium (where the American Live Aid was staged exactly two years ago to the day, fact fiends) is one huge arena. Normally "62,700 people but tonight it's capacity is cut to a "mere" 51,600 because of the staging which has been constructed at one end. In fact, the word "staging" scarcely does justice to the massive construction of 375 tons of equipment which takes no less than three days to put up at each venue. This means that for the whole Madonna tour there have to be three separate sets of staging overlapping each other around America, each requiring 23 semi-articulated trucks to transport it.

The finished product, it has to be said, is very impressive. The front of the staging has been constructed to look like the front of a theatre and has been painted white. At either side stands a massive stack of speakers, discreetly screened behind black netting and beside them are two huge elevated video screens which will be used to relay close-ups of what's happening on stage. The actual stage area itself has been designed to look like an old fashioned show setting - with several sets of steps, platforms and even a moving conveyor belt. There are also several sets of curtains and screens which are moved about as required.

The whole floor of the stadium (normally a baseball pitch) has been covered with plastic sheeting and in addition to the thousands of seats in tiers around the stadium, thousands more stacking chairs have been clipped together into rows on the plastic sheeting - a task that must have taken hundreds of hours. Dotted around the stadium are several large refreshment and merchandising stalls and it becomes apparent at once that an awful lot of money is changing hands tonight. A large Coke, for example, will set you back $2.25 and a "regular" one $1.75 although admittedly the American sizes are much larger than you'd get at a British show, even if they're alsa full of ice.

Meanwhile, over on the merchandising stall, a sweatshirt will cost you a mere $27.00 or a t-shirt $16.00. Too expensive? Well, a poster isa snip at $5.00 or how about a button badge for just $2.00? A positive bargain at $10 is the big tour programme and even with its poor layout and slim editorial content it's the best of a poor bunch. The clothing items are extremely disappointing both in quality and design for an artist of Madonna's status - it's a pity that the obvious effort put into the stage construction hasn't been extended to the goods the fans are expected to buy as well.

Then, at last, after the rather amusing sight of a musclebound stage"hand" in a vest hoovering the stage, at 9pm on a hot and sticky Philadelphia summer night, the stadium lights go down and a great roar goes up from the audience. Onto the stage (backwards) strolls "the kid" (as played by the brat Felix in the "Open Your Heart" video), pretending to be gazing up at all the equipment around him. He turns, sees the audience and dashes off in mock terror. This piece of pure Hollywood hokum sets the tone for what's to follow as Madonna, with the help of 17 songs, three backing singers, three dancers (including Shabba Doo from the film Breakin'), seven musicians led by her "True Blue" LP co-producer Pat Leonard and four changes of costume, puts on a truly spectacular show that pays tribute to all those old Broadway-style musicals like 42nd Street and Singing In The Rain, while bringing the idea right up to date.

Right after the kid has dashed off, up flashes a painting of a women's naked body onto a screen in the middle of the stage, followed by another painting in an older, al most medieval style of a fully dressed woman clutching a lyre or some such old fashioned string instrument. This too disappears and - GASP! - at the top of the stairs appears Madonna herself, clothed only in her famous blue perv-bodice. As she strips off her long gloves and proceeds to dance down the stairs, the screens rise to reveal the backing musicians and together they launch into a perfect "OpenYour Heart". The sound quality is beautifully clear and the volume absolutely right, despite a bass sound which you can actually feel pumping up from the field beneath your feet. The video screens feature excellent close-up camera work and spot-on synchronisation. It's all very, very impressive.

"I was in Philadelphia two years ago and I definitely do not remember it being this hot," announces Madonna in her perv-corset as "Open Your Heart" closes. "With all these clothes on, I hope you won't be offended if I take a few more off . . . Are you ready to party?" Woooooooaaah!

You could fill a large book just explaining what happens in the next extraordinary hour and a half. Most of the hits are here for starters: "Lucky Star", "True Blue", "Papa Don't Preach", "Dress You Up", "Material Girý", "Like A Virgin", "Live To Tell" and "Into The Groove", along with some of her better LP tracks, like "White Heat", and "Where's The Party?", plus "Causing A Commotion" and "The Look Of Love" off her new LP, ''Who's That Girl”.

Then there's costume changes,which actually very well executed. There's the simple dress donned for "Lucky Star" and the sparkly gold and black suit for the mock shooting and knockabout fighting in the James Bond send-up during "White Heat". Then there's the rather more noticeable riot of a bad taste costume in loud pink and glitter (a la Dame Edna Everage) for "Dress You Up" aS Madonna emerges from a British red telephone box on the conveyor belt and finally the Spanish outfits for the encores of "La Isla Bonita", ''Who's That Girl" and, last of all, "Holiday".

Most spectacular of all, however, is the use of slides and films. The lighting is absolutely first class, using different colours and shapes on the various screens and backgrounds to match the mood of all the songs. But more than that, everything, including the white theatrical stage front itself, is also used as a screen for the projection of different images to tie in with each particular song - such as Hollywood scenes for "Material Girl" or a "Wanted" poster for "White Heat". Like the stage props - the telephone box for "Dress You Up" or giant shooting gallery-type cutouts of gunmen ("White Heat" again), it's used sparingly and with spot-on accuracy, thus making it doubly effective.

And all the while Madonna herself is leading the action - dancing and throwing herself about, up and down stage, sometimes play-acting with the other dancers, other times involving herself in routines with the backing girls (who can turn in a pretty mean dance routine themselves). As a show, it's absolutely brilliant and must have cost a fortune to produce and taken weeks of rehearsals to get it exactly right. And yet . . .

And yet there are times when you feel that it's all just a show - with nothing more behind it than a TV spectacular, coming from a girl whose sole motivation is simply to be famous. Also, some of her remarks to the audience don't quite ring true, such as the "I want you to know I have a bad reputation - and that everything they say is true" introduction to "Causing A Commotion" .

At other times, however, Madonna can be very funny - like when she says "stop throwing your underwear up here - I don't wear it!" or looking up her backing girls' dresses during "Like A Virgin" and making "pull the other one" type faces (clearly highlighted on the video screen).

And when her real character does peep through, like on "Papa Don't Preach", it suddenly seems brilliantly adventurous. Following the blue sky projected at the start of the song, there come ominous black thunder clouds followed by slides of a massive cathedral and then "Papa" himself, the Pope. As the song goes on Madonna slips quietly to the side of the stage and "falls asleep" on a chair. Then follows a nightmare sequence of film - partly screened images like a masked surgeon looming up under operating theatre lights (to take away the baby) and partly an animated cartoon sequence involving everything from gravestones to runaway stageecoaches to crowds cheering "Ronald Reagan"! Eventually though the film resolves itself happily with pictures of smiling kids and last of all, in giant letters, the words SAFE SEX.

Well, Gawd bless yer, Ma'am! (In fact, a couple of days later Madonna played a benefit show for AIDS in New York stinging the wealthy for $100.00 a ticket.)

Eventually, after the massed fun dancing of song number 17 “Holiday”, Madonna makes her final exit and at 10.27pm it's all over. There are no people cheering themselves hoarse, no chanting or community singing - just quiet, orderly dispersal as if in a way we have all been watching a TV show.

And yet the merchandising men have been totally cleaned out again and another 45,000 people have seen the remarkable Ms Madonna. The 375 tons of equipment are loaded up, the 23 trucks get ready to go and in just three weeks time they'll all be driving towards London's Wembley Arena. Well, can you wait? .

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