Lady Modonna.

Sorry, Only had my phone camera.

This past weekend, friends of mine wanted to go to Atlantic City. When we got there, they decided we should go see Madonna in concert. We jumped on stub hub and purchased tickets. Unfortunately the printer at the house in Atlantic City wouldn't work, so we had to pay a $10 printing fee at the box office. The lady at the box office informed us that the concert started at 8p.m., But Madonna wouldn't be playing until around 10p.m. What was the warm up, you might ask? (We did.). It was a DJ. Since when are DJ's musicians? What great skill is required to screw up someone else's song in hopes of making it sound 'tollerable'? I've seen a two year old scratch a record or even put a cd into a player. I wouldn't hire them to warm up for a musician and sure as hell would not listen to their music for two hours.

I digress.

After hanging out in the casino until 10 o'clock, I decided the show would probably be starting soon, so I headed for the theater. Let me start by saying that I am not a huge Madonna fan. I've always thought she had a great voice and loved her in Evita. When I was younger I liked her music, but her more recent stuff, not so much. Judging by the amount of middle aged, Madonna wannabes, I was not alone. Ladies, if you dressed like 80's Madonna in the eighties, you SHOULD NOT BE DRESSING LIKE 80's MADONNA 30+ years later! A lot of these women were attractive, but really? Wearing those clothes in your forties, you don't look “Like a Virgin”, you look “Like a Train Wreck.”.

Speaking of train wrecks, Madonna's first number (actually second, after a bunch of chanting) consisted of her screaming 'Bang Bang, I shot my lover dead.”, while donning a stage gun (actually various types of guns) and shooting defenseless dancers (like 50 of them) one at a time on stage. In light of recent events (and the attitude towards guns in NJ in the first place), it was not only in bad taste, but gave everyone in the theater a headache. The end of the song(after the rape scene), was Madonna yelling at a dancer, “If you're gonna act like a bitch, you're gonna die like a bitch”, and then shooting him in cold blood, center stage, while blood splashed all over the video screens. If it sounds bizarre, seeing it live was twice as bizarre, disturbing and given her political leanings, ironic. I looked at my friends and asked them if we really needed to stay, the whole time thinking, thank god I didn't bring either of the kids.

The rest of the show wasn't terrible. The stage effects and choreography were spectacular. Unfortunately for Madonna, running dancing and singing proved too much for her and the portion that suffered was the singing. I give her credit for not lip syncing but at times, I thought that she probably should have. One stand out number was with drummers 'floating' above the stage. They were drumming in perfect upright position while tethered by a loop of rope attached to their shoulders(and harness, but the effect made you think that it was just their shoulders.).

This is where I have to get back to the women dressed like 80's Madonna. Luckily, the seats we had, had no rows in front of them. The people in the seats to our right were not so lucky. Two women who were drinking beer, (one that was skinny but looked like she had a baby bump) kept walking down to the railing and dancing like maniacs(Picture Kristen Wiig dancing with a knife stuck in her back.). The people behind them could not see and were not amused. One lady went down and asked them to dance back at their seats. After asking them four times with no effect, she was visibly irritated.

Madonna looks amazing and I'm sure fans would enjoy her concert more than I, but next time around I think I'll pass. Also, if someone does go see her, explain to her that Atlantic City is in NJ, not NY.