New York local Music Examiner Kevin Johnston posted this interesting article onExaminer.com.
Let’s face it. Madonna invented Lady Gaga. Or at least she made it possible for someone to invent Lady Gaga.
The original Material Girl is headed for Madison Square Garden on November 12th as part of her 2012 tour to promote her new album MDNA. Tickets range from $50 to $350.
When you look past all the sex re-enactments, background dancers and smoke and mirrors, you see a woman who has had 37 top ten hits. She sold over 300 million albums. She put seven Grammys on the mantle, and she’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Her album MDNA came out March 26th and immediately went number one on iTunes. Pre-orders after her Super Bowl halftime performance rocketed, as a record 47.1 million households tuned in. Guess everyone wasn’t taking a break to refill the chips and dip.
In short, the sex romper does good business. She’s offering a copy of the album with every ticket purchased for the Madison Square Garden performance. In a time when musicians complain they can’t make a buck on music, she’s making a buck on music.
If you make the Madison Square Garden show, you’ll be part of a fan base that is attending shows in Tel Aviv, Abu Dhabi, Rome, Florence, Barcelona, Berlin and London. Most artists call ANY tour a world tour, but Madonna can actually lay claim to a true tour of the world. She told Dick Clark in 1984 that she wanted to rule the world, and let’s just say, close enough.
Perhaps it was the pointy bras, or perhaps it was that she had her pulse on pop culture. In her halftime show, she certainly relied on costumes that screamed Gaga, so apparently she’s comfortable with the competition.
Often called the Queen of Reinvention, she profits from a keen awareness of the public’s short attention span. To some observers, however, there is sameness to the presentation, glamorous sexiness, headgear and squat thrusts. Expect plenty of those at her live show.
No additional shows have been added at the Garden, due probably to the fact that she is offering a Yankee Stadium show around the same time.
Watch her strap on her headset, strut to center stage, smile at her thousands of fans, and sing just for you.