MadonnaTribe team member Madlover033003 is back from the New York City shows of Madonna’s Re-Invention Tour and wrote his very own story about her last performance at the Madison Square Garden, the one of July 24th.

Check out his song-by-song review that continues below.

The Beast Within (Intro)
This was probably one of the most exciting parts of the show. Every one was waiting for Madonna to come out and then all of a sudden the lights go off and the huge screens come on. The videos playing weren’t anything new really, but with “The Beast Within” playing in the background, it was amazing. The best part of it came when Madonna goes, “Behold, I am coming soon.”
That was when everyone just roared.

Vogue
This was when Madonna finally shows herself. It was so amazing when she came out – the screens changed and then she got upside down! The screens in the background featured a large, rich room. Then they changed into a rotating Madonna.
Alternating was a video in which Madonna has the “black bun” wig and the old fashioned clothes. The pictures are in the tour
book in black and white.

Nobody Knows Me
The dancers go away and now its only Madonna. The flat rotating strip starts moving and so does Madonna. Busting some dance moves and singing with a vocoder on, she makes the crowd go wild. The screens in the background had hundreds of thousands of words flashing. This was one of the danciest parts of the show.

Frozen
After Nobody Knows Me ends, Madonna stands in the middle of the stage and sings Frozen. The backdrop screen featured erotic imagery. However, in my opinion, this was one of the weaker points of the show.

American Life
Moving away from the weaker parts come the strongest parts. American Life was amazing. The “soldiers” come out on the hands and knees in combat style. The video has a helicopter firing and the explosions. The entire arena feels like its under attack. Madonna comes out and starts singing to only a guitar at first. Then the original song music comes on and Madonna continues. She is in her second costume, the military uniform. The song soon takes a twist and is now a hard rock song.
Madonna raps her part and we see in the background something we have never seen before – parts of the original American Life video. The video shows bloody makeup being put on children. Also, there is a man on fire who appears to be screaming on the runway. Then a dead man is thrown on the runway where there is a body and what appears to be a limb. The song also featured religious figures parading on the V-shaped catwalk that had descended. At the end, Madonna screams “Do I have to! Do I have to! DO I HAVE TO CHANGE?!!!” Very awesome.

Express Yourself
This song continues with the military outfit and theme. Nothing much special going on except for the part when she says “come on boys” instead of “girls.” The dancers lift her up on a rifle and all of them have some sort of weapon. Not exactly the best part of the show, but way better than Frozen.

Burning Up
God, I was so freaking happy she did this song. I love this song. The backdrop was just static video and there were a bunch of TV?s with static too. She rocked the electric guitar and everyone else. Everyone cheered when she said “Do you wanna see me down on my knees or bending over backwards?” Great version of it and I absolutely loved it.

Material Girl
Great voice on this song. Everyone was happy that she did this song since she says that she isn’t a material girl. However, the military outfit didn?t fit with the message of the song.

Hollywood (Interlude)
This interlude featured 4 things. First the fire dancer came out. Then the break dancer came out. Then the tap dancer came out. And then the skateboarder came out. Oh yeah, in the middle an Oriental dancer came out. So that makes five. Woo! So many at once! But it was really good. The mix sounded like it was the mix that was played at the VMA’s (the Thin Wwhite Duck I believe). That is when Madonna changed into costume number three – the showgirl outfit.

Hanky Panky
This was a really fun performance. She spanked herself too! I really liked this performance as well.

Deeper and Deeper
Really classy, jazzy version of the song. Totally different from the original song and it came out to be really good.

Die Another Day
The beat of the song stayed the same and the vocoder was back. Interestingly, there was dancing going on. Also during the middle of the song the dancers carry Madonna off to the electric chair. Before getting put on it, she says “It’s not my time to go” and looks around confused as her dancers put her on it.

Lament
Madonna sings the Lament here. Nothing special really. This was another weak point of the show, but that changed soon once again.

Bedtime Story (Interlude 2)
This amazing video shot especially for the tour stunned everyone. A gorgeous and seductive Madonna is featured in it along with a white horse and a breathtaking fantasy landscape. Madonna is seen lip syncing to the Orbital Mix of Bedtime Story. The mix is not totally the same and is more pop. Dancers descend onto the stage, hanging from cords. Truly an amazing video. In my opinion, it was much better than the Paradise(Not for Me) video shot for the Drowned World Tour.
Madonna changed into costume number three, the classy black pants outfit.

Nothing Fails
This song was totally beautiful. A video backdrop featured different people in ways that portrayed love. People were also shown praying. Basically, the video went along with what Madonna was singing. Instead of the choir, her background singers did the choir part.

Don’t Tell Me
This isn’t one of my favorite songs, but I liked the moves and all. Madonna did her cowgirl thing, just like in the video. I liked the choreography for this song.

Like A Prayer
This was one of the many highlights of the show. Madonna asked everyone to put their hands together and get up (although there was no need for her to say that – we were up and dancing already!) A choir joined Madonna in the video and everyone was just going crazy.

Mother and Father
The song started off with only an acoustic guitar but turned into a heavy drum/guitar version. It was much different from the original version. Madonna then put in a part of Intervention which sounded really good even though I hate the song Intervention.

Imagine
I absolutely loved this song. It sounds absolutely amazing. Madonna joked around saying, “I’m not singing this song because I sing it so good,” (laughs) “But because…” and she explained briefly about the message. Lighters came out and at the end Madonna lifted one finger up while singing “can live as one.” The video backdrop had footage of poor, sad children but then turned into happy children by the end. Bravo Madonna. The message did get across totally.

Into the Groove
This is one of my favorite songs and I was dancing my ass away. First her dancers came out in kilts and tank tops and played their drums while the bagpiper played. Then Madonna came out in her kilt and tank top and grooved away. Missy Elliot appeared on screen for her part while Madonna did dance steps with the sticks. She sounded as young as she did in 1984. Truly amazing.

Papa Don’t Preach
Here Madonna just sang the song. She and her dancers did ring-around-the-rosie type thing.

Crazy for You
Madonna dedicated this song to all her fans for sticking by her from thin to thick times. I loved this part. It was really personal.

Music and Holiday
These two songs were also the ending of the DWT, but that’s okay. They are timeless songs. She belted out these songs with a disco ball in the back and funky dance steps and a blasting end with confetti. Ofcourse, Madonna was in her black shirt and kilt by now.

Truly an amazing show. This was my first Madonna show and I was blown away. Cant wait for the next tour!!!

Madlover033003

Special thanks to our team member Madlover033003.
Thanks to deli fro the pictures.