It takes a lot to shock a Madonna fan. Apparently, they have not been shocked by ticket prices that climb above $300 for the artist’s new Re-Invention tour. Nor has the show itself proved as shocking as early reports portrayed.

So, it should come as no surprise that the Re-Invention tour is an unqualified blockbuster, even if the second show was scrapped because of the star’s stomach flu and tentative dates in Israel have been dropped.

Despite the early snafus, the tour, which began May 24 at the Forum in Los Angeles, is destined to be the top-grossing tour of 2004, with a gross in the $120 million range and attendance of about 920,000.

Almost every show put on sale sold out quickly, and numerous dates were added to the route.

The tour, which is promoted worldwide by Clear Channel Entertainment under the direction of CCE touring president Arthur Fogel, seems to have benefitted from Madonna’s assertion that the set list would be a career retrospective rather than focus on newer material, a promise on which she delivers.

Veteran tour production pro Chris Lamb (Eagles, Paul McCartney) is production manager for the Re-Invention tour. He says opening night was the culmination of six months of preparation and came off perfectly.

“That’s Madonna, she’s a perfectionist,” Lamb says. “This is a show, not a concert. This is more theater than rock ‘n’ roll.”

Unique production elements include a center-stage turntable 42 feet in diameter that rises to 10 feet in height and can spin up to 15 miles per hour, as well as a series of conveyor belts at the front of the stage.

“This is an amazing show technically, very precise,” Lamb tells Billboard. “The movement of the show is very unique; it goes back and forth in the front and rotates on the stage. Nobody has seen anything like this.”

Opening night was well received critically. USA Today entertainment writer Edna Gundersen proclaimed the concert “a rigorous, fast-paced escapade with bold sets, brazen choreography and sexy but age-appropriate costumes, plus a bagpiper, a skateboarder, a fire handler and acrobats on swings.”

The show is configured at 270 degrees, with no seats sold behind the stage. All seats are reserved, but two pits inside the stage area accommodate about 50 contest winners in each market.

Lighting director Ray Bennett oversees moving lights and three moving LED video screens. There are four major set changes, swapped out through the turntable. There is no encore.

“The entire set design starts with Madonna,” Lamb says. “She says, ‘This is what I’m thinking. Tell me what you can do.”‘

Fogel and his team learned the afternoon of May 25 that the night’s performance would be postponed. “We got the word out pretty well, because only a few people showed up at the venue,” he says. The makeup concert took place May 26.

Though a trio of shows in Israel for late September was once considered, they will not be booked because of security concerns.

The tour comprises 55 shows in 19 markets — 39 concerts in North America and 16 in Europe.

The trek boasts some impressive multiples in major markets, including five shows in L.A., four in Boston, four in Chicago, three in Toronto and eight in the New York/New Jersey region, including six at Madison Square Garden.

Madonna’s 2001 tour, also produced by CCE, grossed $75 million from 47 sellouts, according to Billboard Boxscore.

Article by Ray Waddell
Source: Reuters/Billboard