Fourteen years ago tonight, Madonna canceled what would have been my first Madonna concert… what would have been her final Boston performance of the Blond Ambition Tour. As a result of her throat infection, I never got to see that show live.

For years, I’ve said I’ve never gotten over it.

But tonight, fourteen years later (to the day!)… I’m officially over it.

Let me tell you about my unique experience at tonight’s concert in San Jose.

I was at the show in LA on 5/26, so I knew that my San Jose seats on June 6th (22nd row seats, dead center) would be pretty close to Madonna when the catwalk lowered over us for American Life and Holiday.

But I had no idea HOW close. When Madonna was on the end of the catwalk, and I reached up to her…her feet were about six feet from my hands.

I never thought I would be THAT close!

When she stopped singing in American Life, she bowed her head down.

And my friend and I had a moment with her.

She looked RIGHT at us.

It wasn’t intentional, I’m sure. To Madonna, she was just looking down.

But to us…we saw, just for about two seconds, Madonna the person, instead of Madonna the performer.

She had that look on her face, the same one I get, when I’m on stage but behind another actor – so I know no one can see my face. It’s that rare moment on stage when your face relaxes. Your eyes, your cheeks, your face… suddenly doesn’t have to perform, so it ceases to do so.

Madonna’s face was simply…her own.

My friend and I bonded with the people in our row and in the row right in front of us. When Madonna strutted back onto the main stage, we all looked at each other – bewildered. “Did you feel that?” I asked the guy to my right. “Yes.” He confirmed the magnetism in the air.

I couldn’t pay attention to rest of the song, because, I was in shock.

It was THAT intense a moment.

During Holiday, the closing number, she sang over our heads even longer than before. My friend stood on his chair, which brought his hands about four feet from her feet. We could see her facial creases, and a tad of a waddle under her chin. We could see her sweat. We could feel her energy as she sang.

She was SO close to us.

The experience was simply mind-boggling. I was trying to listen to the words, but I couldn’t remember them. All I could do was stare up at her, with my arms out. Reaching for her. Under her spell.

It was just CRAZY.

As of tonight, I’ve seen Madonna live SEVEN times, in SEVEN different venues, on three different tours. But none of the previous experiences could compare to this one.

I still have three more Re-Invention dates on my summer schedule…but I doubt they’ll compare to tonight.

Review by MadonnaTribe member AlphaMaleA,
thanks for sharing your great experience with the M-Tribe.