Tribers Tours Memories: Thomas’ mini essay on his Drowned World experience
July 10th, I remember it like it was yesterday. The title still echoes in my mind, ‘The Drowned World Tour‘. It was so surreal, all the weeks of waiting and tonight the event of my life had finally come, I was going to see Madonna, LIVE in concert.
8pm was drawing close, that’s when Madonna was due to come on. All the fans, myself included all got a bit side-tracked by buying drinks and merchandise, come 7:55pm no one was in the arena and so the band played a few start up keys and the vocal cord to the ‘Music‘ line. Now, never it my life had I seen such a stampede, I ran and I climbed the staircase, the sight of Earls Court Arena make me go weak, an Arena full of screaming fans there for exactly the same reason as me.
Madonna, a woman who is renowned for doing what she wants, when she’s ready decided to end all our anticipation and anxiety at 8:25pm when lights went down and the show began. The monitors flashed, the smoke machines breathed and the fans went crazy.
There in the distance, coming gradually closer, I saw her, my idol, my inspiration, my emotional and personal savour: MADONNA. There she stood shuttle, composed and wrapped up in a Union Jack flag. She was everything we knew her for from first site; blonde, unique, dressed to impress and ready to kick some ass.
I looked on the overhead monitors, just to check it was her, it was too surreal to believe; that Madonna, the most famous woman in the world was in front of me, ready to express herself and take us to the next level of superior entertainment.
She started to sing, I went cold, she sounded amazing and a tear came to my eye as she drew me in with her vocal tranquillity. First she welcomed us (‘Drowned World/Substitute For Love’) then she got us in the mood (‘Impressive Instant’), then she showed us how to rock (‘Candy Perfume Girl’).
It was exhausting just watching her, her every move was precise and she did it was attitude. She sung, she skipped, she danced and she repeatedly said ‘Come on! Get your tits out!‘
The energy of the other fans was amazing! We were the fuel to her performance, the more we cheered, and the more she went for it. Throughout the evening she astounded me with her energetic response; she never stopped and she never faltered, she constantly gave us more; offering an amazing show of spectacular music and dance.
After the high of ‘Holiday‘ we knew that Madonna wanted to rock, the encore had come. The lights went down and at first we just screamed, then we clapped . . . Then we stamped our feet . . . and then we stamped our feet harder . . . and then we combined our support and screamed in a chant ‘Madonna! Madonna!‘ while clapping and stamping so hard the arena shook. Within the blink of an eye, she was back, ready to party with us. She danced, she sung, she ran around the stage without a care in the world. Now in the depth of the concert I realised something, I realised she was free, and she was doing what she loved; nothing could stand in her way and nothing could stop her from doing what she wanted. As I watched her take her final exit position, while she was singing, while the crowds were screaming and while the glitter sparks were falling like rain from the sky I realised how much I’d learnt from her.
With a puff of smoke and the lights down, it was all over. She finished with ‘Thank you London, Good Night‘ and now still to this day I will remember the exact tone and expression she used to say them words. She was saying thank you, thank you to us for supporting her and giving her the energy to perform and entertain. We had put her on cloud 9 and let her express herself to the full.
Thomas