Madonna performs for NRJ, VIPS and fans in the know

Pop diva Madonna turned sexy hard-rock queen for a night at a private concert in Paris Tuesday night, telling her fans she loves to French-kiss the French as she ground away at an electric guitar.

Wearing black from head to toe, her blonde curls loose to her shoulders, Madonna put on a high-voltage half-hour show for a privileged 1,500 fans at her first concert in the French capital in 10 years to mark the release of “Hard Candy“, her 10th chart-topping album.

“Who do you love more, me or the Rolling Stones?” she asked the crowd packing the Olympia, a mythical concert hall near the Paris opera, before launching into a ear-popping heavy-metal version of her mega-hit, “Hung Up”.

“I thought you might say that,” quipped the queen of pop, who turns 50 on August 16, as the adoring crowd roared back their answer.

Madonna told the concert hall it was “a historical moment” for her to be performing on the same stage as the iconic French chanteuse Edith Piaf, or fellow legends Juliette Greco and Marlene Dietrich.

“Why do I have this relationship with France? I’m always drawn to working with French people – and frenching French people,” she quipped. “Vive la France!”

The Paris gig was the second of three private concerts being held to mark its launch, after New York on April 30 and before London on May 11.

One third of tickets went to listeners of the French radio station NRJ, which organised the French event, with the rest snapped up by VIPs and fans in the know, from France and elsewhere.

From an article by the AFP.