Madonna’s Rebel Heart Tour (first night) – Photo: Kevin Mazur for WireImage/Getty
“I still believe in love — even if Barack Obama didn’t come to my show,” Madonna teased near the end of Saturday night’s concert at the Verizon Center. “Maybe I’m too provocative.” Like all her tours, Rebel Heart had its fair share of provocation, chiefly through repeated sacrilegious references to God and Catholic iconography.
But that’s always been Madonna’s cross to bear (and her bread and butter). This time out it was confined to the opening numbers. If you could look past it, as well as her overuse of war and violent imagery (Madonna is seemingly forever fighting someone, from God and Gaga to Guy and the media), you probably left charmed by the evening.
The Rebel Heart Tour finds Madonna at her happiest and most personable, and also in her best voice. In past tours she seemed to be performing on auto-pilot, but not on Saturday.
Edgy and sassy and unapologetic, Madonna once again proved her predominance in pop performance. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like her new album, even though it accounted for nearly half of the two-hour set. The truth is, few others working in pop today put on such a compelling and sensory-rich, top-notch theatrical production from beginning to end. Madonna makes her concerts feel like celebrations.
Near the concert’s end, Madonna settled, with a guitar, on a raised platform and sang the French classic, “La Vie En Rose” — which she dedicated to Obama — as if she were a bona fide chanteuse. “Everybody sing along!” she cooed playfully. She didn’t need the audience assist, as she perfectly conveyed the emotions of the song. It was just one example of how significantly Madonna’s musicality has improved over the years, even if her music has not.
9/12/15 Verizon Center Set List
Iconic
Bitch I’m Madonna
Burning Up
Holy Water, with an interpolation of Vogue
Devil Pray
Messiah
Body Shop
True Blue
Deeper And Deeper
Heartbreak City, with Love Don’t Live Here Anymore
Like a Virgin
S.E.X., with Justify My Love
Living For Love (Remix)
La Isla Bonita
Dress You Up, with a flamenco medley of Get Into the Groove / Everybody / Lucky Star
Who’s That Girl (acoustic)
Rebel Heart
Illuminati
Music / Candy Shop
Material Girl
La Vie En Rose
Unapologetic Bitch
Encore: Holiday
Madonna’s Rebel Heart Tour (first night) – Photo: Kevin Mazur for WireImage/Getty
Additional North American stops on The Rebel Heart Tour through 2015:
New York City has opened Ace's Place, its first shelter dedicated specifically to serving transgender and gender-nonconforming people experiencing homelessness. Operated in partnership with the Bronx-based LGBTQ nonprofit Destination Tomorrow, the 150-bed facility in Long Island City, Queens, will provide transitional housing and wraparound support services for residents.
Fully funded by the city for now, Ace's Place will receive $65 million to remain operational through 2030. In addition to housing, the shelter will offer on-site psychiatric care, medical referrals, culinary and GED classes, job training, financial literacy and life skills workshops, counseling, and other comprehensive services. Destination Tomorrow will manage day-to-day operations.
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