Madonna in Abu Dhabi pics
18 Comments 4 June 2012
Yes, she came on stage an hour and 40 minutes late, long after Benny Benassi stopped showering us with David Guetta tracks. This was unusually tardy, even for Madonna. And, yes, it was warm. But it was certainly not as warm as we were all dreading it would be when we first heard about the June gig date back in February: the humidity levels remained relatively kind to us, and the fans, 'cooling stations' and promised 'Yas Island breeze' all made a difference.
And yes, she played a fair few 'old ones'. Ten of 22 to be exact, spanning 'Papa Don't Preach', 'Express Yourself (feat. Born This Way and She's Not Me)' - a five-inch-heel-high dig at Lady Gaga's familiar-sounding track - 'Open Your Heart' ,'Justify My Love', 'Vogue', 'Human Nature', 'Like A Virgin' - albeit a stripped-down, maudlin, take on the chirpy '80s original - and 'Like A Prayer.' 'Material Girl' and 'Erotica' were also played, mixed in to newer tracks.
And yes, of course Madonna shocked us. After opening with religious chants and an incense pot that swung above some of the crowd, she proceeded to run about with an AK47 during 'Revolver', before shooting a man in a Kill Bill-style motel room during the clearly-shock-tactic-motivated 'Gang Bang'. Of course, other gasp-inducing moments included her stripping down to her underwear and inviting everyone to 'act dangerously', flirting with girls (as well as her current squeeze, 24-year-old Brahim Zaibat, during a flash of 'Erotica'), and men dressed as women - in corsets. Indeed, moments of 'I'm a Sinner', particularly the religious-references included in the dance routine, played precariously with local boundaries.
But then, there were also plenty of surprises we couldn't have predicted (at least, those of us who'd avoided reading the tour's first night reviews). There was the flying marching band during 'Give Me All Your Luvin', that drifted high above the lucky few in the stage's triangle pit area. Indeed, there was the stage itself, and how far the two catwalks stretched out into the Golden Circle. And finally, there was the appearance of her 11-year-old son Rocco, and his - very focussed! - participation in several dance routines.
Yes: she kept us waiting for an hour and 40 minutes. But she certainly kept us all enthralled for an hour and 50. While the energy of the set may have been a bit patchy for some towards the back of the arena (that 'Like a Virgin' rendition...), for only the second date of a production of this scale, the show was spectacularly polished (we spotted just one accidental drop of the mic. And we're guessing the dancer that passed it to her knew about it afterwards…).
And, most importantly of all on a school night - the traffic wasn't too bad at all on the way out. Panic not, those heading to Yas Island tonight!
What did you think of Madonna’s UAE show? Tell us in the comments below ...
User reviews:
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Posted by: Yerzhan on 14 Jun ' 12 at 08:53
I was in golden circle near of scene.It was best beutifull amazing show. When Madonna sign "I m sinner" at indian style and the she sing indian song "Cyber Raga" - stuff guy, he was from India, crying.
I askd him why you crying and he sad that he miss home miss India...
You know. It was one touch-heart moment.
Madonna`s show is BEST CONCERT that other artist in the world.More people don`t understand this show cause they angry. They are thought that Madonna must to apologize for Abu-Dabu humidity and do something what only theia want.
No! if you come to concert, please, be happy. you should be ready to dance and have fun. This is not cinema there you set at the chair an watching 3d movie. It is LIVE CONCERT
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Posted by: Keeef on 06 Jun ' 12 at 22:33
Retire Madonna . Worse concert I have seen.Saw GaGa last week and if you are trying to keep up.........give up. Waste of money and time standing around waiting for you. Screwed up your hits with your poor attempt to remix.
Did anyone see her drop the mic but the words kept flowing?
I am glad to see she still has many of you as loyal fans -
Posted by: A on 06 Jun ' 12 at 21:18
All the 50 pics look the same. And none of them is nice. Very bad photography.
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Posted by: PaleAle on 06 Jun ' 12 at 05:36
In reply to dxbgirl Quote " Y'all should appreciate the fact you even get an opportunity to see such an amazing artist live."
If it wasn't for her fans paying to see her shows, she wouldn't be the Superstar that she is, so let's keep it real and maybe you should take your own advice and "Calm down" -
Posted by: Felicia on 05 Jun ' 12 at 12:39
The promoters should do their job better and inform us when the artist will be performing. Come on how difficult can that be....
How about more chair seating arrangement.. Who stands at a concert for 5 hours??
Madonna out shined herself with her brilliant Madonna style performance. It was perfect. You could see that she was struggling with the heat.
AMAZING concert!!! -
Posted by: Nevdes on 05 Jun ' 12 at 05:02
It was an amazing, spectacular show, that proves once again that noone will ever beat Madonna, her talent, her energy, her hard work to put everything together . There is only one Queen of Pop and that is Madonna.Yes, she was late and I agree with one of the reviewers that something must have gone wrong behind the stage. And people with negative outlook should just stay at home. Madonna is not for everyone. It was a brilliant experience with Beautiful and Talented Madonna.
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Posted by: AK on 04 Jun ' 12 at 15:49
Was eagerly awaiting the show for 3 months. Was thoroughly disappointed. The spectacular acts overtook her performance. To be so late and not even apologize showed complete disrespect for her audience. Absolute Diva behavior. She did not connect with fans at all as no once encored her to come back at the end. She never thanked the audience. The music system was bad. Her voice sounded horrible.
We paid Dh 1425 for our tickets online and had people sitting in the grandstand next to us had bought theirs for Dh 500. Don't know what Flash and ticketmaster were upto. Totally not worth it.
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Posted by: Kay on 04 Jun ' 12 at 15:32
Very, very disappointing! Will NEVER waste money on her again. She kept us waiting until 10.30 in the heat with no offer of an apology or explanation for the delay. After that we had a technically great show but with lip sync - please!!! She even dropped the microphone and was still singing!! There was no interaction with the audience at all, the performance was very wooden and mechanical. I was among the many disappointed people that left early to go and have much more fun in our hotel.
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Posted by: dxbgirl on 04 Jun ' 12 at 13:10
Y'all need to calm down. I think Madonna did a very good job at her performance. She did sing lots of her "old" songs, maybe some fans need to stay up to date and not stuck in time. Sure, she kept us waiting, but maybe there was something going on backstage, and booing probably didn't help speed her up either. She came to promote her NEW album not previous ones, you should be happy she even sang some of her classic hits. Overall, great performance and HAVE FUN! if you are going tonight. Y'all should appreciate the fact you even get an opportunity to see such an amazing artist live. For those in grandstand complaining, at least you got to sit! However, general admission had GREAT view! Thanks for the show MADONNA!
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Posted by: Anna on 04 Jun ' 12 at 13:01
I enjoyed the show however I could have been excited and happier if she at least performed her classic songs. Everyone was at least expecting to dance to her music and sing with her but the crowd was just simply staring coz she almost sang songs from her new album. nevertheless she's still a great performer. I wished she could have apologized for being late for almost 2 hours.
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Posted by: rp on 04 Jun ' 12 at 12:15
I have been to all her concerts and this was definitely up there with the likes of her Blond Ambition Tour. Loved every minute but my only criticism was
I have never been to any of her concerts where she has been more than half an hour late - what was the issue? Was there a technical fault? And then she or anyone else didn't even apologise for the fact that she was late on stage.
Like A Virgin rendition was very poor - also the sound system was not great. I could hear her singing because I was at the front but I felt sorry for those further back.
And when is Flash going to learn how to organise concerts? No food stalls in the Golden Circle? No one coming through crowds handing out bottles of water especially when she was late on stage? And GOlden Circle? We were all packed in like sardines and so many people fainted due to the heat.
Overall definitely worth seeing even if you are not a fan - its just the tardiness of the Material Girl put a dampener on the whole event especially in such conditions. -
Posted by: Rudy on 04 Jun ' 12 at 11:46
I have been waiting to see Madonna for almost 30 years. I have clearly waited too long as the lip sync effort and awful 'blood and brains' part of her new album is not close to the terrific songs that made her so famous. I guess we expected to see her perform our favorite songs, although some of the younger crowd seemed to relate to her newer work with no real excitement or dancing as with other shows. Generally well organized and good crowd management. However, transport needs some attention as at the end it took 2 hours to get back to Abu Dhabi. Some 'private' taxis trying their luck with up to 380 AED for a ride back to the city. Generally worthwhile show though.
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Posted by: Julia on 04 Jun ' 12 at 11:15
People need to realise the world does not revolve around the UAE and Madonna is touring to promote her NEW album and therefore is doing her songs from the NEW album and throwing in old tracks to crowd please. perhaps real Madonna fans should only go next time instead of expats who just want to say "i saw madonna in abu dhabi" get a life, Madge rocks!
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Posted by: Namear on 04 Jun ' 12 at 09:17
Going there was a last minute call, after all it is was work day followed by a work day for most of us, but it was worth it. Out of the 22000 I am guessing 80% were above 25 years old? So more of the oldies were expected. Hope tonight fans get some more than we did.
Apart from the show what really impressed me deeply was the crowd; they were just grate. Very polite and quite helpful when needed. Thank you all men and women in the general admission, you are the best. -
Posted by: Kerry on 04 Jun ' 12 at 08:35
Edited by TimeOutDubai.com
Madonna showed complete lack of respect for the fans who had been waiting patiently in warm conditions for up to three hours before she came on - complete Diva behaviour. She lip-synched quite obviously during the first few songs. While we expect any artist to perform songs from a new album it should not have dominated the concert - most fans who will only get to see Madonna once really want to hear the huge hits she's had over the years and this also left a dampened atmosphere as they ddn't know the music. For those of us in seating the screens were so small and the cameras so far away we could barely see anything and many left early. The sound was also very poor for most of the concert. I agree she put on a great dance show but she laboured over her new songs which left little room for the big hits. Also to be so late on and no encore - not on Madonna!
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Posted by: Astrid on 04 Jun ' 12 at 08:21
Edited by TimeOutDubai.com
Really enjoyed the show. Even though my legs are still aching from the nearly 2 hr wait for her to come on stage. The visuals, costume changes and the stage performance was amazing! Yes, she did mime during most of her songs, but you can't expect person performing summersaults, and other physically challenging pas to hold a note at the same time?!?!?! She did sing a lot of her old stuff as well, be that slightly re-invented. Madonna was never known for her vocal talents, but she is a great performer and an amazing entertainer and as for the " greatest hits" perhaps some people in the audience need to bring themselves up-to-date with the music scene. Madonna managed to stay one of the most popular performers for over 30 years not because of her greatest hits, but because she keeps reinventing herself and that means new material ! She managed to blend old hits with the new very nicely. If artist do not sing their new material- how are they expected to sell their new albums ?!?! I think Madge done a great job for the 54 year old lady, performing in a swealching heat and still managing to stay energetic and entertain the crowds!! And good on her !!
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Posted by: e on 04 Jun ' 12 at 08:12
Edited by TimeOutDubai.com
Madge was rather a let down indeed!!!!! What happened after Benny Benassi ! The crowd were pupmed up and excited and then nothing but a crazy CD of MJ's music. MJ CD went on and on and people around us booed at the lack of entertainment! The audience deserved better!!! The visual effects were good apart from too many blood splattered screens! The singing and dancing were not so good sorry to say! Hope itonight is better for you guys!
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Posted by: Philip on 04 Jun ' 12 at 07:01
Great dance show but the music was sooooo disappointing. Artisits coming to UAE should have learned by now that its greatest hits that are required. The reason there was not one call for an encore was because
a)she was 1 hour and 50 mins late on stage ...shows real lack of empathy for fans
b)the shameless 50% minimum lip syncing
c) her latest album is not what we came to hear (it is weak frankly and the attemopted shock violence was ..well...just in bad taste
I hope for better luck for the fans tonight
