Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Madonna On Top
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 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. The Material Girl made her stage entrance seated in a black-and-gold fairytale throne, wearing a black satin bodice, satin pants and tailcoat with pink lining, lace-up boots with six-inch heels, and twirling a magician's wand. 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!" ... Flanked by an electrifying crew of hip-hop dancers and surrounded by pulsing video screens, Madonna ground, bumped, skipped and jumped her way through four of her new tracks -- including the chart-topping "Four Minutes" -- as well as the now classic "Music" and "Hung Up". The magician's gear and heeled boots quickly gave way to dance-friendly running shoes and sleeveless black top, before she pulled out the saturated electric guitar for a heavy-metal sounding finale. "Hard Candy" is Madonna's last album on the Warner label before she takes up her astronomical 120-million-dollar (78-million-euro), 10-year deal with US concert promoter Live Nation. 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 ... Andrew Stewart, 37, has seen Madonna 17 times on stage since 1987 and flew in from Thailand specially to catch the show. "She's just the most amazing performer," said the British web designer. "She doesn't compare to anyone."
I suspect that Maddy was in an exceptionally good mood last night ... considering that her new album, Hard Candy, debuts in the #1 spot on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart this week, making it her 7th #1 album of her career:
"Hard Candy" has put Madonna in the sweet spot, earning the singer her seventh No. 1 album. The singer's CD tops the latest Billboard Top 200 Album chart, based on sales of more than 283,000. That puts the CD more than 200,000 copies ahead of the No. 2 and 3 chart stars, Mariah Carey's "E=MC2" and Leona Lewis' "Spirit." Madonna's latest top album gives her the most No. 1 CDs by any female star in history except for Barbra Streisand, who has had eight. Yet Streisand has had two decades longer in the marketplace. Madonna's string of No. 1s also ties the figure of fellow divas Carey and Janet Jackson.
Congrats, Madonna! Haters be damned, Madge continues to do her thing and continues to reach new levels of success in her career. I'm very much looking forward to her Fall World Tour (the one she announced in her interview with Ryan Seacrest last week). It really sounds like it's going to be an amazing year for pop music ... Madonna and Mariah Carey are breaking records, Madonna and Kylie are launching huge tours and I *suspect* that Britney Spears might release a new album (maybe a tour?) by year's end. Wee ... bring it, ladies ... we want more!!! [Source]
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