On This Day 23/08/2008 Madonna

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On this day, 23 August 2008, Pop icon Madonna played Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, the opening night of her Sticky & Sweet Tour, with support provided by trance DJ Paul Oakenfold.

In all, the tour started in Cardiff on August 23, 2008, and ended in Tel Aviv on September 2, 2009. The 2008 legs also marked Madonna's thirteen-year return to Mexico and the continent of South America, and the 2009 legs marked her first shows in Sweden in sixteen years and Israel in fourteen years.

Reviewed by the Independent, the start, despite the wait, certainly seemed worth it.

FIRST NIGHT: MADONNA, MILLENNIUM STADIUM, CARDIFF

WHAT WAS LACKING IN PUNCTUALITY SHE MADE UP FOR IN POMP

Well, she did arrive on stage an hour and a half late. And sure, ticket touts were rumoured to be flogging the £150 tickets at half price to fill the rows of empty seats.

But if those who took in this spectacular opening to Madonna's world tour on Saturday have seen anything as slick, innovative, and energetic in recent months then please point it out. For it is easy to feel spoiled when judging one of the most successful pop acts of all time. If the bar is high, it is her own fault, and you would be hard pressed to find any other 50-year-old pelting their way through two hours of back-breaking dance routines.

The tour, Sticky & Sweet, is named after Madonna's latest album, Hard Candy, which had a less-than-effervescent reception in April. Part of the problem seemed to be that pop's grande dame was just trying too hard; her collaborations with Pharrell, Kanye West, Timbaland and Justin Timberlake seemed to hanker after being "down with the kids". The artists in question appeared too scared to give her any criticism. In the end, the tracks on which they worked ("4 Minutes", "Beat Goes On") were less "collaborations" than Madonna shipping in the best talent money could buy to pay homage to her less-than-plugged-in greatness. Their talent was diluted accordingly.

 But if such a display of raw power and influence could not impress the reviewers, in a live setting, there was no such problem. The choreography, the visuals, the other live talent, were world class, and mind-blowingly well executed, intelligent, and witty.

While the show's producers might have bastardised the best elements of vintage acid house, Geisha culture, gypsy folk and burlesque, it was almost certainly worth the compromise.

The concert was loosely based around four themes – "Pimp", "Old School", "Gypsy" and "Rave" – that tellingly looked like they had been named by your Mum. And so, Mother Pop was unveiled sitting in a throne for the opening number; with her legs akimbo, she launched into "Candy Shop" then "Beat Goes On".

"Vogue" was remixed with "4 Minutes", her recent single with Timberlake, then dancers sparred as in a boxing match for a reimagining of her theme tune to the Bond film Die Another Day. There was a bit of an awkward "granny moment" when for "Into The Groove" she pole-danced around a 1980s Deejay booth, before Britney Spears appeared on a video screen for "Human Nature", which showed her in CCTV-style footage being characteristically strange inside a lift.

Madonna strummed on her guitar (is she playing it? isn't she?) which made several appearances during the evening, before the night built to its climax: Timberlake, projected on to a collection of 15ft screens for "4 Minutes". By sliding her leg erotically up and down his image, Madonna still managed to flirt with him.

For all her excesses, and the fact that she is musically relevant only in fits and starts, Madonna is a necessary tonic for those who remember with fondness a more impressive and talented time in pop. It is a desert out there. Long may her hubris continue.

'Sticky & Sweet' – by numbers 
*37 venues in four months 
*45 concerts 
*3,500 items of clothing 
*250 staff 
*36 designers 
*30 wardrobe trunks 
*16 dancers 
*16 caterers 
*12 musicians 
*12 seamstresses 
*9 wardrobe experts 
*4 freezers continually stocked with ice to soothe aches and pains 
*1 masseuse 
*1 personal trainer 
*1 chiropractor

Setlist:

1. Candy Shop

2. Beat Goes On

3. Human Nature

4. Vogue

5. Into The Groove

6. Heartbeat

7. Borderline

8. She’s Not Me

9. Music

10. Devil Wouldn’t Recognise You

11. Spanish Lesson

12. Miles Away

13. La Isla Bonita

14. You Must Love Me

15. 4 Minutes

16. Like A Prayer

17. Ray of Light

18. Express Yourself

19. Hung Up

20. Give It 2 Me

On this day 23/08/2008 Madonna

Images may be subject to copyright

On this day, 23 August 2008, Pop icon Madonna played Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, the opening night of her Sticky & Sweet Tour, with support provided by trance DJ Paul Oakenfold.

In all, the tour started in Cardiff on August 23, 2008, and ended in Tel Aviv on September 2, 2009. The 2008 legs also marked Madonna's thirteen-year return to Mexico and the continent of South America, and the 2009 legs marked her first shows in Sweden in sixteen years and Israel in fourteen years.

The tour was described as a "rock driven dancetastic journey". It was divided into four acts: Pimp, where S&M was the main theme; Retro, where Madonna's classic songs were performed while displaying work of deceased artist Keith Haring; Gypsy, a fusion of Romani folk music and dance with the performances ranging from melancholic to joyous; and Rave, where high-energy uptempo songs were performed. The last section of the show included a special 'request song', to which the audience was invited to sing-along. Some changes were made to the set list during the second European leg of the tour in 2009, including a dance tribute to deceased singer Michael Jackson.

Setlist

Act 1: Pimp

"The Sweet Machine" (Video Introduction) (contains elements of "Manipulated Living", "4 Minutes", "Human Nature" and "Give It 2 Me")

"Candy Shop" (contains elements of "4 Minutes" and "Beat Goes On")

"Beat Goes On" (contains elements of "And the Beat Goes On")

"Human Nature" (contains elements of "Gimme More" and "What You Need")

"Vogue" (contains elements of "4 Minutes" and "Give It To Me")

Act 2: Old-School

"Die Another Day" (Remix Interlude) (contains elements of "Do You Wanna Get Funky", "Planet Rock", "Looking for the Perfect Beat" and "Mortal Kombat")

"Into the Groove" (contains elements of "Back in the Day", "Toop Toop", "Body Work", "Jump", "Apache", "It's like That" and "Double Dutch Bus")

"Heartbeat"

"Borderline"

"She's Not Me"

"Music" (contains elements of "Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit", along with excerpts from "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life")

Act 3: Gypsy

"Rain" (Remix Interlude) (contains elements of "Here Comes the Rain Again" and "4 Minutes")

"Devil Wouldn't Recognize You"

"Spanish Lesson"

"Miles Away"

"La Isla Bonita" (contains elements of "Lela Pala Tute", "Doli Doli", and "Me Darava")

"You Must Love Me"

Act 4: Rave

"Get Stupid" (Video Interlude) (contains elements of "Beat Goes On", "Give It 2 Me", "4 Minutes" and "Voices")

"4 Minutes"

"Like a Prayer" (contains elements of "Feels Like Home" and "Don't You Want Me")

"Ray of Light"

"Hung Up" (contains elements of "A New Level" and "4 Minutes")

"Give It 2 Me" (Jody Den Broeder Remix) (contains elements of "Fired Up!" (Club 69 Mix))

On this day 30/07/2006 Madonna

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On this day, 30 July 2006, American superstar Madonna played Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on her Confessions Tour with support provided by Paul Oakenfold. It was the opening concert of the European leg of the tour.

The concert was divided into four parts: Equestrian had horse-themed and bondage elements, Bedouin featured Middle Eastern and religious aspects and was accompanied by messages, Glam—Punk consisted of both rock and stripped-down performances, and the final Disco segment was based on the genre of the same name.

Setlist

Equestrian

Future Lovers

(with samples of "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer)

Get Together

Like a Virgin

Jump

Bedouin

Confessions

(Video interlude)

Live to Tell

Forbidden Love

Isaac

Sorry

Like It or Not

Glam-Punk

Sorry

(Video interlude, remix)

I Love New York

Ray of Light

Let It Will Be

Drowned World/Substitute for Love

Paradise (Not for Me)

Disco

The Duke Mixes the Hits

Music

Erotica

La Isla Bonita

Lucky Star

Hung Up

Madonna kicks off tour in Cardiff

Around 59,000 fans have been in Cardiff to see Madonna kick off the European leg of her world tour at the Millennium Stadium.

The show was Madonna's first ever performance in Wales.

The Millennium Stadium is the biggest venue to date in the star's Confessions world tour, which began in Los Angeles in May.

The show in Cardiff was the first of 21 dates across Europe. Eight are being staged in London.

The singer included an equestrian theme during the opening in Cardiff.

Chris Lamb, from California, said 150 workers from the USA, along with 200 local people worked on the set since Monday.

"People are not coming to see a rock concert - this is a show, closer to theatre than a rock concert," he said.

DJ Paul Oakenfold opened the singer's concert at 1900 BST, performing for around an hour and a half before Madonna's two-hour show.

Traffic Wales said it had put in place plans to cope with the extra traffic.

Project manager Simon Jones said: "We work with the council, the stadium and the emergency services to ensure that the event runs smoothly."

Madonna's European tour continues to Wembley Arena and finishes in Prague before it moves to Japan in September.

'CONFESSIONS' FACTS

The show was rehearsed for 1,000 hours over a period of 12 weeks

There were 27 performers, including the band, 22 dancers, and Madonna herself

The stage and equipment weighs 200 tons

Eight pairs of shoes and boots and seven costumes are worn nightly by Madonna

The disco-ball rocket ship for the start of the show weighs one-and-a-half tonnes

400,000 watts of power are used for every performance of the show

The tour director said the set was "enormously technical" and was state-of-the-art with its video show.