CONFESSIONS TOUR - FAN REVIEWS tour intro - fan reports (US) - fan reports (Eur.) - press reviews (US) - press reviews (Eur.)

Seen the show? Share your review and pictures with us! Cardiff - 30 July - Spectacular but not more than Re-Invention I heard Madonna's soundcheck the day before the kick-off in Cardiff, and she didn't disappoint me the next day. Madonna was at her best on her opening night of her European tour. The crowd was warmed up by Paul Oakenfold who remixed The World Is Mine, Push Me and Maneater to a level where the fans could enjoy it. I was in the golden circle row 2 so I could nearly touched the stage, it was hard to hear how the crowd was screaming. Half an hour later, the show started with 7 minutes delay and Future Lovers was launched. The disco ball did its work, and Madonna appeared onstage as you've never seen her before. The good thing of Future Lovers is she didn't avoid the I Feel Love sample, in fact she emphasized on it by singing also this track. Get Together was a good single promotion and Like A Virgin is the first highlight of the show. I'm very happy she put it in her show. Jump is really spectacular, and I hope the video becomes a mix from the show. The absolute highlight of the show is Live To Tell, but also the prelude to Live To Tell, very well done Madonna ! Forbidden Love is one of my favourite tracks of the Confessions album so that was no problem. Isaac was just an in-between to prepare the crowd for another highlight: Sorry. Like It Or Not, I Love New York all good tracks to promote the record during the tour. A fourth highlight of the show : Ray Of Light. The crowd sang along like you've never heard it before. Let It Will Be, and than another sing-along-song Drowed World, very nice she put it on her setlist. Paradise is well done, Music with Inferno the same. La Isla Bonita, I've heard this remix before ? Erotica was mediocre. The fifth and final highlight of the show was Lucky Star and of course the finale Hung Up. Putting the Gimme sample in Lucky Star was a very good idea. Okay, the show was absolutely spectacular, but I would not say it was more spectacular than the re-Invention Show. Let's say I give this show the same rating I gave to re-Invention, viz. 9 / 10. Hope you all enjoy the Madonna show ! ~ Dirk Cardiff - 30 July - Amazing ambiance I arrived in Cardiff on 29th July after 6pm. It was already raining and quite cold. I started queuing with some other people at my gate – n°6. The conditions were rather extreme – we practically had no shelter from the rain and very strong cold wind. You wouldn't believe that it was the end of July! Later on we were told by the security that the Golden Circle will be filled by 2 gates: 1 & 2 so with some other people I moved to gate 1 and stayed there till the end. The night was a nightmare and as you can imagine I couldn't sleep at all. To protect ourselves we were wearing bin bags... We had a nice treat while queuing: Madonna rehearsed the whole concert the night before and as we were just next to the entrance, we could hear it perfectly and very clearly! Well, on the other hand it spoiled my surprise a bit! ;) After over 24h of queuing in the pouring rain and freezing cold I managed to get my best spot at the top of the catwalk, just in front of the barrier. However the stage was so high that I couldn't see the rest of the stage...I actually couldn't see much to be honest. So I moved backwards as we could easily circulate in the golden circle, although there were 3000 people in this area, there still was quite a lot of free space to walk around. We received green bracelets to leave and come back to the circle. Paul Oakenfold started playing to some videos of his around 7pm. Good fun. Madonna finally appeared around 8.45pm. The stadium was already full with something like 59,000 people! The show had started! She was so beautiful and looked fantastic in Gaultier's costumes. With some other people I met in the queue we were standing on the left hand side of the catwalk so we had a perfect view of the whole stage. Madonna herself complained during the concert that we were so far away from her and that she couldn't reach us. The show was amazing with some strong anti-Bush messages and some other supporting charity work for Malawi orphans. I had tears in my eyes when she performed Forbidden Love and cried from happiness during Lucky Star! The disco outfit with the electric lights on her cape was just fantastic! We danced a lot but not everyone did, I guess English and British are rather reserved in showing their emotions. During the show Madonna said that it was a very special one for her as it was her first time in Wales and her first show in Europe on this tour. Once the show was over, people singing Madonna songs drowned the streets of Cardiff. Amazing ambiance! ~ Marcin