Madonna’s ‘MDNA World Tour’ Causing One Controversy After Another

Madonna’s ‘MDNA World Tour’ Causing One Controversy After Another

During a recent tour stop in Dallas, Madonna took a tumble during her performance of “Like a Prayer.”
Video of the spill has created a bit of a stir on the internet. People relish a good fall. I do too but I also give performers some slack when it comes to losing their footing.

Madonna spends a lot of time on stage and stages not exactly known for being easy to navigate. So she, and the rest of her ilk, are bound to fall every once in a while.

Regardless, Madge’s stumble is one of the smoothest things that have happened on her global odyssey. Her trek has been plagued by controversy, remonstration, and nudity.

Her MNDA would tour kicked off May 31 in Israel. It ends Dec. 22 in Argentina. Her North American leg began Aug. 28 in Philadelphia and will conclude November 20 with a second Madonna concert in Miami.

In the near future: Madonna will be in Saint Paul, Minnesota on Nov. 3 and Nov. 4; Madonna will be in Pittsburgh on Nov. 6; and Madonna plays Madison Square Garden in New York City on Nov. 12 and Nov. 13.
 
Even if you can’t get Madonna tickets you should still follow her tour. Why? So far the Material Girl has made headlines by superimposing a swastika over the face of a French politician, showed her breast in Istanbul, challenged a gay-pride ban in St. Petersburg, and publically demanded the release of Pu**y Riot in Moscow.

Just about everywhere she went in Europe she was greeted with protest from those who took exception to her vocal support of the LGBT community and her lascivious stage show.

The fun didn’t stop when she came to the United States. While gallivanting around America, Madonna has called President Obama a “Black Muslim,” mysteriously canceled a show in Dallas due to the world’s briefest case of laryngitis (she was originally scheduled to perform two nights in Big-D), used a handgun during her concert in Denver, and showed her buttocks in Los Angeles to support a 15-year-old Pakistani girl who was shot in the head.

There are some very worthy causes mentioned in the last few paragraphs. However, Madonna has supported them in the most boorish of manners.

Madonna’s heart is bleeding without a shred of class.

During her concert in Denver, Madge wielded a gun and pretended to shoot a masked gunman during the song “Gang Bang.” Many in attendance were shocked at her homage to violence.

The Denver area is still recovering from a mass shooting at a movie theater, the unsolved murder of a
10-year-old girl, and the slaying of five people at a bar and grill.

In response to complaints by Colorado concert-goers, Madonna’s press agent said the bit was a crucial part of the show and removing it would be like “taking out the third act of Hamlet.”

No, removing it would not have been like removing the third act from Hamlet. Removing it would have been Madonna not picking up the prop gun. For Madonna to compare herself to The Bard only shows us her hubris. Who does she think she is, Bono?

In Los Angeles, Madonna performed a striptease in which she revealed the name “Malala” written on her back between her bra strap and her throng. Malala was fighting for women’s education in Pakistan when she was shot in the head by the Taliban. For Madonna to support this brave girl by showing her buttocks is like a strip club holding a celebration for Eleanor Roosevelt.

Some say Madonna brought attention to Malala’s cause. Some say she’s enabled extremists to further cast Malala as a symbol of Western immodesty. It doesn’t really matter, Americans would have known about Malala with or without Madonna’s striptease and extremists don’t need any help when it comes to hate. The striptease was just Madonna being uncouth.

Calling President Obama a “black Muslim” was an extremely shortsighted statement for Madge to make. Certainly the Obama campaign rued the singer’s poor choice of words. When asked to clarify her ignorant statement Madonna said she was being ironic.
  
We all know Madonna has a compulsion to be controversial but there’s also another factor at work. The pop singer doesn’t connect her actions with her message. Madge says and does whatever she wants. She justifies it later and usually with the flimsiest of logic.

Take her support of Malala, a victim of a gunmen’s bullet. Yet, Madonna’s brandishes a gun every night during her live concerts. How can she reconcile those two actions? Intellectually she can’t.

They completely contradict one another.

Her proponents contend that she’s an artist and it’s an artist’s prerogative to be as illogical as they want. I disagree. I think there’s more to it.

I’m no fan of the hippie but there’s not a single artist from the 1960s that would have used a gun during a rock concert and then protested the Vietnam War.

Madonna is all style and no substance. She wants her act to conform to a certain aesthetic but she won’t bend that aesthetic to fit all of her values. To make the two conflicting forces jive, she contrives circuitous justifications long after the curtain falls.

She’s not the only performer who does this but she’s certainly the most famous.

Perhaps her aforementioned antics are quintessentially Madonna or perhaps they’re the product a 54-year-old singer desperately trying to be relevant.

Regardless, I believe Madonna is a great performer who doesn’t need to be controversial to entertain her fans. She’s called the “Queen of Pop” for a reason.

Her inability to realize that she doesn’t need to make headlines in order to put on a good show is her greatest stumble of all.