I guess it had to come to this. But music critic Aaron Wherry in the Canadian NATIONAL POST writes today: “What is Madge good for?
The only thing Madonna provokes with her latest tour is sadness at how lame she’s become…”
Noting that “Those readers under the age of 18 may have to ask their parents about this, but, believe it or not, Madonna used to be quite shocking. Edgy even.”
‘‘Her latest tour, not-so-subtly- titled ‘‘Re-invention’’, is apparently an orgy of burkas, Bush-bashing, Kabbalah and her greatest hits. Oh, and at one point she straps herself into an electric chair.’’ he writes.
I never thought she was much of anything, anyway, but she did carry off some hummable pop tunes in the past, even if her voice was electronically assisted.
In the words of Kenny from South Park:
“Madonna is an old anorexic whore who wore out her welcome years ago, and that now she suddenly speaks with a British accent and she thinks she can play guitar and she should go fuck herself.”
Her concerts haven’t aged well. I saw parts of the Girlie Show a few months ago, and just thought the retro 70s numbers were so stupid. The Re-Invention concert seemed like a good idea, but the more I hear about it, the anti-war mumbo jumbo, trendy religions–she’s a lot more entertaining in cone bras singing Vogue than the crap she’s been up to these days.
Madonna’s a smart woman, though we wouldn’t know this from her books and songwriting to date. Think of her as a businesswoman, and her genius becomes clear.
I wish she should focus more on intellectual pursuits (I find her involvement with Kabbala actually quite promising) and on mentoring other artists (with lesbian kisses always a plus).
Sex and religious mockery get old very fast, and I don’t feel that her musical style is likely broaden as much as Sting’s did. Can you imagine Madonna singing country? Sting has!
Personally I think the main problem with Madonna in recent years has been that she’s taken the whole “reinvention” thing as the crux of her stage personality, instead of keeping it as a useful tool like it used to be. When she’s making these obvious efforts to reinvent her stage persona, it just grates; when they seemed more like evolutions rather than “oh shit, new album, time for a new image” they worked quite well. I never really liked her anyway, but at least then I could respect her.
