I attended Madonna’s Sticky and Sweet concert in Wien, Austria, on the Donau Insel and it was a big disappointment, although it looked like a great idea on paper.
In the last two years I have developed an appetite for outdoor concerts – and I would like to thank the person responsible for that – you know who you are 😉
After catching the Rolling Stones in Bucharest as a part of the Bigger Bang Tour, I thought the only other act that could come close in spectacularity would be Madonna (as I saw clips from several elaborate concerts over the years).
So, it was a no-brainer when I found out she was on tour in Europe.
Unfortunately (see below) the easiest solution was to go in Austria’s capital city, Wien (Viena). In less than 45 minutes the concert tickets were bought, flight tickets were purchased and a hotel room was researched and paid for, ALL ONLINE. The tickets arrived after 1 week, so everything was poised for greatness, right?
Wrong! I found the following things to have a very significant negative impact on my experience:
- THE SET UP – The stage was like in the fairy tales: far-far away 🙂 and the additional screens were tiny too small. Nay sayers said it was done to conceal physical imperfections of her body, but I refuse to believe Madonna would be that superficial.
I know there is a good reason for that setup, but I just can’t seem to find it. - THE PERFORMANCE – Here I am walking on a very thin line. God I’m glad I was an olympic gymnast growing up! The show itself was very elaborate, with what seemed like hundreds of people on the stage, and close to one million outfits. The lights complemented the music, there was a gipsy (or so they pretended) fanfare, etc.
HOWEVER, what the show lacked was INTERACTION – the public needs to be engaged, warmed up and kept warm. Too little, to late => no effect.
Oh, and one more thing missing in the ‘performance’ area: THE VOICE. -I am completely useless in judging this, but several people that could tell said she was singing off-key. - THE AUDIENCE- let’s be honest, if you want to have a good concert you need to have a great audience – which a performer has to work on. But with ‘ze austrians’ being so restrained and low-profile (it did not help that we were were incredibly crowded) it felt like she didn’t bother that much: after trying three times to get’em up, she gave up.
Imagine that even in the front rows (filmed and showed on the tiny screens) everybody was NOT jumping, waving, etc – just about 3 people out of 10 would be active. I suspect that is why they stopped showing images of the public altogether.
Conclusions:
1) some stars’ image is greater than them by now
and,
2) by all means, if you go to a concert, go in a hot-blooded country that is renowned for their parties!
PS: from what we could see, MADONNA looks incredible for 50 year old, and is in great physical shape.
Too bad this was not a fitness competition 😉
My Journey into the World 
have you ever seen any other concert in wien? on some in last 10 years? No? I thought so. Just shut up and visit more recent gigs.
I have to appologize for my English, but I am not sure what you mean 🙂
I did see some concerts in the last ten years.
I did not see another concert in Wien, nor am I inclined to do so again very soon.
This gig was recent, just last year, when I wrote the post 🙂
i went to this show in London, Vienna, Rome and been also to the second leg and went to the London O2 Arena concert !! although it was the same concert every time but the crowd was different !! for example in Rome she sang very very well and the crowd were amazing !! in London both shows she sang wonderfully and the crowd was good ” o2 arena crowd was better than wembley stadium” but Vienna concert was absolutely a big dissapointment
the audience were so dull and it seems Madonna didnt rehears well for this show and it looks like she didnt do any vocal rehearsing before this show !! thank god i attended this show in other cities coz if u only have seen vienna concert its like u didnt go to the concert at all !! and its like ppl werent there to have fun so i guess she didnt feel any energy so she didnt bother too much and didn t make too much effort in this show !! but its the best tour ever for me and the other shows were something i;ll never forget !! she;s the Queen on stage and despite her vocal limits she still rock live !! but she didnt rock at all in Vienna
I imagine that the Viena concert was not the FIRST in the tour that you went to 🙂
Because otherwise it would mean you were masochistic 🙂
The concert in Bucharest was also disappointing -(
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