Madonna's "Sticky And Sweet" Tour: Madonna Slams McCain During Show

CARDIFF, Wales — Even at 50, the queen of pop just can't stop courting controversy.

As Madonna kicked off her international "Sticky and Sweet" tour Saturday night, she took a none-too subtle swipe at the presumptive Republican nominee for U.S. president.

Amid a four-act show at Cardiff's packed Millennium Stadium, a video interlude carried images of destruction, global warming, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, Zimbabwe's authoritarian President Robert Mugabe _ and U.S. Senator John McCain. Another sequence, shown later, pictured slain Beatle John Lennon, followed by climate activist Al Gore, Mahatma Gandhi and finally McCain's Democratic rival Barack Obama.

The rest of the show had the usual Madonna fixtures: sequins, fishnets, and bondage-style outfits drawn from the 3,500 items of clothing reportedly whipped together by 36 designers specifically for the tour. Dancers sauntered across stage in top hats and tail coats, and Madonna tried her hand at break-dancing and pole-dancing.

Some 40,000 fans _ many in pink cowboy hats and boas _ were treated to a heavy metal version of "Borderline," while "La Isla Bonita" served as backdrop for a flamenco routine. The show, billed as a musical mishmash of "gangsta pimp," Romanian folk, rave, and dance _ was an homage to Madonna's continuous reinventions over the past three decades.

She took a playful take on her variegated career, mocking dancers dressed as her previous incarnations _ including the "Material Girl" and "Blonde Ambition" _ before they sank into the stage to the tune of "She's Not Me." Madonna finished off the concert with her thumping "Give it 2 Me" from her new urban-inspired album, "Hard Candy."

If the world's top-selling female recording artist is still writhing, shaking and shimmying with the best of them, her personal life has recently been unsettled. Earlier this summer her brother Christopher Ciccone published a gossipy memoir, and she has faced speculation about her relationship with New York Yankee slugger Alex Rodriquez and rumors that her marriage to British filmmaker Guy Ritchie is on the rocks _ which she hotly denies.

Madonna's tour was eagerly anticipated in Britain, where the pop superstar has made her home, and fans weren't disappointed.

"We enjoyed it to the max," said Ruth Henson, 24, who works in human resources in London. "Madonna, considering she's now 50, is so fit. She did a really good job."

Following Cardiff's opening concert, "Sticky and Sweet" moves across Europe, hitting London's Wembley Stadium on Sept. 11 and Paris on Sept. 20. From there, it goes to North America in October before wrapping up Dec. 18 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

It is Madonna's first tour since striking a deal with concert promoter Live Nation Inc. worth an estimated $120 million over 10 years. The partnership gives Live Nation a stake of future music and music-related business she generates, including touring, merchandising and albums. Madonna's last tour was her 2006 "Confessions" _ in which she staged a mock crucifixion only a few miles (kilometers) from the Vatican.

Comments

[Ajegunle]

ROFLMAO

[freakbrother]

Sorry Madonna. Nothing is "sweet and sticky" after 50. Perhaps McCain could do an "Old and Stinky" campaign tour.

[boogygran]

LOL

[jmo007]

Madonna is correct, Daddy Yankee (who just endorsed McCain and is letting McCain use his trash rap music) is not. Daddy Yankee, if you support the policies of McCain (that you made in your statement) then why isn't your butt in Iraq in that illegal war/occupation that McCain supports?

[Bystander]

What kind of lame logic suggests that everybody that supports the war should be in Iraq? That's as lame as Michael Moore asking O'Reilly if he would send his son to die in Iraq. No one sends their son to die...they go to fight. See, you share a brain cell with Michael Moore...aren't you proud? Ha!

[99hockeyman]

They should be there. Anyone with a brain cell knows this country should not have invaded Iraq.

[LITU]

It's called put your money where your mouth is, or are you too young to understand that moral logic?

[WeHadEnough]

How appropriate you selected "bystander", big mouth no heart! Moore was right on the money as was Phil Donahue when they confronted coward oreilly with the question about the war. If you believe in the cause then you support it, body and soul. Oreilly of course tried to talk tough, but comes across as a sissy boy, and didn't answer the question.

[wanj]

Bystanders generally tend to be losers..... Put on your Rush programming headsets, it's obvious you're running low on talking points.

[KHAAANNN]

NO ONE CARES!
Madonna is OVER, so is McCain, leave it at that.

[CowgirlAmy]

Over? Yeah, she just had a huge monster smash hit and is selling out stadiums around the world. Her latest CD is in the TOP 5 best sellers of the year world wide. Where do you people come up with this nonsense? You wish she was over but saying it doesn't make it so.

[KHAAANNN]

Ashley Simpson had "TOP 5 best sellers" too. Big deal.
The "Music INDUSTRY" manufactures "HITS" the same way you get a book at the top of the NYT best-seller list before it even goes on sale - Straw Man purchasing.
A good friend of mine (and professional musician") told me years ago that;
"The music business has become 10% music, and 90% business"
That was 20 YEARS ago. Look at it now.
Madonna is a good PERFORMER and puts on a great SHOW, I'll give you that, but she is NOT a "musician" in any sense of the word, and her "music" now consists of totally forgettable "techno-dance" crap.
Now excuse me while I put on an AC/DC album to get her "music" out of my head.
Ahhhhhh, that's better.

[EbonBear]

Never been a fan of her music but she has the right to voice her opinion like anyone else, even if I think that her opinion strays into hyperbole.

[spiderbucket]

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she made that little boy she adopted into a coat and wore him if it was fashionable for 15 minutes.”

Morrissey

[theJuanStar]

Yes, because a woman that has invested over 6 million dollars in orphanages and schools in an impoverished country is akin to be Cruella de Ville. By the way, what have you done charitable or to save a child's life recently?

[JohnShank]

Well... I just stopped a young kid from buying a Madonna CD...does that count?

[spiderbucket]

Greatest and most accurate portrayal of Madonna ever:

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she made that little boy she adopted into a coat and wore him if it was fashionable for 15 minutes.”

- Morrissey

[sanaa]

Who is Morrissey?

[lboucher]

After her two hip replacements can Nadonna still dance? When my mother had her two hips replaced last year she took up knitting and bridge with her firends at the AARP community center.

[FirstShirt]

Madonna. Another brain surgeon with an opinion. Comparing McCain with Hitler is just par for the course. Those with her level of intelligence will see some relevance and the rest, democratic and republican, will simply be repulsed by her crudeness.

[StacyJ]

" Those with her level of intelligence will see some relevance ..." That's true. People with HER level of intelligence will see some relevance and stupid people with a low level of intelligence won't understand and they will think it's irrelevant.

[moderate1]

Nice post. I think you just proved his point...

[kiddub]

The woman is just looking for attention. Whether she really believes what's on the screen is immaterial to the material girl. She is just being rebellious for rebelious(ness) (?) sake. The sex book, the videos over the years, all just to sell more records and remain relevant, whether she believes what she states not really doesn't matter. It's all about the $$$.

[gahoggafugga]

how long had it been since she was even close to a virgin? . . .lol

to be honest, i was never that enamoured with her anway. let's see if she still tries this when she eligible for medicare . . .lol

[kiddub]

That song has nothing to do with Virginity. Watch Resevoir Dogs and you'll get it.

[tulsey]

As Swifty Lazar once said of Doris Day"I knew her before she was a virgin".

[Poohnc]

She looks like Lili Von Shtupp from Blazing Saddles

[tr88]

Hahhahaa, It's twue, it's twue.

[sloan1212]

LMAO....needed that kind of humor on a Monday.

[booker52]

At fifty I have to ask aren't you too old for the this??? I say you are. Stay home with your kids.

[Kaos911]

Don't we all have nannies?

[lunadove]

Just because you want to stop living once you get to a certain age, does not mean others should be tethered to such an antiquated system of thought.
She's in great shape and people still love to see her after all these years. She is one hell of an entertainer. She makes money doing so, and uses all that great creative energy, instead of sitting home putting silly projected restrictions on people more successful than her.
Too bitter for this??? I say you are.

BTW, how do you know how much time she spends with her kids? If you are that worried about kids, than why don't you get involved in your own community. There are kids who are poor, hungry, and in need of serious guidance everywhere in this country and other countries as well. I'm sure it will make you fell a bit better if you do.

[zacher2005]

Is she to bitter that she has no pull in the world like she wishes she did? yup

watch Team America...peace!

[theJuanStar]

So you're saying McCain is too old to be President?

[CaptainStormfield]

Yea.. we like our sex symbols young and stupid!!

[rwe]

Thank you again celebs..... We need a montage of Whoopie,and Ben and Rosanne, and Clooney and Madonna and Stone and Reiner and Springsteen and the rest ...And this will be linked to Barack teh celebrity.

[FawkesNews]

rwe, is rightwing hero and excrement-­in-pants-t­o-dodge-Vi­etnam-draf­t musician, Ted Nugent going to play the GOP convention?

Will D-list actor (sic) Chuck Norris be there? (Suggestion: Watch Bruce Lee kick Norris' ass in "Way of the Dragon" during the GOP convention)

[rock2casbah]

Don't forget Wilford Brimley! Hypocrits. Mad because no one of any influence ever wants to be bothered with them.

[CaptainStormfield]

LOL

[mccabe49]

LOL but it's ok with you righties for Jon Voight (b movie actor) to go on Fox and slam Obama. Oh the jealousy, the hypocrisy knows no bounds.

[Monkeytime]

Voight's political opinions are crap, but Midnight Cowboy and Deliverance are definitely not B movies.

[Christopher1]

She a over the hill whinner, just sing and shut up about other things, your singing isn't that great anymore.....