{"id":30533,"date":"2015-09-29T22:00:03","date_gmt":"2015-09-30T02:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=30533"},"modified":"2015-09-29T23:35:24","modified_gmt":"2015-09-30T03:35:24","slug":"musical-interlude-madonna-at-madison-square-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/musical-interlude-madonna-at-madison-square-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"Musical Interlude: Madonna at Madison Square Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you had told 1980s me<\/a> that, in the distant future, I’d see Duran Duran<\/a> once and Madonna twice in a single week, I would have been mind-blowingly happy … but not totally<\/em> surprised.\u00a0 I always promised myself that when I graduated from high school, I’d move to New York, where I would find like-minded people and have all the fun that I didn’t have during my childhood in New Jersey<\/a>. I DID IT, BITCHES!<\/p>\n

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Duran Duran bassist John Taylor was always my favorite member of the band. Photo taken this month from the second row of Terminal 5.<\/p><\/div>\n

So, two days after this month’s Duran Duran<\/a> show, I went to Madonna’s Rebel Heart Tour at Madison Square Garden with my concert-going friend Jessie<\/a>. We had floor seats, and my inner concert-photojournalist was overjoyed to find myself closer to the Queen<\/a> that I’d ever been in the 30 years since I skipped my high-school prom to catch her at Radio City Music Hall. (Sad but true: I have no memory of her opening act — a little group called the Beastie Boys<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

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This is how close I was.<\/p><\/div>\n

Jessie was impressed by the audience, which included 7′-tall drag queens in sequined evening gowns and dudes in matador<\/a> and bull costumes that were inspired by the theme of Madonna’s “Living for Love<\/a>” video.<\/p>\n

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Madonna was looking at these guys when I took the photo.<\/p><\/div>\n

There are critics who complain that Madonna is old<\/a> and “irrelevant.” GTFOH<\/a>. People have said that Madonna was over since her career started. (In 1985, Paul Grein, an editor at Billboard, said<\/a>, \u201cCyndi Lauper will be around for a long time. Madonna will be out of the business in six months. Her image has completely overshadowed her music.\u201d) And let’s see if the “relevant” stars of today can sell out a venue like the Garden 30 years from now and have the crowd on its feet for the whole show. (By the way, Pitchfork’s T. Cole Rachel wrote a nice piece on Madonna’s lasting relationship with her gay fans<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

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Iconic @madonna from #madisonsquaregarden last night #video #madonnavideo #floorseats #music #concert #madonna #rebelheart #rebelhearttour #latergram<\/a><\/p>\n

A video posted by Wendy Brandes (@wendybrandes) on