Madonna tour struggles to get into the groove
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-05-27 10:14

Madonna's return to the concert stage received mixed reviews, with some suggesting the 45-year-old mother of two had erred by swapping her trademark sexuality for a new found spirituality.

Singer Madonna performs during her 'Re-Invention' World Tour 2004 in California. Madonna's return to the concert stage has received mixed reviews, with some suggesting the 45-year-old mother of two had erred by swapping her trademark sexuality for a new found spirituality. [AFP]

"Message to Madonna: Bring back the sex. Or at least something with flesh and blood, please," said the Los Angeles Times in a particularly scathing notice on Monday's launch of the Material Girl's first major tour in three years.

"This promised to be Madonna's tour de force, a reappraisal that put her work in new and revealing contexts. But time and again she fell short of the challenge," the newspaper said.

Fans paid 200 dollars a piece for Monday's show which kicked off Madonna's "Re-Invention" world tour. Illness force her to call off the second concert Tuesday and she has also pulled out of dates in Israel because of security fears.

Under the shadow of Middle East violence and the war in Iraq, the concert had a distinctly political element.

A video backdrop showing tough images of US soldiers at war and injured children popped up during her camouflage-clad rendition of "American Life," drawing ire from some members of the audience.

Images of a Palestinian boy walking arm in arm with an Israeli were shown, along with pictures of ill or injured children as Madonna sang John Lennon's "Imagine."

"Madonna traded most of the old sexual teasing for social commentary, and she's no John Lennon, friends," the Times commented.

The New York Times was slightly more forgiving, but argued that the "re-invention" tag had proved over-ambitious as Madonna appeared to be stuck "shadowboxing" with her past.

"There were times when Madonna seemed somehow oppressed by the weight of all her old selves, times when it seemed that she just wanted to wipe the slate clean and start over, as a straightforward singer-songwriter," the newspaper said.

The Times also echoed the criticism of the "Imagine" offering, saying Madonna was "far too slippery -- and far too savvy -- for this sort of faux-naive sentimentalism."

More upbeat was USA Today which hailed an evening of "cheeky and challenging theater" complete with "sexy but age appropriate" costumes.

"This show doesn't have the degree of flesh, carnal content or shock value that past outings delivered, but this time Madonna is opting for more heart than cleavage and more personality than profanity," it said.

The tabloid New York Post, meanwhile, pretty much ignored the music altogether and offered instead a withering critique of Madonna's stage outfits in an article titled "Material Hurl."

"Madonna's blond ambition is fading to bland," said the Post, which reserved special sartorial outrage for the "frumpy, midi Scottish inspired kilt and wife-beater shirt" outfit Madonna wore for the show's finale.

"We just want her to bring back the cone bra," the newspaper said.

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