TOUR REVIEW: The Queen REIGNS Madonna #RebelHeartTourPhilly!

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TOUR REVIEW: The Queen REIGNS Madonna #Rebel HeartTourPhilly!

The Queen Madonna took to the stage on her "Rebel Heart" tour at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center Thursday night and most shocking thing about Madonna's "Rebel Heart" tour, which opened at Montreal's Bell Centre Wednesday, had nothing to do with sex, shocking right? LOL!

And she did offer such token Madonna-esque stunts as nuns swinging on stripper poles and dancers gyrating on holy crosses.

Instead, the surprise of the show came in smiles.

Throughout nearly the entire two hour event, Madonna could barely stop grinning. For anyone who has followed Madonna tours from the start, the sight of it couldn't help but startle.

This time, she seemed to having a blast. It helped that she was supported by her best-choreographed, and most rewardingly theatrical, show since her peak "Blonde Ambition" show twenty-five years ago. Together, it made for an infectious night that brought the Canadian crowd to a series of spontaneous, and escalating, standing ovations. It didn't hurt that she sang "La Vie En Rose," both in French and in surprisingly bold voice.

The bright tone of the show made for a striking contrast to the star's last tour, "MDNA," a dark and violent affair that often ended up puzzling to boot. "Rebel Heart" had no such pretense. In fact, it may be Madonna's lightest roadshow to date.

That's not at all to say it's unsubstantial. On the contrary, the triumph of the "Rebel Heart" tour is how it finds Madonna taking ownership of her legacy with an unprecedented maturity

She began that approach on the tour's nakesame album, which found her in a newly self-referential mode.

Madonna mirrored that here by featuring no fewer than nine of its tracks, including the show's opener, "Iconic." For this initial section of the show, Madonna drew on her time-honored mixture of the erotic and the reverent.

Her twenty dancers, dolled up as medieval warriors, bore cross-topped weapons. In a slow, graceful take on "Vogue," Renaissance images of religious figures replaced movie stars while Madonna and her dancers posed at "The Last Supper" table.

While the star used to position such displays as social commentary, here they seemed to have more to do with reasserting her own long history with them.

Madonna came the closest she's ever going to get to a "greatest hits" display in the third act, where she offered touchstones from "Lucky Star" to "Material Girl." The latter she hasn't performed live since the early '90s.

Even so, none of the older songs sounded anything like they had on their albums. To suit the matador-themed theatrical accompaniment, Madonna re-imagined them as Spanish-tinged ballads.

Madonna also on this stop substituted singing Who’s That Girl for Ghost Town.

Then, she went into "Rebel Heart," a song about the joy of self-discovery. The theme allowed Madonna to run through a wide range of characters in the show — including a '20s French cabaret star — while maintaining a solid through-line.

It also helped her pull off what may have been the show's most stunning move. When performing "Like a Virgin," she appeared on the gaping stage entirely alone, dancing with a freedom and innocence that made her, at 57, seem once again new.

Here’s a clip from the tour!

Her Set List:

1. Iconic
2. B***h I'm Madonna
3. Burning Up
4. Holy Water
5. Devil Pray
6. Messiah
7. Body Shop
8. Ghost Town
9. Deeper and Deeper
10. Heartbreak City
11. Like a Virgin
12. S.E.X.
13. Living For Love
14. La Isla Bonita
15. Dress You Up
16. Lucky Star
17. Rebel Heart
18. Illuminati
19. Music
20. Candy Shop
21. Material Girl
22. La Vie En Rose
23. Unapologetic B***h
24. Holiday

It’s a Great show and must see if she comes to your town GO SEE HER!