Who’s That Girl with the Rebel Heart? Bitch, she’s Madonna! (My Ideal Rebel Heart Tour)

first thought: Thursday March 26

I’ve been listening to Madonna’s new album, Rebel Heart, for two weeks, non-stop! Part of it feels retrospective and my thoughts have lingered on my fan affair with Madonna (my personal retrospective!).

I’ve been an avid Madonna fan since I was eight years old…her Material Girl days! My first 7-inch 45 rpm record was a Madonna single (Material Girl), my first cassette was Madonna (True Blue), my first CD…Madonna (The Immaculate Collection).

My teens were filled with a Madonna that did everything perfectly and she continued to impress me as she evolved and reinvented herself and her music. But it’s been a while since I’ve been impressed with a Madonna album as I am of Rebel Heart. Music is probably the last album which I could listen to from beginning to end, over and over, week after week. I enjoyed American Life, in doses, Confessions on the Dance Floor was fun, and Hard Candy and MDNA had some great moments (Candy Shop, Girl Gone Wild), but none of them made a strong connection with me as those from Madonna’s past. On the other hand, Rebel Heart is a perfect mix of everything that I love about Madonna: fun smart pop dance songs, deep personal lyrics, love and heartache, S.E.X., and a willingness to experiment. So I am extremely excited to see what she decides to put together for her Rebel Heart Tour (yes, I have tickets! I’ve seen every show since The Girlie Show if it made it to my city!). With this in mind, I have come up with my own themes and track list if I were to stage her show:

Part 1: Who is Madonna?

I can picture a stripped down stage with Madonna, centre-stage, guitar in hand, singing Rebel Heart. Then the stage morphs into controlled chaos and mayhem as she ventures through each song in this set, reflecting and figuring out “Who is Madonna?” and what helped shape her into a Rebel woman with a Heart: “Don’t tell me to stop;” “The more that I wait, the more time that I waste;” “Keep people together, forever and ever;” “Something’s coming over me;” “You can’t touch this ‘cause I’m a bad bitch.” It reads magically as the story of Madonna:

Rebel Heart Intro

Veni Vidi Vici

American Life

Devil Pray

Don’t Tell Me

Jump

Hollywood

Keep it Together

Secret

Ghosttown

Ray of Light

Who’s That Girl?

Bitch, I’m Madonna

Part 2: HeartBreakCityGirl finds Love

Madonna has suffered heart ache. We heard it in MDNA and it continues as a theme in Rebel Heart. She’s also written about heartache in past albums and this is a perfect platform to bring them all together. I chose a few of my favourites beginning with Paradise. It’s a perfect theme and a great way to segue from Part 1. It has electronic experimentation in its music and an aching acknowledgment of love lost in its lyrics. “Your heart is not broken” but it’s frozen when it’s not open…only Power of Goodbye and Frozen can build these up until they culminate into another standout track of Rebel Heart: HeartBreakCity. We continue through the set with heartache but it’s not going to keep her down. She’s living for love and she’ll carry on…sorry, not sorry! So, really, nothing matters as she falls deeper and deeper into love with a beautiful stranger. And haven’t we all had our best sexcapades with beautiful strangers? What a way to segue into S.E.X.!

Paradise (Not For Me)

Power of Goodbye

Frozen

HeartBreakCity

Take a Bow/You’ll See Medley

Sorry

Living for Love

Nothing Really Matters

Deeper and Deeper

Beautiful Stranger

Part 3: Never Too Old for S.E.X.

“Express yourself, don’t repress yourself” has been Madonna’s mantra and it works well as an intro to the sex part of the tour. Of course there will be an Interlude* here and I’ve considered a medley of Justify My Love, Like a Virgin, Erotica, Human Nature and Best Night as an intro for Part 3. I think the others work well with Paradise as the intro to Part 2 andTurn Up the Radio for Part 4.

                                              

She wouldn’t be Madonna without sex and a Rebel Madonna continues to push society’s image of sex; only she can teach us an important lesson on sexology: men and especially women can have sex at any age! Holy Water is one of my favourite tracks. It reminds me of tracks from Erotica and I find myself pretending to be like “Magic Mike” dancing in my kitchen. But like the rest of us, she’s human, and we can’t pretend that the negative comments have not affected her so she segues into another reflective part of the concert, Joan of Arc being the stand out track here (and my favourite track on the album!)

I’ve included tracks that haven’t been performed or have only been performed once in concert. Most of us long-time fans would love to hear her play some of these songs…especially Rescue Me, a track that should’ve been the second huge hit from The Immaculate Collection. She believes in the power of love, she and the rest of us will all be rescued, no matter what our “perceived” sins may be. “You can’t make me cry” but “even hearts made out of steel can break.” She may not be Joan of Arc, yet, but she knows what it feels like for a girl and she is standing up for women’s rights, rights that have staggered more so than some LGBT rights. But the set ends with I’ll Remember before leading into the final “party” of the night. There can be pleasure when we get through the pain and I’ll Remember, a track she’s never sung live (this fan would love to hear it live!), will save us through strength and love from past friends and lovers. Now we can stand out on our own and get ready to party!

Interlude*

S.E.X.

Holy Water

Body Shop

Cherish

(with a “Body Shop” feel)

Sooner or Later

Fever

(sultry version that ties into Sooner or Later

and then picks it up at the end before Rescue Me begins)

Rescue Me

Oh Father

Joan of Arc

What it Feels Like For a Girl

I’ll Remember

Part 4: Turn Up the Music, I’m Madonna Bitch! Let’s Party!

To get the party started, we need to turn up the radio, let the music play to bring all people together, and get our groove on with old school, party-dancing Madonna! You Can Dance had amazing remixes of her early dance hits and her image on the album’s cover fits perfectly with her current “matador” look (which also works in Part 2 with Take a Bow, You’ll See, and Living For Love!) Life is a ball, let your body move to the music, and get up on the dance floor!

Turn Up the Radio

(sampling “Dance and sing, get up and do your thing” from Everybody)

Music 

(sampling “let your body move to the music” from Vogue)

Into The Groove

(You Can Dance Remix)

Where’s the Party

(You Can Dance Remix – with samples from Celebration, Holiday)

Wouldn’t it be amazing to watch the show morph from the Rebel Heart Madonna to her squealing at the end of Where’s the Party? I’d be in Madonna heaven with a playlist like this, live and in concert. We avid fans would be squealing for more!

Until then, I’ve set up my own playlist on iTunes and I am listening to it on repeat. 



I'd love to hear your thoughts on this playlist - agree/disagree? changes? additions? Feel free to leave comments below!