Madonna sure knows how to keep the crowd waiting, but when she hits the stage, it's clear she still holds the queen of pop title - even at 65. Her recent stint at Boston's TD Garden for "The Celebration Tour" kicked off late Monday night, a trend that's not unusual for the music icon. Despite the tardiness, once Madonna took the stage at around 10:15 p.m., she made sure Boston had a night to remember, according to a review by the Boston Herald.
Fans expecting to groove to her tunes by 8:30 p.m. were left twiddling their thumbs until TD Garden tweeted at 9 p.m. to explain the delay. They cited the "intricacies" of the show to justify the holdup, a statement seen to possibly placate attendees as they checked watches and debated rushing for the Commuter Rail, which was poised to take its last bow at 12:45 a.m. For some, the concert was a race against time, with the hope not to miss their ride home, as reported by CBS Boston.
According to the Boston Herald, the show was a "finely curated biography," serving more as a retrospective than a greatest hits concert. From the first mini-set laden with her timeless '80s jams to the closing numbers, Madonna's narrative arc encompassed various chapters of her life - the heretic, the sex-positive champion, the mother, and the daughter.
Seldom do concerts manage to include pyrotechnics, a carousel of shirtless dancers, and an acoustic version of "Express Yourself" all in one night, but then again, we're talking about Madonna. She did that with enough spectacle and charisma to crush any bass-heavy thumps that dared dull her songs. And as the Herald put it, she made fans "love her" and left them wanting more. But it wasn't just about packing in the fans; she also packed the night with meaning. "I think the most controversial thing I have ever done is to stick around," she said in a video clip 2016.
The icon returns for her second night at TD Garden on Tuesday, hopefully to more immediate satisfaction for attendees. But for those who witnessed the grandeur of Madonna's Monday performance, the wait might have just been worth it, adding yet another success to her long and storied career.
