Review: Madonna was on her game in theatrical Celebration at PPG Paints Arena

Review: Madonna was on her game in theatrical Celebration at PPG Paints Arena

On Sunday night, we watched the current generation of dance-pop artists, from Dua Lipa to SZA to the well-traveled Miley Cyrus, parade across the Grammy stage.

Right here in Pittsburgh, one night later, an adoring crowd at a smokin’ hot PPG Paints Arena (temperature-wise) got to see one of the grande dames of the genre.

Madonna was back in the ’Burgh for just the third time in her 42-year career, following her stops here on the Virgin Tour in 1985 and the MDNA Tour in 2012. It was a show postponed from last summer, when she almost died of a bacterial infection, so the Celebration this winter is in part for her very survival.

An early headline from the tour was that the 65-year-old Madonna, doing her best to bring club vibes to an arena, is making this a late night, prompting a lawsuit from two fans in Brooklyn who had a rough time getting home after the show. In Pittsburgh, it was a Monday, which is always fun. If any locals want get in on that action, the ticket time was 8:30 p.m., there was a DJ, and she hit the stage at 10:09 p.m. At least we were warned.

We were also warned, via fan video, of Madonna’s occasionally awkward dance moves and a pitchy vocal here and there.

There weren’t many of those. This queen was toned, beautiful (looking nothing like those viral alien images) and on her game in a dazzling two-hour theatrical production.

With 2019’s “Madame X” being her most recent album, she is using the Celebration Tour as her own Eras trip through four daring decades of music and fashion.

For the first time in her touring career, she is doing it in club — or mall-court — style, singing over booming backing tracks rather than a live band.

Our host, Bob the Drag Queen, got it started, down in the crowd, dressed as Marie Antonette, engaging with a married couple and telling the guy, “No straight men are allowed in the building unless they are escorted by a gay person or a woman.” (I managed to sneak in solo without Bob knowing.)

Madonna made a foggy entrance on a rotating circular stage draped in a stunning black kimono with a halo headpiece singing an ethereal “Nothing Really Matters.”

Stripping to a sparkly jacket and miniskirt, she warped back to 1982 with her debut single “Everybody” and stayed in that mode with “Into the Groove,” “Open Your Heart” and other singles from that happy, carefree, big-haired decade.

She introduced “Burning Up” saying that her dad grew up in Aliquippa “and he didn’t raise me to be a dumbass.” So, instead of being a teen-pop diva in a leotard, she continued, she transitioned to singer-songwriter and took her music to CBGB in New York.

“Do you want to hear the story of my life?” she asked. “The good, the bad, ugly, the erotic … You people have been a big part of my story, and I thank you all for that.”

Act I also starred Bob as a bouncer trying to keep her out of a club where she eventually broke into “Holiday” under a disco ball. Missing from that early nostalgia trip were “Borderline,” “Lucky Star” and “Material Girl.”

“Holiday” faded into a minor-key outro leading into the moodier second act with the hypnotic synth-pop classic “Live to Tell” serving as a backdrop for a photo tribute to the scores of people, famous and not, who fell victim to AIDS. The gothic dirge and funeral march on “The Ritual” — very Ghost like — set up a hopeful “Like a Prayer,” with a slapping beat.

While Madonna’s journey was always sexually charged, it went to 11 in the early ’90s, depicted in a steamy third act starting with “Erotica.” It was performed with the star in a Marilyn wig and black boxing robe before stripping down to a silky red slip and getting stroked by one of her female dancers. That talented ensemble executed a stunning Pilobolus-style dance for “Justify My Love,” segueing into “Hung Up,” the “contains nudity” portion of the show.

Her classically trained daughter Mercy James, who was fully dressed, provided lovely piano accompaniment on the sultry “Bad Girl.” Daughter Estere demonstrated her slinky moves in a “Ballroom” dance-off segment (in Act IV) loudly emceed by Bob with Madonna as one of the two judges flashing a “10” card.

After we got past the fiery underworld opening of Act V, Madonna, in cowgirl garb, did some of her best pure singing in the playful segment with western and Latin touches.

Holding a Budweiser, she told the story of the family coming to Aliquippa every summer, till she was 16, to work on the farmhouse her Italian immigrant grandfather bought with the “blood, sweat and tears” of working in the steel mills. While not happy about it then, she appreciates it all now.

Great banter, but she would not have won a talent contest for her solo acoustic guitar version of “Express Yourself,” and she seemed to know it. It was quickly swept away, though, by her better effort on “La Isla Bonita” and “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.”

Approaching midnight, the club beats hit harder, and Madonna, in the mirrored Versace catsuit and long blonde wig, took off above the crowd in the lighted box for “Ray of Light.” She came back down to earth to close out the show with “Rain” and the final costumed parade of “Bitch, I’m Madonna.”

It was demanding two hours of Celebration for the artist and a rewarding one for her fans. Although she’s not winning Grammys and charting hits, Madonna is still on the cutting edge of dance-pop fashion, and she can still throw a party — even on a Monday.

Scott Mervis: [email protected]

Madonna Set List

Act I

Nothing Really Matters (1999)

Everybody (1982)

Into the Groove (1985)

Causing a Commotion (1987)

Burning Up (1983)

Open Your Heart (1986)

Holiday (1983)

Act II

The Storm

Live to Tell (1986)

The Ritual (2014) (Dancers interlude)

Like a Prayer (1989)

Act III

Living for Love (2015)

Erotica (1992)

Justify My Love (1990)

Hung Up (2005)

Bad Girl (1993)

Act IV

Ballroom (dancers interlude)

Vogue (1990)

Human Nature (1995)

Crazy for You (1985)

Act V

The Beast Within (audio clip)

Die Another Day (2002)

Don’t Tell Me (2000)

Mother and Father (2003)

Express Yourself (1989)

La Isla Bonita (1987)

Don’t Cry for Me Argentina (1996)

Act VI

Bedtime Story (1995)

Ray of Light (1998)

Rain (1993)

Act VII

Billie Jean / Like a Virgin (audio clip)

Bitch I’m Madonna (2015)

Celebration (2009)