Madonna at Live 8

I'm late in blogging my reaction to Madonna's performance at Live 8 over the 4th of July weekend, but I offer up as my excuse that I have only recently seen it. Not that you could expect to see it on MTV or VH1, but thanks to the wonders of the web and various Madonna fan sites, I was able to watch it on my computer.

And wow. I was nervous at first, because I was just as sure as anything that she'd be beholden to sing "Imagine" which seems to be her stand-by song for benefits these days. But miraculously, cooler heads prevailed and she picked three songs out of her catalog that worked really well together. The combination of "Like A Prayer," "Ray of Light," and "Music" really did it for me. As expected, I was tickled to death that she chose to do an old song, but she's been doing "Like A Prayer" a lot recently so no big shock there. I loved her being just a little bit naughty "OK, this is where everyone sings along. And I wanna hear you fuckers!" and she seemed to be having a great time up there. It just makes me wish that damn Re-Invention Tour DVD would hurry up and get released already!!

The fact that she didn't totally suck was refreshing. "Imagine" in the set list might not have doomed her to complete suckitude, but its absence assured greatness. One thing I will say, Maddy's really showing her age these days--but at least she's growing old with a little bit of grace and not going out and having tons of plastic surgery like other divas (*cough* Cher *cough*) have. (And that's no disrepect to Cher. If Anna heard I was dissing Cher, she'd find a new daddy.)

Can't wait till she tours again in 2006!!