Who's That Girl?

After a nearly 4 year hiatus of being at a concert it finally happened! The excitement and anticipation leading up to it was immeasurable. The enjoyment and memories made were countless but most importantly and above all, the pure happiness I legitimately felt deep down in my core was priceless and very much needed. I need these types of moments every so often to remind me that life can still be enjoyable and that I still have connections with some really great people in my life too. I haven’t lost everything even though some days can feel like that.

I love concerts and would always go to at least a couple a year but then Covid happened. Any tickets I had were postponed or cancelled altogether. Even once the world went back to “normal” for some reason any concerts I was supposed to go to were cancelled and it just started to feel like it was never going to happen for me again. Then the one and only Madonna announced she was going back on the road. The Celebration Tour was announced and we rushed to get tickets. I have been to countless Madonna concerts stemming all the way back to 8 years old. Yes you read that right and I have my incredible godparents to thank for that one and I will continue going to her shows for as long as she keeps spitting them out. Say what you want about her but that woman has managed to remain relevant in the entertainment and music industry for 4 decades! There aren’t too many musicians today that can or will be able to say the same thing in my opinion. I have been a longtime and devoted fan of hers with even this very blog name being a nod to her famous song “Who’s That Girl”.

The show was just over 2 hours with so many of her hits. She really could have played for several more hours and still would have had a plethora of hits to continue performing. As she walked us through her story from when she started as a teenager to now I was in awe for so many reasons which I will expand on.

Firstly, the flooding of memories that went through my mind with each hit were endless. Let’s start with being 8 years old at a catholic elementary school and asking to use Like a Virgin as my song to dance to for the talent show. Obviously I had to choose something else which ended up being Dress You Up performed together with my childhood friend Marianne who sadly passed away after a long battle with cancer just last year. So young and innocent back then. Those were the days.

Next up was Vogue, which was my first competitive jazz number and the incredible memory of winning first place in Atlantic City. It really was a super cool dance routine performed with chairs and what an amazing experience to travel and dance competitively. How about Express Yourself, which was my pre-teen anthem and still has a great message behind it for anyone listening. But the one that hit me in all the feels was Crazy For You because that song has a special spot in my heart. It’s a beautiful song which I had incorporated in to my wedding and wedding video. With that memory it also brought up the fact that this year in July would have been our 20 year wedding anniversary and what is even crazier is that the day after our wedding I was at a Madonna concert! Yes, we postponed our honeymoon by a day when hearing that Madonna was coming back to Toronto for a show after many years so that I could go see her and I am fully aware that I really did have an understanding husband who fully supported that decision because he knew just how much she meant to me. In that moment so many feelings were felt but the one in my heart that made me feel like someone was trying to send me a sign was the greatest feeling I could have ever asked for.

The second reason I was in awe was the fact that this woman at 65 years old could still kill it on stage. Her voice, her stage presence, her show in its entirety was beautifully crafted and curated and the fact that she incorporated her incredibly talented children in the show was equally beautiful.

Thirdly, I had another realization of just how unfair and cruel the media can be. The media has been ruthless when it comes to Madonna as she has matured. Yes, she is aging as that is what happens in life and yes, she has had work done but who hasn’t in the celebrity world and how many people out there wouldn’t do it themselves should they have the means? Better yet, how many people already have and just don’t speak of it?! Throughout the last few years the media and paparazzi have managed to take the most unflattering, unpleasant and unnatural photos of Madonna and plastered them everywhere with such headlines as “Madonna’s new face is more than a eyesore, it’s a complete betrayal” written by the New York Post or even “Madonna: An unlikely inspiration for 50-plus” as detailed in a CTV News report. How cruel yet again the media has been to women over a certain age. It’s no wonder even the Queen of Pop herself would succumb to the pressures of this world when it comes to looks and aging gracefully. What I saw on that stage was a beautiful, talented woman sharing her gift of entertaining, music, love, acceptance and belonging for one and all. I saw a woman who has pushed boundaries and barriers over her 40 years in the business and especially in her earlier days showing that women can be powerful, strong, outspoken and sexual too and there is nothing wrong with any of that. I saw my childhood, my teen years and adult years filled with the best of times and memories thanks to the music created by that very person.

It was another night I will never forget and I’m so grateful to have had it. The stars were aligned that evening from the unheard of traffic-free travel to get there, being seated earlier for our dinner reservation with no rushing to attend the show, the one and only merch stand out of all of them at the stadium that had the very t-shirt all 4 of us specifically wanted and it being on our level immediately as we got off the escalator, to finally bumping in to an old family friend that moments before had been thinking about Mark and then seeing me, exchanging some really sweet and kind words and a huge hug which filled me with such warmth. It was a long wait to finally have one of my amazing concert nights but boy, did it ever make up for the lull. Here’s hoping I get to go to more concerts and possibly even another Madonna show in the near future.

LM