Sticky & Sweet

Above: Will, Ryan, Me & Paul at the Madonna pre-party.

Last night Ryan, Will, Paul and I headed to Madonna's Hard Candy: Sticky & Sweet Tour! Very appropriate title for he day after Halloween. We headed there early since we had VIP passes to a pre-dinner and a Madonna goody bag. The buffet dinner was great and the entire event had huge Madonna posters, her music videos playing, music was blaring - it was a Madonna fans dream!

Above: Paul, Madonna and Me.

After the little shindig, we headed into the arena dodging the pouring rain - it has not rained in over 6 months in San Francisco but it was pouring rain when Madonna came to visit!

Above: Everyone that attended the pre-part got a trendy shoulder bag, a tour book, a cool pen, a tour lollipop and a kiss from Madonna (I am lying about the kiss part.)

The show did not disappoint. She never does. I have seen every one of her concerts since 1990s Blonde Ambition Tour. She really amazes me each show for different reasons. The tour was not my favorite of hers at all, there were a few songs I was not crazy about and the whole Spanish section of the concert I could have lived without. A few things really floored me watching this 50-year-old woman that I have followed for the past 25 years. I have watched this woman evolve from flash in the pain to living legend.

Above: Oh the joy in super Madonna fan Ryan's face looking through he tour book.

Another thing that amazed me was how the stadium was sold out and everyone was screaming and on their feet. The age range was 10 years old to 70 years old, it really showed that people still come out to see Madonna of all ages after all these years. Even the new songs that people were not that familiar with, everyone was still out of their seats jamming to the show.



Her political views in the middle of the show were quite impressive. She shows videos of all the "evils" of the world right now including McCain and then she went on to endorse Obama and show images of people doing good in the world like Bono and Oprah. It was a pretty powerful montage.



The show was a blast and it was my second time seeing Madonna with Paul and my first time with mega fan Ryan and Will. It was really cool seeing it with Ryan because he is juts as much a fan as I am even though he was born the year Madonna started, 1983. Sigh, I did feel old talking about how I remember Madonna first coming out, BUT we both were screaming our heads off when she first took the stage.

Check out the video I took of Madonna performing "Vogue" - notice when I pan over to Ryan's face mid-way through. I thought the vein in his forehead was going to explode! :-)