Las Vegas Weekly

August 25, 2008 · 12:46 PM

Madonna kicks off her world tour (and here are the secrets before her Vegas visit)

By Robin Leach

Madonna

Photo: Madonna.com

Vegas fans of pop-queen, 50-year-old "Material Girl" Madonna have to wait until Nov. 8 and 9 to see her new Sticky and Sweet concert -- but Luxe Life already has all the secrets from the weekend premiere of her world tour from Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium in Wales. For those who monitor Madonna’s personal domestic life, let me report that A-Rod was not in attendance among the 40,000-person crowd, but her film director husband, Guy Ritchie, and their growing brood of children -- Lourdes, Rocco and David – were, along with guest videos from Britney Spears, Kanye West and Pharrell Williams.

The world tour will hit 16 European cities before moving across the Atlantic for the North and South American legs. The superstar last toured in 2006 and holds the record as the biggest box-office selling female touring artist of all time.

Luxe Life has the first photos -- and the renderings of her Givenchy Haute Couture costumes by Riccardo Tisci, that she’ll wear at the MGM Grand Garden Arena this fall. He’s created "Gangster Pimp," "Art Deco" and "Gypsy" inspirations. "Madonna is the icon, the artist, the woman for whom I have so much respect and admiration. I feel incredibly fortunate to have been given the opportunity to offer the world of Givency haute Couture to her," he commented. The Gangster Pimp frock coat is in black, stretch satin trimmed with pleated, black silk organza embroidered with jet beads. The waistcoat is in similar material but laced up with a back corset. The Gypsy outfits include a long, hooded cape in black silk taffeta lined in fuschia silk taffeta and the dress is a black stretch chiffon trimmed with multicolored ribbons and fuschia-colored metal chains worn with a matching necklace. Madonna and her dancers are also wearing other costumes from 36 other designers, including Stella McCartney, Chanel’s couture gloves and Miu Miu, including their chrome-heeled boots.

Photo: Courtesy photo

Madonna Givenchy outfit

Photo: Courtesy photo

Madonna Givenchy outfit

Photo: Courtesy photo

Madonna Givenchy outfit

The Vegas show will be divided into four themed components: It starts with the 1920s art deco and gangster pimp stylings. That’s followed by an "old school" segment going back to her 80s roots in New York with the birth of rap dancers dressed by Manhattan designer Jeremy Scott. The street culture and graffiti artistry is courtesy Keith Haring. La Isla Bonita is the inspiration behind the third set, titled Gypsy, with authentic Romanian musicians and dancers. The extravagant finale is a mod-Japanese-themed production with knee-high socks by American Apparel, Stella McCartney boots, Ray Ban sunglasses, YSL’s glass star belts and Moschino heart-shaped sunglasses. You’ll need those because of the Swarovski sparkling crystals that shine on everything from guitar straps to the football kneepads for Madonna and the dancers.

It’s a monstrous undertaking to stage the Sticky and Sweet tour, with 250 in the road travel crew alone. On stage, it's Madonna, 16 dancers and a 12-piece band. They rehearsed a total of 653 hours for the two-hour show, which breaks into the four segments and is performed on two stages dominated by giant M's. In addition to the 3,500 individual wardrobe elements, Madonna has some $2 million worth of Swarovski crystal jewelry to wear. There are three racks of clothing for Madonna's stage wardrobe alone, with five assistants helping her in and out of the eight major costume changes, of which the shortest takes place within 90-seconds!

Here are the other fun facts and figures confirmed by Madonna’s staff of who and what will head into Vegas: 200 triangle sponges used to apply makeup, 180 Q-Tips, 120 powder puffs, 100 pairs of out-of-stock fishnet, pantyhose in old-style weave purchased for Madonna via eBay, 100 pairs of kneepads, 69 guitars, 30 wardrobe trunks that travel to each venue, 20 nationalities represented in touring items (including Japanese, Israeli, Russian, Romanian, Australian and Algerian), 18 racks of clothing for the band, dancers and gypsies, 16 caterers, 12 seamstresses, 12 traveling trampolines used by Madonna and her dancers, 10 large flight cases of medical supplies, 10 guitars exclusively for Madonna, nine wardrobe people, five keyboards on stage for Kevin Antunes, four large freezers to carry ice packs for Madonna and her dancers, four YSL lipsticks, three Romanian gypsy musicians playing acoustic instruments, three Shu Uemura eyelash curlers, two rigs for DJ set up, one chiropractor, one personal trainer, one Masseuse, and one set of Swarovski crystal ear phones for the DJ.

Photo: Courtesy photo

There are giant video screens depicting images of pink and white candies being manufactured to a soundtrack of Madonna songs to keep the restless audience anticipating her royal entrance. The queen of pop opens the show with "Candy Shop" seated on an M-initialed throne chair in the sparkling black one-piece Givenchy outfit, knee-high boots, fishnet tights and sparkling jeweled cane -- flanked by her dancers in top hats and tails. She then drives a white car from the stage down a catwalk right toward her fans to "The Beat Goes On."

The Britney Spears video -- click here for those details in our comeback career story posted today -- is followed by a raunchy version of "Vogue" with dancers in bondage outfits and black facemasks. In the 1980s hip-hop salute, Madonna shows no sign of her mid-life, even skipping in contest with her dancers and doing actual pole-dancing! Remember, it was three decades ago that she landed in Manhattan from Detroit with just $35 in her pocket and went on to become the world’s top-selling female recording artist. She plays a pink guitar for the hard-rock version of "Borderline" -- the 1984 song that she rarely performs live. At one stage of the show Madonna lets her dancers dress as her own previous incarnations from the Material Girl and Blonde Ambition tours.

Fans roared with approval through her 120 minutes of writhing and wriggling with my old Fleet Street tabloid pals saying "she's in incredible shape" and has "still got the old Magic." Madonna lands stateside in October and wraps the tour Dec. 18 in Brazil. It's part of a 10-year, $120-million contract she signed with Live Nation giving them rights to her future music and business.

— From Vegas Deluxe

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