Song of the Day - Try - P!nk

I saw P!nk last night at Nassau Coliseum and fell in love all over again.  I've said it before and I will always say that she is one of the most talented and humble artists around.  What a show!  Here's one of my favorites...Try....

A Lil KISStory Song of the Day

Normally the day after I see a concert, I'll usually post a song from the artist I'd just seen (see P!nk, Lily Allen, Robyn, etc. etc. etc.) along with some commentary and maybe even a supplemental post on the show itself.  Today, I thought I'd try something a little different...

You wanted the best, you got the best

The hottest band in the land,

KISS

Last night, I saw KISS, my very first musical heroes, at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island.  It was to be their very last performance there.  The band, who's been rocking and rolling for over forty years now, is taking a "victory lap" of sorts before unmasking it forever.   The End of the Road Tour, which began in January, will see the band perform 105 shows on three continents through the end of the year and that will be it for these most  master entertainers of the rock world.  

I first discovered KISS way back in the late 70's.  I was a kid of about 15 and my very first musical inclinations were definitively towards the rock side of the spectrum.  The foursome of Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss and the personas they embodied were a wondrous way to go all in to a band and its music and everything in between.

RollingStone

Not long after I'd been inculcated into the KISS Army, my favorite band came to the Nassau Coliseum, and my mother was gracious enough to take me and my little brother.  It was September 1st, 1979 and KISS was touring in support of their latest record, Dynasty.  I came to the show armed with a special cardboard and aluminum foil KISS logo I had made for the occasion, as well as a fire hat to wear during the performance of their song Firehouse.  This was my very first concert experience ever and looking back, wow was I lucky for that to have been my intro to what would become a lifetime of concert-going.  

The disco era was in full rage and many KISS fans were upset over the album's debut single, I Was Made For Loving You, which many took as an affront to the hard-driving rock and roll the band was known for, but I didn't care.  Maybe it was because I would soon change gears musically, but I loved the song... 

In the years that followed, I discovered both my sexuality and Diana Ross, lol, and my interest in KISS began to wane.  Being my first musical love, though, forever endeared them in my eyes and though I stopped listening regularly, every once in awhile I would pop them into either the tape recorder, the CD player, and on iTunes, and whenever they came to town, I would most always try and catch them.  

When End of the Road was announce back in the fall, my brother immediately called to ask if I was interested in going.  The answer was a resounding YES!  Though the Ace and Peter are long gone and replaced by current members Tommy Thayer and Eric Carr, the magic of a KISS live show has not waned a bit.  Having been a fan of them for, gulp, forty-plus years, I've come to expect the various parts of a show filled with fireworks and explosions, blood-letting and fire-throwing, Paul Stanley's iconic interactions with the audience and much, much more, it's still a spectacle that everyone enjoys and they have always loved giving their fans what they want.

The audience was filled with forty and fifty-somethings like myself, and like me, I'm sure they all came for the same reasons I did...their love of the band.  We all got to experience two hours of non-stop multi-sensory entertainment and we all were loving it.   

Though they didn't perform this next song last night, here's one of my favorite KISS tunes of all time.  Written by Paul Stanley and sung by Peter Criss (and once covered by country sensation Garth Brooks!), it's one KISS song that is one of the best rock ballads of all time.  Please enjoy Hard Luck Woman...

So a big thank you to KISS for the music, for the excitement and wonder, and most of all for the entertainment and joy you still bring to millions around the world.  You will always have a dear place in my heart!

An Intimate, Feel-Good, Dance-Filled Evening With Robyn

I was sort of ambivalent about going.  My boyfriend had to work and I wasn't sure if I wanted to go it alone.  But then again it was Robyn...

There's Madonna, there's P!nk, and then there's Robyn!  These are three ladies, all of a different stature in the world of pop music, and Robyn surely holding the least, but none of these three are more dear to my heart than the other.  Each of these ladies have had an indelible impact on the soundtrack of my life and so how can any of them visit my town and me not go see them?  As the week wore on and Robyn's first ever visit to the "World's Most Famous Arena" drew closer, I became more and more excited at the prospect of watching once again what I believe to be pop music greatness in action.  I bought myself a ticket yesterday afternoon and excitedly boarded the train into the city straight after my workday.

This was the third time I've seen Robyn in concert, and though each of the three concerts were very different, they were all great in their own way.  Robyn has a knack for making pop songs that actually mean something.  They're thoughtful and real, and the dance undertones of her music make her a very special entity in the pop/dance music world.  During her over 20-plus years in the business, she has amassed quite a base of adoring fans, as evidenced in my Song of the Day post from this morning, and her energy and enthusiasm while performing is largely unmatched.

Back in November, Robyn announced the Honey Tour in support of her first album since 2010's monumental Body Talk series.  The tour started and will finish in her native Scandinavia, but in between she included shows across the U.S., and her New York stop would bring her to Madison Square Garden.  

Robyn Turns Madison Square Garden into smoke-filled after-hours club

I am not a professional concert-reviewer by any means, but I do what I can, and this headline from the NY Post's Chuck Arnold says it best.  For more than two hours last night, a sold out crowd of Robyn's fans, including me, danced and sang along as if they were in the more intimate setting of a late-night club.  

The Swedish songstress segued perfectly through the songs of Honey, blending them with tried and true favorites from Body Talk, 2005's Robyn, and even her 2015 collaborative dance floor jam with La Bagatelle Magique, Love Is Free, a definite highlight for me.  Indeed, from the moment she entered the stage performing her new Send to Robyn Immediately/Honey, the crowd was on its feet, where it stayed until the very last of five encores.  

The entire evening was a euphoric experience which by now has famously carried over into the subways after the show was over.  Check out the two videos of impromptu dance parties down below MSG on Billboard.

Well, that's all I've got to say about my wonderful Friday evening.  I can't wait till next time!  Please check out some photos of the show, as well as the set-list below...

Send to Robin Immediately

Honey

Indestructible

Hang With Me

(Paola cover)

Beach2k20

Ever Again

Be Mine!

Because It’s in the Music

Between the Lines

Love Is Free

Don't Fucking Tell Me What to Do (The Mekanism Remix)

Dancing on My Own

Missing U

Call Your Girlfriend

Encore:

Trust Me

Stars 4-Ever

With Every Heartbeat

Encore 2:

Human Being

Who Do You Love? (Joakim Remix)

(Kindness feat. Robyn cover)

P!nk's beautiful Trauma Tour

When P!nk first announced the dates for her beautiful Trauma Tour, I didn't think I was going to be able to see it.  Her dates at New York's Madison Square Garden came smack dab in the middle of my trip to Europe, but luckily enough the New York metropolitan area is full of people, and I nabbed a ticket to last night's show at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey and had a kick ass time!

Upon the release of beautiful Trauma, I was as excited as excited could be.  P!nk's 2012 The Truth About Love record was a game changer for me.  Until that time, I'd been strictly a one diva guy with Madonna for all of these years, but suddenly there was P!nk and this album.  I found myself making videos (see here and here), teaching lessons from the songs, and I spread P!nkmania just about everywhere I could.  

I should have known that beautiful Trauma wasn't as great as I expected it was going to be.  It's really hard to top perfection.   Not to say that the record is bad.  In fact, it's pretty darned stellar, but it's just not the same as Truth and the same can be said for the show I watched last night.  Stellar, absolutely, but this show just doesn't quite capture the same magic as the last one.  For what it's worth, here are some highlights:

The Stage and Opening

I absolutely loved the stage and the set for this show!  Surrounding the main stage was an abstract heart/ramp, complete with trap doors, steps, and a people mover straight down the middle, all of which got plenty of use during the two hour show.  

phoenixnewtimes

With great fanfare, the show began promptly at 9 o'clock, and our heroine entered stage top via a grand chandelier and Got the Party Started.  As it would be throughout the evening, her voice was magnificent and her moves beautiful and often breathtaking.  Check out these notes on the opening from Phoenix New Times' Amy Young:

Clad in sparkles and suspended above her band and dance crew, Pink glided up and down with the aerial flair that fans have come to love as one of her skills.

Her team below created a booming sonic foundation as she twirled about, singing. Their energy was palpable, making it clear they were polished to perfection and ready to deliver the goods on this opening night.

Once she lowered herself and untethered from her sky ropes, Pink utilized as much of the stage as she could – strutting and dancing on and across every space, from a movable walkway to stairs on either side.

Her voice was booming, solid with that combo of rawness and power that sold her to so many fans. Though the backup singers pick up a lot of the slack while she is in continuous motion, she gets major kudos for maintaining singing strength while she’s flying through the air in pretzel-like positions. Her voice never wavered.

Humbleness

Without ever meeting her, it becomes obvious from early on that P!nk is a special kind of star.  She's gracious, well-spoken and she seems to realize that her gifts have brought her to a place in life that she treasures.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you and you and you and you...

...she was pointedly thanking us all for being there in much the same way we all thanked her for a great evening.  Throughout, she interacted with her fans, stooping down for selfies and photographs, acknowledging gifts thrown up onto the stage, and getting as personal as one could get in such a setting.  Love her!   

Duets

P!nk performed two duets last night, but not in the usual way,  First up was her latest collaboration with Eminem, who appeared as a larger than life parade float on the light-hearted, yet seriously serious Revenge.  Next up was P!nk's huge smash from Truth About Love, with Nate Reuss appearing on the large screen from the video for Give Me Just A Reason.  Both numbers were definite showstoppers!

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Madonnaesque

I said in my review of beautiful Trauma that the song Secret sounded a lot like something Madonna might have done.  This point was obviously as she performed the tune live.  The vocals, the mood, the music...this one's got Madge written all over it!  

In the lead up to her latest great track, What About Us?, we see another Madonna-inspired, politically charged introductory video that at times had the audience cheering wildly.  I once heard P!nk say that Madonna was one of her inspirations growing up, and I'm happy to see that finally she's beginning to take a page from Madge's book.  Approve!

High Flying P!nk

As we've all come to expect, from that beautiful, aerial performance of Glitter In the Air at the Grammys to the spectacular side-of-a-building whopper to the title cut of beautiful Trauma on the AMA's this year, P!nk loves her acrobatics, and there was plenty of it last night, from the opening number throughout.  For any of you who saw the Truth About Love Tour, P!nk duplicated the ending with a high-flying, up close and personal performance of So What. I swear I was watching the real Tinkerbell!

All in all, P!nk's beautiful Trauma show was a night full of great music, awesome vocals, fantastic aesthetics and a super duper superstar!  Like I said earlier, even though it's not as magical as her previous tour, it's still a great show.  You should definitely check it out if you have the chance.  I highly recommend it!

Janet Jackson's State of the World Tour - A Two-Plus Hour Lovefest

This wasn't supposed to happen, but it turned out to be one of those things that afterwards you couldn't imagine not happening.  You see, I used to be a huge fan of Janet Jackson, but over the past several years my devotion to her had faded.  God, I remember a time when I looked forward to new Janet as much as I looked forward to anything new from Madonna or P!nk, but sadly for me, and a lot of others, too, those feelings of excited anticipation had long since gone away.

I think maybe it was the famous nipple incident at the Super Bowl.  Not that I agreed with any of the sort of horror that marred that whole thing.  In fact, I thought it was ridiculous!  Nevertheless, Miss Jackson's star has never been the same since and that's a real shame.  She became somewhat shunned and as a result I never even gave her albums Damita Jo or 20 Y.O. a chance.  It wasn't until 2008's Discipline that I even lukewarmly paid attention to her again.   

So late in 2015 Janet came out with her latest album, Unbreakable, and my friend Sean had me listening once again.  I agreed to go to her show supporting the record, which I liked but didn't love.  I hadn't seen Janet in concert since the 2001 All For You Tour, during which I actually got to meet her (and had a bad experience in the process!).  We bought the tickets and then she cancelled.  No bueno!

The Show

When the buzz about Janet's current State of the World Tour came around, my interest was definitely piqued, but not enough to buy a ticket.  Then my friend Gary, just a few weeks ago, asked if I wanted to join him to the Barclay's show.  He had an extra ticket.  Hell yeah!

As the day for the show came closer, I started to become more and more excited, but I didn't get really excited until Gary and I rushed in to our seats right as the show was starting...

Prejudice----------NO!

Ignorance-----------NO!

Bigotry------------NO!

Illiteracy----------NO!

Right from the get-go it was a love-fest!  After a typically big opening, Miss Janet appeared onstage to thousands of cheers and immediately broke into two classics, both from the Rhythm Nation album.  It was hard to find a decent recording of both The Knowledge and State of the World, but just to give you a taste, here's the former...

And so it began, a two-plus hour spectacle that enthralled nearly everyone in the building, including both myself and Gary.  The first hour or so before the show's first interlude was a veritable mànage of cherished hits from a very storied career.  For myself, and I am sure many others in the audience, this was a very pleasant trip down memory lane as Janet whipped through such standards such as Nasty, Miss You Much, Control, What Have You Done For Me Lately, Escapade, All For You, When I Think of You and Love Will Never Do (Without You).  Much to my delight she added tunes she probably hasn't performed in years, such cool stuff as The Pleasure Principle, Alright and You Want This.  Wow, talk about revved up!

The second part to the concert was full on slow and then sexy.  After an instrumental interlude of the beautiful Again (to which the entire audience sang.), Janet returned to the stage for some slow jams and some downright sexy goodness with such tunes as Where Are You Now, Come Back to Me, The Body That Loves You, Twenty Foreplay, Got Till It's Gone, That's the Way Love Goes,and Throb.  Before the next interlude, Janet wowed the audience by getting sentimental, as big brother Michael appeared on a huge screen behind her and she delved into the first verse of their hit Scream.  The sentimentality continued on Together Again, as the star of the evening gave an I miss you shout-out to MJ.  The crowd went absolutely wild!

Another short interlude came next before Janet came out to address one of her male dancers tied to a chair as she gently, then forcefully belted out an electrifying performance of What About Us.  The classics If and Rhythm Nation rounded out the set before Janet introduced the band members and dancers and exited the stage as the super-satisfied crowd begged for more.

The encore set was a little bit more of an exhalation than a big ending.  Miss Jackson performed Black Eagle and Well Traveled, from her recent Unbreakable album, and sandwiched in between came a call for a New Agenda, and a medley of Damn Baby/Get Lonely.  By the time all was said and done, Janet had given her audience what they had come for, and more.  The buzz from 18,000 satisfied fans continued out onto the hallways and into the streets afterwards.  As for Gary and I, well, we're still trading lyrics and singing songs three days later.

  

Song of the Day - Break Up Every Night - The Chainsmokers

This new tune from The Chainsmokers' Memories...Do Not Open album was an early crowd pleaser at last night's show at Forest Hills.  Little did I realize before I journeyed to Queens and this nice little outdoor venue in the shadow of New York City that I would be attending my first EDM concert. EDM is a relatively new acronym that's become big with the kiddies these days.  It stands for Electronic Dance Music, and although the music itself is not so unique that it differentiates itself from what I've known as simply electronica, it does have a certain uniqueness, if that makes any sense.

 

I'd never thought of The Chainsmokers as an EDM artist, but I was wrong.  I did catch their wave from the early days and had always thought of them as simply dance artists, and very good ones at that, although lately they've become a bit pop.  The set they played last night definintely fit into the EDM category, with crazy, sometimes dissonant electronic beats, and the entire audience, rather than dancing, was jumping up and down with their hands in the air...not exactly my kind of dancing, though I found myself doing the same thing at times simply because the music called for it.  

In all, The Chainsmokers were pretty entertaining.  Their 90 minute-plus set of wild electronica beats was peppered with their hits old and new, with Paris, Closer, and Something Just Like This causing mass singalongs, and tunes like Roses and Don't Bring Me Down getting everybody up and dancing (well, jumping, lol).  Anyway, here's a recent clip of our Song of the Day from a Saturday Night Live appearance...  

And here's how me and my pal Kristen felt afterwards...

Song of the Day - Lightning - The Wanted

The immensely talented Alessia Cara played Radio City Music Hall last night in NYC in what turned out to be a great show, not only from the headliner, but the two opening acts, as well.  Up and comers Nathan Sykes, formerly of The Wanted, and Canadian singer/songwriter Ruth B both gave inspired performances in warming up the crowd for Cara.  Being a fan of The Wanted, I couldn't help but want to post one of their tunes today in favor of one of Sykes' new tracks from his forthcoming debut solo album, Unfinished Business.  I will get to that soon, I promise, but in the meantime sentimentality takes over and herein I present one of my favorite Wanted songs...  

Madonna's Rebel Heart Tour: A Whole New Perspective

Talk about basking in the afterglow!  I've just returned from a short weekend trip to Atlantic City to see the latest Rebel Heart show there and all I can say is, WOW!  The whole experience this go around was so much better and as a result of a lucky placement, the show that I had previously criticized suddenly became one of the most amazing concerts I've ever witnessed.

It all started on a whim.  My pal Sean and I had mulled over going to the AC show for awhile now, but we hadn't talked seriously about it until early this week.  Luckily, I was able to get a comp room at the Trop for last night and suddenly the tentative plans became definite.  The two of us scanned both StubHub and Ticketmaster for a few days, finally opting for a couple of pretty decent tickets directly to the side of the stage at the 200 level.  In fact, the picture above is from where we sat when we first got there.  

Now I haven't had too much luck in concert seating.  I did watch Janet Jackson from the floor once at MSG when my sister won tickets and I sat front and center on a most memorable night, coincidentally with the very same Sean, at a Toni Braxton concert a couple of years ago, but other than that, I've always had to settle for the cheap seats, getting better glimpses of the stars on the big screens rather than on the stage.  Well, let me tell you, a little luck came our way last night and having the opportunity to see the one and only Queen from that close up made this show the concert of a lifetime!

Not ten minutes after we took our seats, we had the view you see in the picture above.  We had run into Sean's friends from Philadelphia earlier, who had won floor seats to the show and were waving towards us from below.  Sean went downstairs to see what was going on and within a couple of seconds he was waving me to come down.  Apparently, two people who had been sitting in front of them had two extra seats and suddenly we were about four rows from the stage.  Yowsah!

Now I can't convey enough just how exciting this was, nor how sitting so close made the Rebel Heart show that much more enjoyable, but believe me when I say for the next two-plus hours you could not have wiped that big smile off my face.  Within minutes of taking our new seats, the house lights went down and the video intro to Iconic began, complete with Medieval soldiers marching in solidarity across the stage.  The show had begun!  

The next two hours was pure joy for this longtime Madonna fan, and being so close offered me the opportunity to catch a lot of things I hadn't noticed in the show at MSG.  To top things off, the icon was absolutely pleasant and chatty up there, feeding off the energy of the enthusiastic crowd. Madonna coming to such a small city as this is a big deal, and the fans were pumped up for a good time.  Sean and I had talked with many before the show and these folks, who came from near and far, were as hyped for the show as any and no one left disappointed.

After seeing the show a second time, I still have some of the same criticisms as I had previously.  I still don't like Iconic as an opener, I think Bitch I'm Madonna should have come more towards the end, and I still would have liked to see less of Like a Virgin and more (or any) of MDNA, Ray of Light, or Confessions on a Dancefloor.  She did sing Ghosttown, which was amazing, and the Illuminati interlude was even better up close.  In fact, even through all of its flaws, the Rebel Heart show epitomizes what makes Madonna a legend, that her catalog is so deep it's hard not to find something anyone can get into.  She breathes new life into older songs, keeping the familiarity to please her fans and yet reinventing them perhaps for her own sanity.  

Regardless, I don't think there was one displeased fan in the house, and the revelry that took place at Boardwalk Hall spilled over onto the Boardwalk and in bars around Atlantic City.  Sean and I hit the Rainbow Room Bar, where an all-night Madonnathon ensued and we fans danced to a more extended list from her catalog well into the night.  I had a most unexpected and wonderful opportunity to watch my favorite performer up close and I won't soon forget this marvelous night!     

We'll be two souls in a Ghosttown...

Everybody in this party shining like

Illuminati...

I even made some friends!

Five Suggestions That Would Have Made "Rebel Heart" a Better Show

It's hard to believe that it's been three days since Madonna already.  This is the first time since then that I've had any time to write about it, so... 

A lot of my fellow Madonna fans aren't going to like some of the things I'm going to say here, but I feel I must.  From the initial reviews and the reactions of my friends who were at the show, it seems I am in a tiny minority when it comes to what I thought of the Rebel Heart Tour.  Perhaps it's because I love her so much I may be overly critical, and I've seen her often enough that maybe I'm just used to something different, but I didn't see the show as all that great.  

That's not to say that I didn't enjoy it.  On the contrary, I was up and dancing and having a good time all night long.  Any Madonna concert is not just any old concert.  Her shows, starting with the Blonde Ambition Tour way back when, have been downright legendary and an unparalleled experience in live entertainment.  That being said, the Rebel Heart Tour, to me, wasn't as legendary as, say the Reinvention Tour or even the MDNA show. 

Before I even discuss the show,, check out the setlist, as arranged in four separate acts:

Act One: Joan of Arc / Samurai

1. “Iconic”
2. “Bitch I’m Madonna”
3. “Burning Up”
4. “Holy Water”
5. “Vogue”
6. “Devil Pray”

Act Two: Rockabilly / Tokyo

7. “Body Shop”
8. “True Blue”
9. “Ghosttown”
A10. “HeartBreak City” / “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore”
11. “Like A Virgin”

Act Three: Latin / Gypsy

12. “SEX” contains excerpts from “Justify My Love”
13. “Living For Love”
14. “La Isla Bonita”
15. “Deeper and Deeper”
16. “Music (Get Stupid)”
17. “La Vie En Rose”

Act Four: Party / Flapper

18. “Candy Shop”
19. “Who’s That Girl”
20. “Rebel Heart”
21. “Illuminati”
22. “Material Girl”
23. “Unapologetic Bitch”
24. “Holiday”

Pretty cool, right?  You know, from the looks of the songs and from the reviews I've seen so far, this tour seems like it might be a greatest hits tour.  She's performing a  lot of songs she hasn't done in a long time, and the nostalgic tone she's taken on stage so far would seem to suggest that as well.  Well, the setlist would seem to please those fans of her earlier work, but for those of us who've followed her all along, more recent stuff was sorely missing.  That was just one of the beefs I have with the show. 

Here are five suggestions that would have made me happier with the Rebel Heart show.  Perhaps if these elements were present I'd have been on StubHub this afternoon now trying for tickets to tonight's show at Barclay Center in Brooklyn...

1 - A Stronger Opening

Madonna opened the show with Iconic, from the Rebel Heart album.  One of the key elements of any Madonna tour is drama, especially in the opening, and I thought this one was a poor choice in that department, especially in comparison to the Girl Gone Wild opener at MDNA.  Iconic is not my favorite tune off the album.  It probably will never reach single status either.  Living For Love, the upbeat debut single, would've made a much better choice to open the show.  On a side note, Bitch I'm Madonna was done way too early in the show.  Being that it's her latest single, and it's a lot of fun, perhaps it would've been better done right before Holiday at the end.

2 - What Happened to the Last 15 Years?

With the exception of Candy Shop and of course the current album, the most recent song she did was 2000's Music and before that 1992's Deeper and Deeper.  In this fan's opinion, I would much rather have seen performances of maybe Ray of Light, Human Nature, Celebration or Revolver, Hung Up, or perhaps a ditty from the last album.  Turn Up the Radio would've been cool!  Of the older stuff, True Blue was refreshing, Burning Up rocked, and Material Girl was fun, too!   I could've done without La Isla Bonita and yet another subpar version of Like a Virgin (though this one was much better than the last time!).   I know Madge's catalog is deep and wide, and I am sure it must be difficult to narrow things down, but to forget all about three of the last four albums.  Eh!

3 - No Showstoppers

I remember once upon a time, I saw the Confessions Tour in Miami with my nephew and his young Brazilian wife.  Aricalea had never seen a concert before and I took great pleasure in watching her face light up as she watched the spectacle that was that show.  Almost every Madonna concert has numbers where the entire audience is up on its feet, in awe at the happenings on stage. Unfortunately, to me none of the numbers in this show had that something special.

The closest thing that came to a showstopper was during Illuminati, which was really an interlude played over the speakers as the icon went backstage for a change of costume.  As the lights went up, several flexible poles were fixed on the stage, each with a different dancer standing atop.  The choreographed number was pretty darned cool and one of my favorite parts of the entire show...and Madonna wasn't even on stage!

4 - No Ghosttown?

I said in my review of Ghosttown that it was one of the biggest power ballads Madonna ever performed, as big as Live to Tell or Rain.  Though it was on the setlist, she skipped that one on Wednesday.  

5 - Encore Encore 

The last time Madge played the Garden, I had complained that she didn't even hit the stage until around 11 p.m.  This go around was much better, as the festivities began shortly around 9, a much more conducive hour, especially for a weeknight.  This night, however, it also seemed that the concert was made ever so much shorter as there was absolutely no build-up between the finish, Unapologetic Bitch (which to me was sort of anti-climactic, even when she brought out opening act Amy Shumer to the stage and officially dubbed her a member of Madge's gang), and the encore, Holiday.  It seemed that within a minute of finishing the former, the singer returned to the stage with her very first big single, an appropriate finish, but the whole thing was way too abrupt.   

So there, I think I do have some legitimate beefs with the Rebel Heart Tour, and this particular stop at MSG.  If any of you die-hard Madonna fans take offense to any of my suggestions, please don't.  I've been following Madonna since day one...her songs are a huge part of the soundtrack of my life since I was a teen.  It may not sound like it, but I did have an awesome time the other night.  I think I just could've had an even better one... 

Fleetwood Mac: Together Again and On Top of Their Game

It wasn't a concert I was overly enthusiastic about going to, but I'm so glad I went.  For virtually anyone around my age, the songs of Fleetwood Mac were an indelible part of growing up.  Songs like Rhiannon, Go Your Own Way, Don't Stop, and so many more are permanently tucked away inside the furthest reaches of my brain, bringing forth fond memories of younger days.  So even though I was never a huge fan of the band, I always have been a fan, and when my friend Eric asked me to join him at Nassau Coliseum for what turned out to be a night of celebration, I was only too glad to join in.

Fleetwood Mac, in its present, reunited incarnation, first came together in 1974 and almost immediately they became a success with their first eponymous album, which produced the hits Say You Love Me and Rhiannon.  The road since then has been a tumultuous one, with lineup changes, departures and feuds, solo successes and such, but today the five-some of Stevie Nicks, Christie McVie, Lindsay Buckingham, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood have reunited once again for their On With the Show Tour, celebrating the return of Christie and a celebration of their 40-plus years together.

The evening was a beautiful thing to witness, a three-hour set of performances of all their great hits over the years and then some.  The band members were talkative and playful with the audience, and they really seemed to be enjoying their time together on stage, which made for a most enjoyable night. Buckingham was the most lively of the bunch, reminiscing fondly about how grateful he was for the all the days of Fleetwood Mac, and his enthusiasm showed in his performance, especially on the tune Big Love.    

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For virtually every song the band was spot on, from the comfortably cozy Dreams to the funky, head-bopping You Make Loving Fun to the uplifting Go Your Own Way.  One highlight for me was Stevie Nicks' rendition of a song I'd never heard before called Gold Dust Woman, from the classic Rumours album.  Stevie was like a woman possessed as she crooned and moved her way through the dark, slow moving groove.  I tell you, it was one of my favorite moments of the show and I'll be downloading this one as soon as I'm done with this post.

All in all, Fleetwood Mac provided about 16,000 people with a pleasurable walk down memory lane, and I couldn't help but feel grateful for having the opportunity to witness this great band back together again and on top of their game.  If you ever get the chance to catch them, definitely do so, and to whet your appetite, here's the setlist:

The Chain

You Make Loving Fun

Dreams 

Second Hand News

Rhiannon

Everywhere

I Know I'm Not Wrong

Tusk

Sisters of the Moon

Say You Love Me

Seven Wonders

Big Love

Landslide

Never Going Back Again 

Over My Head

Gypsy

Little Lies

Gold Dust Woman

I'm So Afraid

Go Your Own Way

(Encores)

World Turning

Don't Stop

Silver Springs

Songbird

And here's a clip of Gold Dust Woman from Atlanta, GA: