Lynne, wearing her c. H. Best silky rodeo rider shirt and pink, flash angel wings, is incensed. 'It's screw up, that's what it is,' she said. 'One and a half hours late and she still hasn't bothered to come on phase? It's awless. I've compulsive down deuce hours from Birmingham. This just isn't right.'
In the semi-filled Cardiff Millennium Stadium, Lynne is not unique in her frustration. At 8pm last night, after an hour's wait, the crowd well-tried to encourage Madonna on to the stage with cheers and whoops. By 9pm, after two hours' wait, the boos began; starting cautiously in the stands simply quickly gaining deafening momentum throughout the stadium.
'I didn't pay �75 for the joy of sitting on a dusty, concrete floor, eating hot dogs,' said Tom Allan, one of the most enthusiastic of the booing brigade. 'I do my problem properly, why can't she?'
Finally, at 9.10pm the lights went down and the crowd leapt to its feet, instantly forgiving the Queen of Pop as a giant screen appeared and the Material Girl herself burst onto the stage, throwing her heart and soul into confounding and exceeding fans' expectations even again.
The long-awaited Sweet and Sticky turn had begun.
'This is more like it!' Lynne screamed. 'This is what I came for. I never doubted her really. Madonna rocks. There's no one wish her. No one. She's an ikon. Her c. H. Best is til now to come.'
On a leg bookended by two enormous Ms filled with �1m-worth of Swarovski crystals, the world's to the highest degree successful female recording creative person of all time leapt, trampolined and pole-danced with an energy that pulled the hearing into her pocket.
A past master at seducing and enthralling her fans, she introduced a whole new definition of 'audience participation' by skipping with a glittering rope in clock time to their ecstatic rendition of 'Into the Groove'.
With the help of Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci, Miu Miu, Stella McCartney, Yves Saint Laurent and Roberto Cavalli, not to mention 12 trampolines and 100 pairs of fishing net stockings, Madonna launched her eighth world concert go at the 74,600-seat Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
Having turned 50 last weekend, Madonna remains defiant amid rumours about the state of her marriage to film director Guy Ritchie, gossip fanned by a warts-and-all life by her younger brother, Christopher Ciccone, in which he claims that the couple solely stay together with the help of a marriage-counselling rabbi.
Swatting such carping away with the aplomb of the ultimate showgirl, she has crafted a exhibit of exuberance that conceals a tightly controlled tale. In a micro-managed, four-part stage set, the vocalist takes fans on a whistlestop tour of duty of the stages of her career.
Those roots go back to when the aspiring isaac Merrit Singer reportedly showed up in New York City with just $35 in her pocket. Yet three decades on she is tranquil writhing, vibration and shimmying in the limelight.
The Material Girl opens the two-hour spectacle attired in the first of her ashcan School outfits, 'a mashed-up homage to gangsta pimp and Art Deco'. The first set is a nod to her early age as a new-wave discotheque nymphette world Health Organization made her name as a performing artist more well-thought-of in her first British performance at Manchester's Ha�ienda nightclub for her bravura than her ability to hold a note.
Pausing to transform herself from a Givenchy-clad, dominatrix-style gangsta ponce into a Gothic goddess, Madonna references her early days as part of the Eighties New York dance scene with songs including 'Into the Groove' and 'Borderline'.
A brief 'Romanian folk interlude' features a paean to Romany love affair, featuring trey gypsy musicians playing tracks including 'Devil Wouldn't Recognize You', 'Spanish Lesson', 'Miles Away' and 'La Isla Bonita' on acoustic guitars. Madge presides over this section in a black Gothic-style Givenchy cloak, bare-assed off to reveal a flowery top, baggy dame and knee-high boots.
The evening has baseball club of the 12 songs on her 11th studio album, Hard Candy, which went true to the top of the charts in 31 countries. It culminates in a grand finale focalization on what could be described as Madge's 'post-imperial' phase: a futuristic, Japanese-influenced rave put in which she sports diamond-studded trousers, a colorful throw top and black vest, vocalizing hits including '4 Minutes', 'Like a Prayer', 'Ray of Light', 'Hung Up' and 'Give It To Me'.
Arlene Phillips, a Strictly Come Dancing judge and friend of Madonna, world Health Organization helped to design the look of last night's extravaganza, aforementioned the isaac Bashevis Singer had been determined to produce a show as spectacularly horny as possible.
Having reached her half-century, the singer power now travel with her own chiropractor, personal flight simulator and masseuse, but Phillips had been quoted as saying: 'Getting older has had little effect on her sensation of fashion adventure. She may make turned 50, but has no plans to note it mastered. This is going to blow everyone away.'
From Cardiff, the show will intersect Europe and the Americas, finishing in S�o Paulo on 18 December.
Material facts250 travelling personnel office, including 16 dancers and a 12-piece band.
20 nationalities represented in the touring staff, including Algerians, Australians, Romanians, Japanese, Russians and Israelis.
3,500 wardrobe elements, including costumes and accessories.
100 pairs of fishnet stockings and pantyhose.
18 racks of article of clothing for Madonna, her band and other performers.
100 pairs of knee pads for the singer and her cohorts.
12 seamstresses working flat out to put the finishing touches to costumes for the tour's opening night. There are niner people in the wardrobe department only.
More info
