Recently, the queen of pop herself unleased her Sticky & Sweet Tour DVD/CD set on the world. A glittering, strobing, MASSIVE audio-visual extravaganza captured on film; This DVD is no substitute for being there. However, as us Australian’s aren’t quite as lucky as the Argentines who are filmed here (or, incidentally, the English, who also got a visit), This is as close as I’ll get to experiencing the amazingness that is this show. The Behind-The-Scenes is worth a look too!

After quite an impressive Intro, the queen herself makes an appearance with the Candy Shop Medley. Surprisingly, considering I wasn’t really a fan of the track on the album, the track works really well live. The fantastic visuals may help things along, plus, you know, Madonna sounds AMAZING!. The Beat Goes On Medley, Featuring Kanye West & Pharrell Williams follows. A brilliant track in itself, it works really well live, and kinda makes me wonder why we never got more singles from Hard Candy. Love the Vegas-esque visuals too. After a rocked-up version of Human Nature, which isn’t a particular favourite of mine, things definitely reach an early peak with the reinvented Vogue 2008. Merging one of Madonna’s more brilliant moments, in Vogue, over many elements of the recent 4 Minutes campaign makes for quite an exciting watch – With a great visual, fantastic dance routine, and Madonna in fine vocal form. Love it!.

After a relentless, and rather impressive, interlude – in the form of a reinvented Die Another Day 2008 – Madonna kicks the next act off with the bright new version of Into The Groove 2008. Certainly one to keep you moving, I’m a little jealous she can skip that well….Anyway, It’s a shame this one doesn’t make it onto the CD, as it’s quite a good take on the track. Next up, she gets a little aggressive on Heartbeat. Working surprisingly well live, it’s a great one. Then, a VERY big change on the original, Borderline follows. Transformed into the first of a few huge rock numbers in the show, it works strangely well, with the aggressive rock softened by Madonna’s sweet, softer vocal. Strangely appealing. And, the (always great) visuals are in full-on flash here too. Back to the R’n’B Dance-Pop of Hard Candy with another non-single Madonna has a little fun with She’s Not Me. Set to the back-drop of the many incarnations of her long career,  It’s a great piece. Sounding instantly familiar, but new at the same time, next up, the new remix, Music 2008 – takes the track well and truly into the clubs, melding Fedde Le Grande’s “Put Your Hands Up For Detroit” into the track – ending up with a modern, clever, fresh take on the original. Love the “street” visual here too.

Another beautiful visual interlude follows merging the gorgeous Rain with the Eurythmics’ “Here Comes The Rain Again” – which works surprisingly well. The first time I watched the next act, I couldn’t stand it – Throwing three of (in my view) the less fantastic songs from the new album back-to-back-to-back wasn’t a great idea, but I must admit I did change my tune on the second time through. Opening with Devil Wouldn’t Recognise You – I was never a fan of the song, but I did quite like the visual – what with the water imagery, and performing in the middle of the tube. It did grow on me though. As did Spanish Lesson. The visual behind the performance is gorgeous, and even though I’m amazed this got included (actually, I’m probably more so annoyed that my beloved Incredible didn’t) – This actually is starting to make sense, as a fun, seductive interlude. Love the little breakdown too. Now, Miles Away wasn’t a track I ever “loved”, but never disliked either. Hearing it presented here, it did change my impression – Madonna sounds gorgeously tender, and the visual suits the track really well. And the “around-the-campfire” atmosphere of the staging works really well.

Much of my early feelings about the last act stood true about the next one as well, however, I haven’t has quite the same switch in attitude to this one. I REALLY like La Isla Bonita, but I’m not sure if I like the new La Isla Bonita 2008 Medley. As an audio, It sounds great, but aside from Madonna and her backing dancers on the platform above the stage, I’m not quite feeling the visual here. I kinda would have preferred a more straight-forward run through of the track at this pace….A little interlude of sorts, Me Darava/Doli Doli follows – and I’m not at all sure what to say about it – I’m not loving it though…Slowing things down, You Must Love Me follows. Simply presented, it’s pretty. Not fantastic to look at, but pretty enough – and Madonna sounds GORGEOUS. Considering she’s in Buenos Aires, I’m sure you can imagine how well the performance of Don’t Cry For Me Argentina went down. My favourite part of that performance is as that lovely light screen fell over them – Gorgeous.

Taking a few of the elements of Give It 2 Me & 4 Minutes, and splitting them apart – the Get Stupid Medley provides another video interlude. The big political/social message of the show, you rarely see a message delivered over such a great beat. Madonna actually looks really gorgeous in the video too – Truly! Love the track too. Then comes 4 Minutes – featuring video appearances of Justin Timberlake & Timbaland -  slightly altered from the original. It’s nice, and I like it, but, I feel it’s not a particularly standout track – It doesn’t work quite as well as I’d have hoped. Like the visual presentation of it though, and Madonna looks great. Or, maybe, It’s just slightly tarnished by what I know comes next – A MASSIVE reinvention of the original, gorgeously presented with an amazing visual and fantastic staging, Like A Prayer 2008 follows. The track, reproduced as a HUGE dance anthem, now gives me rolling goosebumps every time I hear it. Love the glowing light & religious imagery of the staging – and that fantastic tube makes another appearance (sorry, you really must give it a look!).

Then, Madonna comes back with another rocked-up take, this time, on Ray Of Light. It works really well, but the amazing (and flashing strobe) of the visuals overshadows this one a little. A great one! Well worthy of mention here is the crowd reaction after this track – Absolutely magical – and a phenomenal piece of film – Really! Lucky Thomas also picked out the next track, an all-in acapella sing-a-long to Like A Virgin – Which worked really well!. Keeping the rock theme going, the Hung Up Medley comes along – Somehow combining disco/dance/pop & rock – and actually making it work. It’s quite an impressive visual – I love it. And of course, in the game of endless chess, the Queen had to stay standing didn’t it ;-) . However, at the end of the show, back for one last track, Give It 2 Me makes sure things go out on a high. The visual here, a simultaneously retro and futuristic one is fantastic and glittery, and brilliant. The staging, with lots of jumping and synchronised dancing also is brilliant. As is Madonna, who (like in every other track here) sounds great. Finally, the re-invention of the track into a rock-tinged, heavier dance number, works BRILLIANTLY. A fantastic closing to an amazing, and well worthy of a purchase, show – CERTAINLY worth a watch.

Photo by Alan Light