Madonna Cries Addressing Paris Attacks At Attendance-Breaking Show In Sweden
Madonna has some pretty impressive career moments. Who can ever forget her performance of “Like a Virgin” at MTV’s first music video awards show back in 1984? Then, there was her jaw-dropping performance of the award-winning “Sooner or Later” at the Academy Awards in 1991. 14 years later, Madonna had 200,000 people all cheering for her performance at Live 8.
All these performances are still viewed millions of times several years after they debuted. Madonna’s speech about the Paris attacks and performance of ‘Like a Prayer” at her show in Stockholm, Sweden, will likely join the ranks as one of her best.
Billboard describes the moment Madonna talks about the Paris attacks before launching into her hit single.
“This whole show is about celebrating life. And standing up for your rights. Fighting for what you believe in. It’s been very hard for me to get through this show and not forget about what happened last night. So I need to take this moment to acknowledge the tragedy. The tragic killings, assassinations and the senseless ending of precious life that occurred last night in Paris”
Madonna admitted that in many ways, she felt torn about giving the show, especially the night after one of the worst terrorist attacks in all of history. She then said that she decided to go on stage because she didn’t want to give into the terrorists, who don’t want to see people happy and enjoying themselves. She talked about the power of unity and had the audience of 40,000 give a minute of silence. After wiping her tears, she launched into “Like a Prayer” and, as one can see from the video, it was a truly magical moment for Madonna, the audience, and people now watching the video.
According to a Swedish website, Madonna’s show at the Tele 2 Arena played to over 40,000 people — the biggest audience ever for the historic venue. However, on Saturday night, it wasn’t about attendance numbers. It was more about pouring her heart out. If one does want to talk about attendance numbers, Madonna is killing it at the box office. Billboard recently had the news.
“Madonna heads up Billboard‘s weekly ranking of concert touring artists, landing at No. 1 on the Hot Tours recap based on $25.4 million in sales reported from her Rebel Heart world tour. This tally includes the final 12 stops on the first leg of the tour that played 20 cities in North America during September and October.”
“So, as much as she was celebrating her own importance, Madonna seemed to be looking for ways to demonstrate that she still mattered. What was remarkable was that she succeeded by taking advantage of her experience, not by running from it.”
In a review from the Guardian, music critic Alex Needham says that there is no performer like her.
“Her Madison Square Garden concert seems simultaneously like the latest stage of a 32-year durational performance art piece about stardom and an affirmation that there is simply no other performer like her. Tonight, Madonna kills it,” Needham claims.
Madonna will continue her Rebel Heart Tour all throughout the end of the year. She then begins a second leg in North America starting in January. Have you seen Madonna perform on her Rebel Heart Tour? What are your thoughts?
[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]
