From Andy:
Where do I start? First of all, I felt well enough in the end to get to Manchester last night - woop! And thank the Lord I did. Took my sister along for her birthday and it was, without a doubt, the best concert we've ever seen....not that good at writing reviews, but here goes:
Arrived at about 7pm, actually really enjoyed Paul Oakenfold's set though I agree there was no interaction with the audience, but the tunes passed almost an hour in a more enjoyable way than the usual 'why aren't those blocks filling up yet' coversations hehe. We were in block 107 and almost everyone around us were dancing or at least bobbing up and down in their seats during his set. A good start. Then he finished (did anyone notice one of M's dancers with Paul Oakenfold towards the end? When he played the stunning mix of Black Eyed Peas 'I Gotta Feeling'?)
Then the wait....I have to admit I thought she was going to have lots of angry fans if she kept us waiting any longer. The initial wait was buzzing - lots of Mexican waves (go Manchester, you rock!) and clapping, cheering, etc. - apart from the occasional boo from the crowd when the upper tier let us down at the end from time to time. Oh, and the floor - would've been awesome to have the entire arena taking part but not to worry eh! By 9:30pm people around me were getting restless and angry - and HOT! Not to mention drunk as it gave people an excellent excuse to return to the bar - why not eh!
Just after 9:30pm, did anyone else notice the two women who basically had to be carried to their floor seats as they were so drunk they couldn't walk? The poor steward was a star - he had to fight one of them off him as she practically tried to have his babies hahahahaha! By 9:35pm I was thinking 'Dammit, iI have a 100 mile drive home, have to get out of the MEN Arena car park and have to be up again at 6am for work....' but thankfully the lights went out - then another wait. Boooooooo. But not for long and it was all systems go:
Intro/Candy Shop
I've never in all my life heard such a loud intro - or loud anything really! - as this opening. Really vibrated on my chest, my ears were buzzing. The louder the better I say, but at times (and this happened later on in the show) I did think it was a bit too loud. Not complaining, just a bit too heavy on the bass which drowned out the other sounds. But hey, bring it on hehe. Candy Shop was cool, not the most exciting song to open with but good fun and anything was better than waiting any longer.
Beat Goes On
Loved it! The car, etc., slight struggle with M's wardrobe which she laughed off - cool second song.
Human Nature
I quite like this, but I wanted a bit more from the performance - I thought that Britney being on screen was cool but a bit gimmicky - wasn't that fussed during this song if I'm honest, nor were those around me but hey ho....can't have everything eh. (M, please sing Bedtime Stories from the Secret album next time, pretty please!)
Vogue
Loving the mix! Great choreography, background, etc. And when the piano kicked in halfway through we went crazy!
Die Another Day Interlude
Bass in the place haha! Excellent sound, plus those abs on the visuals - crikey Madonna, totally fit. Woof.
Into The Groove
Madonna was having so much fun throughout this section of the concert and so were the people in the arena - never seen such an enthusiastic crowd before, almost everyone on their feet from start to finish in fact, not just this section but the entire concert! I think that's why Madonna was so full of fun all night, the best crowd ever. Anyway, I digress. Great remix with 'Toop Toop' too - a fun performance. Plus she said 'That was good Manchester' at the end to thank us for singing for her! :-)
Holiday / MJ Tribute
Another fantastic mix, loved the vocoder effect too, but I think the bass drowned Madonna's voice out at times. Awesome tribute too and the crowd went wild.
Dress You Up So fantastic to finally hear this live! A first for me, went so well with the rockier version too. A crowd pleaser from where I was sitting.
She's Not Me Great fun once again! The end section was superb and she has SO much energy. The dancing reminded me of Confessions Tour 'Let It Will Be' - a highlight of that tour for me and this is now a highlight of S&S for me too.
Music I loved the way 'Last Night A DJ Saved My Life' got you ready for this pummping remix with 'Put Your Hands Up For Detroit' - they go together so well and you could see the entire team on stage were having the time of their lives, loving the crowd's reaction throughout this song.
Here Comes The Rain Again / Rain
Beautiful interlude, those dancers are out of this world! Creepy too, but you can't stop watching them!
The Devil Wouldn't Recognise You
I love this song and it was a beautiful, understated performance.
Spanish Lesson
Much better live than on CD/download - a nice surprise actually.
Miles Away
Such a lovely track and to see everyone clapping along in the arena was a beautiful moment - as many have said before on this forum, the crowd last night rocked from start to finish. Fantastic vocal performance from Madonna too.
La Isla Bonita / Lele Pala Tute (i think!)
The highlight for me which surprised and shocked me as I'm a bit tired of seeing LIB performed live now....but this had so much energy, enjoyment, fun, a pure Latin party theme from start to finish and the crowd loved it! The whole 'shirts off guys' was hilarious too - I counted at least 10 thrown at her, then the red devil horns landed on her lap during 'Doli Doli' which she laughed off, shook her finger and smiled. A great reaction instead of losing her temper as would've happened in the BA days i'm sure....Loved it when she forgot the words as she was laughing at the shirts flying towards her too!
Doli Doli I needed a wee. Perfect time to go. ;-)
You Must Love Me
OMG, her wonderful speech! About appreciating life, each other and ourselves while we can - so very true. And her words about MJ were so sincere also. Brought a lump to my throat. And of course thanking 'everyone with the balls to take off their shirts - about time to pay me back as I've been doing it for you guys enough in the past!' cracked me up - way to go M! Then saying 'please don't throw things at me, just hand them over' was a great way to deal with the red devil horns landing in her lap earlier - she smiled whilst saying this too so you could tell she was ok with it all.
Then a beautiful performance which the crowd adored - the cheering was deafening, truly appreciative of the Queen of Pop.
Get Stupid
Bass once again! She looks stunning in this interlude. Similar message to 'Sorry remix' from Confessions Tour, but the bass rocked my socks, hehe.
4 Minutes Hmmmmm, like the song but it felt a bit flat to me for some reason....unsure why. Still had a good boogie to it though!
Like A Prayer Highlight number two - what a mix! Superb vocals, dancing, so effective and dramatic. And I've never seen so many people jumping on the spot before in my life - the whole arena came alive! Words cannot express how amazing this performance was.
Frozen
Loved the start with the beat kicking in, then the sound became too loud for me where I was sitting and I couldn't really distinguish between the Calvin Harris sample and the Open Your Heart part too....cracking dancing though, how does she do it after almost two hours by this point?!
Ray Of Light
A bit samey compared to Confessions Tour but a crowd pleaser nonetheless and a great track to get everyone dancing - not that the crowd needed any encouragement! Loved the MJ quote and the 'this is for Michael' at the start of the song too.
Give It 2 Me
The lasers! The lightshow! The bass! The dancing! Just so much to take in - and what a way to end a stunning two hour tour-de-force from the Queen of Music, not just pop. A legend and icon in every meaning of both words. I suddenly remembered she's in her 50s now and felt very unfit myself at the age of 34. Hehehehe. (Just bought a yoga/pilates book off ebay - give me time and i'll be kissing my own ass ha!)
Left when she got the crowd to sing with her as it was 23:30 - best decision ever as got out of the arena car park in two minutes and was 100 miles from Manchester and in bed by 01:10am.
And now it's all over but what memories to save forever. Manchester, you truly rocked. Thank you to you all for the atmosphere which i'm sure reflected in Madonna's fantastic performance, interaction with us all and sheer enjoyment and energy from start to finish.
I hope that's summed up last night for you all. Thank you again and to Madonna - who knows, she may read this hehe - I salute you. You're the best the world has ever known.

From Clair:
I was stood at the side of the runway next to the platform last night and that was my 19th Madonna concert and SHE WAS amazing! She seemed much more mellow than on Saturday. She again was late but that didnt matter she sure made up for it.
She interacted with the audience and spoke at length about MJ and his funeral. She asked someone up front for a shirt and over the next half hour received various other items of clothing and gifts. Whilst singing La Isla Bonita she started laughing and generally seemed happy to be there.
She clowned around and rolled about the stage with her dancers, her performance and voice were utterly flawless and the sound was much better than previous. I had my Madonna flag in tow as usual and she saw this acknowledging it many times.
But the thing that made one of my dreams come true and my friend Craig was the fact she came right over to me put her microphone under my mouth during Give It 2 Me and we touched MADONNA! I still can't believe it we were marching through Manchester telling anybody that would listen to us and it will take several days before I come down from Cloud Nine.
Thank you Madonna you rocked my world last night and took me somewhere else xxxx

From Matt:
I attended the latest show in Manchester having seen the show on two previous occasions in Cardiff and London last year. So how does it compare? Well in my view it was the best of the three! The show certainly benefits from a smaller venue…the runway is much lower so for those of us at the front you can get much closer to the action....and whilst the MEN arena isn’t what I would call intimate, in comparison to Wembley Stadium it does make for a much more better atmosphere and sound quality.
The changes made to the show since last year were for the better....great to see ‘Holiday’ back although I think it would have raised the roof more, had it remained closer to the original. ‘Dress you Up’ is also a welcome addition, albeit like many fans the rock-chick thing isn’t Madonna at her best! And ‘Frozen’ was a revelation, really brought to life by Calvin Harris’ ‘I’m Not Alone’. The Michael Jackson tributes were also heartfelt and brilliantly executed.
As for the ‘Queen of Pop’ herself, right at the start of the show she did seem a little lack-lustre in her performance, but as the audience warmed up (and boy was it hot in there!) so did she, and for the latter part of the show she seem relaxed and really enjoying the atmosphere…her level of engagement with the audience was the best I have seen at any show thus far!
So all-in-all, whilst I did have to think long and hard about spending another £175 on seeing the show again, it was worth it! But now that the show is over (as far as I’m concerned anyway), how does ‘Sticky and Sweet’ compare to Madonna’s previous outings?
Well, I wouldn’t say it was Madonna’s best show to date - ‘Blonde Ambition’ was more of a journey and was visually stunning, ‘Drowned World’ was a more sophisticated affair and ‘Confessions’ was just about as close to perfect as you can get!
But ‘Sticky & Sweet’ was one of the most energetic shows I have seen and the ‘clubby’ atmosphere was great. If I was critical, I would say that some of the track choices could have been better (why Human Nature?) and others have been over-used (Music, Ray Of Light). Also, whilst some of the revamped classics worked fantastically well (Like A Prayer is pure brilliance!), others seemed a little flat and bassy (not dissimilar to the ‘Reinvention’ tour, which left me a little cold to be honest!) and were too far removed from the original and therefore an opportunity was missed to really get the crowd going.
I think it is a shame that more tracks from the Confessions album didn’t get another outing (the rock version of ‘Hung Up’ in the original shows doesn’t count as it was sacrilege to defile a dance classic in this way!).
The new ‘Hard Candy’ stuff worked well on the whole, despite it not being my favourite album, but ‘4 minutes’ seemed a bit flat and ‘Give It 2 Me’ was a strange choice to close the show given that it made little impact when it was released (the performance was great and literally got the crowd jumping, but it would have been better had it been followed by a Madonna classic as a finale!).
The production values of the show weren’t the best I have seen of Madonna either and at times during the show the atmosphere does drop....it was the same at all three, so I put this down to the show not the audience! It simply didn’t have the slickness or musical richness of Confessions or Blonde Ambition. But I am been highly critical....she still pulls-off the best shows of any artist I have seen and long may that continue.
So, I guess it’ll be another 2-3 years before she tours again....let’s hope next time she sticks to the smaller arenas versus the stadiums, drops the ticket prices a little and produces a show on par with ‘Confessions’ (hopefully a return to her dance roots for the next album will lead her in this direction!). But in the meantime, thanks again Madonna for the wonderful entertainment....you really are beyond compare!

From Richard:
The Manchester show was the best I have seen of all the Madonna concerts I have been to. Was at the opening night in Cardiff for this tour and she was just so much more laid back this time and was more interactive with the audiance than what I have seen her be before.
As usual, she was late starting but clearly as soon as the show started everyone instantly forgave her! Clearly the show is intended for a stadium, but the size of the stage just made it feel more intimate.

From Wayne:
Despite not taking to the stage until 9:35pm, she still had the crowd eating out of her hand. Se seemed in good spirits and was chatty throughout the show. There were lots of t-shirts coming off tonight, and someone threw a pair of Devil's horns right into her lap during Doli Doli - she wagged her finger at the culprit and one of the dancers later wore them for the finale of Give It 2 Me.