From Adam:
Just a few lines to say how much I enjoyed the opening night at the brilliant Millenium Stadium. I know there were certain individuals moaning at certain aspects, but I wish at the end of the day they would just shut up and not bother going to events like this if they are not happy. I for one was thrilled to be there again, and my three friends who went with me all agree, a big thumbs up Madonna, you are amazing! Thankfully, everyone else around seemed to think this too.
The mix of different songs was just right, and as usual the full use of technology, artistic thought and music made the whole show unforgetable. I am now looking forward to seeing her again at the fabulous Stade de France in Paris in September, Ive got a seat for that one so it will be great to see the show from a different angle and to see how fans from other countries react, I think we must all be mad at heart, certainly mad on Madonna! Keep on doing what you are doing Madonna, you make a lot of people very happy! God bless you and good luck with your travels this time around.
Thanks also to Madonnalicious.com, keep up your good work, I love the website and also the staff and management at Millenium Stadium, you are all a credit to Cardiff, and Wales as a whole. It is a pleasure to come and visit, hopefully this wont be the last!

From Chris:
Have to say it was an amazing concert and would not believe that was a 50 year old woman on stage – she worked her butt off! As for her not turning up until 9pm.....errr isn’t that what time she normally comes on – I didn’t think for one minute before going in that she would come on before 9pm – and whats this about the booo’ing, I must have been so into chatting to other Madonna fans sharing stories etc and drinking and having a good time to hear any of that!
Great to hearing 'Borderline' live – not since The Virgin Tour nearly 24 years ago, 'Music' was fab, 'She’s Not Me' looked great, 'You Must Love Me' blew me away, great dancing in 'Into The Groove' and 'Vogue' and the best version of 'Like A Prayer' EVER!
Kylie better live then Madonna....she wishes! No way can anyone do better then this, she leads....the rest follow.
I was fortunate to get Hot tickets and love being at the front, it made the day extra special – highly recommended!
If I can get hold of Hot Tickets for Wembley I will definitely be back!

From Clair:
Oh my God this was the best tour ever! Who cares if she's late, she's the Queen and I will wait all night for her. I was blown away on Saturday it was all outta this world.
I have to say there were not very many merchandise stall hence long queues and bars too, the merchandise was of a higher quality than usual.
The whole show is just breathtaking what with the car coming down the runway! But best bit and highlight for me was Like A Prayer mixes with Felix's Dont You Want Me - it was AMAZING and boy did she shake that booty.
The whole area was jumping like fleas. The stage was somewhat smaller than usual as well. It was worth every penny and I CANT WAIT TO GO TO WEMBLEY IN 3 WEEKS VIP with my other longtime Madonna buddy Craig VIP style and enter the candy shop!
So all in all the best show ever, I have one minor grudge though, please talk to your audience Madonna just a little bit more.

From George:
All I can say is WOW. It was a long day, queuing from 11am to get our hot tickets and then at the stadium to get a good position. However, we managed to get very front row and so happy that we did. From the opening sequence which reminded me of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory straight into Candy Shop.
Madonna looked amazing. She has ditched the hairstyle from the promo tour and gone for the 4 Minutes style which suits her a hell of a lot more.
The highlights for me were Like a Prayer: what an amazing revamp of a classic track. Spanish Lesson: No one likes this song but I love it. And the dance routine was amazing. Vogue: OMG I have never heard Madonna sing this live before and she sounded amazing and what a dance. Into the Groove/She’s Not Me: Where I got the most eye contact from Madonna and even a smile for the amount I was jumping up and down and singing! Great performances.
Overall I think this tour tops anything Madonna has done in the past and equals Blond Ambition. I can’t wait to see her again in the Golden Circle at Wembley, but doubt I will get front row again!

From Jessie at www.notsosimpleplan.blogspot.com:
Yesterday I returned home after seeing Madonna’s opening night at Cardiff. Her Sticky and Sweet Tour kicked off in true diva style. My opinion? If you have been to any of her former shows (this is the 4th Madonna tour I attend) you may be disappointed that the show is not as visually stunning as the others, lets face it Confessions was incredible, but this tour is more a raw Madonna performance, where she dances from start to finish. And, with that, she did shock us.
At one point I was only a metre an a half away from her, and she is as stunning as ever. I also managed to notice how she asked one of her dancers for 'just one more' shot of whatever they were drinking when the gypsy band took over.
She performed a perfect rendition of You Must Love Me. Borderline took us all by surprise, and the updated version of Like A Prayer had us all dancing. And I have to say that the Britney bit was out of this world, Human Nature has never sound this fantastic.
And, contrary to what some silly British newspapers said there were no incredible amounts of empty seats, it was a full house, and I have the pictures to prove it.
Madonna doesn’t want to slow down, we don’t want her to. She danced, we all danced, she smiled and we all smiled…it was one hell of a party!

From John:
Hey madonnalicious - just wanted to tell you what an amazing show last night was! I've seen all of Madonna's live shows now including some of the smaller promo gigs. Sticky & Sweet did not disappoint. It was one of the best EVER. Madonna was fabulous and the set list was just perfect. Loved the rework of Like A Prayer. Worth every penny of the £160 paid for the seat. But let's clear a couple of things up:
The crowd booing because she was late on - NOT TRUE. The crowd did boo and then cheer and then boo but this was down to a rather disappointing, half hearted attempt at a mexican wave by the crowd. They booed when the crowd just didn't bother participating! Not because M was late on stage.
Late start - so what! Madge never comes on stage early - and what was the crowd a bunch of old age pensioners?
The crowd -for the most part a great bunch and what an amazing atmosphere. But some where just a right bunch of moaners! Complaining that Kylie would never be on this late!
My only small gripe about the show (and I am a HUGE Maddy fan) was the crap film work on the big screens. Dodgy camera work resulted in out of focus shots and we couldn't make out what was going on on stage. Get it sorted Madonna!
Otherwise, a big fat 10 out of 10.
PS - LOVED Madonna doing the double dutch with those skipping ropes.
PPS - Cardiff you are great - my first trip to Wales - you are all fabulous hosts and the atmosphere was electric.

From Kevin:
As for the show itself can't remember much, it went far too quick! After seeing her now nine times on various tours, Madonna was good, very polished, as you would expect from Madonna. Very disaponited that she didn't interact much with the crowd though. Best part of the show was for me the gypsy section....loved it. Not the best show but good.

From Marc:
I was lucky enough to get hold of Gold Circle tickets through Ticketmaster six days before the actual event. I thought the show was incredible, and that Madonna herself commanded the stage and looked great all the way through. She was clearly in fine shape.
Even though there was a relative lack of obvious controversy this time round, there were plenty of unexpected twists and turns, the advantage I guess of being at the opening night. One of the things I like most about Madonna is her ability to present her music in a very varied, dramatic and exciting way.
The remix of Like A Prayer must surely be one of the show's highlights and certainly seemed to get the Gold Circle moving! Even though Madonna's 'rockier' moments are often widely criticised in the press, I would still maintain that the songs that received this treatment, in particular Borderline and Hung Up, benefited enormously from this update.
The dance routines seemed even more strenuous and demanding than ever before. Into The Groove and Music were particulary well-choreographed. I like the way Madonna frequently takes something well-known and successfully and fashionably incorporates it into her performance - the skipping during Into The Groove was a great example of this.
There seems to have been some flack in the press for including so much material from Hard Candy in favour of some of the classic stuff from yesteryear. Surely the point of this tour is firstly to promote this album though? I'm not sure that just churning out reliable old hits always works: I think Madonna gets the balance just right by including a small selection.
At the end of the day her career is still moving and I think the set list reflects this really well. Hard Candy is a great pop album and tracks such as Beat Goes On and Heartbeat - as well as the singles - sounded (to me at least!) just as good on stage as off.
I wasn't troubled by her late arrival onstage. We did wonder if there would be any support; a member of Millennium Stadium staff told us Paul Oakenfold had been scheduled for a performance but that he had failed to show. Madonna was not due until 8.30pm, so reports she was 'hours late' are off-the-mark. Reports that the stadium was 'half-full' or 'far from full' also seem a little far-fetched: whilst there were admittedly some gaps in the seating, I can quite confidently say that these gaps were not one in two!
Overall I think Madonna has excelled herself once again. The dancing was top-notch all the way through. I had a great night and cannot wait to see what she produces next!

From Marek:
Before I say anything: MADONNA RULES THE WORLD! THE CONCERT WAS AWSOME! UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE!
As a reply to the first fan report:
Madonna was late but all seems down to bad organization on Live Nation's behalf. We had to queue for the wristbands as we had vip priority passes outside ticketmaster for around an hour, then from 3 p.m. by the gates for another hour, then inside the stadium for another hour stuck by the food and drink stalls - luckily the rehearsals were still going on and we heard a bit of ray of light and you must love me....this was still bearable! Then we rushed into the stadium and the rest is history....standing and waiting for the concert to start from 4p.m. till 9p.m. by the stage with no information whatsoever....
There was some booing and nasty comments about Madonna in the crowd but anybody would have lost their temper A- we were tired of standing on our feet, B- we wanted to be treated as VIPs as we paid so much for the 'Live Nation experience'. Many people actually said that VIP ticket holders could have been let into the stadium just before the concert, after all the seated areas were covered. This seemed a bit inhumane to look around at all the tiers being filled hour after hour and see all these people sat down while we were standing and waiting for so long.
Lastly there was no information telling us what time the concert starts, if there was any supporting act or what time Madonna would come on stage. Guy Oseary was mingling with the crowd, some cameramen some dancers etc....Security staff told us She would on stage at 7p.m. then 7.30p.m. etc. Thank God for the cups of water they gave out for the crowd as the thirst was coming up.
And yet again, the concert was magnificent, it's the packaging of it that really needs to be revised for the future venues, please.

From Martin:
As an avid Madonna fan who has seen all her concerts from the 'Who’s that Girl' show to Confessions (some of them multiple times), I have to admit I was nervous about this concert, after the spectacular event that was the Confessions, I genuinely thought she could not get better but how wrong I was, Sticky and Sweet takes Madonna’s performance to a new level, the stage, the sound, the visual, the costumes and the dancing are the best yet....so many times during the concert my jaw hit the ground with wonder and amazement.
Madonna herself as all the pictures reveal looks better physically than I have ever seen her....fantastically fit but still stunningly beautiful. The concert itself is relentless, there are no lull points but one high point after another. 'The Beat Goes On' so over the top, its ghetto fabulous, 'Vogue' is superbly edgy, 'Borderline' will rock your world, the skipping section in 'Into The Groove' has to be seen to believed, 'She’s Not Me' is hilarious (huge crowd favorite with everyone singing all the words), the dance mix of 'Like A Prayer' exceeds all expectations and had everyone in a frenzy.
The 'Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You' is achingly beautiful, stunning costumes and dramatic choreography make 'Spanish Lessons' work so much live better that on record. While Madonna did not say an awful lot on stage (normally she does get chattier as concerts go on), the smile on her face when fans screamed 'We love you' during a heartfelt vocally impeccable stunning rendition of 'You Must Love Me' spoke volumes.
If you have not got tickets for this concert yet, what on earth are you waiting for?!

From Nick:
Having seen what felt like every village in Wiltshire, we finally made it to the M4 and the Severn Bridge, and the excitement kicked in as we saw the 'Welcome to Wales' signs....somewhat less exciting was the horrendous traffic from the toll bridge right down the M4 into Cardiff! Is it always like that, or was it just the Madonna-effect combined with a bank holiday weekend?! We managed to keep ourselves entertained by singing to The Immaculate Collection at full blast and trying to spot other fans heading to the concert in the cars around us.
Having finally made it into Cardiff and to our car park (thanks to Navman, which we'd have literally been lost without) we realised we'd checked the wrong weather forecast as by this time it was raining properly and my shorts and t-shirt really weren't appropriate! Anyhow, the adrenalin was kicking in and we got to the stadium having stopped en route for food and a photo call on the Gate 2 side of the stadium! The gold circle queue was being let in so we headed off and went straight in, trying not to get distracted by the merchandise stand we had to go past to get to the stadium floor.
The first thing that struck me was how weird it was walking down the steps into a stadium that was indoors (given the weather outside thankfully the roof was firmly on!) After a quick look around I realised it was a pretty impressive space, and was instantly wowed by the huge crystal encrusted 'M' on either side of the stage.
We grabbed a spot but the gold circle was filling up fast, and everyone was stood up already, so after a short space of time it felt very claustrophobic so we backed out and plonked ourselves down dead centre at the end of the catwalk, but towards the back of the circle. By this time they'd opened the gates for general standing and the anticipation was building.
We spent the next couple of hours milling around and heading for the bar (but only made the one trip - I've never had a pint of lager that tasted like that before!) and waiting for M. True to form, she kept us waiting big-time! I'd expected 8.30 at the earliest and someone near us with VIP passes said they'd been told half eight....so M appeared just before five past nine!
Fortunately by this time almost every seat in the two upper tiers had been taken bar a few curtained off ones at the very top, but disappointingly the standing/lower bowl seated area looked very sparse, with large sections of the lower tier seats empty. Having said that the atmosphere was good and there'd been loads of Mexican waves in the tiers, although there were also a fair few boos too as Cardiff grew impatient!
Anyway, onto the good stuff! At 9.05 the house lights went down and the stadium roared! The stage had a huge video screen cube in the centre, in front of a shortish (for a stadium) walkway in a 'T' shape with a revolving circular platform at the end. We'd positioned ourselves bang in the centre about 15 rows back so we were still close to the end of the catwalk but also had a brilliant overall view of the stage.
The video cube lit up and showed cogs turning (very like Blond Ambition) before turning into various pink candy and lollipop images. A clock popped up shaped like a lollipop accompanied by the 'tick tick tick'. Dancers appeared on each side of the stage and the video cube starting moving apart in sections. Eventually as the music kicked in (and boy was it loud!) the cube platform started revolving, and as it turned round there was Madonna, sat on her huge M throne with one leg over the arm like on the promo-tour.
The stadium duly went mad again and Candy Shop kicked in. It was never my favourite track on the album but with those lyrics it worked brilliantly last night and the choreography was great. M looked stunning as ever. She had on a black bra and very high-legged pants with a black lace nightie thing over it, with the obligatory long black boots. Candy Shop went straight into Beat Goes On, and we got a proper big prop! The car that drove out looked brilliant and they used it to great effect as it made it's way down the catwalk.
The dancers looked to me as being the same guys from Confessions (correct me if I'm wrong) with Jason Young still there, the guy with the huge mohican and several others looking familiar. After this we got an 'Alright Cardiff?' and next up was Human Nature, with Madonna on guitar at the end of the catwalk and a mike stand, and featuring the much-discussed Britney video, which worked pretty well I think, although this was the first track of the night that demonstrated Madonna's love of turning old hits into rocked-up versions.
This also saw the first use of the video curtain which was circular and hung over the end of the catwalk.
Vogue was next and got a huge welcome from the crowd and was performed at the end of the catwalk - brilliant choreography and I loved the way the 'tick tick tick' was mixed into it. It sounded live as well (potentially a first on tour?!) and everyone in the Goldalicious circle accompanied Madonna on the Vogue rap - word perfectly around us! That was the end of the first 'pimp' section.
A boxing ring then got set-up at the end of the catwalk, and this was used for two dancers to have a sparring match accompanied by Die Another Day. Sadly it got packed away again straight after, which I thought was a shame as I was expecting Madonna to rise up in the middle of it at any moment and go into the next number. She re-appeared stage right in red hotpants and a black top and launched straight into Into The Groove which was just an all out dance-and-sing-a-long number which the audience lapped up.
The skipping was amazing - I do it for cardio at the gym and it's bloody hard work, but as ever, Madonna made it look easy! Next up was Heartbeat, where Madonna was 'resuscitated' by her dancers at the start - and then danced like mad to this one - definitely one of the strongest Hard Candy tracks.
Then we got Borderline - wow wow wow! I've waited years to hear this, and it got the thrash metal re-working, but it worked - absolutely brilliant and a big favourite with the crowd. Yes I'd have rather heard the original but M's not in 1985 now so it's understandable she wanted to update it. The video effects for this were great as well - very simple but effective.
Then we went into She's Not Me - which M said was for all the lovers, and she added big 80s style white heartshaped sunglasses to the outfit (as pictured in The Sun yesterday). We got Madonna through the ages on the video screens and towards the end four of the dancers appeared in each corner of the end of catwalk stage dressed in different Madonna incarnations from over the years.
The Like A Virgin wedding dress, the Open Your Heart video black tassle bra outfit, the Material Girl video Marilyn dress and the Express Yourself pinstriped suit and pointy bra and M proceeded to attack each of them in different ways which was brilliant! Music rounded off this segment, with lots of street and graffiti imagery on the screens and all the dancers kitted out in gym/disco gear and ending up heading off on the New York subway train from the Hung Up video.
We then got a fantastic video interlude interspersing the Eurthymics' Sweet Dreams with snippets of Rain and a brilliant thunderstorm and rain projected onto the lighting curtain (little did I know this was the teaser for most of our drive back to Bournemouth!) Gradually the curtain at the end of the catwalk lowered and a piano was raised up under it with M in a black cape laying on top. The opening piano bars of Devil Wouldn't Recognise You started and this was spine-tingling, such a great song and vocally M was really on form and sounded great.
You didn't see much of her all the way through (even at the front) but it looked great. As the curtain rose Madonna disrobed revealing the black and pink gypsy style outfit we'd seen pictures of. She went into Spanish Lesson back on the main stage with dancers under the huge black capes. Never my favourite track on the album, this didn't change anything but it was bearable!
Much better was Miles Away which brought her back to the end of the catwalk, guitar in hand with the mike stand centre stage - this was performed very much like on the promo tour (in fact I think the video backdrops may have been the same?) but it was great, she sounded really good and every pair of gold circle arms was raised for the clapping bit towards the end.
Next up was La Isla Bonita. Good yes, but sorry Madonna - we've pretty much seen everything you can do with this one now. The S&S version just seemed like a re-hash of the Live Earth version, which in turn was just a re-hash of the Confessions version. The pause between the lines in the chorus is great but we have heard it before. Sorry! We then got a rather odd interlude where M sat down and clapped along at the end of the catwalk while one of the dancers twirled like a Spanish senorita, gradually removing layers of her multi-layered dress.
Oh, and if I'd met those two guys who sang and played guitar during this section in one of Cardiff's drinking establishments earlier in the day I'd never have believed them if they'd told me they'd be on stage with Madonna later that night! After that though we got You Must Love Me, which was just amazing - not sure how much it really fitted into the show as a whole, but wow. Getting to see her at the start of the tour means her voice isn't tired and to my ears at least she hit every note and sang it beautifully. Everyone around me went pretty quiet at this point and just listened to her sing and it was great.
And then it was approaching the end and the final segment....the Get Stupid video interlude was the political statement, mixed with Give It 2 Me, urging people to make a change accompanied by images of Zimbabwe, China and Tibet and Barack Obama. One of my friends was quite surprised by this but I explained there's usually one part of a Madonna show that's quite political now. Then Timbaland popped up on the screens and 4 Minutes kicked in, sounding great I thought.
Only criticism was this was exactly as she performed it on the promo tour (although having only seen that on TV I didn't mind!) with Timbaland on the main video screen and Justin on the four small moveable ones which revolved round to hide and reveal M at different points, which was really effective. Then came Like A Prayer, which really was a religious experience! Mixed with Don't You Want Me (the dance track not the Human League version!) it was turned into an all out dance track and we duly danced and jumped and sang along.
The lighting was really impressive - lots of warm yellows and oranges and the whole stadium seemed to go mad for this one. Madonna then made her way to the end of the catwalk again for Ray Of Light, performed pretty much as previously with her on the guitar and a couple of dancers doing robotic moves at her sides. Kinda felt this performance didn't really add anything to what we've seen before, but nevertheless it's a great track and fitted well at this point in the show with loads more enthusiastic jumping (as per the Confessions tour) on my part!
She paused next at the back of the stage and said something along the lines of 'this is the request section' and although I couldn't really hear anyone requesting anything she went into a few lines and a chorus from Express Yourself which was a nice touch. Then she declared 'Fuck that shit, it's my show and I'll decide the songs!' and began the rock version of Hung Up, which I'll be honest and say I didn't really like. Didn't like it on the promo tour and didn't like it last night much. The song just sounds so much better as a dance/pop track!
The crowd seemed to like it though and Madonna herself was loving making the feedback sound as loud and earsplitting as possible at the end! Maybe I'll grow to love it, who knows!
Absolute finale was Give It 2 Me - all the dancers were back out on the stage and in the crowd we spent most of this one jumping up and down and doing the hand-push move with our right hands held up in the air! This was a great finale, although for me maybe this end section would have worked better with Like A Prayer as the final song? I'm probably just biased as that was one of my favourites!
And then that was it....M rose at the back of the stage, the screen revolved, the 'Game Over' message came up to tie in the with the computer game imagery they'd used for Give It 2 Me, we saw M step down from the platform and walk off the back of the stage, and it was all over.
Overall I'd say wow what a show, as yet again, Madonna's delivered. The Hard Candy tracks sounded brilliant live, and with the exception of Spanish Lesson, really stood their own next to the various classics alongside them. There was a good balance of old hits (even 80s ones!) that the whole stadium loved and as ever her performance was incredibly energetic, and one that a lot of artists half her age couldn't carry off.
She looked stunning as well - beautiful close up and really toned. Wasn't sure about the fringe though! Check out people's pics to see what I mean. Thought the sound was awesome too - yes my ears hurt a little, but isn't that the kind of volume it should be?! I hate going to a show and standing there wanting to grab the volume control and turn it up. For a stadium too I thought it was particularly good and clear - guess the roof helps!
And so that was that - 11pm and it was time to go home. We shuffled slowly out of the stadium - managing to go via the press section where a lone journalist was sat at his laptop filing his review. Noticing the papers next to him I wandered over for a closer look and noticed the setlist he'd been given. With a rather hoarse voice I asked if he'd mind if I had it and he was happy to hand it over, so thanks to whoever you were!
We then spent a while trying to locate a merchandise stand to get our programmes (did anyone else think there weren't many stands there?) and then tried to get our bearings and get back to the car. Thankfully we got back just before the heavens opened, but on and off from then on until at least 4am when we made it back to Bournemouth it was torrential! Not sure if we went the quickest way out of the city but is the traffic always that bad after a show there? It seemed far worse than leaving Wembley but perhaps it was just all the sets of traffic lights!

From Paul:
WOW! Yes she was a little late but it was definitely worth it. I've seen all the tours in the UK and this was M at her best - she looked great. Loving the costumes, the reworked 'Borderline' and 'Like A Prayer' and some of the best choreography we have seen from Madge in years!

From Ravi:
Having been a lucky Madonnalicious reader to have won tickets to the opening night I thought I’d let you all know how it was - and let me tell you it was one of the most stickiest shows Madonna’s ever done! From start to finish she strummed, skipped and strutted her stuff across the stage in some of her most sexiest costumes to date! Tied in with all the amazing choreography, props and stunning videos the show felt like experiencing a 2 hour sugar rush inside Madonna’s wild candy store!
Some of the highlights included the blinged up opening number, a sexy rendition of Vogue/4 Minutes, a tongue-in-cheek performance of She’s Not Me where Madonna got all bitchy with....well....herself, the amazingly re-worked Like a Prayer, and of course the crazy finale of Give it 2 Me! But that wasn’t it, there were plenty of surprises and sneaky cameo appearances along the way to tickle even the most discerned of taste-buds!
Cardiff was buzzing with Madonna themed bars and the crowds were electric - the late start the press seem to be reporting on only made her grand entrance even more incredible and worthwhile! There were a few slight vocal glitches where her voice didn’t amplify on time but nothing major at all, everything just seemed so perfectly rehearsed and coordinated to every last detail.
All in all a sweet visual feast for the eyes and ears, with Madonna once again surpassing all expectations and retaining her title as the undisputable Queen of Pop!

From Steve:
Here's what I thought for what ts worth....I hate to say I was very dissapointed. I feel quite low actually as I was really looking forward to it.
Borderline was more or less like Material Girl from Re-invention. The guitar really needed putting away. I was not alone feeling this the pocket of people I was stood with were getting sick of all the guitar playing. Into The Grove was more or less the same as LAV from Confessions. The pole dancing was used to the same effect the only thing that kept it different was we didn't have any horses this time.
There was just too many things that were the same as other concerts....Fever, Homecoming, Taking Chances tour, Spice Girls.
The vocals were not good (OK this could be down to the venue) I honestly couldn't tell what was mimed or sung live. The music overpowered the vocals a lot of the way through, add to that the backing tracks seemed to overtake everything. The best vocal was for You Must Love Me. Devil was very good, but just a carbon copy of Alone from Celines tour. The stage was used exactly the same, and the projections were VERY similar.
Absouloutly NO interaction with the crowd. I've been to many Madonna shows and there never is much, but did Cardiff even get a Hello/Goodnight? Did they ****! I didn't even feel any connection from Madonna. Made me wonder if she knew it was opening night and not a dress rehearsal.
My biggest complaint was that the routines/projections/versons of the songs were straight from either The COnfessions Tour and the HC promo tour she did. There was nothing new. Even the finale song (GI2M) had the same routine as Hung Up did from Confessions. And why Hung Up was given a rock makeover is beyond me!
There were good moments, Like A Prayer was really good. It was great to finally hear Borderline live. Plus the setlist wasn't bad. OK Spanish Lesson needed to be shoved with the guitar but apart from that it was an OK setlist.
It's really wierd because it wasn't actually a bad concert. But Madonna can and has done better.

From Suneil:
It is the fourth time I've seen the almighty Madonna in concert and definitely the closest I've ever been to her. I was in block A2 two years ago for Confessions at Wembley but to be in the gold circle and to be a few feet away from my idol was just something else completely!
We arrived in Cardiff at 2PM and headed straight to the stadium where we clearly heard Madonna rehearse Vogue, it was such a surreal moment. Later, I was interviewed by the BBC news crew and they seemed to love my custom made T-shirt. The memorabilia was nice, I bagged myself a cool T-shirt, a programme and three posters and now I'm broke! I'm not sure what the criticism is all about because 9PM is the usual time Madonna starts her shows, any earlier just isn't her style!
Anyway the show was incredible, I loved the setlist and was very satisfied! She looked and sounded amazing. Highlights for me were Beat Goes On, Vogue and She's not Me. I can't wait to see her again in London next month!

From Volkan:
I was in Cardiff last night and was right to the side of the catwalk and had amazing views of both the stage and the catwalk. Setlistwise there were no surprises for me thanks to the spoilers! The stage was amazing, there was only one catwalk as mentioned in the spoilers. The Confessions stage looked more impressive initially but when the lights went down and the show started it was breathtaking!
Overall I thought it was the most energetic M show I've ever seen! She dances a lot and she cannot do more physically.
For me there were quite a few highlights. The opening was amazing although I was worried that I saw it all in the promo shows. But she just looked amazingly fit and her costume was stunning and the it was just great. I adored Candy Shop, Beat Goes On and Vogue. The section with the car slided into the catwalk with M and the dancers in was cool. I must say wasn't that keen on the version of Vogue sang on top of 4 minutes as it is one of my favourite M songs ever but choreography and dancing made up for it.
The Die Another Day video was again on of the highlights. That video will be the bedtime stories of RIT and everyone will want to have it - like NOW!
Old School section was so much fun - very colourful and probably the most energetic part of the show M skipping and dancing. I loved Into The Groove and Heartbeat. Her guitar playing in Borderline was one of her best performances, she seemed to have really improved. In She's Not Me they showed so many different images of M and 4 different M personalities were on stage from Like A Virgin, Open Your Heart, Material Girl and Express Yourself eras. No surprises for me with the Music performance but I enjoyed it a lot anyway cause it was already great in the promo tour.
In the third (Gypsy) part, Devil Wouldn't Recognise You was so effective and it was a haunting performance with her black dress/cape, singing on the piano. Spanish lesson and La Isla Bonita were so much fun in her colourful gypsy costume which was under the black dress. You Must Love Me was very simple but AMAZING. Was another highlight of the show and she sounded flawless! Absolutely loved it.
In the last section (futuristic rave) I loved the new version of Like A Prayer and Give It 2 Me which was surprisingly a remix unlike the album version used in the promo tour. It took a while for me to get used to it as I was expecting the album version but was cool at the end.
My only complaints were (which I wasn't that bothered to be honest) that there were maybe too many guitar numbers as we already knew, Human Nature, Borderline, Miles Away, You Must Love Me, Ray Of Light and Hung Up. Ray Of Light and Hung Up both being in the final section isn't a good idea. ROL especially was disappointing as expected. And I didn't like the gypsy interval when this Romanian band sang a random Romanian song, i was like 'What the hell?' And to me there was no controversy, which is why we love M. She kind of plays it safe this time.
But overall she looked and sounded great and everyone around me loved the show. I need to wait for it to sink in to decide where I'd place it amongst my favourite M shows. But the opening section only might be enough to make it the best!