Madonna gives Swiss the biggest concert ever

Kathy Petite ,  Contributor ,  Zurich, Switzerland   |  Sun, 09/07/2008 9:45 AM  |  Entertainment

Eclipsing that of Rolling Stone a couple of years ago, Madonna has just given Switzerland the biggest concert ever, with around 72,000 spectators flooding the Dubendorf former military airfield near Zurich when she performed her 2008 Sticky & Sweet Tour last week.

It was a bright warm sunny Saturday on August 30, where the concert took place. After a brief opening from a Swedish artist Robyn and demanding claps and yells from the fans, the diva finally appeared on a black and gold throne occupied with Swarovski crystals.

In this sexy dominatrix side, the queen of pop began her first Swiss concert with "Candy Shop", followed by "Beat Goes On".

Pleasing those who fancy her hits from the 80s, Madonna also paid a homage to the Old School by bringing some of her classic tunes to the stage such as "Into The Groove", where she was skillfully doing a fun skipping in a cool sporty look with a blazing chili-red short. A little sample of the song "Jump" was thrown in as well while the jumping was on, followed by "Heartbeat" from her latest album. Still in the same wardrobe, the 7-time grammy-snatcher carried on singing "She's Not Me", that bitched about a boyfriend-stealing chick who tried to imitate her style.

Another of her popular song "Vogue" came as a wonderful remix with that catchy 'Tic Toc Tic Toc' bit from the "4 Minutes". And of course, accompanied too by her famous *hand choreography' that truly belongs to Vogue. But talking about the old tracks, what was most fascinating was when the classic from "True Blue", "La Isla Bonita", was presented. A unique blend of Spanish, Romanian and far eastern influences emerged with lively gypsies, violins and graceful dancers in their joyful moves and colorful looks, bringing an exotic party to the stage.

But even when the stage was clear from all the of her mind-blowing dancers, Madonna still hypnotized all the eyes when she just stood there being strapped to her guitar, singing "Miles Away", or the touch melancholic "You Must Love Me" from the beautiful ballad from Evita.

Performing on a mega lavish setting of stage perfected by state-of-the-art lighting with spectacular installation of multi mega screens which constantly changed and moved, the Material Girl just maintained the level of thrill with her endless energy and surprises in every segment of the concert, despite her very few words said to her audience.

Before bringing "Into The Groove" to the stage for instance, the audience were spoiled by a brief show of two boxers on a ring with Die Another Day tunes and videos showing on the screens.

What was another unforgettable part was also when some screens suddenly *transformed' into a semi-transparant cylinder-shaped cage showered with seas of lights, in which Madonna sat on her piano donning a big dark mysterious Gregorian-styled robe.

Bringing more than 15 tracks to the stage with some that came from previous albums such as Hung Up, Sorry, Music, Like A Prayer (who managed to finally *wake up' her 'too tame' Swiss fans), the pop diva finally wrapped the two-hour choreographed show with "Give It To Me".

Transporting 60 trucks, 15 buses and a team of 250 multi-nationalities people with 16 dancers among them, Madonna did break a record of being the being concert ever in Switzerland, mesmerizing her tons of fans who partially came from different parts of the world.

One of them was Ksenia Kucha, a 26-year old student who, despite her unfulfilled wish to see Justin Timberlake performing together with Madonna for the track "4 Minutes", just landed on Zurich from Moscow right on that Saturday.

Not hiding her goosebumps from what she just saw, she expressed to The Jakarta Post, "I really enjoyed everything in the concert, especially the part where she did the rope jumping. Also, the cool visuals, the storm with water around her sitting on the piano, and the part where the boxers came to stage. It was just amazing."

Promoting her Hard Candy album, the 50-year-old Madonna will continue to stir her fans in Europe and America with her Sticky and Sweet Tour, and her still smoking hot self.

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