May be you have heard about it, Madonna’s intimate concert on July 26 at Paris’ Olympia, a relatively small club for the star, was a big disaster. She left the stage after only 45 minutes and people screamed at her ‘salope’ (bitch/slut), ‘remboursez!’, (refund!), and then, switching to English shouted ‘Shame on you’… Wow, since when French people can speak English?
The protestors threw empty plastic bottles and booed her, but they couldn’t bring her back on stage. The concert, which was broadcasted live on YouTube, was over without even a good bye or an explanation, and people furiously screamed their anger in the venue for some long minutes.
I have to say that only 2000 places had been sold, at exorbitant prices (up till 270 euros = $340), and some fans had lined up on the sidewalk, days before the show,… the usual circus with these sort of things,… big star + small venue + show announced at the last minute.
Madonna arrived on stage very late, around 11 pm, and after the second song, she was already talking about her beef with France’s far-right National Front leader, Marine Le Pen, that she has compared to a Nazi during her current tour, adding a swastika on Le Pen’s forehead. After only eight songs (her last one was a cover of a Serge Gainsbourg’s ‘Je t’aime, moi non plus’), a discourse about intolerance that a blogger called ‘an interminable and sanctimonious speech’ (and I believe him), a little bit of politics with a ‘I think of myself as a revolutionary’ (can I roll my eyes?), and a declaration of love for France, she left the stage like that,… and she was gone for good, whereas the audience thought it was just a break for some costume change, since the concert had only lasted for 45 minutes.
First of all, Madonna has a weird audience, a little bit earlier the same people who were in awe in front of her, who had been waiting for her hours and hours, camping on the sidewalk, were insulting her and saying that she was a slut? And this just because she had decided to shorten concert? Isn’t it a little extreme?
Madonna’ press representative, Liz Rosenberg, has released a statement saying that the pop icon’s show at the Olympia was a ‘fabulous show’:
‘Madonna's Paris club show was planned as her heartfelt thank-you to France, which she expressed at the start of her show, […] The show was not billed as her full 'MDNA' concert and tremendous effort was made to keep the ticket prices reasonable ($100 for 2,000 floor seats) and keep them strictly to her fans. The show cost Madonna close to a million dollars to produce. She has done a handful of club dates in the past and they were never more than 45 minutes.’
‘And by the way, she put on a fabulous show, which was streamed for millions of fans around the world.’
How this 45-minute show in a small venue could cost Madonna a million dollars? This is beyond my comprehension, and may be next time, make sure the fans know in advance it is not a full concert, this is your job, press representative… You know, next time tell them Madonna is looking for a public to film a YouTube clip. But may be there will not be a next time.