"Why can't politics have a place in art? That, to me, is more unAmerican. I can't think of anything more American than my right to say whatever the f*ck I like."

 

The Queen of Shock took to the stages of Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, on Saturday night, for the opening of her latest world tour, Sticky & Sweet. It's been a turbulent period for Madge - one where, perhaps, the publicity, for once, started to get a little nasty - what with accusations she's an orphan kidnapper, and a homewrecker of young baseball stars, and too old to be performing, and all. Still, her latest offering, Hard candy, debuted at number one around the world - including what was now considered the only market where her grip was loosening, her homeland of USA. Whether this tour (which will land on US shores, next month) will help her re-strengthen that grip, or cause a reprise of the lynching she received for her "anti-American" sentiment in 2001, remains to be seen; Sticky & Sweet has made US headlines, not for its sexual overtones (of which, however, there are many, from the woman who turned 50, last week), but for its political stance - namely a rather nasty swipe at US presidential hopeful, John McCain.

 

Madonna has made great use of the giant video screens that now act as an integral part of any live show, and whilst her last tour featured anti-Bush sentiment (Madonna telling the crowd that if they didn't like her attitude, they could "f*ck off to Texas, and suck George Bush's dick"), it shows the increasingly heated political climate in America, that this arguably softer message would headline US news (Fox wasn't very happy about it, it goes without saying). Of course, there's also the subtlety - or lack of - in the nature of the statement; Madonna, as we all know, not being known for her subtle artistic statements. At one point of the show (mind you, it's ironically only an interlude that acts as a costume change and toilet break), a remix of a current Hard Candy track has Madonna singing, "The time is right now, you've got to decide...", while the screens show a montage of various political tyrants: Mugabe, Al Qaeda, Hitler... and John McCain, who are edited to appear to all be singing "Get Stupid". This then moves on to another sequence, this time of political revolutionaries, including Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Michael Moore, Al Gore and... Barrack Obama. Told you she was subtle, didn't I?!

 

 

The McCain camp was outraged, and US networks were filled with the sounds of a very different kind of music: McCain press officials calling the act "vulgar", "defamatory" and "divisive". I would figure calling a US election "divisive" as somewhat of an oxymoron - I'm trying to imagine an election that isn't divisive... I suppose those ones held by dictators are fairly one-sided. Regardless, the American media went crazy, US networks now filled with online polls, posing a familiar question/chant: Has Madonna Gone Too Far? Yawn.

 

By yesterday, McCain had responded, indirectly as it were, by pulling out his own musical superstar. Yes, hold on to your bladders, as McCain flaunts US superstars as big as... drumroll... Daddy Yankee....

 

That McCain sure is hip, isn't he?

 

Of course, Madge's montage is simplistic, to say the least (as far as the McCain reference goes, it's actually rather silly) - much like a certain little film by a certain Mr Spurlock - but this has made it into the living rooms of every American, and, next month, will hit over 2 million frenzied Madonna fans, as the tour sweeps across every major US city and stadium.  This will coincide with the release of her new feature documentary, I Am Because We Are, the story of the AIDS-stricken Malawi orphans (of which, she returned with one to raise, herself). 

 

Aside from this, the show features a lot of grinding, high end fashion (including costumes by Givenchy and McCartney), Kabalah imagery and none other than Britney Spears, in an exclusively filmed sequence where Britney, as Madonna sings in front of the screens, goes psycho in an elevator (a metaphor for being destroyed by her rise through fame). Madge also does the double dutch live on stage. Who said 50 year old white women can't jump?

 

As of yet, negotiations to bring the show down under have not gone too splendidly (what are they paying you for, Gidinski?); but with extra countries still being added, Aussie Madge diehards can still cross their fingers for an Australian leg, this December. Tic toc tic toc tic toc?