Madonna Concert Review

Madonna gets Houston into the groove with a career-spanning concert at Toyota Center

Madonna at Toyota Center on March 29, 2024

Johnston Farrow

Houston celebrated one of pop music’s greatest icons with one of the most visually satisfying spectacles of the year as the queen of pop, Madonna, rolled into the city.

Appearing at the first of two sold out shows at Toyota Center as part of The Celebration Tour on Thursday night, Madonna brought it all — countless hits, an elaborate and eye-popping stage show, endless costumes and dancers.

Compared to other famed one-named female artists, none of them broke down barriers and reshaped music and culture quite like she did. The entire show served as a reminder why all other pop stars who followed in her wake – Britney, Christina, Taylor, Cardi B, among others – owe her a debt of gratitude.

The numbers bear that out. 400 million albums and singles sold worldwide. Highest selling female artist of all time. 12 No. 1 songs. Countless awards won, including seven Grammys. Music video innovator. Socio-sexual provocateur. Gay rights activist. Madonna was quite simply the most famous woman on the planet for a long time.

Madge offered a rapid-fire look back across her varied and massively successful career, crammed into 2.5 hours. Songs crisscrossed 40 years of chart-toppers and fan faves through seven acts, from her days as an MTV innovator to her hyper-sexualized ‘90s, and onto the electronic influenced 2000s albums and beyond. Even her film soundtrack work shared the spotlight during the show that started at 10 pm and ended well past midnight.

At 65, Madonna is somewhat removed from her commercial heights when she ruled global pop culture. But after rescheduling dates due to a serious health scare, the legend showed she had plenty of gas left in the tank and a still-rabid, multi-generational, multi-gendered base of adoring fans.

As a hero to the LGBTQIA+ movement, there were plenty of same sex partners in the audience, but there were numerous other fans she had gathered along the way, done up in their favorite Madonna outfits. They were treated to high-tech, eye-popping set pieces with a stage that worked its way across the arena floor to make the proceedings feel more intimate.

“This is not just a concert, this is not just a party, this is a celebration, bitches,” emcee Bob the Drag Queen exclaimed in full Victorian garb. Then Madonna arose on a rotating stage for Ray of Light track, “Nothing Really Matters,” her 23rd No. 1 song on the U.S. dance charts. Dressed in head-to-toe black, religious-themed garb and crown, it was pure, juicy theater.

A remixed version of “Into the Groove” was the first true banger of the setlist, the hit from the ‘80s flick Desperately Seeking Susan sounding as good as it did when it took over the radiowaves and MTV, despite somewhat muddled acoustics in the venue. At 65, Madonna was not as limber as she once was (who among us is?) during choreographed bits, but she was more than game.

“That’s how we used to dance in the 80s,” she said, slyly commenting on her limits. “Did you like it? Some nights I like it. Some nights I’m embarrassed.”

“Open Your Heart,” from 1986’s smash, True Blue, and “Holiday,” from her 1983 self-titled debut were more successful, her voice finding its stride with Art Deco visuals and a giant, human-sized disco ball.

Act II highlights included the stone-cold classic jam, “Like A Prayer,” with more religious iconography: nuns, a carousel of crosses and bare-chested, six-packed men in cages, snippets of Gregorian chanting and Sam Smith’s “Unholy.” Very Madonna and oh so good.

She later referenced her famous run-ins with the Catholic Church. Raised in a strict Catholic household, she joked that she held the Guinness Book of World Records for being excommunicated by the church three times.

Act III shifted the vibe to Madonna’s years of pushing the boundaries of empowered sexuality in the pop music medium in the early-‘90s, with the one-two punch of “Erotica” and “Justify My Love.” Scantily clad dancers acted out boxing scenes while Madonna grinded in a Marilyn Monroe wig. It ended with her receiving simulated pleasure on a bed with red satin sheets by a Truth and Dare era lookalike, alluding to the time she was almost arrested while on tour.

The mix of her Erotica and Bedtime Stories era hits were bolstered by arguably Madonna’s best song of the 21st century in the ABBA-cribbing disco gem, “Hung Up,” from 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor. It was one of the best songs of the setlist, bringing straight fire, the heat felt up to the highest rows of Toyota Center, no doubt the tingles partially caused by the topless male and female dancers writhing on stage.

Act IV included the pop ballads, starting with 1985’s “Crazy for You.” That morphed into an underground vogue competition to coincide with the hit song of the same name, “Vogue.” Madonna’s 11-year-old daughter Estere Ciccione featured as DJ and dancer in a glittery black and gold sequined outfit and matching headphones.

Act V leaned into acoustic numbers, including the awesome back-to-back acoustic versions of the No. 2 Like A Prayer hit “Express Yourself” and top five True Blue classic, “La Isla Bonita,” the crowd singing along with every word with their cellphone lights aloft.

Act VI took it home with one of the best moments of the night with late-‘90s comeback tune, “Ray of Light.” Madonna hovered over the crowd in a floating truss in a reflective outfit, pink wig, and futuristic glasses. Lasers mimicked a prism across the stage as the heavy techno remix got fans dancing in the aisles.

And if we hadn’t seen enough costume changes, Act VII song, “Bitch I’m Madonna”, included each of her dancers sporting individualized classic Madonna attire, including her dress in the Material Girl video and even her Rockford Peaches uniform from the popular film, A League of Their Own.

While she seemed to be dragging at times – she was clearly not feeling 100 percent – there were few criticisms to be had. Fans of “Material Girl,” “Music” or “or “Frozen” will be disappointed by their exclusion. Those hoping to hear entire versions of songs will wish she hadn’t cut so many short.

Overall, the night’s performance was a sexy, visual and audible feast for all sexes and genders, proving that Madonna hadn’t lost her touch for putting on a show. It wasn’t a concert, it was an interpretation of her career through an artistic lens, Easter eggs dropped throughout for casual listeners and diehards alike.

Those heading to the Toyota Center for her second show on Friday night are in for a treat.

Setlist
Act I
“Nothing Really Matters”
“Everybody”
“Into the Groove”
“Burning Up”
“Open Your Heart”
“Holiday”

Photo by Johnston Farrow

Madonna performs on night one of two at Toyota Center on March 29, 2024.

Act II
“Live to Tell”
“Like a Prayer”

Act III
“Erotica”
“Justify My Love”
“Hung Up”
“Bad Girl”

Act IV
“Vogue”
“Human Nature”
“Crazy for You”

Act V
“Die Another Day”
“Don’t Tell Me”
“Mother and Father”
“Express Yourself”
“La Isla Bonita”
“Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”

Act VI
“Bedtime Story”
“Ray of Light”
“Take a Bow”

Act VII
"Billie Jean” / “Like a Virgin”
"Bitch I’m Madonna”
"Celebration

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Movie review

Adam Scott explores creepy Irish hotel in moody horror movie Hokum

Photo courtesy of Neon

Adam Scott in Hokum.

There are relatively few actors who can switch back and forth between comedy and drama easily, but Adam Scott is the rare exception. He’s equally as well known for starring in comedy projects like Parks & Recreation, Party Down, and Step Brothers as he is for dramas like Big Little Lies and Severance. He’s going the latter route again in the new horror film, Hokum.

Scott plays author Ohm Bauman, who’s trying to finish his latest book. In an effort to avoid distractions and also pay tribute to his parents, he retreats to an Irish hotel where his mom and dad spent their honeymoon. Bauman, who is about as stand-offish as you can get, and the staff of the hotel are at odds almost right away, although Bauman finds a kind of kinship with Jerry (David Wilmot), a seemingly-homeless man he meets in a nearby forest.

Bauman becomes intrigued with the story of the hotel’s closed-off honeymoon suite, which is said to be haunted. His curiosity, though, seems to trigger a variety of strange things, one of which ends with him in an extended stay at the hospital. He returns to the hotel determined more than ever to discover what’s really happening in the honeymoon suite, with things both normal and supernatural blocking his way at every turn.

Written and directed by Irish filmmaker Damian McCarthy, the film’s approach to horror is both subtle and overt. On the good side is Bauman’s story, which gradually gets deeper as more is revealed about his past, especially the premature death of his mother. Bauman’s trauma over her loss influences his thinking and actions, and a possible connection between his current situation and his personal history broadens the scope of the plot.

There is plenty of creepiness to be found in the film, starting with the dark and decrepit nature of the hotel itself. Any building where a particular room is off-limits naturally inspires intrigue, and McCarthy does a solid job of building tension. That’s why it’s strange and disappointing that he gives in to the lamest of horror tropes - a sudden appearance by an odd-looking person accompanied by a big screeching noise - on multiple occasions.

The film is at its best when it features weird moments that are never or only slightly explained. A dead body in a rabbit suit is echoed by the unexplained broadcast from Bauman’s youth featuring a terrifying TV host with bulging eyes and rabbit ears. Bauman’s explorations take him into the hotel’s basement via a dumbwaiter, where he encounters all manner of strange things, including what seem to be witches. Because most of these things are left to the audience’s imagination, they hit harder in the moment.

Scott is known to be understated in his acting, and that skill works well in this particular role. Although he clearly plays Bauman as freaked out, he never indicates panic, and that level-headedness makes his character someone you want to follow no matter how dark the path might be. The mostly-Irish supporting cast is not well-known, but Wilmot and Florence Ordesh make the most of their short time on screen.

Hokum — a title that is also not explained — is a horror film that earns its bona fides through mood more than action. Even though not much of consequence happens throughout the film, it still keeps you on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what will happen next.

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Hokum is now playing in theaters.

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