in the evidence of its brilliance

If Madonna ever tours again, I would pay 350 bucks for the front row seat and drag the biggest cynic down with me. For that woman really knows how to put on a show. In summary, I had uh hrm, a very choice seat (see pic) and could therefore not see anything on the gigantic screen on stage. Her back was facing my side most of the time. Even the OHP screen way up is inverted. But there isn't really a perfect seat, for if you sit right down there, you'll miss the dancers who are everywhere, and the pulsing lights and screens on the stage floor. There really are too many things to look at. The techinal setup was brilliant-- trapdoors everywhere, the band on movable floats, a huge curtain screen that rises and falls, disco balls in the rafters, a gigantic hydraulic turntable, great lighting. She made it a disco for 2 hours. She didn't talk that much throughout; about 20 sentences tops. Trent was there; I wish I had spotted him. End of summary, but I know you want a blow by blow account..

1140: The art of leaving a class. It's hard to decide the right time to leave a lecture, especially one where there are only 20 people altogether. Not too soon, and not too fast, just inconspicuous enough to look like you're going to the bathroom.

Nah, actually most lecturers don't really care.

1215: Another long bus ride to new york. Gawd. I wish I were studying there. Or even in berkeley.

1915: The Penn station is a huge mess. I'm trying to figure out the way to madison square garden. It's good to know that they are buiding a new station on the next block. [Actually they are going to move the garden too. Which just doesn't make sense, considering how the current one destroyed the formerly great penn station, and now they want to repeat history? yadayadayada you don't really want to hear about all that..]

2000: Only about half the arena is filled, maybe because of the rain outside, or maybe because everyone knows she's going to show up late. People below me said she came on at 930pm the previous night. I'm so going to miss the bus at 11. Dang the people beside me look like skanks.

2030: The crowd is clapping and cheering for no reason.

2045: Sometime after, the lights dimmed, the show started. Future Lovers is worth the ticket price alone. The protracted wait after the disco ball descends, the roar of the audience when it splits open like an atom, the dancers prancing around like horses, her hot equestrian costume, her slamming her whips on the floor, pulling the harness of her dancer, the sample of 'I feel love', the smug look on her face when she sits down..


The setlist:
Future Lovers/I Feel Love
Get Together - Nice. "Ladies and gentlemen, and I use those terms loosely.."
Like A Virgin - She mounts a saddle on the furthest side of the stage. She's totally neglectin' my side.
Jump - This is when lots of gymnastic looking bars come down and all the dancers do their best impressions of cirque du soleil.
Interlude: Dancer Confessions - The interludes were all pretty entertaining.
Live to Tell - ARGH. The cross is blocking her entirely. I can only imagine what it looks like from the front.
Forbidden Love - Nice. But again, not much to see from the back.
Isaac - Better than on the album. A surprising dance at the end. She's at her best when she dances.
Sorry - Everyone sings along. There's a cage on stage. If I were a singer, I would have such a huge ego if I had 17000 people worship me and sing along to me every night.
Like It Or Not - The weakest song. Maybe it's the acoustics, but I can't really hear her lower register. She should have performed just half the confessions album and give us her old hits.
Interlude: Sorry remix
I Love New York - The perfect place for the song. She does all the reverb and extended guitar thing at the end. She's pretty good at being a rock star.
Ray of Light - Awesome. Dancers do some kylie-ish robot dance. She makes everyone jump up and down. It's a sight to behold.
Let It Will Be - Not as good as I hoped for.
Drowned World/Substitute For Love - This is where most people sit down for the first time. She sounds really good.
Paradise (Not For Me) - Ditto.
Interlude: Music/Disco Inferno
Music - Absolutely the best part of the concert. She's in a Travolta suit, the dancers are on roller skates, the beat is downright nasty, and she does all the 70s style dance moves. The crowd eats it all up.

You Thrill Me/Erotica - Erotic? Not at all. I want more old songs.
La Isla Bonita - It's sped up a lot. Very cool abba unitard. She should inspire more obese americans to exercise. I feel for the women who attend her concerts-- they must feel really bad about their bodies after the show.
Lucky Star - Kinda bah. She has on a stupid looking glow-in-the-dark cape that says "dancing queen".
Hung Up - Yea she did the same old routine, but added a part where she humps a boombox. Balloons everywhere. She gets people to sing along to the refrain.

2300: ok I missed the bus. I still ran though, in case the bus left late.

2317: No luck. Luke suggests I go watch porn and buy some back for him.

0100: I eat Yoshinoya's. I look at movie listings. Cars? A Prairie Home Companion? I decided against both eventually.

0230: I'm at Mcdonalds' reading the Grapes of Wrath. It's raining again.

0300: I'm at the Port Authority. I know it's sketchy, but I've done it before in springbreak.

0330: I get sexually harrassed by this black guy sitting beside me. First he's brushing his arms against me, then he's making the tsp tsp sound with his lips. He reaches for me again. I walk away but am secretly pleased.

0500: I spend the rest of the time reading magazines in Hudson News.

That sums up my last great venturing.
I'm kinda bugged by the past/present tense confusion in the post.