Madonna - where have we seen this before?

[MrBTH]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqtT8gTjUyw&feature=related

Video from her latest tour that started in Cardiff last night...

Huge screens, Keith Haring animations... She always puts on a good show but this is a pretty blatant rip off... (the lovechild of zooTV and popmart by the looks of it!) It begs the question, if even Madonna, a fairly original artist in her staging and use of technology, is doing something that U2 were doing 10 years ago, where does live performance go from here!? Can U2 come up with the next big innovation this time around!?

 

[corianderstem]

I really don't see anything here to get all upset about. Many artists use big screens and animation, don't they? I don't think that's something that U2 can "own."

 

[U2isthebest]

Madonna's been using the same technology as U2 since U2 started using it. Both of them started with elaborate stage show during the early 90s. Madonna's is always built more around a set performance with acts, costume changes, etc., but she's not doing anything she hasn't done before.

 

[MrBTH]

I'm not getting upset as such - although the fact that she's using some of the EXACT same Keith Haring animations as U2 used during Popmart is rather odd...

It's just that live shows, in terms of visuals and technology, have gotten to the stage where it seems nothing is new or fresh anymore - it's all LED screens and flashy graphics - higher and higher resolutions obviously but fundamentally exactly what U2 pioneered back in the 90s. From what little I've seen and heard of the new Madonna show it's another very theatrical, performance based production with the visuals fairly supplementary. I just wonder if U2 and Willie Williams can come up with something really different and exciting next time round or if anyone knows of any other bands who are doing something other than the standard...

 

[mad1]

Kylies recent Tour, a lot of it reminded me of Madonna's Drowned World/Confessions Tours.

has she gotten ideas or is she copying?

 

[beegee]

When I see Haring's work I do not immediately associate it with U2.

 

[joyfulgirl]

When I see Haring's work I do not immediately associate it with U2.

Me either. I hardly make that connection at all, frankly. Living in NYC in the early 80s I knew his work well long before Popmart. Haring & Madonna were also friends in those days.

 

[gvox]

Maybe she got it from, oh, and just going out on a limb here, Keith Haring?

 

[Audiophile]

This doesn't make any sense to me and it's really nothing to get upset over. Should we start saying that Muse is also a ripoff for using large screens?

 

[UberBeaver]

LOL, WTF? That looks almost EXACTLY like ZooTV and Popmart. Come on! It was bad enough when she sang Like a Prayer, but this is just blatant. Ugh. HACK? Survey says, "Yes sir!"

 

[Salome]

I thought Take That's last tour was visually better than U2's

Madonna .... not goed

 

[Audiophile]

LOL, WTF? That looks almost EXACTLY like ZooTV and Popmart. Come on! It was bad enough when she sang Like a Prayer, but this is just blatant. Ugh. HACK? Survey says, "Yes sir!"

Still nothing to lose sleep over....who cares?

 

[UberBeaver]

Still nothing to lose sleep over....who cares?

Well, Guy Ritchie hasn't made a good movie since he married her, so I kinda care. I liked Snatch and Lock,Stock,Two Smoking Barrels.

And oh - remember when Bono wore a cowboy hat? Remember that video with Madonna when she was square dancing? What was she wearing.......yep, cowboy hat. Unreal. Next she'll start walking around with a guitar but never playing it.

 

[joyfulgirl]

Next she'll start walking around with a guitar but never playing it.

Except that she actually does play guitar.

Madonna and Keith Haring were dance club buddies back in the day. I think U2 are probably irrelevant to her and not really on her radar, and the Haring bit was about Haring and the 80s and nothing to do with ripping off U2. But what do I know.

 

[impy13]

Keith Haring was a talentless hack.

 

[DreamOutLoud13]

On her last tour, she emerged from a giant disco ball for the encore