Wednesday 26 September 2012

The MDNA Tour: Brussels, 12/7/2012

It's been a while since I updated this blog - my apologies, I've been focusing on my travel blog instead. I'm bursting with ideas for this blog, though, and can't wait to start turning my thoughts into reality once I'm done with these MDNA live updates.

Me and Madonna at Brussels Midi, the most horrible railway station in the world!

So, next up, Brussels! This time, I went to the show with my friend Tiina, and in the queue I also bumped into Joanna from Finland as well as Miguel from Spain. The weather in Brussels was bad throughout the week that we spent there, and we ended up joining the queue for Madonna as late as 10:30 am as it was raining so hard in the morning and it would've been pointless to spend the day outside, soaking wet. When we got to Stade Roi Baudouin, there were lots and lots of people there already and no order whatsoever in the way the people were queueing. No sign of that Scandinavian brilliance of writing numbers on people's hands to give them a certain spot in the queue - instead, new people just jumped the queue and no one respected the fact that someone had been there longer than them...Also, it was REALLY cold so queueing wasn't that much fun. I had something to eat with me and once I was done with what I'd brought, I took out my Finnish flag and wrote a message to Madonna on it.



As I've probably mentioned before, 2012 marks my 20th anniversary as a Madonna fan and I somehow felt the need to express that to Madonna. I was really pleased with how the flag and the message turned out, and this flag also made me extremely happy later on...

Once the gates were opened, everyone just rushed forward and it was just crazy, people kept pushing each other like mad and you almost couldn't even breathe. Insane, it was NOTHING like that in ANY of the other places where I saw Madonna this summer! I really can't recommend Belgium as a concert place, it just wasn't a very nice experience. I'm not one to complain and I was just laughing at the whole situation when I was squashed there in the middle of all the fans anyway, but of course an experience where you have space to breathe is always nicer. Even the iPad girl had to stop her quest of going through all the people as there simply wasn't any space for her to move among us. We desperately tried to make space for her but it just didn't work out at all, and as a result, this show remains the only concert on this tour that I didn't get to experience in the Golden Triangle. Instead, we got a spot on the right side of the catwalk, almost against the fence. I was really happy with my spot because now I actually got to see what was going on at the tip of the triangle - a new experience for me!

When we were let inside the stadium, Madonna was already on stage, doing her soundcheck, and I immediately noticed that her then 11-year-old son Rocco was on stage, too. YAY! I'd been wanting to see Madonna's kids for years and now I got Rocco! Yay yay yay yay yay! So exciting, I loved it! The soundcheck was much longer than in Copenhagen and Gothenburg - Madonna did five songs! We got Candy Shop, I'm A Sinner, Celebration, I'm Addicted and I Don't Give A. Eeeeeeee!

Madonna rehearsing Candy Shop.

Rocco's back :D.

Brahim filming Madonna while she does I Don't Give A.

Madonnaaaaaaaa!

Myself and Tiina.

Madonna's wlan :D.

Our spot.

And some rehearsal videos I filmed...Candy Shop, I'm Addicted, I'm A Sinner, I Don't Give A, and Celebration, also starring Rocco.






 



Ooooh, just amazing! While rewatching these videos, I just want to give up everything I have and just leave for the USA to follow Madonna around...I can't believe this tour isn't anywhere near being over yet, but somehow, when I know that the European leg is, it's hard for me to picture it only having started somewhere elsewhere. I want moooooooore!

Anyway, after the soundcheck, Guy O started taking pictures of the fans in the audience again and he took one of me with my flag as well. The following day, I got a text from my Spanish friend Bea that Guy had tweeted my picture (as picture #1 from the Brussels show, no less), and then I also found out he had posted it, among all the other fan pictures of course, on Madonna's offical Facebook page that had well over 9 million followers in the summer (over 10 million now). OMG! This means Madonna has seen the picture, and my message, too! OMG OMG OMG OMG O M G!!! Here it is:

Me and my flag, picture by Guy Oseary.
I'm SO happy about this! I don't have the words to explain what this means to me! Madonna is the biggest star ever, and the love of my life, and suddenly I've touched her AND had her manager take a picture of me that she most certainly will have seen after the show. OMG. That's all I have to say about it.

Martin Solveig did his set between 8:17 pm and 9:17 pm and Madonna started at around 10 pm. It rained heavily throughout the show. Honestly, why do people think England is the place where it always rains? I don't think they have been to Belgium...The suckiest weather in the world! Madonna was brave, though, and performed her show in the rain. During Like A Virgin, she had a huge umbrella, which reminded me of her show and Nothing Fails at Slane Castle, Ireland in 2004...I didn't mind the rain during the show, I was too ecstatic. Unfortunately, I only have bad pictures, but some of the videos turned out quite good, especially Papa Don't Preach, so that makes me happy.







A bad picture, but I just needed to post one of her with the umbrella :).
And the videos...Revolver, Papa Don't Preach & Hung Up (very much in the rain), Express Yourself/Born This Way & Give Me All Your Luvin', Open Your Heart/Sagarra Jo! (with Rocco), Human Nature/Like A Virgin (again - it REALLY is raining...) and Celebration, respectively.







In the video above, you can see Rocco dancing in front of all the dancers and his mother...by far the best bit of the night! I love Rocco :D! He makes a very cool DJ :D!

What a night, again! Aaaaah, this is simply a show, and a woman, you can't get enough of! Returning to central Brussels after the show wasn't as much fun, though. They'd closed the metro station we'd used in the morning and we had no idea where to find another one so we ended up wandering around in the darkness and in the rain for AN HOUR after the show before we found the metro. Once we arrived at our hotel, we went straight to bed as we were freezing cold and SO tired! Again, though, it was so completely worth it. The only thing that sucks is that I missed out on Bea WHO WAS STAYING IN THE ROOM NEXT TO OURS...boo! We'll have to meet up some other time. The night before the show, I got to meet my Spanish fan friend Franc, which was so much fun! Here's the picture, to conclude this entry...


No comments:

Post a Comment