If there ever was a concert in recent memory that came close to being worth 0 for a top-tier face-value ticket, Madonna's "Re-Invention" tour show Sunday night at HP Pavilion in San Jose would be it.

The high-energy performance, visually and aurally, was everything one would expect from someone of Madonna's legendary stature. In the nearly two-hour show, the Material Girl belted out 23 songs, from her biggest hits , "Holiday", "Vogue" and "Papa don't Preach" to "American Life" which is still searching for a spot on her hit-filled list. Madonna, who performs in San Jose again tonight and Wednesday, changed costumes six times, going from soldier in camouflage to a Scottish dancer in a kilt. Conspicuously missing from this show, however, were that famous cone-capped bra and the megahit "Like a Virgin". The crowd, made up mostly of women in their 30s and men who aren't afraid of wearing pink, looked as if they had followed Madonna since her "Virgin" years, reciting with ease the choruses to the songs. They wore jeans and T-shirts with individual lettering on them that spelled out "Material Girl" and "Madge" in honor of their idol.

Madonna, 45, commanded the stage, giving a polished and deliberate performance. Every detail was taken into account, from the five huge video screens to the tempo of her songs, which were sometimes slowed down to give her time to breathe.
Singles like "Frozen" and "Nothing Fails" were sung at the microphone stand, sometimes with a guitar in hand, while others, like "don't Tell Me" and "Music", she sang while dancing. Her voice held up nicely for many of the songs, with the exception of the slow-tempo "Crazy for You", which started out a little too sharp.



The Kabbalah-following fitness junkie looked physically solid, with her biceps bulging, as usual. Her body rivaled those of her dancers, who probably were decades younger. But the dancers were an important highlight of the show: From yoga-like stances to break dancing and tap dancing, they displayed incredible versatility. Some doubled as vocal backup, drummers and even as a skateboarder.

And it wouldn't be a Madonna concert if she didn't inject some sexually charged behavior or delve into other controversial topics, like religion. At one point, as she stepped over a dancer as he lay, she paused suggestively, to approving cheers from the crowds. Religious overtones made way throughout the concert, from images of the crucifixion of Christ to T-shirts proclaiming "Kabbalists Do It Better". As always, nothing was sacred when it comes to Madonna. She didn't stop at just plastering the cross on screen: Dancers frolicked in rabbi robes, and wore burqas that covered their heads and upper bodies but exposed their legs. Other political statements were woven into the show. Dancers in bondage strapped her to an electric chair while she sang a haunting version of "Lament" from the musical "Evita".

And as Madonna covered John Lennon's inspiring "Imagine", screens behind her flashed images of sick, starving and impoverished children.
While her video for "American Life" usually concludes with the image of a chummy President Bush and Saddam Hussein, it ended this time with Israeli and Palestinian boys arm in arm.The theme on this night was obvious: On her and her dancers" boxer bottoms as they flashed the audience were letters that spelled out P-E-A-C-E. Despite the tour being named "Re-Invention," Madonna's performanceseemed more of a well-polished look back at her lengthy career than a re-creation of a pop icon. But that's fine for this diva, who has made a career of confronting topics often banned at the dinner table, sex and religion among them. And since she did all of that again Sunday night, one can only wonder how she'll address her favorite topics during her next tour.

Madonna's concert Sunday at San Jose's HP Pavilion landed on the 60th anniversary of D - Day. The military tie - in seemed especially apt four songs into the show, when the star appeared onstage to perform the title track from her latest album, "American Life," backed by video screens showing war footage. This wasn't a chronicle of France's liberation but a darker glimpse at carnage from other, morally ambiguous conflicts: Bombs razed villages; Iraqi and Vietnamese children bled and wailed.
Through it all, a khaki - attired Madonna and a phalanx of dancers dressed as soldiers, nuns, mullahs and priests got into the groove. The crowd cheered obliviously, horrific video images notwithstanding.

Madonna has always delivered mixed messages, whether flashing pictures of the pope during a song about teen pregnancy ("Papa Don't Preach") in her '80s heyday or going on a vigilante vengeance spree in the video for her latter - day single "What It Feels Like for a Girl." She makes her statements and lets fans interpret them as they will. That's the essence of her two - decade stardom - - at her best, she manages to be all things to all people.

Her "Re - Invention" tour incorporates this melange of personae into a two - hour show that plays like Cliff's Notes to her career, with each new Madonna morphing into the next in a hypnotic jigsaw of sex, lies and videotape. At the first of her three San Jose concerts (there are still floor tickets available for the shows tonight and Wednesday), Madonna was alternately stunning, perplexing and absurd. Most important, she was always entertaining. The concert highlighted the way in which spiritual iconography has replaced the star's '90s sexploitation, from kabbalah text swirling along to "Like a Prayer" to screens filled with Catholic religious art during "Mother and Father." The night started with a biblical recitation, as Madonna's video image fractured from Whore of Babylon splendor to minimal asceticism. The singer then switched moods, rising from the stage in a glittering bustier and hot pants to recite "Vogue" against a museum backdrop filled with - - what else - - a series of shifting Madonna portraits. This was the night's first production number, with dancers strutting in 18th century garb while a backup band and two singers held down the musical front.
As this is a "reinvention" tour, Madonna has found various ways to retool her repertoire. Some of the best interpretations were those in which Maddie dispensed with lavish theatrics to play artist: "Frozen" and "Like a Prayer" were pared down to musical numbers built around Madonna and her band; "Burning Up" and "Material Girl" became singer - songwriter spotlights as Madonna showed off her competent guitar skills.

The larger ensemble songs were hit and miss. "Express Yourself," another military - themed presentation ostensibly meant to celebrate individuality over indoctrination, shot itself in the foot when Madonna crooned, "What you need is a big, strong hand/ To lift you to your higher ground" while being elevated on the back of a rifle.
But a DJ breakdown of "Music" captured a certain club - land euphoria, and the night's final song, a remix of "Holiday," was a confetti - strewn tribal love dance that fittingly ended the night at the point where Madonna's career began.
For the night's greatest - hits segment, Madonna changed into a kilt and a "Kabbalists Do It Better" T - shirt and joined a bagpiper (yes, a bagpiper; don't laugh, it worked) to cut loose with "Papa Don't Preach" and "Get Into the Groove" (featuring a video cameo by Missy Elliott). A schmaltzy "Crazy for You" followed, dedicated to "all my fans in the Bay Area who have stuck with me for the last 20 years."

Just because something's saccharine doesn't mean its sweetness is insincere - - and one of the tour's most discussed and vilified moments, a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine," smacked of verisimilitude. When Madonna announced the song by saying, "I didn't write this next song, but I wish I had, and I hope someday it becomes a reality," she sounded as close to bald honesty as a consummate gadfly can. And here's the punch line: As a treacly international montage of children flickered across the overhead screens and Madonna ran through Lennon's well - worn paean to peace, the audience finally seemed to get it. No whoops greeted the sight of battered war kids; instead, lighters rose and the crowd sang along. Madonna, it seems, still knows how to work a cultural wave.

Click here to see pictures of Madonna on the Re-Invention Tour in the image gallery.

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By Spencer Patterson - LAS VEGAS SUN

Madonna may not possess Mariah's voice, Beyonce's curves or Britney's teen appeal, but all three younger divas could have learned a few tricks from the 45-year-old mother of two Saturday night.

Simply put, Madonna's concert -- the first of her two weekend shows at the MGM Grand Garden Arena -- was the most entertaining large-scale musical production to come through town in months.

The fourth stop on Madonna's 2004 "Re-Invention Tour" was far more successful than reports out of Los Angeles (site of the first three shows) might have suggested.

Perhaps the headliner had finally shaken a pesky stomach flu that caused her to postpone Tuesday's scheduled performance in L.A.

Or maybe four nights in, Madonna and her army of musicians, vocalists, dancers and acrobats had grown comfortable with the rigors of the high-energy event, which lasted nearly two hours.

Either way, a sold-out crowd of 14,000 appeared all but unanimous in their approval on Saturday, grinning madly as they exited the arena covered in red and white confetti.

All but a few of the vocalists' eldest fans stayed until the last note of closing number, "Holiday." That stood in sharp contrast to recent local appearances by Spears and Beyonce, which had hundreds flocking to the exits early.

Madonna maintained her audience's attention even when she was offstage for four costume changes, as her band continued playing while break dancers, trapezists and even a skateboarder performed.

That live entertainment filled breaks much better than the momentum-sapping video montages utilized by Spears, Beyonce and Cher at their 2004 tour stops in Las Vegas.

Far less sexually provocative than her reputation suggested, Madonna's show instead made its mark with an unsettling blend of political and religious imagery on three giant screens, and two slightly smaller ones, comprising the stage's backdrop.

Some of the visuals proved quite effective. Sad as it was to see a young girl in the crowd bury her head in her father's side as camouflage-clad dancers twirled rifles and explosions sounded during "American Life," she's unlikely to forget the song's anti-war message.

And though it may have been a tad heavy-handed, Madonna's cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" -- complete with footage of dead and wounded children in combat locales -- elicited some of the night's loudest cheers.

Other times, Madonna's themes were too cryptic to have an impact. Hebrew lettering -- a symbol of the singer's devotion to Kabbalism, generally referred to as "Jewish mysticism" -- accompanied several numbers but was left untranslated.

A shot of Israeli and Palestinian youths walking together with arms entwined was moving, but a doctored photo of George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein smoking cigars together only seemed to confuse many in the crowd.

And images of Jesus on the cross during "Mother and Father" seemed depressingly out of place at a concert intended to be festive.

Physically, Madonna appeared quite fit, although she sported a black wrap on her left knee and an Ace bandage on her right forearm. She smiled often as she worked through dance numbers, played electric and acoustic guitars and sang songs from all periods of
her 21-year career.

As the tour's moniker indicated, the concert featured reworked versions of several of Madonna's biggest hits. She turned 1992's "Deeper & Deeper" into a cabaret-style lounge number and 1983's "Burning Up" into a metallic rocker, while 1984's "Into the Groove"
featured altered lyrics and a recorded cameo by rapper Missy Elliott.

Surprisingly, it was Madonna's newer material that often packed the most punch, however. The thumping techno beats of last year's "Nobody Knows Me" and 2002's "Die Another Day" got the crowd moving, while 2000's "Music" even brought two middle-aged women out
of their seats for the only time all night.

The show sagged somewhat during its middle act, as fans sat down during a run of less familiar numbers. "Like a Prayer," Madonna's megahit from 1989, signaled
a return to form.

"OK, you people sitting down, this will not do," Madonna announced at the start of that song. "I'm spoiled. People do not sit down at my shows."

Vocally, Madonna sounded confident and assured. Though she was almost certainly backed by a taped version of herself at points, she appeared to do most of the actual singing live, as evidenced by a couple of cracks in her voice during 1985's "Crazy for You."

That provided a final lesson for Spears and her lip-syncing clones on the scene today: whatever the outcome, a crowd will always respect an honest effort far more than recorded "perfection."

The Madonna Arnhem show went on sale on Saturday and in fact sold out in 17 minutes!
As such, show #2 (September 9th) was also announced and it too sold out.
Our last 2 European cities are Lisbon (show #1 Sept. 12th already announced) which goes on sale Friday, June 11th.