It’s difficult to imagine pop culture without Madonna or Janet Jackson. Both are, of course, two of the biggest female entertainers of our time and with such a tag the divas are constantly compared and contrasted. To underestimate the impact of either entertainer on society is to undermine their overall talent. Madonna and Jackson hit the road this year for two of the biggest concerts of their respective careers. So, with the year coming to a close, a reflective piece on the concerts seems primed and ready.
Madonna and Jackson have been prized through their flashy videos, stage spectacle and other grand gestures over songwriting craft, vocal skills and intimate reflection. It’s difficult to imagine either woman would have made it if it weren’t for MTV. So it is without surprise that both performers pull out all the stops in creating expensive sets, extravagant numbers and impressive choreography for their tours.
It rankled Madonna in the early 90s that while she was taking on creative challenges and catching considerable critical flak, other singers road her coattails. She always resented the fact that Jackson seemed to copy her every move, imitating the mood of her pop videos or even using a director Madonna had collaborated with. Ongoing remarks in interviews appear every once in a while demarcating the bitter battle between the two divas. All making for unimaginable tabloid fodder and hotly contested debates between fans of which artist holds more artistry.
Madonna’s show was easily the hottest tour of the year. Tickets, priced as high as $250, were scarfed up in mere minutes. (Jackson’s All For You show, in comparison, had difficulty selling out most of the dates.) And with good reason, as the tour was one of the best shows so far this millennium. The dazzling Drowned World Tour 2001 embodied so much emotion and character it easily puts to shame the comparatively tame Jackson show. Jackson’s All for You concert was a tightly scripted and executed with the precision of a Broadway show but it was Madonna’s show that held wisdom and cleverness.
Those who thought Madonna hung up her handcuffs along with the notorious Sex book should look again closely. With its themes of chaos, dominance, and, ultimately, celebration, Madonna’s Drowned World explores her ever-fervid intrigue with both imposed and pious restraint.
From its futuristic techno-lighting to a breathtakingly funky set design the show was technically flawless, evidence of Madonna’s perfectionist blond ambition.
The Drowned World Tour was split into four distinct chapters each portraying a distinct persona-a punk, a geisha, a cowgirl, and a ghetto-fabulous diva. Each episode was marked by a separate visual and lyric theme. Drowned World proves that Madonna is still unmatched in her ability to lift cultural iconography into the mainstream.
The Drowned World concert is entirely consistent with the themes that she has been exploring for the last twenty years, namely the relationship between the sexes, the ambiguity of gender, the unresolved conflict for women of a patriarchal society, and of being fully female and sexual while exercising complete control over her life.
Record producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis have helped Jackson keep up with the times sonically with settings that help downplay her vocal and songwriting weaknesses. And her themes in various albums have provided a dramatic sense of personal statement: the struggle for career independence in 1986’s Control, the sexual awakening in 1993’s janet., the self-affirmation of 1997’s The Velvet Rope.
But where Madonna took her sexual codes and obligatory statements to the stage, Jackson left it off – losing the rhythm in her nation. There was little sense of overriding drama in the All for You tour and it left Jackson, in Madonna’s cowgirl kicking dust. While hard work and determination have marked both Madonna and Jackson’s careers, it was Madonna who brought those characteristics to life.
The razzle-dazzle Madonna show contained much more excitement than Jackson’s show. Like every satisfying trip to the theatre, the show aimed to convey a message while it entertained. The brilliant theatrics included the 52-foot sleeve span of the geisha costume, the flying segment a la Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon battle with a samurai, the lap dance with a mechanical bull and Madonna’s impressive guitar skills. All these elements never allowed the show to dull for any length of time. These absorbing elements made me feel like I was in the presence of a genuine artist, and someone who could surprise me at any moment. There were points during the All For You show where I felt like I could leave for a half-hour without missing much.
The show was also much tighter than Jackson’s, moving from one performance to the next with intrinsic ease. Even during Madonna’s four costume changes she didn’t let her audience wait, entertaining them with newly shot videos and choreographed sequences presented by her dancers on the set’s 38 video monitors. Jackson, however, left the audience waiting in the dark for a few minutes during rather lengthy costume changes.
Even more importantly, however, was the powerfully moving message that Madonna’s cathartic show contained: a soul-killing obsession with success is naught without love and family. Madonna’s show picked me up off my seat, shook me around, and over time made me reevaluate my own ideals. The forward thinking Madonna tour personified much more emotion that the relatively cold Jackson show. Madonna has matured significantly as a singer and songwriter in ways that Jackson hasn’t. Four months after seeing the Drowned World show I continue to feel reverberations of Madonna’s messages.
Madonna should also be lauded for eschewing any technical manipulation on her vocals. Although her performances didn’t involve nearly as much choreography as Jackson’s did, she was able to sing through her entire set whereas Jackson relied on voice-overs all too often.
Don’t get me wrong, Jackson’s concert was great in itself. But pitted against the grandiose Madonna show it didn’t come close to matching the gusto and bravado that was the Drowned World Tour 2001. During the end of Jackson’s show, we were able to see a deeper, rawer Janet. Without racing around, she could just sing; not rely on the apparent vocal enhancements that help carry her through strenuous numbers. It was also this property that helped the concert’s medleys coalesce with surprising consistency.
The most memorable aspect of Jackson’s show, however, was a steamy lap dance with a randomly selected audience member. Sadly it was an elaborate version of the same gimmick she has used for three tours now, and it’s time to move on.
Moving on would have actually been appropriate for most of Jackson’s concert. Beyond the lap dance, there really were no other outstanding points. The intricate choreography was impressive, but it was nothing more than translating the same 1980s moves (legendary as they may be) onto a 2001 stage.
