Guess who got to review the concert last night for Xtra.ca…check it out, bitches:

Madonna wraps up Canadian leg of world tour

Sean Horlor, photos by Janet Rerecich / Vancouver / Friday, October 31, 2008

So maybe she’s in the middle of a divorce. Is there any more fittingtime to take the stage with two apartment building-sized glowing M’sflanking your every move? And maybe they changed colours all night long— from red to pink to lighter pink and then back to red again. Maybethere were frequent shouts of “Gay-eh-eh-eh” and maybe the crowd in theupper tiers brought the wave back to kill time before Madonna took thestage around 9:30 pm.

M-dolla gave Vancouver one giant “Mmm” last night and mmm-hmm, it wasso good, that BC Place ran out of liquor an hour after the showstarted. Does this happen during BC Lions games? I doubt it.

On to more important things. Newsflash: Madonna is and always will bethe icon’s icon. Not only does she sing every song live, she also singsand dances at the same time, hard to believe when confronted by theBritneys (mostly a dancer) and Mariahs (mostly a singer) of today’s popmusic scene.

During “Heartbeat” from her latest album Hard Candy, La Ciccone tookcentre stage for a rhythmic breakdown and showed her legion ofVancouver fans that she can booty shake crunk-style like a 20-year-oldfreestyler from So You Think You Can Dance. If you want proof of aconsummate performer, YouTube that clip and prepare to be surprised.

Maybe you should dig around online for a couple other eye-poppingoriginals from her Sticky & Sweet tour. When’s the last time you’veseen shadowboxing on stage? And how about jump rope? Let’s be honesthere. That’s a never for me.

I’m glad I negotiated last minute tickets because she also dipped deepinto her back catalogue — performing Into The Groove, Borderline, Vogueand a for-Vancouver-only rendition of Like A Virgin during the audiencerequest portion of the show.

Vancouver, I’d like to tell you that you are always full of surprises.

Surprise #1: talking to a random fan at the Level 7 bathrooms about the concert — “I got the trots, gotta run.”

Surprise #2: the crowd leaving immediately after the last song which,just so everyone knows, means no encore. Not that Madge would actuallyperform one anyway — when she walks off the stage, she’s done for thenight. She hasn’t performed an encore so far on her tour, which wrapsup in Sao Paulo in December.

Surprise #3: the group seated behind us who asked us to stop dancingafter the second song of the night. This was particularly brutalbecause, really, who says that at a Madonna concert? For the record,the only time they got up and danced was for Like A Virgin. I know, Iknow. Do not judge lest I be judged, but I could think of five goodfriends of mine who would’ve danced the entire show and been happy tohave those seats.

Lastly: tick tock, tick tock, tick tock — I wish Justin Timberlakejoined her on the stage for “4 Minutes.” Is he too good to double-billfor Vancouver? You know you were thinking it. Why, cruel world? WHY?