The Sticky & Sweet Tour (CD/DVD) Reviews

Another completed world tour, another live CD/DVD two-pack. This time it’s the tour in support of Hard Candy. Unlike the previously released live albums, I’m Going to Tell You a Secret and The Confessions Tour, the randomly chosen live tracks don’t sound so icy and out-of-context. Could it possibly be that Madge sounds like she’s actually enjoying herself on stage this time out? Maybe. While my favorite tour has always been Re-Invenvtion, and I thought that the ’08 leg of Sticky & Sweet was a gaudy hot-mess from what I gathered from YouTube clips, you can’t blame her for wanting to have some fun. Her personal and professional life had a rough two years. (For the record, the changes to the ’09 leg of Sticky & Sweet didn’t just improve the tour, they VASTLY improved the tour. “Holiday” made a return, “Dress You Up” was performed for the first time in ages, there was a Michael Jackson tribute and “Frozen” was added back in. The show in Israel was filmed, it would have been great to have those included in this set as bonus features, but I digress away from the album.)

The only real complaint is the song choice. Did “Spanish Lesson,” a contender for her worst track ever, really need a live version? I would have traded that out for the rocked-out version of “Borderline,” the metallurgic “Hung Up” or the remixed mind-fuck of “Into the Groove.” “Music” makes its THIRD appearance on a live album – granted, each version has been wildly different – but no love could be paid towards “Into the Groove,” which has a higher place in her catalog than “Music.” Did anyone want a live version of “Get Stupid”? If she must insist on taking up valuable space with her concert interludes why not include the remixed “Die Another Day” which came complete with Mortal Kombat sound effects (yeah, it has to be heard to be believed) or “Rain,” which was a mash-up with “Here Comes the Rain Again” by the Eurythmics?

Since this is another Madonna concert tour that means that any and all old school tracks get the remix treatment. And by “old school” I mean, any song that has either previously been performed on a tour or is from any album other than the one she is currently promoting. “La Isla Bonita” gets turned into a crazy Latin-meets-gypsy workout routine, “Human Nature” has a funk-meets-punk snarl and a Britney Spears cameo, “Music” gets turned into a dirty underground club jam, “Like a Prayer” gets turned into the choir song for a futuristic rave party and “You Must Love Me” becomes a beautiful acoustic moment performed with a gypsy flavor. These are the remixes that work, but there is one other older song that was performed. The treatment that “Vogue” gets is almost unforgivable. Long gone is the deep house groove and in its place is the beat to “4 Minutes.” It simply doesn’t work and totally neuters one of her greatest songs, and one of her greatest dance songs.

Other than that one misstep this is probably the best of her live albums. The remixes are by and large very intriguing, smart and bring something new out in each of the songs. The Hard Candy songs are performed well, and the stretch from “Music” to “Like a Prayer” (minus “Spanish Lesson” and “Get Stupid”) is quite mind-blowing. At 51 Madonna can still wipe the floor with any of her younger competitors. DOWNLOAD: “You Must Love Me”