Dubai: Provocative. Sexy. Violent. These are words that have been used to describe Madonna’s debut performance in her MDNA Tour. As the Queen of Pop performs in the UAE for the first time on Sunday, could her risqué routines fall foul of the Emirates’ cultural sensitivities?
In Tel Aviv on Thursday, the pop star opened her show with monks swinging a censer against the backdrop of a giant crucifix, before she launched into her song Girl Gone Wild.
The video for that song, which features male dancers in high heels, was also reflected on stage as men in tights grooved with her dressed in tights and stilettos. Even as Madonna prayed for peace in the Middle East, her performance included brandishing a revolver and then pretending to fire it as blood spattered across the giant screens.
When asked by tabloid! if Madonna has been requested to tone down her performance in Abu Dhabi, organiser Flash Entertainment declined to comment.
Barring R&B singer Akon, whose 2009 performance in Dubai prompted an apology from organisers after the singer removed his t-shirt during a performance, no other international artist has been recorded as falling short of the moral code of conduct when it comes to performances.
Madonna is known for ruffling feathers in many of the cities in which she performs.
At a performance in Rome in 2009, during her last Sticky & Sweet Tour, she dedicated her song Like a Virgin to Pope Benedict XVI. “I’m gonna dedicate this song to the Pope, because, I know he loves me. I am a child of God,” she said, before launching into the song. The Vatican had earlier called her 2006 concert in the same city the most “satanic shows in the history of humanity”.
