Madonna performance loses impact on video

Press, 30 December 1988, Page 21

Madonna performance loses impact on video

MADONNA “Ciao Italia: Live from Italy” (Warner Reprise Video, WMV 527). “Ciao Italia” looks, at first sight, as if it may be real hot poop. One hundred (or so) minutes of Madonna filmed live in front of thousand of sweaty Italians and a PG rating to boot. On top of that, there are the songs. Recorded in hi-fi Dolby stereo they include early hits like “Holiday,” “Into the Groove,” and “Like a Virgin,” and amongst others we get “Dress You Up,” “True Blue,” “Papa Don’t Preach,” “La Isla Bonita” and “Who’s That Girl”; 16 tracks in total. Not everyone will be happy with the selection, but it seems like a reasonable overview of Madonna’s career so far. The video starts off promisingly, too. The concert involves an energetic, vibrant stage show, with the use of slides and videos to project large images behind the stage; Madonna and her dancers go through lots of entertaining, lively routines, injecting humour into the show, and as we should expect from Madonna it often wanders into risque territory.

There is one thing certain about Madonna: she is a good entertainer, constantly on the move around the stage, lavishing attention onto the audience, and apparently enjoying herself as much as they are. All the activity, along with the numerous costume changes on behalf of Madonna and the dancers, sustains the viewer’s interest. Unfortunately it looks like a lot of the impact of the stage show is lost on the video; but it is still very watchable.

The large backing band — 10 musicians and backing vocalists — are very slick and professional, making seamless, but ultimately dull, music. The songs — especially “Into the Groove” or

“Holiday,” exciting tracks, lack the spark and appeal of the recorded versions. Still, as the band warms up the highlights come — “Dress Me Up,” “Material Girl” and “Like A Virgin.” Here everyone is at their strongest, and these three tracks go to show Madonna has some good songs floating around. Of course the emphasis here, as on most of the songs and the theme running through the concert is money, fame, sex and having fun — as long as you are careful — marvel at the “safe sex” back-drop during “Papa Don’t Preach.” But, the video drags most of the time and towards the end it seems like it has gone on for too long. It is all too smooth and polished, lacking variety in the music. The whole thing does not have the sense of occasion of a “real” live performance, and suffers for this.

Partly this is due to the filming of the video. The photography is dull; too many long-distance shots of the stage where you cannot see what is going on; too many scenes of the audience. Basically it is your standard concert footage with fast sharp editing to hold the viewer’s attention. There is not much room for artistic expression on the director’s behalf when filming live concerts. “Ciao Italia” may be interesting, and enjoyable, to watch once, maybe twice; more than that does not seem worth while for the non-dedicated Madonna fan at least. The music is, it must be admitted, dull, and the stage show, while containing a spark not present in the soundtrack, seems to suffer in transition to video; we only get parts of it. Like most live music videos, it is a document for the curious, an essential item for the fanatical, but for anyone else — don’t bother with it. — PAUL COLLETT