Video

Rip It Up, Issue 201, 1 May 1994, Page 47

Video

Here’s a great example of how media hype cons the public because anyone expecting to see a shocking, sexy Madonna concert will be severly disappointed. The press hyped the angle that Madonna visited strip bars for inspiration, and magazines like Woman’s Day dutifully published pics of a topless broad sliding down a pole against a red velvet curtain and Madonna dressed as Dietrich teasing her teddy clad female dancers. Butthose are the only moments in a two hour video that exploit the stripper angle. The rest of the show is pure camp athleticism set to a relentless MOR disco beat. The Girlie Show should have been called the Guy Show because it must be

aimed squarely at her massive gay and hairdresser following — it’s hard to imagine her red blooded bloke fans getting off on all the male-on-male dance sequences, although the girl dancers rub each other up the right way too. This is Madonna on an androgyny trip, flirting with the girls, looking more like a sinewy boy than the curvy babe of old with her shorn hair, muscular thighs and flat hips. At one point she shouts “We fuck women!” but in the context of this sterile disco show it’s a slogan with all the shock value of a barked aerobic class command. The Girlie Show is a lighting extravaganza and a costume disaster — Madonna must be on a clothing budget because all she wears are black shorts and bra or a shroud dress or army overcoat, except for the 70s routine for ‘Deeper and Deeper’ where she appears on a silver

disco ball in a more garish shorts ensemble and unflattering blonde afro wig. The song selection is budget not vintage Madonna as well. The only good hits she does are ‘Express Yourself’, ‘Holiday’, ‘Like A Virgin’ and ‘Justify My Love’. Otherwise the musical selection is so dire that ‘Vogue’ sounds like a classic. Speaking of which, she covers ‘Fever’ (disco style) and performs a silly 40s music hall number ‘l’m Going Bananas’ followed (appropriately enough) by ‘La Isla Bonita’. The closing number is a camp anthem if ever there was one — ‘Everybody Is A Star’ — in which Madonna prances around in a sports shirt and jean shorts, underlining the fact that there’s far more sweat than sex in this vapid show.

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