Blond Ambition World Tour 90
Tour by Madonna
Supporting album	Like a Prayer I'm Breathless
Start date	April 13, 1990
End date	August 5, 1990
Legs	3
Shows	9 in Japan 32 in North America 16 in Europe 57 Total
Madonna tour chronology
Who's That Girl Tour (1987)	Blond Ambition World Tour (1990)	The Girlie Show (1993)

The Blond Ambition World Tour 90 was the second world tour by American star Madonna. The tour spanned fifty-seven shows in twenty-seven cities in Japan, North America, and Europe, and lasted approximately four months. It was a highly controversial tour, mainly for its juxtaposition of Catholicism and sexuality. Rolling Stone magazine called it an "elaborately choreographed, sexually provocative extravaganza" and proclaimed it "the best tour of 1990."^[1]

About the Tour

Madonna's then-largest tour incorporated as central themes sex and Catholicism, a combination which engendered controversy. The Pope called for a boycott of the show in Italy, and one of three scheduled Italian dates was canceled. The show has achieved a measure of cult status, with elements such as the cone brassieres becoming cultural icons in their own right.

The show's risque overtone caused problems. In Toronto, police were alerted that the show might possibly contain lewd and obscene content (particularly a masturbation scene) and threatened charges unless parts of the show were changed. The show went on unaltered, however, and no charges were made.

French fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier designed the costumes for the tour, including the now-infamous cone brassiere. Additional costume pieces were designed by Marlene Stewart, who had previously worked with Madonna on the 1987 Who's That Girl Tour.

Director Alek Keshishian captured more than 250 hours of film of Madonna and her troupe during the tour. This footage was edited and released to movie theaters as Truth or Dare (In Bed with Madonna)

Due to ongoing throat problems, six shows had to be canceled, bringing the tour down from 63 shows to 57; altogether, some 125,000 tickets had to be refunded.

In 1998 a tribute show was produced at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, California titled The Blonde Exhibition in which twelve Madonna look- and sound-alike performers from across the US recreated the singer's career from beginning to (then) end. A year later this idea was carried over into the MTV Video Music Awards in which Madonna herself appeared.

The show

The show was separated into four different segments. The first segment was the Metropolis segment, which was inspired by the famous German silent film of the same name by Fritz Lang. The set was straight from Madonna's " Express Yourself" video (also inspired by this film) featuring a huge staircase inside a huge "machine-room" full of half-naked male dancers.

The second segment was a religious-themed set of five songs in which Madonna simulated masturbation on a crimson-sheathed bed during "Like a Virgin". Afterwards, the set turns into a Catholic church-like atmosphere, complete with her back-up singers and dancers dressed as nuns and priests, and Madonna "confesses" with songs including "Like a Prayer".

The third segment was taken directly from the Dick Tracy movie, which was just starting in cinemas during the tour. Parts of the segment included Madonna interacting with the character of Dick Tracy, played by one of her back-up dancers Slam.

The fourth segment was more of the light-hearted kind with a spoof-segment of Madonna mocking her image as a "Material Girl". The set ended with a dramatic yet minimalist performance of her then-current superhit "Vogue", featuring paintings by Tamara de Lempicka on the huge screens behind Madonna and her dancers. (Paintings by Tamara de Lempicka had previously been used in the opening of Madonna's 1987 Who's That Girl Tour.)

The encore of the show was a combination of another light-hearted rendition of "Holiday" before Madonna went into a super-stylized version of "Keep It Together", which was inspired by the work of Bob Fosse.

The Japan and North American shows featured Madonna in her trademark blonde ponytail hair extensions. However, because the hairpiece kept getting caught in her headset microphone and was pulling her real hair out by the root, she switched to short blonde curls for the European leg of the tour.

The tour grossed U$65.7 million.

Opening Acts

• "Technotronic" with "Pump up the Jam"
• "Adele Humphrey" with "Berio JAM" (selected venues only)

Setlist

1. "Express Yourself" (intro contains excerpts of "Everybody")
2. "Open Your Heart"
3. "Causing A Commotion"
4. "Where's the Party"
5. "Like a Virgin"
6. "Like a Prayer" (contains excerpts of "Act of Contrition")
7. Medley: "Live to Tell" / "Oh Father"
8. "Papa Don't Preach"
9. "Sooner Or Later"
10. "Hanky Panky"
11. "Now I'm Following You"
12. "Material Girl"
13. "Cherish"
14. "Into the Groove" (contains excerpts from "Ain't Nobody Better")
15. "Vogue"
16. "Holiday" (contains excerpts from "Do the Bus Stop")
17. Medley: "Family Affair" / "Keep It Together"

Tour Dates

Additional Notes

Cancellations:

• May 25 Chicago
  
• June 6 Worcester
  
• June 15 Philadelphia
  
• June 19 East Rutherford
  
• June 22 East Rutherford
  
• July 1 Berlin
  
• July 11 Rome
  
• July 15 Cologne (moved to "Dortmund" on July 17, because of poor ticket sales)

Personnel

• Director: Christopher Ciccone, Madonna and Vince Paterson
  
• Artistic Director: Christopher Ciccone
  
• Musical Director: Jai Winding
  
• Tour Manager: John Draper
  
• Production Manager: Chris Lamb, GLS Productions
  
• Road Manager: Mike Grizel
  
• Set Designer: John McGraw
  
• Lighting Designer: Peter Morse
  
• Choreographer: Vince Paterson
  
• Costume Design: Jean-Paul Gaultier and Marlene Stewart
  
• Make-up and Hair: Joanne Grier
  

Band

• Keyboards: Jai Winding, Kevin Kendrick, Kevin McKnight
• Guitar: Carlos Rios and David Williams
• Bass: Darryl Jones
• Drums: Jonathan Moffet
• Percussion: Luis Conte
• Backing Vocalist: Niki Haris and Donna DeLory
• Dancers: Luis Camacho, Oliver Crumes, Slam, Jose Gutierez, Kevin A. Stea, Gabriel Trupin, and Carlton Wilborn

Broadcasts and recordings

Main articles: Blond Ambition - Japan Tour 90 and Live! - Blond Ambition World Tour 90

Two shows were released commercially. The August 5 show in Nice, France, was taped and aired on HBO in the United States and released worldwide exclusively on Laserdisc, titled Live! - Blond Ambition World Tour 90, as part of a sponsorship deal with Pioneer Electronics. One of the Yokohama, Japan dates was also taped and released on VHS and Laserdisc in the Japanese market as Blond Ambition - Japan Tour 90. Pioneer signed an exclusive deal to release these concerts on Laserdisc only and thus no video or DVD has yet been released.

In addition to these shows, the August 1 show in Barcelona, Spain was taped and aired on television in Europe and Australia. This show is known by fans for Madonna's unusually big hair (likely caused by the extremely hot weather) and numerous technical mistakes (including Madonna forgetting part of the lyrics to "Sooner or Later" and "Material Girl," getting her monocle caught on her headset microphone at the beginning of "Express Yourself"), and not realising that her headset microphone was still live as she exited the stage after "Where's the Party," resulting in her command at a backstage crewmember to "Get the fuck out of my fuckin' way" and complaints about the oppressive heat to be broadcast to the audience while the dancers performed during the closing of the number. Also, at the end of "Holiday" a man came on stage and put a shirt on Madonna and her dancers bearing the results of an important football match that had taken place the same evening. Madonna looked bemused and commented "Anybody gonna arrest this man?" Later, in the beginning of "Keep It Together", she told her audience, "Strange people walk on my stage, they put shit on me, I can't hear myself...I'd like to fucking kill somebody." The July 6 date in Paris, France was also taped by Alek Keshishian for Truth or Dare.

Video of one of the Houston, Texas dates taken from the video screens has been widely circulated among the fan community. In addition a poor quality Germany-only DVD Blond Ambition Tour 1990 is from the same Houston show, which was also partially aired live on the MTV special 'Blond Date' during a 'Madonna Weekend'. This version is also to be released in the UK later in 2007; 15th October 2007 according to presale order dates as per HMV. The audio from two other shows was recorded and distributed by Westwood One: London and Houston. Also, the audio from a Dallas show was market by an Italian company.

References

External links

• http://www.madonnamultimedia.com
• http://www.madonna-online.ch/m-online/tours/90_bat/blond-main.htm
• http://www.ultimatemadonna.com/blondambition/
• http://www.absolutemadonna.com/tours/ba.shtml