Live Review: Madonna: WorldPride NYC Performance @ Pride Island, Pier 97: June 30, 2019

Thousands of vibrant, shirtless men  the fragrance of ambience, surrounded the stage. Present were representatives marking  every continent, anxiously awaiting the lifetime appearance of Madonna at Pier 97, slated Pride Island, and the dazzling grand finale spectacular of WorldPride, NYC 2019. 

As the sky grew dark the excitement mounted. We all became one, bodies crunched together without a place to breathe. Then suddenly the stage lit up with dancing replicas of Madonna and all at once like a raging tsunami, Madam X appeared. Climbing the massive stage built staircase and singing “Vogue”, the congregation cheered, some even cried with heart filled emotion. 

Madonna, the gay, iconic, anomaly, always supporting the community, winning the GLADD Advocate for Change Award, among many, many others, is known for pushing the boundaries of mainstream, pop, songwriting, for the images and onstage and in her music videos. Certainly one of the most popular, well known superstar on the planet, Madonna was dubbed “Queen of Pop” and still holds that title since the 1980’s. 

Although she only did a small select number of songs, her performance was created as a special, one time ever, celebration for WorldPride. Her showcase sparkled like the essence of fireworks amongst the night sky. As that of fireworks, although the sparkles don’t last forever, the memories of what’s happening below them do. 

Aside from performing some of the more messaged and political evoked songs from her newly released “Madame X” album, including “God Control”, she spoke about the need for gun control and her love and support for the LGBT community throughout her entire career. She also performed “American Life” from her multi platinum album with the same name, and closed her 4 song set with, “I Rise.” 

“50 years freedom and fighting. 50 years of putting up with discrimination, hatred and ignorance. 50 years of not bowing down to fear. I’m so proud and I wanted to share this historical event with you. 50 fucking years. It’s insane. Are you with me?” …..Madonna

The culmination of pride and the sparkling performance ended in a display of multicolored fireworks over the Hudson River……

Photo Credit: Mike Todd