Madonna World Tour Opening Concert

Today is the first concert in Madonna's Confessions world tour. My brother Simon and I headed off from Thousand Oaks just north of LA late afternoon. We arrived at the Great Western Forum at around 6pm. After parking up we made our way to the Forum Club entrance. There were a few photographers already there. Kevin Mazur & Dave Hogan & Jeff Kravitz were there and it was nice to see them. It wasnt long before many many other photographers arrived. After some time we were hearded into the Media Room. Then we waited for a while and then we were led out into the arena. We were shooting from the back of the Forum. This was a bloody long way from Madonna. Anyway, after a 50 minute delay, Madonna come onto the stage and burst out of a massive disco silver ball. Kind of similar to the one she came out of at MTV Awards in Lisbon, Portugal at the end of last year.

Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

We got to shoot the first 3 songs and then pushed our way through the crowd and headed back to the Media Room.

Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

From what I saw of the show, she was on real form. What with all of the dancing and singing, she must be very fit. Also one thing I noticed is that she is definatly singing live. Not Lip Syncing Elton.. That is what Elton John accused her of doing when I was at the Q Awards a year or so ago... She was definatly singing this time.. Other than a couple of slight miss-hits, her voice was great.

Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

Simon and I then escaped from the Forum and headed of out of there and got a bite to eat. Then headed off out home to Thousand Oaks.. All in all a very late night but great fun...