Live Performances
The song has been performed by Madonna on The Virgin Tour (1985) and the Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008). In the Virgin Tour, Madonna performed the song wearing a black, fringed micro-top and similar skirt, with her belly-button exposed, and a number of crucifixes in different sizes, hanging from different parts of her body. Madonna performed the song in its original version. She appeared from behind a silhouette, and descended the steps, while waving her hands and singing. The performance was not included in the Live – The Virgin Tour VHS in 1985.
"Borderline" was added to the set list of the first leg of her Sticky & Sweet Tour in 2008 during the Old School section of the performance. Madonna wore a pair of gym shorts in this section while wearing sneakers and long socks on her feet. The dress was designed by Jeremy Scott and was a reference to Madonna's old days in New York. A punk-pop version of the song was performed by Madonna while strapping on a purple electric guitar on a microphone as the backdrops displayed Keith Harring's cartoons and graphical imagery. Jon Pareles of The New York Times called the performance enthusiastic and punk-pop. Nekesa Mumbi Moody of USA today called it a "rocked out performance". Caryn Ganz of Rolling Stone called it a "cheap trick-style power-pop song ." The song was not included in the 2009 leg of the tour and was replaced by a rock version of Madonna's other song "Dress You Up."
Read more about this topic: Borderline (song)
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“It is not enough that our life is an easy one. We must live on the stretch, retiring to our rest like soldiers on the eve of a battle, looking forward to the strenuous sortie of the morrow.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“At one of the later performances you asked why they called it a “miracle,”
Since nothing ever happened. That, of course, was the miracle
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—John Ashbery (b. 1927)