Hollywood (Madonna Song) - Live Performances

Live Performances

To start marketing American Life, Madonna performed the American Life Promo Tour. A performance on Tower's Fourth Street in Manhattan was presented to around 400 people and featured acoustic performances of "American Life", "Mother and Father", and "Hollywood". On August 27, 2003, Madonna opened the MTV Video Music Awards performing a medley of "Like a Virgin/Hollywood" with Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Missy Elliott. The performance started with Spears appearing on stage atop of a giant wedding cake, wearing a wedding gown and veil; she sang the first few lines of "Like a Virgin" before Aguilera appeared from behind the cake and joined her. Madonna then emerged from the cake wearing a black coat and hat and started singing "Hollywood" before proceededing to kiss Spears and Aguilera on the lips. Missy Elliott came out from a wedding chapel to sing her song "Work It" halfway through the performance.

The kiss generated strong reaction from the media. When asked about it, Madonna revealed, "I am kissing and passing my energy on to her. Like kind of a mythological fairytale." The performance was listed by Blender magazine as one of the twenty-five sexiest music moments on television history. MTV listed the performance as the number-one opening moment in the history of the MTV Video Music Awards. In Madonna's Re-Invention World Tour (2004), a remix interlude of "Hollywood" featured a breakdancer, a firedancer, a bellydancer, a tapdancer, and a skateboarder. The screens displayed animations of tarot cards. On the same tour, the performance of "Into the Groove" contained samples from the remix "Into the Hollywood Groove".