Sticky & Sweet Tour - Critical Response

Critical Response

Jon Pareles from The New York Times compared the concert with aerobics and said that the concert was more of a workout than being erotic. Isabel Albiston from The Daily Telegraph compared the tour with the 2006 Confessions Tour and said that "two years later, Madonna’s biceps are no smaller and, with the news that 100 pairs of fishnet pantyhose have been procured from eBay for the artist, her costumes no less raunchy. Madonna seemed to have a point to prove." Another review by Helen Brown from the same publication said that "Sticky Sweet's highlights include a fresh, crunchy and gipsied-up 'La Isla Bonita' (complete with fiddles, flamenco and a spliced-in Romani folk tune) and a raved-up 'Like a Prayer'." Sarah Liss from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation commented that "something about witnessing the 50-year-old crow's feet and wrinkles on Madonna's face, projected a hundred times larger than life, as she works her ass off (to paraphrase part of her stage banter) for a crowd of almost 20,000 feels more awe-inspiring than any of her old-school shock tactics." Jim Farber from New York Daily News wrote that " may have just sailed past the half-century mark, but that didn't stop from dancing hard and fast in skimpy clothes for two hours nonstop at the opening show of her Sticky and Sweet tour. No slack in the star's sexuality or energy was apparent at the icon's show." Joey Guerra from Houston Chronicle commented that "most surprising about Madonna’s impeccably choreographed, frequently fantastic show was her willingness to show fans the flip side. She was still larger-than-life — and astonishingly fit for 50 — but Hard Candy's toot-toot disco beats have softened her edges."

Greg Kot from Chicago Tribune commented that "Smiles don’t come easy for Madonna. Instead, there are usually smirks, sneers, pouts, leers and thin-lipped, tough-as-nails displays of contempt for anyone who would dare mess with her. Madonna, she’s one tough dominatrix, and she’s got better developed biceps than just about any of the fans who filled the United Center on Sunday for the first of two concerts." Adrian Thrills from Daily Mail commented "Nobody does a big stadium show quite like Madonna. She might be pop's greatest female icon, but she does not rest on her laurels and this was a theatrical, two-hour blockbuster, featuring 16 dancers and a 12-piece band." Nekesa Mumbi Moody from USA Today wrote: "Even the superstar's most cynical critics couldn't walk away from her two-hour extravaganza at the Izod Center on Saturday night without being thoroughly wowed. It was not only the spectacle of the concert, but the performer herself, as she reasserted her musical relevance and dominance in her 25th year in the spotlight. Madonna is not the world's most gifted singer or dancer or even musician, but she may be its greatest performer." Caryn Ganz from Rolling Stone noted that "Madonna may have toyed with dominance and submission on Hard Candy, but there was no question who was carrying the cane at the first New York City date on her Sticky & Sweet Tour last night (the trek’s second stop in the States). Emerging on a throne to the thumpy sound of 'Candy Shop', the 50-year-old singer kicked off a tightly choreographed two-hour set designed to accentuate her physical and musical strength and flexibility." Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine wrote: "Like a sex instructor, Madonna rules over her audience and tells them when they're allowed to get off (at one point mock-masturbating over someone's head). And when the words 'Game Over' flash on the screen at the end of the show, you're just happy to have played along."