Confessions Tour - Critical Response

Critical Response

The Confessions Tour received positive feedback and critical acclaim. Steve Baltin of Rolling Stone wrote: "One of the best tours of all time. Madonna had played many roles in the first night of her Confessions tour – but confessor was not one of them. Apparently, in all the pomp and circumstance, there was no room for warmth, or even the attitude that made her recent Coachella festival performance so memorable." Don Chareunsy of The San Diego Union-Tribune commented that Madonna's previous tours, Drowned World Tour (2001) and Re-Invention World Tour (2004), "were excellent concerts ... but she stepped it up a few notches" for the Confessions Tour. Ben Wener of The Orange County Register reported that "No one – but no one – stages elaborate eye-candy productions like Madonna, whose highly impressive Confessions Tour opened Sunday night at a packed Forum so sweltering it seemed as though it were being prepped for the world’s largest Bikram yoga session." Lina Das from the Daily Mail compliemented the show, saying that Madonna still had the ability to grab the headlines with her shock tactics. Thomas Inskeep from Stylus Magazine complimented the finale of the tour saying, "There’s not a better way the Confessions Tour could’ve closed." Tom Young from the BBC called the show "a big fat neon light of a pop-dance explosion. There’s a party going on, and unless you were there in the first place, you’re not invited. Whistles and whoops rarely cease and applause ripples throughout building into regular raptures for a consistently first-class performer. It’s almost enough to make those who weren’t there jealous. Almost."

Jim Harrington of the ANG Newspapers commented that fans were "certainly happy" with the tour, though, Terry Armour of the Chicago Tribune noted from a report from The Arizona Republic that fans were "hot and bothered" over Madonna's alleged requests that the air conditioning be turned down in venues during her tour. It was reported that the result of this was due to Madonna wanting to preserve her voice. In one article, it was said that the air conditioning concerns "are nothing new in the entertainment business" in which voice problems "can cost performers millions in lost revenue." Another story said that Madonna does not like the air conditioning on during her performance because it dries out her throat. Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine stated that the tour was a "reminder that Madonna's music need not be motivated by sex or politics to be good as long as it displays a smidgen of heart and soul. Her Confessions Tour, though spotty and compromised but often breathtaking, is something of a coup after the fierce but icy theatrics of her Drowned World Tour and the shrill aggression of her Re-Invention Tour." Bill Lamb of About.com noted that the "highest points of the Confessions Tour prove that a combination of great songs, riveting staging, and accomplished choreography always amount to a brilliant concert experience." Christian John Wikane of PopMatters commented that "even the most rabid anti-Madonna listener or cynical music lover would find elements of the Confessions Tour impressive."