page_title: Drowned World Tour
section_title: Concert synopsis
hierarchical_section_title: Drowned World Tour / Concert synopsis
caption_attribution_description: English: Madonna - Sept 2001 - Los Angeles
context_page_description: The Drowned World Tour was the fifth concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna in support of her seventh and eighth studio albums Ray of Light and Music, respectively. The tour began on June 9, 2001 in Barcelona, Spain and ended in Los Angeles, California on September 15 of the same year.
  It was also her first tour in eight years, following The Girlie Show World Tour in 1993. The tour was supposed to start in 1999, but was delayed until 2001 as Madonna gave birth to her son, married Guy Ritchie, was working on Music, and was busy filming The Next Best Thing. When the tour was decided, Madonna appointed Jamie King as choreographer and the tour was planned in a short timespan of three months, including signing up the dancers, musicians and technicians. Designer Jean-Paul Gaultier was the costume designer who designed the costumes in such way that they indicated different phases of Madonna's career. The poster and logo for the tour included references to Kabbalah, which Madonna studied.
  The show was divided into five segments, namely Cyber-Punk, Geisha, Cowgirl, Spanish, and Ghetto.
context_section_description: The show was divided into five sections: Cyber-Punk, Geisha, Cowgirl, Spanish and Ghetto. It began with a dramatic performance of "Drowned World/Substitute For Love"; Madonna entered amidst billows of dry ice, dressed in a sleeveless black top, crossover top with one net sleeve, jeans with zips and bondage straps, a studded dog collar and a tartan kilt. She performed the song standing on the middle platform of the stage. Afterwards a chaotic cyberpunk-themed performance of "Impressive Instant" started, with dancers in gas masks and headlights. She then played guitar for "Candy Perfume Girl", leading to the performance of "Beautiful Stranger" featuring a lost stage technician. Backdrops displayed scenes from the movie Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and psychedelic fluorescent whirls. The first section finished with "Ray of Light" where Madonna danced energetically across the stage.
  The second segment opened with a video interlude of "Paradise (Not for Me)" and had nearly naked dancers hanging upside down from the ceiling. As the video ended, the dancers stood in front of the stage opening their mouth which was lit from inside. Madonna appeared on the stage wearing a short black wig and a hand-painted kimono with fifty-two-feet long sleevespan, to sing "Frozen". The backdrops display silhouettes of burning trees against racing, blood-red clouds. A short intro of "Open Your Heart" lead to "Nobody's Perfect" where Madonna was portrayed to be sacrificed for her sins. This was followed by "Mer Girl" which turned into the fast-action, ninja/samurai martial arts battle performance of "Sky Fits Heaven", transforming back into the slow-tempo "Mer Girl". This section was inspired by the Chinese film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Madonna's battered and bruised face is shown in the backdrops as she emerged with a shotgun from the battle on stage and shot her dancer. As Madonna disappeared into the floor, a violent, sexually explicit Japanese animation dance remix interlude of "What It Feels Like for a Girl" was shown, featuring footage from the Japanese anime film Perfect Blue (1997).
  Madonna appeared as a cowgirl, wearing a stars and stripes vest, for an acoustic guitar performance of "I Deserve It" and dedicated it to her then husband Guy Ritchie. This was followed by line dancing with her dancers dressed as cowboys during "Don't Tell Me" where she accessorized herself with a raccoon's tail. For "Human Nature", she rode a mechanical bull. After the performance, she addressed the audience in a mocking southern accent and sang a macabre themed song titled "The Funny Song". The next song was "Secret", which featured scenes of riverside baptism, Sufi dervish ceremonies and Buddhist prayers in the backdrops. She finished off the segment with "Gone", which was replaced with "You'll See" on some select U.S. venues. Dancers started the Evita tango interlude of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina". A number of candles were lit along the side of the stage. Madonna appeared in a half-dress and performed the Spanish version of "What it Feels Like For a Girl" titled "Lo Que Siente La Mujer". She finished the segment with an acoustic version of "La Isla Bonita" accompanied by flamenco dancing.
  Madonna appeared on stage, in a halter D&G T-shirt that read "Mother" on the front and "F*cker" on the back and a fur coat, singing a mash-up of Stardust's "Music Sounds Better With You" and "Holiday". She and her entourage finished the show with a ghetto-themed "Music", introduced by Ali G, as her music video images flashed onscreen behind her. The song was mashed up with Kraftwerk's song "Trans-Europe Express". The phrase "The End" appeared on the backdrops, and signified the show was over.
  Several changes were made to the final shows in Los Angeles after the September 11 attacks: Madonna wore an American flag kilt during the show's opening segment as a display of patriotism, the closing of "Mer Girl" (part II) was altered to remove the staged shooting of a character; Madonna instead put the gun down, hugged him and they left the stage together. 
caption: "Impressive Instant" was performed by Madonna during the tour's opening Cyber-Punk segment.
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