14 DAY TRIAL // Madonna’s date in Romania, Bucharest (August 26) from the “Sticky & Sweet” tour, in support of “Hard Candy,” her eleventh studio material, was the biggest concert ever to be held in the country, its total costs being estimated at around €5 million. It was still small change for the star herself, like a low-cost version of the other concerts she has given so far, which would perhaps explain why she did not even seem to bother about putting on a proper show. It would certainly explain why organizers tried to milk the opportunity for all it was worth, as reports in the Romanian media have it.
For starters, Bucharest, the country’s capital, was not ready for an event of this magnitude. Secondly, if it wasn’t prepared for something this big (meaning, have a stadium to hold the concert), organizers should have kept the affair down instead of forcing about 70,000 people in a location where less than half the number would have fit with some consideration to their comfort. Because of this minor detail, plenty of things ruined the Madonna experience, the local media says.
First things first, Parc Izvor was not a large-enough location for this kind of audience. Secondly, no one bothered to think about the clouds of dust so many people moving to the beats of Paul Oakenfold would get up – and that would inevitably lead to fans fainting and getting sick when it refused to settle down. There was no water to be had, except in plastic glasses that you could only get after sitting many minutes in an unbelievably long queue. The same applied to the restrooms, so it was perhaps a good idea if you didn’t drink water at all, except if you truly, really felt that you couldn’t possibly breathe anymore and feared sudden death from intoxication, Romanian bloggers say, more or less joking.
As if organizers hadn’t done an awful job as it was on the above-mentioned issues, there was also the question of the stage: it was definitely too small for the public gathered. Few were those who could actually see Madonna, the idol they paid good money to watch perform live for the first time in their country. Even fewer actually had any room to dance to her most popular tracks that were included in the four-part setlist. Even so, it would have still been an enjoyable experience if Madonna herself had actually troubled to put on a good show, some local media outlets say, along with many fans.
It’s common knowledge that Madonna’s strongest suit when performing live is not her vocal range, but rather the show in itself. On this account, the Queen of Pop more than delivered, but there was still a certain sense that she was not there altogether, as if the amazing, unforgettable show was nothing but a means of diverting attention from what really mattered: Madonna would have rather been anywhere else than up on that dusty stage in Romania.
Of course, most fans choose to blame the organizers for that last part. As far as they’re concerned, they hope next time will be different – better – if organizers handle things like true professionals and assuming Madonna ever agrees to come back to a crowd that booed her almost unanimously.