NBC announced today the network will broadcast "Madonna: The Confessions Tour Live" - a two-hour special set to air in November 2006.
The special will be taped this summer at Wembley Arena in London, UK during her worldwide sold-out 25-city "Confessions Tour" and marks the first-ever broadcast network performance by the international pop superstar.

"Madonna is one of the greatest artists of our time and never fails to generate excitement," said Kevin Reilly, NBC Entertainment President. "We think this is going to be a big event for television."

The concert special will feature songs from the artist's recent multi-platinum Warner Bros. Records release "Confessions On A Dance Floor," which debuted at No. 1 in 29 countries and has sold over eight million copies around the globe. The broadcast will also include some of Madonna's greatest hits from her legendary career.

In the course of an unparalleled career, the incandescent star has racked up a staggering 35 No. 1 hits on Billboard's Dance charts. The multi-Grammy winning artist, songwriter, producer, best selling children's book author, video visionary and cultural icon has sustained an unrivaled reputation for astonishing stage spectacles and has made musical history many times over including international record sales of over 200 million albums.

The special is produced by Blackdog Films, Madonna, Angela Becker and Guy Oseary, are executive producers; Jonas Akerlund directs and Sara Martin produces.

Guess Madonna's ok with censorship now...as long as she gets paid 15 million.

Man, she's changed.

U.S. Radio Hangs Up On Madonna

Madonna is in the midst of a sold-out North American trek that may end up being the top-grossing tour ever by a female artist. But this on-the-road success is not carrying over to American radio airwaves. In the United States, the three singles from Madonna's latest Warner Bros. album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor," have not been embraced by mainstream top 40 radio.

"Hung Up" got middling airplay, "Sorry" was barely played, and "Get Together" has been all but ignored by pop stations. Naturally, this state of affairs has left executives at her Warner Bros. label -- and more than a few fans -- wondering, what gives?

More than 3,300 fans have signed an appeal at petitiononline.com. The "End the Madonna on U.S. Radio Boycott" petition is addressed to Clear Channel Communications CEO Mark P. Mays. Message boards at Entertainment Weekly and VH1, among others, are rife with everything from support for Madonna to conspiracy theories about why she can't crack the radio dial.

Warner Bros. was aware that the songs on "Confessions" could present challenges at mainstream top 40 radio, acknowledges Tom Biery, senior VP of promotions at Warner Bros. "Top 40 radio is so hip-hop-driven," he says. "We were coming in with a global pop star who made a dance record."

Guy Zapoleon, president of radio consulting firm Zapoleon Media Strategies, calls it an "interesting dilemma for the woman who certainly held the 'Queen of Pop' title for almost 15 years." Madonna's ability to redefine herself is well-documented, and Zapoleon says that this has helped her keep a "leading edge" to the new group of pop music fans that comes along every three to five years.

But this time, Madonna may have turned left while the pop climate was turning right. Other pop chameleons such as Nelly Furtado and Mariah Carey reinvented themselves with recent rhythmic/hip-hop-leaning singles. Madonna opted instead to return to her dance-pop roots.

According to Dom Theodore, regional VP of programming for Clear Channel and PD of top 40 WKQI Detroit, today's programmers consider each Madonna song on a case-by-case basis to determine if it fits mainstream top 40, adult top 40 or both. Or neither.

For Theodore, the sound of "Confessions on a Dance Floor" skews more retro-adult top 40 than mainstream top 40, while recent club tracks like Rihanna's "SOS" have "more hip-hop credibility." The Rihanna track may reference an early-'80s dance hit (Soft Cell's "Tainted Love") but Theodore believes it does not have the same "retro '70s feel" as the Madonna tracks.

Madonna has had no such airplay problems internationally. Since its release last November, "Confessions on a Dance Floor" has topped the charts in 29 countries and sold more than 8 million copies worldwide, according to Warner Bros. For the week ending July 15, the album's third single, "Get Together," had a radio audience of fewer than 1 million listeners in the United States (aggregate, based on market size and station share). Conversely, in the United Kingdom, where all three singles have been A-listed by BBC Radio 1, the single had 38.4 million listeners.

Except for dance radio outlets like KNGY San Francisco, KNRJ Phoenix and KNHC Seattle, Madonna is missing from the terrestrial radio landscape in the United States. John Peake, PD at KNGY, believes that mainstream top 40 radio programmers have completely missed the boat on this project. "When 'Hung Up' didn't get instant callout, the stations gave up on it," he says. "If they had given it more time, the callout would've come home."

"Confessions" has been healthy at retail: It has moved 1.5 million copies, already double that of its predecessor, 2003's "American Life," which has sold 666,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan. File-sharing stats from BigChampagne and support from MTV's "TRL" are also solid. But, Biery says, "Radio still looks at callout research."

As Warner Bros. gears up for the release of the album's fourth single, "Jump," Biery remains optimistic, especially since the song was heard in TV and radio spots for the film "The Devil Wears Prada." The label will take a different strategy with this single, Biery says. "We'll begin with AC and hot AC formats," he notes. "Our goal is to have a true hit record with callout and then bring it back to the mainstream top 40 world."

BILLBOARD.com

digitalfreaknyc-
it was great to meet you at the 7/18 show. she was totally on top of her game in nyc and LOVED the crowd. best show ever. after being on the catwalk 2 nights in a row, NOTHING can top this.

from 7/19:

Saw the show last night in Miami.
Have mixed feelings about it. The sound on some of the songs was really bad, and I didn't really care for some of the arrangements of the songs.
Before the show we overheard people talking that she was having problems with her voice so she requested the air conditioner be turned off or down. It was really too hot and very uncomfortable. Was really dissapointed she didn't do "Like a Prayer".
Her dancers were amazing and the stage show was great. She looked great and WOW, is she in shape!!!
Overall, I enjoyed the show, but thought last years was much better.

She had the A/C turned off at the Atlantic City show on Jul 16th too....really made for a less than comfortable experience....old bartender was bitching that it was the only time the A/C had been turned off for a show, and he remembered the Beatles playing there..

Had no idea she was playing there much less plans on going...but we were walking by the convention center and scalpers offered us $150 and $250 seats for $75 each (they were still crappy seats) so we went....less than 5 minutes from finding out she was there to walking in the door. Was a good show, too much politics etc...not enough old school. But sounded good and choreography, lights etc were excellent. She got bitchy at one point that the audience wasn't into it enough, maybe cause you had the damn A/C turned off !!!

My BS meter is going off... Where was this?

From Ausiello's over at TVGuide.com:And digitalfreaknyc316, it's not censorship if Madgey is the one agreeing to what's going to be shown and what's not...

Sell out? Maybe. Censored? Heck no.

Digitalfreaknyc316??

Well...it would be a self-censorship, methinks. She's not going to keep the video screens from the Sorry montage in the broadcast nor her saying "fuck off" and "you can suck George Bush's dick" from I Love NY. They wouldn't keep them even if she wanted.
I wonder if they'll EVER get released at this point...much like the Re-Invention tour.

No offense but this is a typical comment from a non-madonna fan. I heard it from the 18 yo girls sitting next to me. If you're going to a madonna show, be prepared to dance, have fun and submit to her. If you're sitting close enough, be prepared to be called out if you look miserable. I give her props for having the balls to do it. She's done it at a lot of shows over the years. This tour, she's actually been addressing specific people though.
And about the political stuff...she's always been that way. She's definitely gotten moreso as she got older and since the country went to shit. Again, if you're at a Madonna concert, expect it to be very liberal. Very pro-gay. These are just basic things about her.

There were also a lot of people complaining about not doing enough older stuff. Again, that's the way it goes now. Maybe the next tour will have more "older" stuff but that's primarily what Re-Invention was. That will probably go down as the Madonna tour to end all tours.

Hey, welcome to U.S. commercial radio Madonna. Besides U2, you'd be hard pressed to find many (if any) rock or pop stars over the age of 40 on "Top 40" stations. It sucks, and it's sad, but it's true.

Atlantic City convention center....trust me, the guy was old enough to have been around for the Beatles.... i'm sure he meant when the A/C was needed, not during the winter or anything like that.


Yeah, not a big fan of her recent stuff, was a fan back in the day.... but no offense back, but seems gay men are the only ones who 'appreciate' her newer stuff and attitude. The rest of the crowd there definatly wanted to hear some of the older stuff, they thought some of it was coming when they played that 10 second montage and you could feel excitement building only to be let down when it didn't come. Lot of sitting down during the dance/video breaks...just wasn't keeping the majority of the crowd into it. Couple that with the A/C being off, and yeah, there were alot of miserable faces in the crowd. I'd say it's more Madonna's fault if the crowd isn't feeling it rather than the crowd's 'oblligation' to have fun just because it's her.... i'm not going to submit.
I understand artist get tired of playing the same stuff their whole careers, but guess what, that's what made them what they are, it's what the people want.

Really wasn't that bad of an experience, as said, great lights/video, choreography/dancers etc.....just glad didn't pay full price.

Not taking offense here, just pointing out an exception (myself) to this line of thinking.

My first show was 'Drowned World', where she did a whopping two songs that pre-dated the 90's, and two other songs that were pre-'Ray of Light'. This didn't bother me since I signed on with ROL and Music.

I would argue that 'Confessions' had a decent all-around mix of eras. 'Re-Invention' was sweet, but I don't want to see her reduced to a 'Golden Oldies' tour each time out. U2 doesn't do it (although there are recurrent staples that they play), and neither should she.

thank god i decided NOT to go to the atlantic city show- the crowd was said to be the only bad crowd this entire tour.

now nyc, on the other hand, was INSANE... the whole place was up the entire time.

your comment about only gay men appreciating her newer stuff is ignorant.

Very much so. I'd say that the crowd was pretty evenly divided between gay men and straight women. That's her demographic. Straight guys go with their girlfriends. In fact, I'd say that I was mostly surrounded by both in all 7 shows I went to.
And does that mean that the rest of the world is gay? Because the album went #1 at the same time in, what, 49 countries or something (including the US, I might add)? And every single cut that's been released has gone to #1 in the other countries but not the US. Someone out there is sure liking it a lot.
So I guess you could say that the only people who don't appreciate her are the ignorant Bush-loving straight men of the good ol' USA.

I guess I understand that when I go to see an artist, they ain't gonna be doing a "greatest hits" tour. What artist wants to sing the same songs over and over again? And with an artist as popular as Madonna, she could fill 3 separate tours with hits over the last 23 years and still do nothing new. That just ain't going to happen.
AC just needs to lighten the fuck up.

This doesn't really have anything to do with anything, but the gay men appreciating her newer stuff had me thinking of her stuff throughout the years and my appreciation of it. I'm 35 and have listened to her music at every step along the way and enjoyed most of it. In retrospect, it is Erotica and Ray of Light that really hold up for me. I never really listen to her pre-Erotica music at this point. I think it is good and I enjoy it, but I'm just not that into it. Same with the new album. I think it is good and I enjoy it, but I guess I'm just not that into it.

The Go-Go's recently performed their first album live in its entirely. What I would love to see, though I'm not holding my breath, is for Madonna to tour and perform Erotica or Ray of Light in their entirety. I know it isn't going to happen, especially with Erotica, but I would really love to see that.

digitalfreaknyc, which of her tours have you seen?

Which have I seen in person? only the last 3. Before that I would have been too young, for the most part, to have gone.

And I agree. ROL is my all-time favorite album. Erotica is probably 2nd.

And of course it isn't only gay men who 'get' her, that was a bit of generalization... just observation from the show. When the rest of the audience got bored or too hot and sat down the only ones still standing and dancing were pretty much the gay guys.
Eh, maybe it was the worst audience of the tour...as said, it was a last second decision, more a curiosity thing.

Ahhh, good man! Ray of Light would be my #1 as well. Although I could do without Shanti. I never got that song.

Ha. Love it.

Everything from Drowned World to Power of Goodbye (which is actually on my AOL Madonna channel as i type this) is pure Madonna bliss for me. Sky Fits Heaven is my 2nd all time favorite Madonna song. She should have used WO for two albums instead of fucking mirwais. I was seriously "over" him.

And your #1 is?

And not that anyone asked, but I am sick at home today with nothing to do. So here are my favorite tracks from Erotica to present. Or at least my favorites at this given moment.

Erotica - Waiting & Bad Girl
Bedtime Stories - Sanctuary & Bedtime Story
Ray of Light - Skin & Sky Fits Heaven
Music - Impressive Instant
American Life - Love Profusion
Confessions - Future Lovers & Hung Up

I know you specified "from Erotica to present", but you do realize she put out a few albums before that gem...

And although she did, I MUCH prefer (as does nightwing, obviously) the material after that.

But for the sake of completeness...

Madonna- Everybody
Like A Virgin- Angel
True Blue- Live To Tell
Like A Prayer- Like A Prayer
I'm Breathless- Vogue
Erotica- Erotica
Bedtime Stories- Human Nature
Ray of Light- Sky Fits Heaven
Music- Impressive Instant
American Life- Nobody Knows Me
Confessions- Sorry

If ya don't mind:

Immaculate Collection: La Isla Bonita
Erotica: Erotica
Bedtime Stories: Human Nature
Ray of Light: Nothing Really Matters
Music: Paradise (Not For Me)
American Life: Love Profusion
Confessions: Jump

That's just crazy talk right there..

What's even crazier is that most of your "favorites" are mine too. Well, I like the ENTIRE Like A Prayer disc and can't STAND Vogue.

Yeah, I do realize. Here's a more complete list.
And since everyone else was braver than myself and only included one tune from each disc...
I went ahead and widdled down the selections in my previous list.

Madonna - Burning Up
Like a Virgin - Dress You Up
True Blue - Live to Tell
Like a Prayer - Like a Prayer
Erotica - Waiting
Bedtime Stories - Sanctuary
Ray of Light - Skin
Music - Impressive Instant
American Life - Love Profusion
Confessions - Future Lovers