For the 2007 film, see Blonde Ambition.

The Blond Ambition World Tour is the third concert tour by American singer-songwriter, Madonna. The tour supported her fourth studio album, Like a Prayer, and the soundtrack, I'm Breathless. The tour reached Japan, North America, and Europe. It was a highly controversial tour, mainly for its juxtaposition of Catholicism and sexuality. Rolling Stone called it an "elaborately choreographed, sexually provocative extravaganza" and proclaimed it "the best tour of 1990." In 1991, a documentary film, Truth or Dare (aka In Bed with Madonna), was released chronicling the tour. The tour received the "Most Creative Stage Production" at the Pollstar Concert Industry Awards.

About the tour

Originally called the "Like A Prayer World Tour", Sire Records announced the Blond Ambition World Tour in November 1989, following the success of Madonna's fourth studio album, Like A Prayer, and Madonna's performance of "Express Yourself" at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards - considered as a tour preview. Initially, the tour was only to reach Japan and North America, as Madonna was considering roles in several films. In April 1990, additional dates in Europe were added. The tour incorporated as central themes sexuality and Catholicism, a combination which engendered controversy. The Pope called for a boycott of the show in Rome, and one of three scheduled Italian dates was canceled. The show has achieved a measure of cult status, with elements such as the cone brassieres and ponytail hair extensions becoming cultural icons in their own right.

Madonna herself called the concert "like musical theater" and choreographer Vincent Patterson stated she wanted to "break every rule we can... She wanted to make statements about sexuality, cross-sexuality, the church... But the biggest thing we tried to do was change the shape of concerts. Instead of just presenting songs, we wanted to combine fashion, Broadway, and performance art."

The show's explicit overtone caused problems. In Toronto, police were alerted that the show might possibly contain lewd and obscene content (particularly a masturbation scene) and threatened charges unless parts of the show were changed. The show went on unaltered, however, and no charges were made.

French fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier designed the costumes for the tour, including the now-infamous cone brassiere. Additional costume pieces were designed by Marlene Stewart, who had previously worked with Madonna on the 1987 Who's That Girl World Tour.

Director Alek Keshishian captured more than 250 hours of film of Madonna and her troupe during the tour. This footage was edited and released to movie theaters as Truth or Dare .

Due to ongoing throat problems, six shows had to be canceled, bringing the tour down from 63 shows to 57; altogether, some 125,000 tickets had to be refunded.

The show

The show was separated into five different sections and began with the Metropolis segment, which was inspired by the Fritz Lang silent film. It begins with "Express Yourself" which includes an introduction from her 1982 song "Everybody". The stage was inspired by the "Express Yourself" music video and set in a large industrial machine-room with male dancers. Madonna enters the stage at the top of a long staircase, dressed in a pinstripe suit, with cone-bra and garters from her bustier visible. In this segment Madonna also performs "Open Your Heart" and has a mock-fight with her back-up dancers in "Causing a Commotion" (dressed in colorful bicycling gear). The final performance on this segment is "Where's the Party"; Madonna leaves the stage early for a costume change.

The second segment was passionate and religious-themed, beginning with an Middle-Eastern version of "Like a Virgin" sung on a red silk bed. Madonna is dressed in a gold corset and performs with two hermaphrodite dancers and concludes the song by simulating masturbation. The set is then transformed into a church; Madonna wears a black robe and a large crucifix during "Like a Prayer", with her back-up singers and dancers dressed as nuns and priests. A medley of "Live to Tell" and "Oh Father" and a performance of "Papa Don't Preach" end this section.

The third segment was a cabaret inspired by the 1990 motion picture Dick Tracy, in which Madonna starred as "Breathless Mahoney". During this segment, Madonna was wearing a green and white striped dress. It includes performances of "Sooner or Later", sung atop of a grand piano, "Hanky Panky" and "Now I'm Following You" in which she danced with a Dick Tracy look alike.

The fourth segment was inspired by 1930s Hollywood films using the work of artist Tamara de Lempicka and an Art Deco set design. Madonna performs "Material Girl" in a mocking dumb blonde voice, wearing hair rollers and bathrobe, (later removed to reveal a pink dress with pink fur). "Cherish" is performed with three male dancers dressed as mer-men whilst Madonna simulates playing the harp. Madonna ends the section with "Into The Groove" (with a sample from the 1989 Inner City song "Ain't Nobody Better") and a minimal version of "Vogue" performing choreography from its music video, dressed in a black sports bra and lycra shorts.

The fifth and final segment includes the two encores to the show; "Holiday", with Madonna in 1970s polka-dots and ruffles singing a sample from "Do the Bus Stop" and "Keep It Together" inspired by the work of Bob Fosse with Madonna dressed in bowler hat and performing chair-juggling. The "Keep It Together" routine was also inspired by the film A Clockwork Orange and found Madonna speaking with a cockney accent. The show finale has Madonna singing "Keep it together, Keep people together, forever and ever" over and over, finishing with her removing her hat and the spotlight zooming on to it.

The Japan and North American shows featured Madonna in her trademark blonde ponytail hair extensions. However, because the hairpiece kept getting caught in her headset microphone and was pulling her real hair out by the root, she switched to short blonde curls for the European leg of the tour.

After the tour, Madonna and her entire Blond Ambition tour stage troupe recreated a renaissance-themed performance of Vogue at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards.

The official tourbook and promotional posters for the tour used photography from the 1989 music video "Express Yourself".

Opening acts

• Technotronic (selected dates)
• Adele Humphrey (selected dates)
• Mysterious Art (selected dates)

Setlist

1. "Express Yourself" (with "Everybody" introduction)
2. "Open Your Heart"
3. "Causing a Commotion"
4. "Where's The Party"
5. "Like a Virgin"
6. "Like a Prayer" (contains excerpts of "Act of Contrition")
7. Medley:
   1. "Live To Tell"
   2. "Oh Father"
8. "Papa Don't Preach"
9. "Sooner or Later"
10. "Hanky Panky"
11. "Now I'm Following You"
12. "Material Girl"
13. "Cherish"
14. "Into the Groove" (contains excerpts from "Ain't Nobody Better")
15. "Vogue"
16. "Holiday" (contains excerpts from "Do the Bus Stop")
17. "Keep It Together" (with "Family Affair" introduction)

Tour Dates

Date	City	Country or State	Venue
Asia
April 13, 1990	Tokyo	Japan	Chiba Marine Stadium
April 14, 1990
April 15, 1990
April 20, 1990	Osaka		Hankyu Nishinomiya Stadium
April 21, 1990
April 22, 1990
April 25, 1990	Yokohama		Yokohama Stadium
April 26, 1990
April 27, 1990
North America
May 4, 1990	Houston	Texas	The Summit
May 5, 1990
May 7, 1990	Dallas		Reunion Arena
May 8, 1990
May 11, 1990	Los Angeles	California	Los Angeles Sports Arena
May 12, 1990
May 13, 1990
May 15, 1990
May 16, 1990
May 18, 1990	Oakland		Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena
May 19, 1990
May 20, 1990
May 23, 1990	Chicago	Illinois	Rosemont Horizon
May 24, 1990
May 27, 1990	Toronto	Ontario	SkyDome
May 28, 1990
May 29, 1990
May 31, 1990	Auburn Hills	Michigan	The Palace of Auburn Hills
June 1, 1990
June 4, 1990	Worcester	Massachusetts	The Centrum
June 5, 1990
June 8, 1990	Landover	Maryland	Capital Centre
June 9, 1990
June 11, 1990	New York	New York	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
June 12, 1990
June 13, 1990
June 16, 1990	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	The Spectrum
June 17, 1990
June 20, 1990	East Rutherford	New Jersey	Meadowlands Arena
June 21, 1990
June 24, 1990
June 25, 1990
Europe
June 30, 1990	Gothenburg	Sweden	Eriksberg
July 3, 1990	Paris	France	Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy
July 4, 1990
July 6, 1990
July 10, 1990	Rome	Italy	Stadio Flaminio
July 13, 1990	Turin		Stadio delle Alpi
July 15, 1990	Munich	Germany	Olympia-Reitstadion
July 17, 1990	Dortmund		Westfalenhalle
July 20, 1990	London	United Kingdom	Wembley Stadium
July 21, 1990
July 22, 1990
July 24, 1990	Rotterdam	Netherlands	Feyenoord Stadium
July 27, 1990	Madrid	Spain	Estadio Vicente Calderón
July 29, 1990	Vigo		Estadio Municipal de Balaídos
August 1, 1990	Barcelona		Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc
August 5, 1990	Nice	France	Stade de l'Ouest

Additional Notes

Cancelled Dates:

• May 25: Rosemont Horizon, Chicago IL - Cancelled due to throat problems
• June 6: The Centrum, Worcester MA - Cancelled due to throat problems
• June 15: The Spectrum, Philadelphia PA - Cancelled due to throat problems
• June 22: Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford NJ - Cancelled due to throat problems
• July 1: Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Germany - Cancelled due to poor ticket sales
• July 11: Stadio Flaminio, Rome, Italy - Cancelled due to poor ticket sales and a labourers' strike
• July 15: Mungersdorfer Stadium, Cologne, Germany - Moved to Dortmund on July 17 due to poor ticket sales
• July 28: Estadio Vicente Calderon, Madrid, Spain - Moved to Vigo on July 29

Postponed Dates:

• June 19: Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford NJ - Re-scheduled for June 25
• July 17: Olympia-Reitstadion, Munich, Germany - Re-scheduled for July 15

Personnel

• Show Directed by Madonna
• Choregraphy and co-driected by Vince Patterson
• Artistic Director: Christopher Ciccone
• Musical Director: Jai Winding
• Tour Manager: John Draper
• Production Manager: Chris Lamb, GLS Productions
• Road Manager: Mike Grizel
• Set Designer: John McGraw
• Lighting Designer: Peter Morse
• Costume Design: Jean-Paul Gaultier
• Additional Costumes: Marlene Stewart
• Make-up and Hair: Joanne Grier

Band

• Keyboards: Jai Winding, Kevin Kendrick and Mike McKnight
• Guitar: Carlos Rios and David Williams
• Bass: Darryl Jones
• Drums: Jonathan Moffet
• Percussion: Luis Conte
• Backing Vocalist: Niki Haris and Donna DeLory
• Dancers: Luis Camacho, Oliver Crumes, Salim "Slam" Gauwloos, Jose Gutierez, Kevin A. Stea, Gabriel Trupin, and Carlton Wilborn

Broadcasts and recordings

Two shows were released commercially. The August 5 show in Nice, France, was taped and aired on HBO in the United States and released worldwide exclusively on Laserdisc, titled Live! - Blond Ambition World Tour 90, as part of a sponsorship deal with Pioneer Electronics. One of the Yokohama, Japan dates was also taped and released on VHS and Laserdisc in the Japanese market as Blond Ambition - Japan Tour 90. Pioneer signed an exclusive deal to release these concerts on laser disc only and thus no video or DVD has yet been released.

In addition to these shows, the August 1 show in Barcelona, Spain was taped and aired on television in Europe, Australia and Canada by SACIS-RAI. This show is known by fans for Madonna's unusually big hair (likely caused by the extremely hot weather) and numerous technical mistakes (including Madonna forgetting part of the lyrics to "Sooner or Later" and "Material Girl," getting her monocle caught on her headset microphone at the beginning of "Express Yourself", and not realizing that her headset microphone was still live as she exited the stage after "Where's the Party," resulting in her command at a backstage crewmember to "get the fuck out of my fuckin' way"). All three Parisian dates were taped by Alek Keshishian for Truth or Dare (aka In Bed with Madonna).

Video of one of the Houston, Texas dates taken from the video screens has been widely circulated among the fan community. In addition a poor quality Germany-only DVD Blond Ambition Tour 1990 is from the same Houston show, which was also partially aired live on the MTV special 'Blond Date' during a 'Madonna Weekend'.

References