Today in Madonna History: June 18, 2006

On June 18 2006, Madonna performed a third sold-out Confessions Tour concert at the United Center in Chicago. In total, Madonna performed four completely sold-out shows for 52,000 adoring fans in Chicago, generating $9.2 million in ticket sales.

Tom Young (BBC) had this to say about The Confessions Tour:

“[The show is] 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.”

Today in Madonna History: June 17, 2008

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On June 17 2008, Robyn announced that she would be opening for Madonna’s European Sticky & Sweet Tour.

“Having been a fan of Madonna since I was a little girl, I’m very excited about sharing a stage with her and playing to her audiences.  I’m thrilled.”

Today in Madonna History: June 16, 1984

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On June 16 1984, Borderline became Madonna’s first Top 10 hit when the single peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.

Thanks to Rex!

Today in Madonna History: June 15, 1994

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On June 15 1994, Dangerous Game was released on home video. The film was directed by Abel Ferrara, and starred Madonna, Harvey Keitel and James Russo.

In 2007, Ferrara recalled,

It was just another one of our films that never came out. But on that one, the audience didn’t really like the film. Madonna killed it. The first impression people get on a movie is the one that never gets out of their mind. So after Madonna got so trashed for doing Body of Evidence, she thought she was going to beat the critics to the punch and badmouth the film. And she actually got good reviews. She never got a good review from the Voice or The New York Times in her life, but she got good reviews for this movie, which she came out and trashed. I’ll never forgive her for it.

Did you watch this film? Did you like it? 

Today in Madonna History: June 14, 2006

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On June 14 2006, the music video for Get Together premiered in North America and Europe.

Fully devoted to the preparation and launch of the Confessions Tour, Madonna was unavailable to shoot a video for the third single from Confessions On A Dance Floor. Warner Bros. Records and Madonna’s management instead commissioned several animation studios to combine live performance footage of Madonna’s 2005 promo show at London’s Koko with computer animated graphics. The original video that was released to music video channels (and is featured below) was directed by Logan.

Oddly, Madonna’s 2009 music video collection, Celebration, featured an alternate submission from 2006 directed by Eu­gene Riecan­sky (this second version had initially been streamed on Madonna’s official website in 2007). The original broadcast version by Logan, however, remains unavailable commercially.

Today in Madonna History: June 13, 1991

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On June 13 1991, Madonna was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.  The feature included a photo spread shot by Steven Meisel.

Madonna has no equal at getting attention. She often seems to behave like someone who has been under severe restraint and can now say and do whatever she likes without fear of reprisal. She delights in being challenged, in telling more than she had planned, in going further than she had intended. And judging from her new film Truth or Dare, there is no “too far” for Madonna.

Today in Madonna History: June 12, 2015

On June 12 2015, Madonna’s Bitch I’m Madonna music video teaser premiered.

The video was shot in New York City at the Standard Hotel and was directed by long-time fan-favourite director, Jonas Åkerlund.

Jonas explained how the video evolved:

Madonna called me about Ghosttown. We hadn’t worked for a while because of different circumstances so when I heard all the songs from Rebel Heart, I was very excited about Ghosttown. I connected to it creatively. And, yeah, we enjoyed working together. I was supposed to start something else right after and that got pushed [back] and she asked me to do Bitch I’m Madonna. I saw it being so completely different from Ghosttown, something a little bit less serious, just fun and crazy.