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PARIS (Reuters) - Pop star Madonna treated fans to an intimate show at Paris' famed Olympia theatre on Thursday, voicing her love for a France that is open to minorities and artists and reinterpreting "Je t'aime moi non plus," a song laced with sexual innuendo.
Tickets for the
surprise show - a last-minute addition to Madonna's "MDNA" tour - were
offered first to members of her fan club and sold out within minutes.
Some people began gathering outside the Olympia as early as Wednesday
for the show, and anticipation was running high.
In the end,
reaction was mixed and some in the audience voiced disappointment at the
show's length, a mere 45 minutes. A few called for refunds as they left
the 2,700-seat theatre, Paris' oldest surviving music hall which has
welcomed iconic stars from Edith Piaf and Jacques Brel to the Rolling
Stones.
The concert was expected to have a political overtone to it, and Madonna started off on a rebellious note.
"I have a special affinity with France, and I have for
many years," the pop star shouted at the start. "It could go all the way
to Napoleon because I think of myself as a revolutionary."
Yet there was no repeat of the performance she gave at the 80,000-seat Stade de France on July 14, which angered France's far right party leader Marine Le Pen by showing a picture of her with a swastika superimposed on her face.
France's National Front has since announced it will sue her.
On Thursday,
Madonna offered only veiled criticism of the party's anti-immigrant
stance, paying homage to a France which she said once "opened its arms
to minorities."
"I know that I have
made a certain Marine Le Pen very angry with me," she said, adding that
her intention was not to make enemies. "We are entering some very scary
times in the world. People are afraid, and what happens when people are
afraid? They say 'get out! You're the reason. You're the problem.
You're to blame,'" she told the audience.
LONG WAIT, SHORT SHOW
Tickets for the
show, which included both classics and songs from her latest album
"MDNA," started at 80 euros ($98) and were offered first to members of
Madonna's fan club. They sold out in less than 5 minutes, organizers
said, and the Olympia's website crashed several times due to heavy
traffic.
Fans started
gathering at noon on Wednesday to attend the show, with many pitching
tents on the sidewalk to make sure they got as close as possible to the
Material Girl.
Die-hard fan,
25-year-old Ally Gloser from Cologne, Germany, said she had bought
tickets for 11 of Madonna's shows over the summer, at a cost of 2,500
euros.
"Normally, I'm a student. Now I'm a poor student," she said.
True to form, the
53-year-old offered up an array of sexy outfits and age-defying moves,
at one point adding a French touch for Parisian fans with a black
leather pencil skirt, red lipstick, and a French beret. She paid tribute
to several French artists, including actor Alain Delon and singer Piaf.
"I walk in her
footsteps, actually I crawl in her footsteps", she said of the "La Vie
en rose" singer while kneeling on stage.
Under red lights
and on an entirely empty stage, Madonna sang the famous French song, "Je
t'aime moi non plus" ("I love you, neither do I") written by Serge
Gainsbourg in the late 1960s. She tied a dance partner down on a chair
and pretended to shoot him in the mouth.
Audience reaction to the show was mixed.
"The show itself
was pretty good, but she didn't even sing for an hour", complained
33-year-old Guillaume Delaval. "She spoke for 15 minutes about
tolerance, it's not the U.N. here."
Pierce Brosnan, the Irish actor who played in four James Bond movies, attended the show with his wife.
"We're fans. My
wife wanted to come, so we bought tickets," he told Reuters, explaining
he was in Paris to shoot a movie with Emma Thompson called "Love Punch."
Madonna will
perform in Nice, France on August 21. After shows in the Middle East and
Europe, the singer will give concerts in the United States, Canada,
Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Chile and Argentina Source, Source 2 Madonna Official Website, Madonna Top Songs, Madonna Top Song2,
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