Madonna has been through a hell of a lot in the last year – not the least of which was a literal brush with death just a scant few months ago. For her to simply be here at all is a miracle for which we should be grateful – to have her putting on such a show as her current ‘Celebration’ tour (due in Boston today and tomorrow, when I get to see her for the first time since the rousing ‘Rebel Heart Tour’) is blessing and reason enough for great gratitude.
She has said that she wasn’t sure she’d make it, and if Madonna was unsure of herself, that certainly shook those of us who have always relied on her as a bastion of iconic pop royalty, sometimes faltering but never falling. She claimed it was the thought of her children that pulled her through, and in that admission was the often-hinted-at notion that Madonna was human after all. Some of us have known that forever, and loved her all the more for it. We were simply waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.
And so when I saw the first few clips of her ‘Celebration Tour’, my heart rejoiced and rebounded. Our Lady of Perpetual Inspiration was still intact, still inspiring, and still bringing the world joy and music and spectacle and escapism – the very tenets of her first ‘Dreams Do Come True’ mantra from those lovely ‘Like A Virgin‘ days. I remember them well, as I do each musical step she has taken since then, and as I caught a little glimpse of ‘Crazy For You‘ I felt the tears well up just a little bit. And then I remembered that it was always best to trust in her journey.
Trust in the ecstatic process.
Trust in the liturgical legacy.
Trust in the icon she has been and always will be.
Above all else, trust in Madonna.
No one does it better, and no one ever will.
