If you remember where this all began, you’ll find that we have returned to that moment and come full circle. In the beginning was the idea. We have now arrived at the execution. The curtain is going down… or coming up. This is The Delusional Grandeur Tour, and the Rock Star is about to take the stage.
FINALE:
The moments leading up to the performance are both mundane and electric. A school-age Madonna waits in the wings of the stage, her heart starting to pound in her chest, beneath her robe and through her costume, skimpy as it was. She ran through the routine in her mind again, then eyed the black-light she’d set up at the edge of the stage. It was designed to illuminate the day-glo body paint she’d applied to her body, just like she’d seen Goldie Hawn recently execute on television. She would stand there, naked for all intents and purposes, but for body paint and attitude and a few barely-seen pieces of underwear, and she would dance and writhe with gleeful abandon – a virgin foreshadowing of virgin activities to come. She would shock everyone who watched, and be the one they all talked about for weeks to come. She couldn’t explain why it needed to be done. She simply did it. For life. For love. For inspiration.
This would be her greatest show.
This would be her finest moment.
This would be the time when she showed her classmates, her friends and her family who she was.
She would show the world.
The lights go down.
The crowd falls silent.
The music begins…
