Outtakes-mania

Since Madonna's contract with the Warner Bros. Records had expired, there is nothing more that could restrain them from making accesible files they had collected throughout the 25-year long partnership. They began from the top shelf, letting out of their hands the most awaited one - the "Re-Invention" tour recording - and for the last few days they have consistently been uploading outtakes and unretouched photos from different sessions from 1983 to 2009, causing a lot of fuss in the fan society.

Zack from AbMad has uploaded those pics to hotfile. Enjoy!

Part1

Part2
Part3
Part4
Part5
Part6

Part7

'Hope for Haiti Now' Rehearsal

Here is Madonna rehearsing for her 'Hope for Haiti Now' performance. The group is probably warming up their voices by doing another #1 hit from Queen of Pop's repertoire - 4 Minutes. Video by Guy Oseary.

hayyah: Even though I do not like this song at all, I prefer its original version to the accoustic one.

"Hope for Haiti"

From hayyah: I watched the whole telethon yesterday, from 2 to 4 a.m. I thought of it as a great idea, with all those stars answering telephones from donors, with all those beautiful performances by Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, Justin Timberlake or Shakira - they were really touching and made me feel worldwide unity, but... The former plan, as mentioned in the title, was to give hope to Haitian people, to reassure them. Instead of that, the performances were full of sadness and sorrow, which undoubtedly influenced more people to donate (no wonder they intended it), but quarelled with 'giving hope'. Also, the absence of public was very visible and disturbing.

For me, Madonna was the only one, who fully understood the title (or maybe she was not alone, but surely only she expressed it). The setting of "Like a Prayer" - dancing, smiling, eventually a gospel choir and clapping - was exactly what I expected from all performers and received only from Madonna.

Now, when you all know how much I am affected by her (yeah, I know this is sick, I am constantly saying it to myself - who knows, maybe someday it will have a result), here is the recording of "Like a Prayer":

Madonna to perform at the Haiti Telethon!

After the earthquake that devastated Haiti a couple of days ago, Madonna has given a donation of $250,000 to assist the victims. Other internationally famous stars have also shared their fortunes with people, who has recently lost their relatives and houses However, George Clooney and Haiti-born Wyclef Jean decided to render their assistance in other way. They are organising an all-star “Hope for Haiti” telethon for Haitian earthquake relief, hosted by both of them - tomorrow, on 22nd of January.

Yesterday, MadonnaTribe reported that Madonna is going to join the telethon too, performing one of her well-known classics. Madonna.com confirmed their announcement today:

"We are happy to confirm that Madonna will join the upcoming star studded Telethon to air on every major network this coming Friday evening. Organized and hosted by George Clooney, the Telethon is set to raise millions for the citizens of Haiti, which were affected by the recent earthquake."

Networks showing the telethon are ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, BET, the CW, HBO, MTV, VH1 and CMT. The show is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Eastern time (Poland: about 2 a.m. on Saturday) and will run commercial-free.

Below some photos from 2007 Live Earth, the latest charity concert joined by Madonna:

The Re-Invention Tour recording has leaked!

After over 5 years of waiting for the official DVD release of RIT (Re-Invention Tour) , the majority of fans has given up hope of getting it. As long as the cameramen did not have a single idea of how to shoot the 2004 show from Lisbon, there was not a clear vision of the show in the footage. Madonna was not happy with all the close-ups and the very few wideshots, because of which you could not get a real grasp of what was happening, so the plan to release DVD was dashed to the ground.

A month ago there have arisen rumours about the RIT unreleased footage leak, as 'somebody from Madonna's camp' was said to have it in raw form. And then, two weeks ago two videos containing recording of four songs were uploaded to YouTube, immediately gaining attention of Madonna's fans, who asked for more. Since then almost every song has been uploaded, but each of them is being consistently removed by Warner Music Group, who owes rights to all the footage.

A few hours ago the whole concert has leaked to the Internet in a few parts... If you want the link to download it, contact me on e.hayyah@gmail.com .

The "Sticky & Sweet" backdrops

The visual form of Madonna's shows has always been equally important as the audio. This is why her stage was always filled with huge screens projecting especially prepared videos during each song. These are called "backdrops" and here are some in high quality from the Sticky & Sweet Tour:

Candy Shop
Beat Goes On

Vogue part 1
Vogue part 2
Into The Groove
She's Not Me
Rain/Here Comes Rain Again
Spanish Lesson
Get Stupid

Win a signed copy of the ‘Madonna: Sticky & Sweet’ book!

During the course of the 2008 "Sticky & Sweet" tour, Madonna's manager - Guy Oseary - had been present at each and every concert and he made a 280-paged book including his pics taken as the show had been running. The photos present not only Madonna, but the dancers and fans as well.

Madonna's camp announced a competition, where the prize is just this book, signed by Guy Oseary. To take part in it, you have to e-mail your favourite Sticky & Sweet Tour photo to madonnacontests@gmail.com, along with your full name, mailing address, phone number (including country code) and the reason behind your choice, contained in just one (max. 30 words!) sentence. There are no guidelines about the picture, you can choose either your own photo or one found on the Internet, but it has to be JPEG format and not over 100 KB. There can be only one entry per person and the e-mail subject must be “Sticky + Sweet Book Contest”. Ten best entries will win the book and receive it through mail.

Deadline: Monday, February 1st 2010, at 11:59pm PST (about 08:59am on Tuesday, February 2nd of Polish time)

GOOD LUCK!

Madonna Statement Following Earthquake In Haiti

“My prayers are with the people of Haiti. I can’t imagine the terrible pain and suffering they are experiencing. Sadly the depths of the tragedy are just becoming known and the need for our support grows more urgent with every passing moment.

I have given a donation of $250,000 to assist Haiti’s earthquake victims through Partner’s in Health (www.pih.org) one of Haiti’s leading health care providers. I urge all of my friends and fans around the world to join me collectively to match my contribution or give in any way you can. We must act now. Thank you for your support” Madonna

source: madonna.com

The "Sticky & Sweet Tour" to be released in March

According to madonna.com, the "Sticky & Sweet Tour" will be out March 30th on DVD, Blue-Ray and CD.

The "Sticky & Sweet Tour", which was produced by Live Nation and will be distributed by Warner Bros Records, was announced the most successful tour by a solo artist in history, grossing over $408 million dollars. It was the eighth Madonna's world tour, including 80 concerts in 30 countries around the world, seen by 3.5 million people. The DVD features a two-hour long concert filmed in December 2008 in Buenos Aires and 30 minutes of exclusive footage filmed behind the scenes during the course of the tour.

The D&G's "Donna Campaign"

After two-season Louis Vuitton promotion (the Spring/Summer and the Autumn/Winter 2009 collections), Madonna decided on collaborating with equally luxurious fashion house. When she was offered doing a photoshoot for Domenico Dolce’s and Stefano Gabbana’s Spring/Summer 2010 collection, she could not deny two of her dear friends.

As the time passed, photos taken by Steven Klein began to leak to the Internet and surprised the world with being significantly different from the LV campaigns. Instead of cold and non-human look, we received natural, little-corrected version of Madonna as the Italian housewife. She appears holding a broomstick, washing dishes in a bubble-filled sink, peeling vegetables and eating spaghetti with her fingers, surrounded by lace curtains and tablecloths, dishcloths and old wooden furniture.

The designer duo describe the photoshoot as "simply beautiful":

"The collection is very Italian, very Sicilian. It's a return to our roots with a modern angle, so we asked Madonna to interpret it in a different and human way. We believe that people are ready for a new message."

And here are some pics: