Wembley Stadium - September 2008

Madonna Louise Ciccone Ritchie brings the full sturm and drang of her first Stadium Tour for over a decade to Wembley. Ostensibly this is to promote her Hard Candy album but mainly it seems to be an exercise in showing those young whipper-snappers how its done.

So she was late, just like in Cardiff, though from our position up in the more expensive seats (there are no cheap seats for this show) much running around backstage by people wearing headsets and tool belts could be seen, so perhaps the tardiness was down to technical errors. That still doesn't excuse the terrible sound quality. Although the idea of quality sound at Stadium gigs is an oxymoron, at this scale and cost you would expect better.

However, very nearly spoiled sound is nowhere near disastrous enough to bring down the mighty Madonna. The work ethic that made her is on full display: her determination to entertain and dazzle as the Queen of Pop, feverish dancing, dj scratching, lightshows, video montages and even trampolining! At one point a boxing ring emerges from the floor and a white Cadillac, then a subway train, are driven on to the stage bookended by two enormous letter 'M's filled with £1m-worth of Swarovski crystals. You can certainly see where your money went.

The nature of fame seems very much on Madge's mind; She's Not Me features a dizzying background projection of her many image changes through her career, while the woman herself dances in mocking interaction with her dancers, each dressed as one of these iconic other versions.

This constant moving forward, and the clever appropriation of what's next, is what still keeps Madonna feeling like a relevant pop star. This push to the cutting edge manifests in Sticky and Sweet in endless remixed versions of her songs, Madonna is evidently a fan of the contemporary cut-and-paste mash-up. Sometimes this is a shame, because as good as Vogue sounds mixing into the sampled bass of 4 Minutes and Give It 2 Me, it's not a patch on the original track.

Much of the Hard Candy tracks are also mashed-up with old favourites as if Madonna fears they won't stand on their own. Indeed, her latest album hasn't quite continued the staggering return to pop majesty that Confessions From the Dancefloor promised, but 4 Minutes is an absolute belter that would have the Stadium on their feet even if Madonna wasn't dancing with a giant digital Justin Timberlake.

The sheer hard graft of the woman is in evidence when she tears through a rousing version of Into the Groove while double-dutch skipping, appearing to handle the gruelling routine better than a chorus of dancers all half her age. This energy dispels all the negatives of tonight - the cost, the venue, the delayed start, the tabloid brouhaha over her marriage - and sweeps it away in a wave of excitable teen-like nostalgia. Madonna doesn't even need to perform Express Yourself - she gets the whole stadium to sing the first few lines perfectly and to overwhelming euphoric effect.

Some things still grate: she really is a little too old for some of her outfits (the thigh high boots and top hat combo has a disturbing effect), some of her vocals are decidedly poor, and the kindest thing that can be said about her guitar playing is that it has improved.

Nevertheless, there is no doubting the sincerity of the woman and it's this momentum of love of what she does that makes it all work. She seems happily relaxed and enjoying herself now, with none of the hard combativeness of old, and with such a large back catalogue she offers something for everyone no matter what version of Madonna you grew up with.

Review by Sarah Johnson, September 08