Music & Concerts
‘Heart’ palpitations
New Madonna tour DVD and live album stronger than source material that inspired it


Madonna performs in Stockholm on her massive ‘Rebel Heart Tour.’ (Photo by Christian Weger; courtesy Flickr)
Madonna’s last studio album, 2015’s “Rebel Heart,” was far from her best work, but when it comes to the tour that it launched — finally out on DVD and live album a year and a half after wrapping — the album itself hardly matters.
“The Rebel Heart Tour” was another triumph for the pop icon, who has never disappointed as a live performer. The worldwide trek stretched for 82 shows and 55 cities, raked in a cool $169.8 million and was viewed by more than a million lucky fans.
Madonna’s continued strength and perseverance is inspiring to her fans and should be even to those who don’t care for her music. Even her detractors cannot deny that she has put in the work. She is tireless, working hard to make sure her fans get the most for their money and to make it an experience they will never forget.
The just-released live CD and DVD were filmed at the Allphones Arena on March 19–20, 2016 in Sydney. The double CD spans 22 songs and 100 minutes and for the most parts it’s thoroughly entertaining. The weakest aspect of the collection are the nine songs from the “Rebel Heart” album, although they do work marginally better in a live setting than their underwhelming studio versions. It’s understandable that she would highlight her most recent album, but these songs will never stand up along her best work and most of her classic singles.
Of course, Madonna doesn’t neglect those hits and it’s fascinating as always to hear which ones she decides to highlight. She obviously can’t play them all (unless it’s gonna be an all-night show), so she picks and chooses carefully, including songs that haven’t appeared frequently on prior tours. Madonna typically splashes them with a modern sheen and different arrangements, keeping the much-played tunes fresh and keeping the audiences guessing.
She cleverly adapts the ‘60s pop pastiche “True Blue” into an acoustic singalong and her early new wave dance classic “Burning Up” features a blistering guitar solo. The retro disco groove of “Deeper and Deeper” is updated in electrifying fashion while her sometimes overlooked classic “La Isla Bonita” is kept more faithful to the original but is still a highlight.
Madonna has reinvented “Like a Virgin” numerous times over the years and this time she goes with a minimalist club beat so the audience can sing along exuberantly. “Dress You Up” and “Into the Groove” were both popular around the same timeframe so it makes sense that they are appended together in a medley. She delivers a sizzling take on her final no. 1 single, 2000’s “Music,” with a flirty throwback jazz intro that might have been an interesting approach for the entire song. The biggest surprise is “Candy Shop,” the funky lead track from her underrated 2008 album “Hard Candy” — it holds up nicely wedged between much bigger hits.
Less effective is the modern take on “Material Girl,” which saps the cheeky charm of the original while accenting its more annoying aspects (especially those wretched background vocals). Her take on the Édith Piaf standard “La Vie en Rose” doesn’t quite get off the ground, and a gruelingly long take on her recent “Unapologetic Bitch” is eminently skippable. The finale, though, is a strong one-two punch of her first major hit “Holiday” and arguably her greatest single “Like a Prayer,” which retains its dramatic grandeur.
Of course, a CD and DVD will not replace seeing the actual show in person, but like all of the live album releases Madonna has issued over the years (this is her fifth), they are excellent souvenirs.
Music & Concerts
Underdog glorious: a personal remembrance of Jill Sobule
Talented singer, songwriter died in house fire on May 1

I’ve always prided myself on being the kind of music consumer who purchased music on impulse. When I stumbled across “Things Here Are Different,” Jill Sobule’s 1990 MCA Records debut album on vinyl in a favorite Chicago record store, I bought it without knowing anything about her. This was at a time when we didn’t have our phones in our pockets to search for information about the artist on the internet. The LP stayed in my collection until, as vinyl was falling out of fashion, I replaced it with a CD a few years later.
Early in my career as an entertainment journalist, I received a promo copy of Jill’s eponymous 1995 Atlantic Records album. That year, Atlantic Records was one of the labels at the forefront of signing and heavily promoting queer artists, including Melissa Ferrick and Extra Fancy, and its roster included the self-titled album by Jill. It was a smart move, as the single “I Kissed A Girl” became a hit on radio and its accompanying video (featuring Fabio!) was in heavy rotation on MTV (when they still played videos).
Unfortunately for Jill, she was a victim of record label missteps. When 1997’s wonderful “Happy Town” failed to repeat the success, Atlantic dumped her. That was Atlantic’s loss, because her next album, the superb “Pink Pearl” contained “Heroes” and “Mexican Wrestler,” two of her most beloved songs. Sadly, Beyond Music, the label that released that album ceased to exist after just a few years. To her credit, the savvy Jill had also started independently releasing music (2004’s “The Folk Years”). That was a smart move because her next major-label release, the brilliant “Underdog Victorious” on Artemis Records, met a similar fate when that label folded.
With her 2009 album “California Years,” Jill launched her own indie label, Pinko Records, on which she would release two more outstanding full-length discs, 2014’s “Dottie’s Charms” (on which she collaborated with some of her favorite writers, including David Hadju, Rick Moody, Mary Jo Salter, and Jonathan Lethem), and 2018’s stunning “Nostalgia Kills.” Jill’s cover of the late Warren Zevon’s “Don’t Let Us Get Sick” on “Nostalgia Kills” was particularly poignant as she had toured with him as an opening act.
Jill was a road warrior, constantly on tour, and her live shows were something to behold. My first interview with Jill took place at the Double Door in Chicago in early August of 1995, when she was the opening act for legendary punk band X. She had thrown her back out the previous day and was diagnosed with a herniated disc. To be comfortable, she was lying down on a fabulous-‘50s sofa. “I feel like I’m at my shrink’s,” she said to me, “Do you want me to talk about my mother?”
That sense of humor, which permeated and enriched her music, was one of many reasons to love Jill. I was privileged to interview her for seven of her albums. Everything you would want to know about her was right there in her honest lyrics, in which she balanced her distinctive brand of humor with serious subject matter. Drawing on her life experiences in songs such as “Bitter,” “Underachiever,” “One of These Days,” “Freshman,” “Jetpack,” “Nothing To Prove,” “Forbidden Thoughts of Youth,” “Island of Lost Things,” “Where Do I Begin,” “Almost Great,” and “Big Shoes,” made her songs as personal as they were universal, elicited genuine affection and concern from her devoted fans.
While she was a consummate songwriter, Jill also felt equally comfortable covering songs made famous by others, including “Just A Little Lovin’” (on the 2000 Dusty Springfield tribute album “Forever Dusty”) and “Stoned Soul Picnic” (from the 1997 Laura Nyro tribute album “Time and Love”). Jill also didn’t shy away from political subject matter in her music with “Resistance Song,” “Soldiers of Christ,” “Attic,” “Heroes,” “Under the Disco Ball,” and the incredible “America Back” as prime examples.
Here’s something else worth mentioning about Jill. She was known for collaboration skills. As a songwriter, she maintained a multi-year creative partnership with Robin Eaton (“I Kissed A Girl” and many others), as well as Richard Barone, the gay frontman of the renowned band The Bongos. Jill’s history with Barone includes performing together at a queer Octoberfest event in Chicago in 1996. Writer and comedian Julie Sweeney, of “SNL” and “Work in Progress” fame was another Chicago collaborator with Sobule (Sweeney lives in a Chicago suburb), where they frequently performed their delightful “The Jill and Julia Show.” John Doe, of the aforementioned band X, also collaborated with Jill in the studio (“Tomorrow Is Breaking” from “Nostalgia Kills”), as well as in live performances.
On a very personal note, in 2019, when I was in the process of arranging a reading at the fabulous NYC gay bookstore Bureau of General Services – Queer Division, I reached out to Jill and asked her if she would like to be on the bill with me. We alternated performing; I would read a couple of poems, and Jill would sing a couple of songs. She even set one of my poems to music, on the spot.
Jill had an abundance of talent, and when she turned her attention to musical theater, it paid off in a big way. Her stage musical “F*ck 7th Grade,” a theatrical piece that seemed like the next logical step in her career, had its premiere at Pittsburgh’s City Theatre in the fall of 2020, during the height of the pandemic. The unique staging (an outdoor drive-in stage at which audience members watched from their cars) was truly inspired. “F*ck 7th Grade” went on to become a New York Times Critic’s pick, as well as earning a Drama Desk nomination.
In honor of the 30th anniversary of Jill’s eponymous 1995 album, reissue label Rhino Records is re-releasing it on red vinyl. Jill and I had been emailing each other to arrange a time for an interview. We even had a date on the books for the third week of May.
When she died in a house fire in Minnesota on May 1 at age 66, Jill received mentions on network and cable news shows. She was showered with attention from major news outlets, including obits in the New York Times and Rolling Stone (but not Pitchfork, who couldn’t be bothered to review her music when she was alive). Is it wrong to think that if she’d gotten this much attention when she was alive she could have been as big as Taylor Swift? I don’t think so.
Music & Concerts
Tom Goss returns with ‘Bear Friends Furever Tour’
Out singer/songwriter to perform at Red Bear Brewing Co.

Singer Tom Goss will bring his “Bear Friends Furever Tour” to D.C. on Sunday, June 8 at 8 p.m. at Red Bear Brewing Co.
Among the songs he will perform will be “Bear Soup,” the fourth installment in his beloved bear song anthology series. Following fan favorites like “Bears,” “Round in All the Right Places,” and “Nerdy Bear,” this high-energy, bass-thumping banger celebrates body positivity, joyful indulgence, and the vibrant spirit of the bear subculture.
For more details, visit Tom Goss’s website.

Aussie pop icon Kylie Minogue brings her acclaimed “Tension” world tour to D.C. next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Capital One Arena. Tickets are still available at Ticketmaster.
The show features songs spanning her long career, from 1987 debut single, “The Loco-Motion,” to “Padam, Padam” from her album, “Tension.”