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Madonna - Ciao Italia (Live from Italy)

Madonna - Ciao Italia (Live from Italy)

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $13.49
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Exciting though slightly dated.
Review: This was Madonna's first World Tour, and you can see why she took the world by storm, and remained an enormous star.

This is an energetic and exciting show, and the only reason I gave the show 4 out of 5, is that some of the costumes have dated considerably.

A stunning opening as she performs behind a screen, her Silhouette magnified 10 fold to the opening chords of Open Your Heart, and she comes out recreating the video the song, and moving through a string of hits, "Lucky Star," "True Blue," (a bit twee and a particularly dated moment of the show) "Papa Don't Preach" is a poignant moment, "White Heat," and the energetic "Causing A Commotion," (sung badly).
The medley of songs sees Madonna in a humourous moment, during which ("Dress You up / Material Girl / Like a Virgin") she is dressed more like Dame Edna Everidge, removing her knickers, rubbing them between her crotch and throwing them into the audience.
"Into The Groove" is a particular highlight, very energetic, with Madonna and her dancers really letting go to a long, honky tonk remix of the classic. "La Isla Bonita" and "Whos That Girl" (the one and only time she has included this song in a tour) are also particular highlights.
The concert finishes with a rocked up version of "Holiday" which is stunning.
A really exciting (though slightly dated) concert.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Journey to the "homeland"
Review: Though she was born in Michigan, Madonna opens this show by saying to the thousands in the Turin stadium, "It's a pleasure to be here in the homeland." Though bleached blonde, Madonna lets her Italian roots show in this video, the last show of her "Who's That Girl" tour. However, this video is really a badly edited mix of two performances. Sometimes two versions are mixed within the same song. You can tell which is the real last version by watching for the gold necklace around her neck, it's there when she says to the audience, "So, this is my last show. If I cry sometimes, you'll understand." And she actually does get misty-eyed in some places.

For me, a half-Italian like Madonna, this video had great sentimental value when I first saw it at age 12. I had been very interested in my Italian heritage and dreamed about going to Italy some day (still haven't made it), and this video was great because it presented the idea that an American "Italian" could be accepted in the Mother Country; you could be American and still embrace your ancestral home. I was really moved by the sea of Italian faces in the audience (some of which looked like me), the dark eyes, thick eye brows, and the badly pronounced Italian Madonna peppers throughout. It was because of this tour that I learned how to say: Lo sono fiero di essere Italiano (I'm proud to be Italian).

But this is really an atrocious production. If not for the sentimental value and my love for anything Madonna does just because she has done it, I would find little of interest here. In fact, even as a diehard fan this video grated at times. Madonna's singing is always bad live but it is almost un-listenable in some songs on this video; not only out-of-tune, she is sometimes in a separate universe from the song itself, with her low notes "crawling off somewhere to die." The costumes look like they were intended for a school recital, not a major world tour, and the choreography is perhaps the worst of her career. And the muscles, the muscles! It's a little odd to see a woman dressed as a stripper with tassels strategically placed, all the while sporting biceps bigger than my own (at the time, like I said, I was only 12). The one thing that saves it is the fact that it's Madonna doing it! She enjoys what she is doing, and I enjoy watching her enjoy herself. Like author Wayne Dyer says, "You don't sell what you do. You sell the LOVE for what you do." And Madonna sells like no other . . .

I would recommend this to a diehard Madonna fan, but not to anyone else. If you want her best concert work, watch the segments in Truth or Dare.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Journey to the homeland
Review: Though she was born in Michigan, Madonna opens this show by saying to the thousands in the Turin stadium, "It's a pleasure to be here in the homeland." Bleached blonde Madonna lets her Italian roots show in this, her reportedly last performance of 1987's Who's That Girl World Tour. Unfortunately, this video is actually a badly edited splicing of two performances. Sometimes two versions are mixed within the same song! You can tell which is the real last version by watching for the gold necklace around her neck, it's there when she says to the audience, "So, this is my last show. If I cry sometimes, you'll understand." And she actually does get misty-eyed in some places.

For me, a half-Italian like Madonna, this video had great sentimental value when I first saw it at age 12. I had been very interested in my Italian heritage and dreamed about going to Italy some day (still haven't made it), and this video was great because it presented the idea that an American "Italian" could be accepted in the Mother Country; you could be American and still embrace your ancestral home. I was really moved by the sea of Italian faces in the audience (some of which looked like me), the dark eyes, thick eye brows, and the badly pronounced Italian Madonna peppers throughout. It was from this video that I learned how to say: Lo sono fiero di essere Italiano (I'm proud to be Italian).

Overall, unfortunately, this is really an atrocious production. If not for the sentimental value and my love for anything Madonna does just because she has done it, I would find little of interest here. In fact, even as a diehard fan this video grated at times. Madonna's singing is always bad live but it is almost unlistenable in some songs on this video. Not only out-of-tune, she is sometimes in a separate universe from the song itself, with her low notes "crawling off somewhere to die." The costumes look like they were intended for a school recital, not a major world tour, and the choreography is perhaps the worst of her career. And the muscles, the muscles! It's a little odd to see a woman dressed as a stripper with tassels strategically placed, all the while sporting biceps bigger than my own (at the time, like I said, I was only 12). The one thing that saves it is the fact that it's Madonna doing it! She enjoys what she is doing, and I enjoy watching her enjoy herself. Like author Wayne Dyer says, "You don't sell what you do. You sell the LOVE for what you do." And Madonna sells like no other . . .

I would recommend this to a diehard Madonna fan, but not to anyone else. If you want her best concert work, watch the segments in Truth or Dare.

Andrew Parodi

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Stay Away
Review: Vocals are uninspired, dull & lackluster. A must... to avoid!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ciao Italia: Live From Italy (The Who's That Girl Tour 1987)
Review: We all know that Madonna's first tour was The Virgin Tour 1985, which started on April 12th, 1985 and ended on June 11th, 1985. Now, it is 1987, two years after the success of The Virgin Tour 1985, Madonna felt it was time for another tour, The Who's That Girl Tour 1987. This tour was to promote and support the film, Who's That Girl, Madonna's third film role and it is jam packed with exellent performances you could ever imagine. This televised concert, which was her last concert on this tour, was aired live from Torino Italy, hence the name, Ciao Italia: Live From Italy. Seeing that it was performed in Italy made me enjoy it more than I expected, due to the fact that I am 75% Italian and I favor that heritage more than I favor the 25% half of my British heritage.

Now the show itself didn't start out in the way I am about to describe, but it needs to be included into my description. It starts off with the crew setting everything up for the night's concert, while Madonna's three back-up singers, Niki Harris, Donna DeLory, and Debra Parson, are rehearsing their ad-libs on Into The Groove and La Isla Bonita, where after, the title flashes across your screen. That is when the show officially starts. The band begins playing OPEN YOUR HEART as Christopher Finch, one-third of Madonna's three male dancers, who is about the age of 11-13, takes the stage in the same outfit worn by the kid in the music video to the same song. Madonna finally takes the stage, wearing the same boustier she wore in the music video. She amazingly sweeps through OPEN YOUR HEART without a problem. After OPEN YOUR HEART, she talks a little to her Italian audience, where she then goes into her performance of LUCKY STAR. Following LUCKY STAR is TRUE BLUE. She comes out in an outfit similar to the one she wore in the video. This performance is my favorite. After TRUE BLUE is PAPA DON'T PREACH, where Madonna puts on her trusty leather jacket. After PAPA DON'T PREACH, she comes out dressed like a mobster and sweeps gracefully through WHITE HEAT. After her mobster-rendition of WHITE HEAT, she gears up for CAUSING A COMMOTION. THE LOOK OF LOVE follows CAUSING A COMMOTION.

After THE LOOK OF LOVE, a British telephone booth is wheeled out to centerstage, where Madonna quickly puts on a pink dress, pink top hat, and nerdy glasses to perform DRESS YOU UP. She rearranged DRESS YOU UP a little, where she sang the chorus first and then sang the first verse. After the first verse, she sings the chorus and then goes into the second chorus. Instead of finishing DRESS YOU UP, she goes into a comical performance of MATERIAL GIRL, where her two other male dancers are dressed up as geeks. She sings all the way up to, "A MATERIAL, A MATERIAL, A MATERIAL..." and then goes into LIKE A VIRGIN. Before singing the third verse in LIKE A VIRGIN, she sings a little of I CAN'T HELP MYSELF (SUGAR PIE HONEY BUNCH) and then finishes up LIKE A VIRGIN.

After her comical performance of the DRESS YOU UP/MATERIAL GIRL/LIKE A VIRGIN medley, she comes out, still wearing the boustier, but with a black feathered scarf, black tophat and, fancy glasses, to perform WHERE'S THE PARTY. LIVE TO TELL immediately follows, where her voice sounds the strongest. After LIVE TO TELL is INTO THE GROOVE.

Just when you though the show was over, she comes out to perform her three encores: LA ISLA BONITA, WHO'S THAT GIRL, and HOLIDAY. Don't you think that I will tell you the encores. Remember, I can't tell you everything. But you can see it for yourselves by buying this amazing DVD. Below is the tour's setlist.

OPEN YOUR HEART
LUCKY STAR
TRUE BLUE
PAPA DON'T PREACH
WHITE HEAT
CAUSING A COMMOTION
THE LOOK OF LOVE
DRESS YOU UP/MATERIAL GIRL/LIKE A VIRGIN (medley)
WHERE'S THE PARTY
LIVE TO TELL
INTO THE GROOVE
LA ISLA BONITA
WHO'S THAT GIRL
HOLIDAY

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: great in the 80s
Review: Well bear in mind this world tour was way back in 1987...it shouldnt be compared to Madonna's later world tours. As with most 80s artists, the costumes here are a little tacky and the chreography a little dated.

However, if u were in the 80s now, u would probably single tis out as a great show where Madonna still puts in decent effort to entertain and not to take herself too seriously.

It's precisely because of this that we r able to see Madonna's evolution as an entrtainer, singer, producer and songwriter. As she hones her skills in every area through the years, she's much better able to electrify audiences later.

Admittedly, it's not so much about the singing or performing here but more of a celebratory event of seeing your fave superstar on stage.

Worthwile to buy if u r a fan looking out for the Madonna evolution, and if u r plannin to buy her later concerts too.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great live
Review: Well it WAS the 80s, how do you expect her to dress, 90s? Maybe because I watched it too much, but i don't like the first 30 min. After the medley, I love it all, especially the way she performs, and those longs extensions of the songs ('Live to Tell' and 'Who's That Girl'). You can see she still is kind of innocent but is on her way to becoming very sexual and naughty. Even though the clips shown during the instrumental part of 'Papa Don't Preach' are pointless to the context of the song (or not?) they look great with the music (why didn't she include a clip of Marilyn Monroe?).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great 80's Concert
Review: You had to grow up during the 80's to appreciate this performance. This was a terrific concert. This was the
nascent of the Madonna of the 90's. Makes me extremely
nostalgic for the innocence back in the 80's.


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