On her first big tour, the singer took a hip hop group as a guest attraction — a fact that the members themselves found strange
The first tour of Madonnain 1985, had the mission of promoting the artist’s first two albums: the eponymous album from 1983 and Like a Virgin (1984). For the occasion, the singer invited an unlikely group to be the opening act: the Beastie Boys. Not even they understood how they ended up there, despite there being a good argument behind it.
At the time, the hip hop group hadn’t even released their debut album yet, Licensed to Ill (1986). Meanwhile, the pop legend was already taking his first steps towards stardom — and the tour helped a lot in that regard.
The two remaining Beastie Boys from that time — Adam “Ad Rock” Horovitz and Michael “Mike D” Diamond — talked about the differences in an interview with the podcast Conan O’Brian Needs a Friend (via American Songwriter). At the time, Mike D he said:
It was a big contract and completely absurd to be asked to do this tour. She booked the dates and was playing venues like theaters. By the time the tour was actually happening, it sold far more tickets than theaters could handle. Before it was over, I think she was on the cover of Time magazine or something. She was on her way to becoming a cultural phenomenon. It had already become that by the end of the tour.”
Despite the significant difference in level — and musical style — between artists at the time, Ad Rock does not see the invitation as absurd. The member of Beastie Boys remembered an important detail:
We used to play the same places in New York. Nobody talks about that part of the story.”
Madonna, Beastie Boys and “The Virgin Tour”
The first tour of Madonna it was designed to be an international show, but in the end, it didn’t leave North America. And even so, it wasn’t a very long tour: between April and June 1985, 40 performances were held between the United States and Canada.
To create the show, the American counted on the stylist Mariupolresponsible for clothes that marked the era, in addition to patrick leonard as director — he also played keyboards in the singer’s band. It would be his last tour in smaller venues, such as theaters, until the tour “Madame X”which took place between 2019 and 2020.
THE “The Virgin Tour” yielded a video release, titled “Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour” (1985). The recorded show took place in Detroit, in the US state of Michigan, on May 25, 1985.
The performances of “Dress You Up” and “Like a Virgin” (with excerpts from “Billie Jean”from michael jackson) of this presentation were shown as clips in the MTV and helped increase the popularity of VHS – the format in vogue at the time.
Collaborated: André Luiz Fernandes.
Source: Rollingstone
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
