The 4 Big Madonna Tampa Concert Complaints

Here's the thing about the people who had Madonna Tampa concert complaints. They didn't even go. They had no plans to go. Why are they complaining? I think you know.

Many just have personal issues with Madonna. I get it. Some don't like her free spirit attitude when it comes to sex. Some don't like her politics and how vocal she is for women's and minority rights. Instead of risking being labeled sexist, racist or homophobic, instead they went off this week on how late Madonna was getting on stage. They complained about the time she went on stage... even though they had no plans to go in the first place. Isn't that a little weird? Here's the kicker. Madonna was not late.

False. When you go to a concert that starts at 7pm, the headliner doesn't go on at 7pm. Normally there are 2 opening acts. The headliner goes on around 9. Madonna's concert didn't have a start time of 7pm. The tickets clearly said 8:30. Madonna, like most headliners, went on 2 hours later.

Is 10:30 late for a performance to start? Yes. Absolutely. We even had fun with it on Q105 doing that contest having listeners guess what time she'll finally get on stage. But it's normal for the headline act to go on a couple hours after a show begins.

I will say this though. Madonna didn't give the crowd much for an opening act. It was just a DJ and a drag queen. For many Madonna fans, that's enough. But really for a show on this level, there should have been a traditional opening act. I would've loved to see one of the acts like we have coming to Freestyle Explosion Throwback Jam. Our friend Debbie Deb lives in Pasco - she would have been a great opener. Just having a DJ play Madonna songs BEFORE Madonna gets on stage was just pretty lame.

But the ones complaining that Madonna went on at 10:30 ... didn't even go. Had Madonna gone on at 8:30 Thursday night, there would've been riots at Amalie Arena. Many didn't even take their seats until shortly before 10. The internet has been around for 30 years. Fans knew Madonna was going to go on stage around 10 and planned accordingly.

Mostly false. If Amalie Arena had turned off air conditioning, with all those lights and thousands of fans filling every seat, the temperatures inside would've been over 100 degrees. It would have been miserable. Does Madonna have them reduce the air conditioning? Yes. Word is she insists on it to protect her voice. While I'm used to a very cool temperature inside Amalie Arena for Lightning games and other concerts, the temps were never oppressive. I did sweat a little bit but I'm a big almost 300 pound dude who climbed steps to the top of the arena because I had crappy seats. And I would say the warmer arena kept most like me from standing up and really getting into the dance music. But no, Madonna did not have them turn the AC off. Did she have them turn it down? Definitely.

Mostly false. I posted on the Q105 socials that tickets were available for $70 the week of the show. $70 for a concert on this level in 2024 is pretty reasonable. Were there crazy high ticket prices? Sure. If you had to be in the first few rows near the stage, those seats were going from $500s into the thousands if you bought from a ticket reseller. Tickets were sold out for months. But once they got the staging in, Amalie Arena released more seats the week of the show. I love it when they do that. It messes with ticket scalpers who are trying take advantage of desperate fans.

Fans in 2024 don't just want to see an artist sit in a chair and sing. They want a full production. And Madonna's concert staging, light show and special effects were top notch. Plus the costs of an arena show are not cheap... there's insurance, staffing and of course those ticket agency fees we all love. As for the artists, it's how they get paid these days. Back in the day when concert tickets were cheap, you went to the record store and bought full albums. You don't do that anymore. The business model changed. Artists make very little from their music - even when you download or stream it legally. The reason you see older acts from the 70s and 80s still touring is because it's their 401K plan now. Merch and ticket sales are how they pay the mortgage. Do you really think Mick Jagger and Keith Richards want to still be on the road touring in their 80s?

If there was any complaint to be made about prices, it shouldn't have been about the tickets. The merch prices made my jaw drop.

This one's open for debate. The only other complaint I'm seeing over and over, but again by people who didn't even go, is that Madonna lip sync'd on stage. How do you know if you didn't even go? I've been to hundreds of concerts over the years. I'm not bragging. Going to concerts like this one is a fun part of my job. Almost all concerts are run by a computer these days... the light shows, pyro, and yes the music tracking is all set digitally so they precisely go together. Again, concert goers in 2024 want a production. They don't want to see an artist sit on a stool all night with one spotlight. They want Instagram moments.

Madonna's mic was on during every song. Were there backing vocals? Absolutely. There was no band on stage pretending to play. The instruments and beats were clearly coming from a computer and Madonna made no attempt to disguise that. But there were some pretty great moments when she sang with nothing behind her and I was impressed how well her voice has held up over the years. Most acts that have been around this long don't have the clear, crisp vocals they had in their prime. Listen to Madonna's performances I posted, especially when she sang "Crazy For You" raw. It was fantastic.

No. Far from it. But I didn't get to see Michael Jackson or Prince before we lost them. So checking this one off the concert bucket list was one I had been wanting to do for a while. No big complaints from me. You won't find many who DID go to the show complaining. Madonna didn't do the whole "here's an hour of music from my new album" routine. She played the hits the crowd at Amalie Arena wanted to hear. The ones complaining didn't even go.

No one who went to the Madonna concert regretted it. No one who didn't go to the Madonna concert regrets it. And the ones who did go did not miss the ones who didn't go. And with all the social media attention this show got, Madonna got talked about... so she's happy. Wins for everybody all around.

Madonna plays Tampa's Amalie Arena Thursday, April 4, 2024. This will be Madonna’s first Tampa concert since 1985. Were you at the USF Sun Dome that year on May 9? A sold out crowd of 8,000 sang along with “Lucky Star,” “Like a Virgin,” and Madonna threw fake money into the crowd as she performed “Material Girl,” according to the Tampa Bay Times.

So what songs will she perform on this tour? Warning! Spoilers are ahead.

The Tampa show was originally scheduled for September 7, 2023. However, Madonna had a big health scare and needed to take time off. Your tickets to her original show, if you had them, have been updated digitally. You don’t need to do anything. The concert is scheduled to start at 8:30PM.

The tour opened its 2024 run of dates in Boston this week and we have the setlist. While she might make changes, most concert tours these days stick to the same songs and same order from night to night. It helps keep the show on time and lets lighting and special effects crews do their magic efficiently.

Officially the show has sold out but there are plenty of “Verified Resale Tickets” left on the Ticketmaster website. Prices start at about $160 for upper level 300 seats at Amalie Arena. But if you wanna go all out, there are seats near the stage going for over a whopping $5,000 per ticket!

Here are the songs you're likely to hear if you're going.

Don't worry... Madonna's big 80s hits are spread throughout the show. But Madonna kicked her Boston set off with this 1999 song from "Ray Of Light" about her daughter Lourdes Leon. It wasn't a big chart-topper for her as it debuted at #93, the lowest ever entry for her on the Billboard Hot 100. But it's an uptempo jam that got the crowd on their feet... after waiting much longer than anticipated. Yes, Madonna is known for taking her time getting on stage. The arena hosting the show apologized, saying there were "intricacies" that caused the show's delay. Let's hope they work those intricacies out before she gets to Florida.

Madonna goes way back for her second song of the night.  "Everybody" was a demo Madonna created back in 1982 long before she became a household name.  It's said that this one was a big hit in the New York City clubs and helped Madonna get her record deal.

If those first 2 songs don't ring a bell, the third one will.  This one was featured in 1985's "Desperately Seeking Susan."   The interesting thing about this song... even though it remains one of Madonna's signature hits, it never had a music video.  So they just threw together scenes from the movie so MTV could put it on the air.

One of Madonna's most underrated hits. You don't hear it on the radio often anymore, but this one is a favorite on the Q105 Saturday Night Dance Party.  This one's also a soundtrack song.  It was the second hit from "Who's That Girl" in 1987.  This one's about her relationship with her husband at the time Sean Penn.

This one's from Madonna's first album in 1983. It was another one of those jams that caught fire in the dance clubs that helped Madonna break through to mainstream pop success, even though it wasn't a big radio hit. Madonna was key in getting the music video to get directed by Steve Barron because she liked his work on Michael Jackson's video for "Billie Jean."

Originally this one was called "Follow Your Heart."  It was intended to be a song for Cyndi Lauper.  Word is even The Temptations even almost did this song!  The music video was played over and over on MTV.

Another one from that 1983 Madonna debut album, this song was pitched to Mary Wilson from The Supremes!  But Madonna made it a huge hit, again, even without an official music video.

Madonna had so many hits one after another in the 80s, some like this one get forgotten.  This was originally meant to be another soundtrack song, but it got turned down for the movie "Fire With Fire."  Madonna ended up using it for one of Sean Penn's movies.

This one was famous for its controversial music video.  Madonna says she wanted to tackle racism.  A Pepsi commercial featuring the song got religious leaders up in arms, prompting a boycott.  MTV kept playing it anyway.

Madonna was sexy in the 80s but got super frisky in the 90s.  The title track from her 1992 album Erotica was the highest debuting single on the Billboard Hot 100 since the 70s.  But it was also her first lead single to not hit #1 since 1983.

Another one that pushed the boundaries, you may not be aware "Justify My Love" was co-written by Lenny Kravitz.  The music video was supposed to debut on MTV, but the network instead ended up initially banning it saying it was too steamy.

This music video for this dance club jam is a tribute to John Travolta's dancing in his movies.

A song from Erotica in 1993 about one of those toxic relationships.

Probably still our most requested Madonna song on Q105, "Vogue" had us striking a pose in 1990. The black and white music video was shot during rehearsals for Madonna's Blond Ambition Tour. It got 9 nominations at the MTV Video Music Awards that year.

An early Madonna classic from the 1985 movie "Vision Quest."

Did you forget Madonna did a song for a James Bond movie? Yup. This one from 2002 was written not long after the attacks on September 11. Madonna was said to be in an "introspective" mood. The video is definitely a darker departure from the happy go lucky 80s Madonna vibe.

This song was originally called "Stop." Madonna changed things up a bit and gave it her touch and put it on her 2000 album Music.

Madonna has always been about female empowerment and this one is an anthem for it. The music video for this one had a whopping (for the time) budget of $5 million. Record companies were willing to blow that kind cash back in the days because people actually paid for their music... and music videos were basically ads!

You might be surprised (I was) to find out this is Madonna's most viewed music video on her official YouTube channel!

From the Evita movie in 1996, this one was one of those rare moments when critics universally praised Madonna for her vocals in this performance.

A song written by Bjork, even though she said she's not necessarily a fan of Madonna's.  This one from 1995 was meant to reach less of a pop audience and more of a soul music crowd, according to author Lucy OBrien.

The title track from Madonna's 1998 album had an electronic/techno vibe that the clubs loved that year. It won a Grammy for the music video and a Music Video Award for the song. Interesting twist huh?

An often-forgotten hit from the early 90s, the music video won MTV Video Music Awards for its art direction and cinematography.

Only Madonna would wrap a set like this.  After a mashup of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" and "Like A Virgin," Madonna finished the night with this one from 2015 she did with Nicki Minaj.