First of all, I wasn’t talking about Gaga’s tour, I was talking about Madonna’s stage. I was also talking about Madonna’s album, MDNA, being rather humdrum…better than “Hard Candy” but almost ANYTHING would be better than that album, but MDNA is nowhere as brilliant as “Ray of Light”. Considering she’s had FOUR YEARS to write a new album AND is working with the Ray of Light producer, I expected something MUCH BETTER than the warmed over, warmed up Madonna we got in MDNA. My point is that the album was certainly nothing spectacular and neither is the stage, and if the tour is like the record, it won’t last beyond its initial bookings (about 40 dates, I think).

Secondly, if you weren’t in Seoul this week, you have no basis for commenting on the Born This Way Ball because you haven’t seen it and videos from the opening night are very poor quality. The stage alone, a massive gothic castle with movable sections and great lighting changes and mechanicals, is pretty spectacular compared to Madonna’s stage design. It rivals any major Broadway theatrical production on an even grander scale. Broadway, not Vegas or Hollywood, is Gaga’s performance standard and she met it with the Monster Ball and it looks like she will surpass it with the BTW Ball.

 I never said that ANY of her PAST tours were anything but successful. That was then, this is now. Ticket prices are high in a bad economy, and ticket sales are lagging a bit after a great burst at the beginning when you could get the CD free with the ticket.  I still expect her tour to be very successful because, after all, she IS Madonna. But I think she miscalculated where the industry is today: radio is different, audiences and markets are different, and she does have competition for both record and concert sales. And she’s mostly marketing herself at a twenty-something (and tweens) audience and simply expecting her existing fan base to be wildly enthusiastic and supportive without her doing anything to court them. If there’s one indisputable thing that Gaga does better than Madonna, it’s the care and feeding of her fan base, and she lets her performances and interviews and music bring in more fans on its own.

Madonna’s other tactical error was snarking at Gaga in her typical passive-aggressive way that’s part of her persona.  This REALLY ticked of her fans who also like Gaga.  I know a few diehards who not only didn’t buy her album, but they refuse to watch her performances and videos. And for the first time as Madonna fans, they are not going to buy tickets to the concert.  Namely because Madonna didn’t *need* to go there to start off her marketing campaign. there are PLENTY of other things she could have talked about.

None of these things will have a huge financial impact on her tour. I expect it to do very well.  I also expect Gaga’s tour will do very well, judged on how fast her early dates have sold out. I expect a LOT of artists to have successful tours. But expectations for Madonna are still outrageously high because, well, she is MADONNA. I’m not sure she’s going to meet them this time.  Too early to tell. Once the first good videos of the show start hitting YouTube, ticket sales may pick up. I’m sure it will be a smashingly good show because Madonna does nothing less than that ever.