November 16, 2011 News, Pictures, Video

Madonna at the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project in New York [Report – Part 2]

More fan reports from the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project event…

Matthew Rettenmund, from Boy Culture, shared…

Finally, we made it to the very front, where the exasperated guards in “STAFF” T-shirts were openly telling people no one had any idea what was going on. All I did was flash my ID and hand in the releases we needed (to be on camera—the event was filmed) and we walked straight in and onto the main floor, five or so people from the side stage.
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So we huddled near that side stage, which was set up with luxurious white couches and looked ot us like the place where Madonna would sit and judge the contest.
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Guy Oseary, Liz Rosenberg, at least two yarmulked Kabbalists and a host of trendy-looking entouragers emerged and filled the couches before us.
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Then when announcements began from the stage regarding the dance-off, Madonna came out into a VVIP section of the mezzanine with her boyfriend Brahim Zaibat and sat almost out of view.
Luckily, after some opening dances from around the world (something about “black, white, yellow, high-yellow, fierce, not so fierce” was being said), we saw Madonna put on her coat (uh, it wasn’t cold in there) and disappear, so we knew she planned to come into view. What nobody suspected was that she would soon emerge from under the stage, rising like Venus from the sea in a cute little outfit that included shorts so short they’re probably illegal in parts of the South and over-the-knee, studded black boots. That plus her David Letterman-style magic hair gave her the look of a fetching minx, albeit one who would not hesitate to kick your ass all the way home.
Madonna posed, hands on hips, then preened her way to the side-stage where she spent most of the night trying to hide from all of us fanarazzi so as not to distract from the hard-working dancers who were dancing on the main stage
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She eventually figured it out and walked onto the stage to banter with some of the dancers, most memorably Scorpio, a Frenchman living in England who I thought might win. I loved that Madonna was pulling a partial Paula Abdul over all of this; she’d even told them all not to take not being chosen personally. Ultimately, it was Li’l Buck from Memphis who won, and he was blown away, telling the crowd he’d come from the hood, the streets.
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But bust she did, dancing with Brahim and loosening up to a “Rolling in the Deep” mix after seeming unwilling to dance to her own tunes (“Music,” “Hollywood” and “Like a Prayer” were played in part).
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Finally, Madonna seemed to think someone should’ve scheduled some audience time and she looked out at us and taunted us with some robotic dance moves that everyone immediately mimicked (well, not me; I was losing circulation in my arms from holding my camera aloft). She laughed and then took off, walking back across the stage and scaling some stairs to the DJ’s exposed booth, where she threw her arms around DJ Martin Solveig, who of course is responsible for her next single, “Give Me All Your Love.”
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The highlight of the whole night was when Solveig, while playing Madonna’s own “Hung Up” (she did some moves and sang along to it), sang into the mic, “L-U-V Madonna…” and Madonna chimed in, “Y-O-U You wanna!”
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Then, on a dime, Madonna said good-bye to Solveig and strolled down to the stage and out of view
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