Madonna played in Oslo last night, with a show that was heavy on visual effects and dancers. At times I thought I was at a musical or ballet more than a concert. Usually when I photograph concerts, we can shoot the two or three first songs. At the Madonna concert it was the seventh and eight songsThis meant that I saw more of the concert than I usually do when I attend as a photographer. It also meant that we didn’t get the chance to shoot the first and more controversial part of the show,  with machine guns and blood spatter on the video screen every time Madonna “shot” one of the dancers.

I must admit I am not much attracted to this way of romancing violence. If Madonna has some kind of subtile message somewhere, I am sorry to say that it is beyond me. Musically everything was dead precise – no wonder when many of the songs seemed to be performed with singback instead of the band.

This isn’t meant as a review of the concert. If you are interested in what the critics said, you can read NRK’s review here, and I must admit I agree 100% with NRK’s critic. You can also find some other reviews, like VG’s here and Dagbladet’s here.

Here are some of the pictures from the concert. They are all taken from quite a distance, which also means that ther is only one angle: straight on. But no complaints about the light and the visuals.

All pictures are © Per Ole Hagen and must not be used without written permission.