Madonna, Stuart Price
Mother’s Day may have been back in May, but Mother’s Night was undoubtedly this past weekend. To properly anoint her history-making new album Confessions II—which saw her become the first artist to have number one hits in four different decades—Madonna and her collaborators took over the Knockdown Center for a cardio-heavy five-hour set on Saturday into Sunday.
Shortly after 1:10 a.m., the Queens venue began to swell—and somehow get even sweatier—as Madonna appeared on stage. Clad in a pinky-purpley satin set by Diesel (a custom outfit reworked for her based on a look from Glenn Martens’ debut collection for Spring 2022), the 67-year-old performer sent ripples of nostalgia through the crowd with an outfit that mirrored the one made famous by the original Confessions on a Dance Floor album cover. Alongside her longtime producer Stuart Price, in his Saint Laurent zippie, the Vogue Italia July cover star kicked things off by announcing, “School is in session.”
That was certainly not where the throwbacks stopped, either. Among those front and center was actress Debi Mazar, whom Madonna met at Danceteria in 1978, and whose name is now immortalized in the lyrics of the namesake track on the new record.
Similarly, on the DJ lineup for the New York outing—as well as recent Club Confessions nights in London, Paris, and L.A.—was Junior Sanchez. Over twenty years ago, Madonna and Price debuted some of their original, era-defining material from the earlier record at a MisShapes party Sanchez was throwing in Manhattan. (On Instagram, he recounted: “[It wasn’t a glamorous venue. It was a gritty little dive bar on 7th Avenue…But Madonna looked beyond the room. She trusted the energy. She trusted the culture. She trusted us. What happened that night became one of those legendary New York moments that people still talk about.)
After Madonna and Price mixed tracks from their latest lovechild—including I Feel So Free, School, and Bring Your Love—the well-oiled audience went berserk when the beats of two-decades-old Get Together and Hung Up were blasted out. True fans were also overjoyed to hear Thief of Hearts from 1992’s Erotica, which has been going viral on TikTok lately after being unearthed by a new generation.
“Take your tops off! What do you go to the gym for,” Madonna urged the thousands-strong crowd, who needed little convincing given both the skin-on-skin energy and the July temperatures. The Queen of Pop bid adieu after an hour, making way for another frequent collaborator, Honey Dijon, to take to the decks. In a bikini top and much-complimented fire engine red-hued ‘Big Apple Apple Cap’ hat by Esenshel, the seminal house music pioneer kept people on their feet until 3 a.m.
Taking breaks from the headiness, guests including Andrew Scott, Christian Siriano, Leigh Lezark, Kim Petras, and Frankie Grande refueled with spicy cocktails crafted with the new Absolut Tabasco in the adjoining makeshift club—aptly named, the Absolut Icon Lounge.
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