Idolator
When it was rumored that members of Gogol Bordello would be appearing with Madonna to close out Live Earth's London show, you could hear the rustling from music-critic heads being scratched. How would noted style appropriator Madonna incorporate the raucous Gypsy and punk influences of Gogol Bordello into her act? Was she confused and under the impression that the band were, in fact, an actual bordello? After suffering through the new Kabbalah hymn composed for the occasion and a screeching rendition of "Ray of Light", frontman Eugene Hutz and violinist Sergey Ryabtsev hit the stage. Opinions on the resulting performance of Madonna's classic cry of love to some guy named Pedro, "La Isla Bonita," were mixed, even among today's Idolator staff:
BossMaura: so did you see the madonna/gogol bordello performance?
GuestDan: i did. it was really enjoyable.
GuestDan: probably my favorite english language moment of the whole thing.
BossMaura: i thought it was terrible, hahaha
While I had forgotten the first rule of sucking up to your boss (determine his or her opinion before offering your own), I liked the few moments Gogol Bordello provided because they offered what most of the event lacked (with one obvious exception): joy. The Washington D.C. event was a coffee-shop open-mike night featuring some famous guy in a hat and his wife; the Chinese show was government approval polished to within an inch of its life; most of the performances elsewhere were over before they had a chance to gain any particular momentum. It's probably the seriousness that comes with benefit concerts, along with the production values that accompany anything filmed for television, but seeing Razorlight perform in front of images of penguins or Fall Out Boy prove that they're not ready for stadiums didn't inspire much drive to action, just a series of yawns and switching back to amuse myself with musicians performing in languages that I don't understand.
In other news, the new Gogol Bordello album will be in stores tomorrow. Hey, music bloggers, stop posting Interpol tracks for a minute and do the Internet a favor: Post a MP3 of "Your Country" already.
Gogol Bordello [MySpace]
Comments
music bloggers, stop posting Interpol tracks for a minute
Last clause not needed.
We were informed that a result of their appearance with Madonna, bloggers can no longer safely post Gogol Bordello tracks. Bloggers who post Gogol Bordello tracks will end up having all mp3's on their hard drives overwritten with the fake tracks Madge leaked for her American Life album.
You know, like Madonna singing "I'm kicking a soy latte/I get a double shott-ay/It goes into my bott-ay/And you know I'm satisfied" over and over forever or asking me what the fuck do you think you're doing? (thanks Waxy)
Best Madonna moment hands down was at the end of the Ray Of Light performance doing her weird head-bobbing skip around the stage while awkwardly holding the guitar.
[youtube.com]
Damn, YouTube video's pulled already.
Why must she play guitar? Why?!
@dennisobell: another one popped up in its place already too. whack-a-mole on!
Gogol Bordello is coming to DC soon. I can't wait.
Two thumbs up to gypsy-punk-marching-bands.
@maura: Thanks for the new link. I think I'm between you and Dan on this one: it's an inspired idea, but the onstage execution was pretty sloppy - an odd result for control-freak Madge. It did come together toward the end; the hand-clapping bit was hot.
I'm going to ask again a question I've asked several times in the last decade or so: What is it with Madonna and "La Isla Bonita"? It's a perfectly serviceable example of her '80s hits, but...jeez! Nowadays, it's often the only oldie in her catalog she'll deign to perform, to the exclusion of "Like a Virgin/Prayer," "Express Yourself," "Open Your Heart," sometimes even "Holiday" and "Borderline."
I mean, this would be like the Beatles getting back together and only agreeing to perform "Hello Goodbye."
My eyes! They bleed!!!!!!
Thanks Idolator, for completely reminding me how much I hate Madonna, the sex-kitten/cowboy/geisha/krumper/tit/witch/mum/and now gypsy. I need to go vomit into a bag and dump it over my head.
@dennisobell: I'm guessing this is because it's one of the songs that is still within her range, or in this case one of the few into which you can insert a little gypsy punk without altering the arrangement drastically. It would have been far more interesting to have them guest on, say, Spank Me from Dick Tracy.
i saw Gogol Bordello at the Oxegen festival in ireland on the 8th, they got moved to an early slot because amy winehouse got too doped up to make it to the festive. came very close to missing them,. they played for about 100 people and it was amazing
Comment on this post
Login with your username and password below.
Forgot your username or password? New User?