Rebel Heart Tour is the fifth live album by American singer and songwriter Madonna, chronicling her tenth worldwide concert tour of the same name, recorded at the Sydney SuperDome. It was released on September 15, 2017 by Eagle Vision on DVD and Blu-ray formats and by Eagle Records for audio versions. Rebel Heart Tour also contains bonus content like excerpts from the Tears of a Clown show (2016) at Melbourne's Forum Theatre, as well as a 22-song double CD. Danny Tull and Nathan Rissman, who had worked on Madonna's previous concert films, directed Rebel Heart Tour.
The album received generally positive feedback from critics, who picked Madonna's live singing, dancing and the production as highlights. Rebel Heart Tour reached the top of the DVD and video charts in most of the countries it charted in, and top ten of the album charts in Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and Spain. At the 32nd Japan Gold Disc Award, Rebel Heart Tour won in the category of Best Music Video for Western Artists.
Madonna had embarked on the Rebel Heart Tour (2015–2016) to promote her thirteenth studio album, Rebel Heart. Performed in 82 shows across 55 cities, the tour was a commercial success earning US$169.8 million; it was attended by an audience of over 1.045 million.[1] The performances at the Sydney SuperDome were recorded for the video release.[2][3]
In September 2016, Madonna announced on her Instagram that she had finished watching a "rough assembly" of the tour's film, and it would be out in the next two months.[4]Entertainment Weekly subsequently announced that the concert film would premiere on December 9, 2016 on American cable channel Showtime. Titled Madonna: Rebel Heart Tour, it featured behind-the-scenes footage from the Australian performances of the tour,[5] which had been exclusively previewed by Billboard on December 2, 2016.[6]Danny Tull and Nathan Rissman, who had worked on Madonna's previous concert films, directed Rebel Heart Tour.[7] Madonna explained in an interview with BBC News:
I was there every step of the way, every day for months and months. It's really hard to capture the true feeling of the excitement and the passion and the heat and the blood, sweat and tears. I'm pleased with the way it came out... [W]hen I look back at the DVD it almost brings a tear to my eye because everyone seems so in love.[8]
The film was released on September 15, 2017 on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital formats,[9] containing bonus content like the Tears of a Clown show at Melbourne's Forum Theatre in 2016, as well as a 22-song double CD.[10] The cover image was shot by fashion photographer Joshua Brandão.[11]British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) listed the total running time of the album at over 138 minutes, with almost two hours for the main tour film and the rest for Tears of a Clown and a bonus performance of "Like a Prayer" (1989) during one of the shows. The release of Rebel Heart Tour was distributed by Eagle Rock Entertainment.[12] It was made available for pre-order on August 16, 2017, Madonna's birthday, in all physical and digital-file-based stores. Along with the pre-order, a live version of "Material Girl" was purchasable from the digital outlets.[13] The Japanese edition of the DVD/ Blu-ray included a performance of "Take a Bow" (1994) as a bonus track.[14] Five years after its original release, the album was reissued on vinyl format by Mercury Records on September 9, 2022, featuring the same 14 tracks as the single-CD format.[15]
Critical response
Madonna performing "La Vie en rose" during the Rebel Heart Tour. Her live singing on the video release was critically acclaimed.
Markos Papadatos from the Digital Journal gave the album a rating of A describing the release as a "must for any die-hard fan of Madonna".[16] Jeffrey Kaufman from Blu-ray.com gave a rating of four stars out of five for the release, saying that Madonna knows "how to provide amazing visuals for a Blu-ray concert release to accompany an interesting if kind of random assortment of tunes from her by now pretty long career." He further complimented the production, the video and the audio quality of the album, recommending it for being "constantly over the top and often quite breathtaking".[17] Writing for Decider, Benjamin H. Smith opined that "the 2017 concert film, Madonna: Rebel Heart Tour, shows the Material Girl hasn't lost any steps now that she's more a grande dame [...] what she debatably lacks as a vocalist, she has always made up for with her ability to craft her persona, like David Bowie, altering it to keep up with the latest trends, but always maintaining her singular identity", but pointed out that "it was her ‘80s songbook that got the biggest response".[18]
Daryl Deino from Inquisitr gave a positive review for the live album of the release, but criticized its DVD and Blu-ray versions for poor editing. He named Rebel Heart Tour Madonna's best live album to date and found it superior to the DVD and Blu-ray. He also complimented Madonna's live, unprocessed vocals on the album, praising in particular her cover of "La Vie en rose", calling it "the best vocal performance of her career so far [...] this is a song nobody could imagine [Madonna] covering at the beginning of her career. Now, it sounds natural". Although the singer's voice sounded "strained" to Deino during the dance sequences, it was not noticeable in the video versions since "Madonna's dancing is the key element in these performances". He ended his review saying that the "whole album makes you want to run to a Madonna concert, and that's exactly what a live album is supposed to do."[19]
Simon Button from Attitude commended the release, describing it as "a work of theatrical genius", complimenting the dancers, Madonna's camaraderie onstage and the "smoke-and-mirrors element" in the product. However, he criticized the inclusion of the Tears of a Clown show, finding it to be "as much a car crash as the two hours of the Rebel Heart Tour are a triumph".[20] Writing for DVD Movie Guide, Colin Jacobson felt that "as a concert, Madonna's Rebel Heart Tour falls into the 'good but not great' category. As a video, it disappoints because it fails to effectively recapture the live experience".[21] Roger Wink, from music portal Vintage Vinyl News, was critical of the CD release; "much of the allure of a Madonna show is the visual aspect which doesn't come across on CD, so the DVD/Blu-Ray is probably a much better experience but that doesn't excuse the low points, and there are many of them, in the listening experience".[22]
Commercial reception
In the United Kingdom, Rebel Heart Tour sold 1,993 copies in its first week of release, and debuted at number 42 on the UK Albums Chart.[23] In the United States, Rebel Heart Tour failed to chart on the Billboard 200, but reached numbers 20 and 45 on the Digital Album and Top Album Sales charts for one week each, respectively.[24][25] The album also reached number two on the Top Music Video chart, being kept from the pole position by Alan Jackson's Precious Memories: Live at the Ryman (2009).[26]Rebel Heart Tour had sold 3,848 copies in the US as of September 24, 2017.[27][28]
Rebel Heart Tour reached number one in Mexico, and placed at number 69 on the year-end chart.[29][30] In France, the live album peaked at number 20 on the French Albums Chart selling 1,921 copies, while the video versions topped the French DVD Charts selling 5,044 units in its first-week.[31] The Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP) certified the video Platinum for selling over 15,000 units.[32] Across the rest of Europe, the album reached the top ten of the charts in Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and Spain.[33] At the 32nd Japan Gold Disc Award, Rebel Heart Tour won in the category of Best Music Video for Western Artists.[34]
Religious disapproval in Singapore
In February 2016, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore advised to congregants not to attend Madonna's Rebel Heart concert, the pop singer's first in Singapore. In a circular, Archbishop Goh warned Christians not to support “the ‘pseudo arts’ that promote sensuality, rebellion, disrespect, pornography, contamination of the mind of the young, abusive freedom, individualism at the expense of the common good, vulgarity, lies and half-truths”.[35]
Expressing concern about Madonna’s "blasphemous music" and her "disrespectful use of Catholic/Christian symbols", the archbishop said he appreciated that “the task of the government in balancing freedom of the arts and public sensitivities is a challenging one”, but warned that “in multi-racial, multi-religious Singapore, we cannot afford to be overly permissive in favour of artistic expression at the expense of respect for one’s religion, especially in these times of heightened religious sensitivities, particularly among active practitioners of religions”.[36] “There is no neutrality in faith; one is either for or against. Being present (at these events) in itself is a counter witness," the archbishop added.[37]
As a debate ensued over whether the Church was imposing its views on the public, other Christian bodies including the National Council of Churches of Singapore, the Anglican church and LoveSingapore, began issuing similar statements.[38][39] The protests did not end with any change on the part of the Media Development Authority which had already rated the concert R18 for its sexually suggestive content and scrapped a song for "religiously sensitive content".[40]
Track listing
Double-CD track listing of Rebel Heart Tour (disc 1)[41]
^"Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 40.Týden 2017 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
^"Ireland Music Videos Chart". Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). September 22, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2021. In "chart countdown:", select "Music DVD", then click 2017 and "22-Sep-17"
^"Årslista DVD Album, 2018" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan . Swedish Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on April 29, 2021. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
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