blonde ambition tour songs

Blond Ambition Tour - Setlist

The setlist of the Blond Ambition Tour promoted her Like A Prayer and I'm Breathless albums. It was also the first time Madonna worked with segments on her tour.

Metropolis Segment

Religious segment, dick tracy segment, art deco segment.

• Statistics Stats
• You are here:
• Tour Statistics
• Song Statistics Stats
• Tour Statistics Stats
• Other Statistics

All Setlists

• All setlist songs  ( 922 )

Years on tour

• 2024  ( 49 )
• 2023  ( 32 )
• 2022  ( 4 )
• 2021  ( 2 )
• 2020  ( 26 )
• 2019  ( 53 )
• 2018  ( 1 )
• 2017  ( 2 )
• 2016  ( 40 )
• 2015  ( 59 )
• 2014  ( 3 )
• 2013  ( 1 )
• 2012  ( 89 )
• 2010  ( 1 )
• 2009  ( 27 )
• 2008  ( 61 )
• 2007  ( 1 )
• 2006  ( 62 )
• 2005  ( 11 )
• 2004  ( 56 )
• 2003  ( 11 )
• 2001  ( 48 )
• 2000  ( 10 )
• 1999  ( 1 )
• 1998  ( 17 )
• 1997  ( 1 )
• 1995  ( 5 )
• 1994  ( 1 )
• 1993  ( 42 )
• 1991  ( 1 )
• 1990  ( 61 )
• 1989  ( 2 )
• 1987  ( 39 )
• 1986  ( 1 )
• 1985  ( 45 )
• 1984  ( 14 )
• 1983  ( 38 )
• 1982  ( 3 )
• 1981  ( 2 )

Show all tours

• American Life Promo Tour  ( 4 )
• Blond Ambition World Tour  ( 58 )
• Confessions Promo Tour  ( 3 )
• Confessions Tour  ( 60 )
• Drowned World Tour  ( 47 )
• Hard Candy Promo Tour  ( 3 )
• Madame X Tour  ( 75 )
• Music Promo Tour  ( 2 )
• Re-Invention Tour  ( 56 )
• Rebel Heart Tour  ( 82 )
• Sticky & Sweet Tour  ( 85 )
• The Celebration Tour  ( 81 )
• The Girlie Show  ( 39 )
• The MDNA Tour  ( 88 )
• The Virgin Tour  ( 41 )
• Who's That Girl  ( 39 )
• Avg Setlist
• Concert Map

Average setlist for tour: Blond Ambition World Tour

Note: only considered 57 of 58 setlists (ignored empty and strikingly short setlists)

• Express Yourself Play Video
• Open Your Heart Play Video
• Causing a Commotion Play Video
• Where's the Party Play Video
• Like a Virgin Play Video
• Like a Prayer Play Video
• Live to Tell Play Video
• Oh Father Play Video
• Papa Don't Preach Play Video
• Sooner or Later Play Video
• Hanky Panky Play Video
• Now I'm Following You Play Video
• Material Girl Play Video
• Cherish Play Video
• Into the Groove Play Video
• Vogue Play Video
• Holiday Play Video
• Keep It Together Play Video

Show Openers

Main set closers, show closers, encores played.

This feature is not that experimental anymore. Nevertheless, please give feedback if the results don't make any sense to you.

• May 14, 2024
• May 13, 2024
• May 12, 2024
• May 11, 2024
• May 10, 2024
• May 9, 2024
• FAQ | Help | About
• Terms of Service
• Ad Choices | Privacy Policy
• Feature requests
• Songtexte.com

• Manage Account
• Share this article on Facebook
• Share this article on Twitter
• Share this article on Flipboard
• Share this article on Pinit
• + additional share options added
• Share this article on Reddit
• Share this article on Linkedin
• Share this article on Whatsapp
• Share this article on Email
• Print this article
• Share this article on Comment
• Share this article on Tumblr

How Madonna’s Blond Ambition Tour Changed Pop Concerts Forever

1990's Blond Ambition took Madge's natural sense of showmanship to new heights.

By Jon O'Brien

Jon O'Brien

“I know that I’m not the best singer and I know that I’m not the best dancer. But, I can f—ing push people’s buttons and be as provocative as I want. This tour’s goal is to break useless taboos.” There was only one all-singing, all-dancing chart-topper who could get away with such a bold declaration at the turn of the ’90s, and it wasn’t Paula Abdul.

From the moment that she writhed around suggestively in a wedding dress at the 1984 MTV VMAs, Madonna became the live act that you couldn’t — and didn’t want to — take your eyes off. Singing in front of a traditional guitar-bass-drums trio was never going to cut it for the woman seemingly hellbent on shocking middle America.

'The Voice' Season 25: Final 5 Is Confirmed

Then the undisputed Queen of Pop by quite a margin, Madonna had already toyed with the theatrical on 1987’s Who’s That Girl Tour, a whirlwind of glitzy costume changes, giant video screens and dramatic reenactments that she described as “Broadway in a stadium.” But 1990’s Blond Ambition — which kicked off 30 years ago — took Madge’s natural sense of showmanship to new heights.

Trending on Billboard

Madonna asked Jean-Paul Gaultier to create more than 60 costumes for the tour, an amount which the haute couture designer admits took  350 aspirins  to get through. Luckily, all this headache-inducing work paid off. The Frenchman’s conical bra creation, which was later sold at auction for $52,000 , became one of the defining fashion statements of the decade. And items such as the polka-dotted blouse, clip-on ponytail and mic headset all became a part of the chart-topper’s style legacy, too.

Unsurprisingly, Madonna was just as fastidious when it came to the tour’s choreography. “Wimps and wannabes need not apply” read the call out seeking “fierce male dancers” for the tour. Led by Vincent Paterson, the chosen army of six were put through boot camp-like rehearsals in preparation for a tour that spanned 57 dates, five months and three continents. And with its large hydraulic platform and multiple elaborate sets, Blond Ambition’s staging essentially cost the same as the GDP of a small country. Simply no one else could compete, not even the King to Madonna’s Queen of Pop. A few years prior, Michael Jackson’s Bad Tour had impressed many with its slick moves and dazzling lights – even the BBC’s cult hero John Peel hailed it as a “performance of matchless virtuosity.” But Madge’s elaborative high-concept, five-act production left it for dust.

Blond Ambition didn’t give fans a single opportunity to get bored or head for the bar. Every four minutes there was something new to digest. Take the opening ‘Metropolis’ section, inspired by the expressionist sci-fi of Fritz Lang, for example. Madonna simulates sex in that bra while performing “Express Yourself,” straddles a chair during “Open Your Heart” and belts out “Causing a Commotion” while playfully wrestling her two backing vocalists to the ground. And this was just the first quarter of an hour.

As you’d expect from an artist whose Pepsi commercial had been yanked amidst calls of blasphemy, the second ‘Religious’ section was even more attention-grabbing. Wildly rubbing her crotch in a red velvet bed, Madonna left little to the imagination on a sensual reworking of “Like a Virgin.” And on “Like a Prayer,” the track whose provocative video had caused the soft drink giants to bail, the star and her crew are kitted out as nuns and priests.

Of course, much of the predominantly Roman Catholic nation of Italy didn’t appreciate this type of cosplay. A second date at the Stadio Flaminio was called off after none other than Pope John Paul II implored citizens to boycott “one of the most satanic shows in the history of humanity.”

The controversial blend of religion and erotica also incurred the wrath of the Toronto police force, particularly the “lewd and obscene” display of “Like a Virgin.” But despite the threat of arrest, Madonna and her management team refused to bow down to authority. The star even referenced the furor during her second show at the city’s SkyDome, asking the crowd “Do you think that I’m a bad girl?… I hope so.”

Madonna famously described Toronto as a fascist state in Truth or Dare , the illuminating backstage documentary which further boosted Blond Ambition’s pop cultural cachet. Who can forget the scene where the star pretends to gag after Kevin Costner – then the biggest movie star in the world – summarizes 105 minutes of sense-assaulting, boundary-pushing entertainment as “neat”?

Thankfully, the sell-out crowds reacted to the tour with a little more enthusiasm, even the Dick Tracy section featuring several numbers that would have been unfamiliar at the time. The comic book adaptation, which co-starred Madonna as femme fatale Breathless Mahoney, hit the big screen half-way through Blond Ambition’s run. And the ever-astute star attempted to guide fans towards the cinema with a high-kicking third act dedicated to the trench coat-wearing detective.

But for sheer entertainment value, the ‘Art Deco’ segment is tough to beat. Sporting a pink bathrobe and curlers while seated under a beauty parlor hair dryer, Madonna performed the whole of “Material Girl” in a comical Noo-Yawk accent before throwing fake dollar bills into the crowd. “Cherish” saw the star take up the harp accompanied by (what else?) a troupe of dancing mermen. And following a West Side Story -inspired routine for arguably her finest pure pop moment, “Into the Groove,” she wrapped things up with a faithful recreation of the iconic “Vogue” video.

By the time each and every crew member bids an on-stage farewell during the Bob Fosse-meets- A Clockwork Orange encore of “Keep it Together,” it’s clear that you’ve just witnessed a spectacle of ground-breaking proportions. As dancer Luis Camacho said, Madonna “wanted to give the audience an experience, rather than them just going to a concert. She set the stage for concert shows and experiences that followed.” The tour even impressed Grammy voters, who were notoriously slow to recognize Madonna’s greatness. The video of the tour won the 1991 award for best music video, long form — Madonna’s very first Grammy Award.

Sure enough, no longer were audiences content to watch their pop idol simply play the hits. Elaborate production values and strong narrative arcs soon became just as integral to the superstar tour as the music itself. You only have to look at Michael Jackson’s Dangerous shows, complete with catapult stunts and ghoulish illusions, two years later to recognize the immediate impact Blond Ambition had. And it has continued to inspire pop’s A-listers ever since. Without Blond Ambition, it’s unlikely we’d have the gravity-defying acrobatics of P!nk, the candy-colored razzmatazz of Katy Perry or the formidable conceptual journeys of Beyoncé. And it goes without saying that its footprints were all over the various balls staged by Lady Gaga.

Madonna herself has refused to rest on her laurels, going even bigger and bolder on the likes of 1993’s The Girlie Show, 2004’s Re-Invention and 2008’s Sticky and Sweet. But nothing has ever changed the game quite like her extremely blond and incredibly ambitious 1990 world tour.

Daily newsletters straight to your inbox

More From Pro

Inside the revival of a historic mississippi juke joint that once hosted ray charles & etta james.

• By Steve Knopper

Who Owns A Band Name? 1980s New Wave Rockers Win Latest Legal Clash Over Band Trademarks

• By Bill Donahue

Marshmello & Kane Brown Make History on Dance/Electronic & Country Charts With ‘Miles On It’

• By Gary Trust

Diddy Accuser Drops UMG & Lucian Grainge From Abuse Lawsuit: ‘No Legal Basis for the Claims’

Earth, wind & fire reaches settlement with ‘deceptive’ tribute band over damages owed.

Billboard is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Billboard Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

optional screen reader

Charts expand charts menu.

• Billboard Hot 100™
• Billboard 200™
• Hits Of The World™
• TikTok Billboard Top 50
• Song Breaker
• Year-End Charts
• Decade-End Charts

Music Expand music menu

• R&B/Hip-Hop

Videos Expand videos menu

Culture expand culture menu, media expand media menu, business expand business menu.

• Business News
• Record Labels
• View All Pro

Pro Tools Expand pro-tools menu

• Songwriters & Producers
• Artist Index
• Royalty Calculator
• Market Watch
• Industry Events Calendar

Billboard Español Expand billboard-espanol menu

• Cultura y Entretenimiento

Get Up Anthems by Tres Expand get-up-anthems-by-tres menu

Honda music expand honda-music menu.

Blond Ambition World Tour: Live

STREAM OR BUY:

Release Date

Discography timeline, user reviews, similar albums, moods and themes.

Spotify is currently not available in your country.

Follow us online to find out when we launch., spotify gives you instant access to millions of songs – from old favorites to the latest hits. just hit play to stream anything you like..

Listen everywhere

Spotify works on your computer, mobile, tablet and TV.

Unlimited, ad-free music

No ads. No interruptions. Just music.

Download music & listen offline

Keep playing, even when you don't have a connection.

Premium sounds better

Get ready for incredible sound quality.

Blond Ambition World Tour

• View history

The Blond Ambition World Tour is the third tour by Madonna . It promoted her fourth studio album Like a Prayer (1989) and the soundtrack album I'm Breathless (1990), which was recorded for the movie Dick Tracy . The tour reached North America, Europe and Asia. It was a highly controversial tour, mainly for its juxtaposition of Catholic iconography and sexuality.

Background [ ]

Originally to be called the " Like a Prayer World Tour ", Sire Records announced the Blond Ambition World Tour in November 1989, following the success of Madonna's fourth studio album,  Like a Prayer , and Madonna's performance of " Express Yourself " at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards - considered as a tour preview. Initially, the tour was only to reach Japan and North America, as Madonna was considering roles in several films. By the end of 1989 plans were announced to bring the tour to Europe as well because of popularity and fan demand. In December 1989, when preparations for the tour began, Madonna herself announced during a pre-recorded interview on German TV channel ZDF, that she would tour Germany during 1990. In April 1990, additional dates in Europe were added. [13]  Stage preparations and dress rehearsals took place at the Disney Studios, Burbank, California, before the tour kicked off in Japan.

The tour incorporated as central themes, sexuality and Catholicism, a combination which engendered controversy. The catholic associations called for a boycott of the show in Rome, and one of three scheduled Italian dates was eventually canceled. The show has achieved a measure of cult status, with elements such as the bullet bra and false ponytail hairpiece becoming cultural icons in their own right.

Madonna herself called the concert "like musical theater" and choreographer Vincent Paterson stated she wanted to "break every rule we can... She wanted to make statements about sexuality, cross-sexuality, the church... But the biggest thing we tried to do was change the shape of concerts. Instead of just presenting songs, we wanted to combine fashion, Broadway, and performance art."

The show's explicit overtone caused problems. In Toronto, police were alerted that the show might possibly contain lewd and obscene content (particularly a masturbation scene) and threatened charges unless parts of the show were changed. The show went on unaltered, however, and no charges were made after the tour manager gave the police an ultimatum: "Cancel the show, and you'll have to tell 30,000 people why.

French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier designed the costumes for the tour, including the now-infamous cone brassiere inspired by Polish Art-Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka. Additional costume pieces were designed by Marlene Stewart, who had previously worked with Madonna on the 1987  Who's That Girl World Tour .

Director Alek Keshishian captured more than 250 hours of film of Madonna and her troupe during the tour. This footage was edited and released to movie theaters as  Truth or Dare (In Bed with Madonna) .

Due to ongoing throat problems, six shows had to be canceled, bringing the tour down from 63 shows to 57; altogether, 125,000 tickets had to be refunded. The proceeds of the last American date in New Jersey, was donated to the Nonprofit organization amfAR and dedicated to her friend  Keith Haring  who died of AIDS, grossing over $300,000.

Setlist: [ ]

Act 1 - Metropolis

Act 2 - Religion

Act 3 - Dick Tracy

Act 4 - Art Deco

• 1 Erotica Photoshoot
• 2 Ray of Light Photoshoot

We will keep fighting for all libraries - stand with us!

Internet Archive Audio

• This Just In
• Grateful Dead
• Old Time Radio
• 78 RPMs and Cylinder Recordings
• Audio Books & Poetry
• Computers, Technology and Science
• Music, Arts & Culture
• News & Public Affairs
• Spirituality & Religion
• Radio News Archive

• Flickr Commons
• Occupy Wall Street Flickr
• NASA Images
• Solar System Collection
• Ames Research Center

• All Software
• Old School Emulation
• MS-DOS Games
• Historical Software
• Classic PC Games
• Software Library
• Kodi Archive and Support File
• Vintage Software
• CD-ROM Software
• CD-ROM Software Library
• Software Sites
• Tucows Software Library
• Shareware CD-ROMs
• Software Capsules Compilation
• CD-ROM Images
• ZX Spectrum
• DOOM Level CD

• Smithsonian Libraries
• FEDLINK (US)
• Lincoln Collection
• American Libraries
• Canadian Libraries
• Universal Library
• Project Gutenberg
• Children's Library
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• Books by Language
• Additional Collections

• Prelinger Archives
• Democracy Now!
• Occupy Wall Street
• TV NSA Clip Library
• Animation & Cartoons
• Arts & Music
• Computers & Technology
• Cultural & Academic Films
• Ephemeral Films
• Sports Videos
• Videogame Videos
• Youth Media

Search the history of over 866 billion web pages on the Internet.

Mobile Apps

• Wayback Machine (iOS)
• Wayback Machine (Android)

Browser Extensions

Archive-it subscription.

• Explore the Collections
• Build Collections

Save Page Now

Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future.

Please enter a valid web address

• Donate Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape

Madonna: Blond Ambition World Tour 90 (1990 & 1991 versions)

Video item preview, share or embed this item, flag this item for.

• Graphic Violence
• Explicit Sexual Content
• Hate Speech
• Misinformation/Disinformation
• Marketing/Phishing/Advertising
• Misleading/Inaccurate/Missing Metadata

plus-circle Add Review comment Reviews

11,141 Views

46 Favorites

DOWNLOAD OPTIONS

In collections.

Uploaded by Desmond Pfeiffer on February 12, 2018

SIMILAR ITEMS (based on metadata)

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

'A Freudian nightmare': Madonna's Blond Ambition tour turns 30

Three decades on, the controversy-courting concert tour is still shaping the ways female artists express their sexuality

• Modern Toss on Blond Ambition tour ...

I n Toronto, Madonna simulated masturbation on a velvet bed under the watchful eye of the Canadian police, who threatened her with arrest if her show went ahead. In Italy, unions called for a general strike if Madonna performed, and Pope John Paul II declared her concert “one of the most satanic shows in the history of humanity”. The Blond Ambition tour , which turned 30 years old last month, remains among the most controversial tours of all time.

It seems bizarre now that so much fuss was made over a little fake frotting and a few gyrating nuns. But this was 1990, when Kylie Minogue was still performing in straw hats, Bananarama were deemed dangerous and the gossip pages raged over Annie Lennox singing Would I Lie to You in a bra. Into this age of relative wholesomeness landed Blond Ambition Madonna , on a mission to combine fashion, rock, Broadway theatricality and performance art, to “be provocative” and “break useless taboos”. Mission accomplished. Jean Paul Gaultier’s famous conical corset has been described as a “Freudian nightmare”, a generation of teenagers asked their parents what S&M stood for, and the coy suggestiveness of the live pop spectacle was blown wide open.

The themed set-pieces – religion, German expressionism, art deco, Madge’s rubbish new movie Dick Tracy – set a new bar for confrontational theatricality that only greater shock tactics could ever challenge. Marilyn Manson ’s onstage Bible shredding is straight out of the “Madonna 90” guidebook, and with her firework bras, stage blood and copious dry-humping, Lady Gaga looks as if she was conceived at a Blond Ambition gig. But the key taboo Madonna broke that summer was that of feminine sexuality as strength rather than titillation, as something owned by the artist not cashed in by the svengalis. That’s what gave us SexKylie , “ zig-a-zig-AH! ”, Wrecking Ball -era Miley and Nicki Minaj’s bottom-obsessed Anaconda . It’s one of the reasons female artists feel comfortable singing about sex and desire today.

Sex sells, though, and more sex sells more. Over the decades, overt sexuality became the expected – nay, contractual – pop norm. Attention-grabbing boundaries were pushed to their limits, and artists were pressured to play this new, ever raunchier game. Enter Billie Eilish, defiantly covered, mocking the uber-sexualised expectations of modern pop with a film of her stripping off beneath blackened water: “If I wear more, if I wear less, who decides what that makes me?” she intones, shaming the bodyshamers and staring out the monetisable male gaze. By asserting ownership of her body she is not re-establishing any old taboos, she’s breaking the oldest one of all – subservience. Her image, her body, her art, her rules. Which was Madonna’s point all along.

• Pop and rock

Most viewed

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories .

Did the 2024 Met Gala Kickstart a Bullet Bra Revival?

By Hannah Jackson

The 2024 Met Gala brought forth many trends, florals chief among them. But one popular look that emerged from the first Monday in May wasn’t quite as expected: the bullet bra.

Conical breasts were all over the Met carpet and the after-parties. Kylie Jenner wore a form-fitting Oscar de la Renta column dress affixed with a floor-sweeping train. But the most eye-catching piece of her look was undoubtedly her cone-shaped bust. And Jenner wasn’t the only one to give the look a go at the Met. Charli XCX , in Marni, donned a punky dress made out of deconstructed T-shirts. She also adopted the bullet bra, which she kept on through the after parties, where she wore a hand-painted dress, also by Marni. (Charli seems particularly keen on reviving the look—an exaggerated bullet bra can be seen in the back of her 360 music video, which she released on today.)

Kylie Jenner in Oscar de la Renta at the 2024 Met Gala

Charli XCX in Marni at the 2024 Met Gala

Cardi B , who hosted a FWRD x Revolve post-Met party, wore a red-hot Revolve number complete with the Maidenform-esque bra top. And, in the pointiest cones of the night, Paloma Elsesser rocked a pale pink satin Vaquera minidress with a fashion-forward bubble skirt, and netted veil.

The conical bra immediately draws to mind Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, and Jean Paul Gaultier. But its origins are far less glamourous. The bullet bra was created during World War II to offer the greatest level of protection to the women working in factories. The look didn’t make its way into mainstream fashion until the 1950s, when Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield adopted the “Sweater Girl” style—wearing body-hugging sweaters that accentuated the breasts. The statement look returned to the zeitgeist in 1990, when Madonna embarked on her Blond Ambition Tour, wearing the Jean Paul Gaultier cone bra corset, which has now become synonymous with the singer.

Can we expect even more bullet bras following the 2024 Met Gala? Only time will tell! But in the meanwhile, take a look below at the recent surge in conical busts, and the looks that inspired the trend.

Charli XCX in Marni after the 2024 Met Gala

Paloma Elsesser in Vaquera after the 2024 Met Gala

Cardi B in Revolve Atelier after the 2024 Met Gala

By Audrey Noble

By Dulce Moncada

Maidenform bra ad, 1949

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe, 1954

Madonna on the Blond Ambition Tour, 1990

More Great Fashion Stories from Vogue

Sydney Sweeney Just Found A Genuinely Novel Way Not To Wear Clothes On The Red Carpet

Jennifer Lawrence Gives Transparent Dressing The Ladylike Treatment

Here's the Only Denim Trend You Need to Know About in 2024

This Highly Controversial Shoe Just Got the Kim Kardashian Stamp of Approval

Sign up for Vogue Shopping to receive the insider’s guide to what to shop and how to wear it

Listen to The Run-Through with Vogue , a weekly podcast featuring the most exciting stories and hot takes from the worlds of culture, politics, sports and–of course–fashion

Never miss a Vogue moment and get unlimited digital access for just $2 $1 per month.