The acoustic performance in Boston was preceded by a thank you speech to her children.
The setlist for Madonna’s “Celebration” tour is long. Her concerts last almost two hours, in which she performs (approximately) 35 of her songs without a permanent band. However, the 1989 hit “Express Yourself” has not yet been part of it. That changed at the concert in Boston: There the 65-year-old played the dance-pop song for the first time during her tour on January 8th.
We’re in the third act of Madonna’s “Celebration” tour. At the point where she normally performs an acoustic cover of Gloria Gaynor’s 1978 disco anthem “I Will Survive,” the singer treated the TD Garden crowd to a surprise unplugged run through half of her LIKE-A PRAYER single “Express Yourself”.
Before the surprise performance, a fan video shows Madonna raising a beer bottle to greet 2024 with “gratitude and appreciation,” before picking up an acoustic guitar and putting aside her gigantic leather cowboy hat for a moment to reflect to hang the instrument. “I have too many props… I feel like I’m in a salon and everyone is hooting and hollering,” the singer joked. She then expressed her gratitude for being able to be on stage every night with her four “beautiful, talented, intelligent and stubborn children.”
“I’m very grateful because they may need me as a mother – but I have to admit that I need them,” she said. “And I need you, and we need each other, because family is not just what you are born into. Family is the family you create. And if you feel like you’re part of my family, turn on the light on your phone.”
Then, with help from the audience, she sang an a cappella verse of the 1920s song “This Little Light of Mine.” The artist then said that she wanted to tell the audience what she needed, but also what she didn’t need. She then sang “Express Yourself”. The track is about women rejecting material wealth and instead standing up for themselves.
Check out the acoustic version here:
The “Queen of Pop” is currently on the North American leg of her tour. It was previously reported about concerts in this series celebrating the 40th anniversary of her career that many of her absolute hits were not part of the set list. “Papa Don’t Preach”, “Like A Virgin”, “Material Girl”, “Express Yourself”, “Take a Bow”, “Who’s That Girl”, “This Used To Be My Playground” and even “Music” were for example, not part of the Berlin concert on November 28th. “You can be disappointed, but Madonna’s courage to take the gap deserves respect,” we reported.