The Girlie Show: Live Down Under
The Girlie Show: Live Down Under is a video album by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released by Warner-Reprise Video, Maverick and Sire Records on April 26, 1994, on VHS and Laserdisc formats and included the concert that took place on November 19, 1993, at Sydney Cricket Ground from The Girlie Show. The concert had previously been broadcast on American network HBO as Madonna Live Down Under: The Girlie Show and became the channel's most-watched original program of the year. The video received generally positive reviews from music critics, and reached numbers one and three in the music videos charts in the United Kingdom and the United States, respectively. At the 37th Grammy Awards, it was nominated for Best Long Form Music Video. It was released on DVD in 1998, becoming one of the first music videos to be published in this format.
The Girlie Show: Live Down Under
April 26, 1994
November 19, 1993
117 mins
Mark "Aldo" Miceli
Background[edit]
The Girlie Show was Madonna's fourth concert tour. It supported her fifth studio album Erotica, and was seen as an attempt to revive her musical career after the album and her film Body of Evidence impressed neither critics nor audiences.[1] The tour received generally positive reviews from critics and reportedly grossed US$70 million ($147.64 million in 2023 dollars)[2] from 39 concerts.[3] It was subject of controversy in several countries it visited due to its sexual imagery; in Israel, Orthodox Jews staged protests to force the cancellation of the concert. However, rallies were unsuccessful as the show went on as scheduled.[4] During the concert in Puerto Rico, she caused further controversy by rubbing the country's official flag between her legs,[5] resulting in about 30 Puerto Ricans protesting against the singer outside her house in Miami, asking for a boycott of Madonna's music until she apologized.[6]
Initially, Madonna intended to film the tour in Argentina or Mexico, but she ultimately chose Australia instead, as she liked the event being billed as "Madonna Down Under".[7] The show on November 19, 1993, at Sydney Cricket Ground was aired on HBO on November 21, 1993, as Madonna Live Down Under: The Girlie Show. HBO started its broadcast from Club USA in New York City, leading to the concert itself.[8] The program became the company's most-watched original program of the year.[9] The video was released on VHS and Laserdisc on April 26, 1994, under the title The Girlie Show: Live Down Under.[10][11] In 1998, it was released on DVD, becoming one of the first video albums to be published in this format.[12] The music video appears in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 (4:3) on the single-sided, single-layered DVD, featuring "bright and vivid" colors.[13] In addition to this release, the concerts in Fukuoka were filmed for a Japanese television special,[14] while British radio station BBC Radio 1 broadcast the entire second show at Wembley Stadium on December 26, 1993.[15]
Notes[29]
Credits per the notes of The Girlie Show: Live Down Under.[29]