Madonna (Madame X) in LA
So easy to get from Napa to LA now!
Have you tried JetSuiteX? They changed the name to JSX but everyone still calls it JetsuiteX. From Napa it takes 20-30 minutes to get to the Concord private terminal, parking is free, and you park steps away from terminal. Security is much different than a commercial terminal so you breeze through- you can even bring liquids (bottle of wine!). Takes only 5 min so all you need to do is be there 20 minutes prior to you flight. If you are an advance planner you can get a one way flight for $60. Pretty awesome. The flight to Burbank is under one hour and includes snacks and cocktails. We love JSX -they fly to Vegas too! Check it out here, and use my referral code for $20 off your first flight (that makes your flight almost free if you book far enough in advance!) My referral code is 3K4S7Y and here is the link to check it out. https://www.jsx.com
Since we were just going for less than 24 hours to see Madonna, I found a hip hotel (The Line) close to the Wiltern Theater in Koreatown. Cool industrial chic design. It’s worth checking out if that area is convenient for your next LA trip…the restaurant, Openaire, is a glass enclosed greenhouse and it was excellent for dinner. Fabulous cocktails. The all glass structure makes a lovely breakfast spot too.
Madame X
Now to Madonna….I am a huge fan and I have been since the early early days. So yeah, I feel like I have been along for the ride. She’s transformed herself so many times and survived. It took a few listens for me to love the new Madame X album, but now I think its a great album - just different. I believe she is still very relevant, still sexy and provocative, and the fact that she can do a handstand and upside down splits is pretty amazing, even if she was likely lip syncing. I also think she seems to have the whole Motherhood thing under control, given the circumstances of being a huge celebrity. Her younger kids are in the show with her and Lola dances on screen in a sexy ballet while Madge croons a ballad. This is not a concert exactly, it feel must more like a Broadway show or performance art. Even if you are not a Madonna fan, the dancing is incredible. There was a bit of a slow spot in the middle when she goes off onto a Faro section (a nod to her life in Portugal), but it gets lively again, especially when she gets a full choir onstage for Like a Prayer.
Now to the logistics of it, in case you have tickets for an upcoming show-and if you don’t maybe you should! You may have heard rumors about a late start and warm theater. Well, the show did start at 10:30pm on the dot, but that was clearly advertised. They also informed us the show would be 2 hours and 20 minutes and that phones would be locked in pouches (but we could keep them in our possession the entire time). I was curious how that would work so I am going to explain it here….first you line up outside for entry. Tickets were ONLY mobile tickets. Once they scanned your tickets, you then went to a manned table with these neoprene pouches with a brand name Yondr. The Yondr employees asked me for my phone, to put it in silent, and then asked if I was wearing a smart watch or Fitbit. I really didn’t want to give either of these up but of course I complied. The phone and watch went into the pouch and the attendant sealed the magnetic button. We then proceeded to a thorough security check, metal detector, bag search, and even a pat down! Serious security! Once upstairs at the mezzanine lobby we had time to get a cocktail and the option to get your pouch unlocked if you wanted, but it would have to be locked again upon entry to the theater (3 more layers of security to get into the theater). I do have to say it was refreshing to have no screens in the audience. It made me realize that all the people videoing, taking selfies, and texting during a concert is really distracting. I hope more artists will follow suit. We thought it would take a long time to get out, and may audience members bailed early, probably thinking the same, but they had more than a dozen Yondr employees lined up at the exit to open our pouches, so getting out was easy.
All in all a very fun jaunt to LA!
