Promotion
Madonna debuted the first single "Like a Virgin" at the first MTV Video Music Awards on September 14, 1984, where she appeared on stage atop a giant wedding cake dressed in a wedding dress, adorned with the infamous "Boy Toy" belt buckle, and veil. The climax of her risqué performance found her humping and rolling around on the stage. The performance is noted as one of the iconic performance in MTV's history. On December 13, 1984, Madonna performed "Like a Virgin" on BBC One's program Top Of The Pops, wearing punky torn tights, a vivid pink wig, religious accessories and layered mesh tops. It was later voted as the second best Top of the Pops performance of all time. She also appeared at the 1985 Live Aid charity concert, where she performed "Into the Groove".
The album was further promoted on her first headlining The Virgin Tour, which only visited cities in the United States and Canada. Early on there were plans to schedule dates in England and Japan due to Madonna's large fan base in both countries. However, the final schedule did not reflect the idea. In the end several more US dates were added and moved to larger concert venues due to overwhelmingly strong ticket sales. Madonna's performance on the tour was described by Taraborrelli as "full of excitement", singing songs from her debut album as well as Like a Virgin, and asking the audience "Will you marry me?" The costumes included colorful New Wave jackets for "Holiday" and white wedding gowns similar to the one worn in her "Like a Virgin" music video. Referring to her Detroit roots and contemporary artist Michael Jackson, Madonna sang a verse of "Billie Jean" during "Like a Virgin". The Virgin Tour was a success and collected a total of more than US$5 million. During a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone, interviewer Austin Scaggs asked Madonna regarding her feelings and emotions during the tour, since it was the first time she was playing in arenas. Madonna replied saying,
"That whole tour was crazy, because I went from playing CBGB and the Mudd Club to playing sporting arenas. I played a small theater in Seattle, and the girls had flap skirts on and the tights cut off below their knees and lace gloves and rosaries and bows in their hair and big hoop earrings. I was like, 'This is insane!' After Seattle, all of the shows were moved to arenas. I've never done a bus tour. Everyone says they are really fun."
Read more about this topic: Like A Virgin
Famous quotes containing the word promotion:
“I am asked if I would not be gratified if my friends would procure me promotion to a brigadier-generalship. My feeling is that I would rather be one of the good colonels than one of the poor generals. The colonel of a regiment has one of the most agreeable positions in the service, and one of the most useful. “A good colonel makes a good regiment,” is an axiom.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“Parents can fail to cheer your successes as wildly as you expected, pointing out that you are sharing your Nobel Prize with a couple of other people, or that your Oscar was for supporting actress, not really for a starring role. More subtly, they can cheer your successes too wildly, forcing you into the awkward realization that your achievement of merely graduating or getting the promotion did not warrant the fireworks and brass band.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)