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The queen is back
Rick Pearson, Evening Standard

A pioneer of female pop music who gets better with age or an overrated artist who should have retired a decade ago? Madonna will always divide opinion — and that’s why, 25 years and 10 albums on since releasing her eponymous debut, the 49-year-old remains a fascinating figure of discussion wherever she goes.

On Saturday, it was Maidstone, as the headline act of Radio 1’s Big Weekend. After shows in New York and Paris, the leafy surroundings of Kent must have seemed a somewhat less than glamorous setting for the material girl to promote her current album Hard Candy. Even if she did arrive by helicopter.

Gallery: See more pictures from Radio 1's Big Weekend here

Her arrival on stage was even more flamboyant. Seated on a metallic throne, Madonna’s message was clear: the queen of pop is back. While Madge has always been a wonderful self-publicist, an album on the number one spot and a world tour kicking off in the UK this summer made it a statement that was hard to argue with: love her or loathe her, Madonna remains a pop phenomenon.

That she has remained so is more in spite of her voice than because of it. Out of time and rarely in tune, it certainly wasn’t the highlight of her six-song, half-hour set. As ever, spectacle took preference over singing. A troupe of dancers, three costume changes and a dazzling light display transformed the festival tent into a multi-coloured temple of sensory delights, in which sound played only a supporting role.

However, the recent chart-topping single, 4 Minutes, had a slick hip-hop strut, even if Madonna’s erotic dancing with a digitised Justin Timberlake — who appeared on the screens behind instead of in person as had been rumoured — was literally technology gone mad.

After strumming an acoustic guitar on forgettable mid-tempo ballad Miles Away, Madonna picked up the electric for a beefed-up version of 2005’s Hung Up, wrestling some surprisingly rocking sounds from the instrument. Guitars are great but they can impact on gyrating dance routines, so it was soon time to wave the rock chick goodbye for a glorious version of 2000’s Music.

It was a rousing end to things — but she’ll need to play the classics come the stadiums in the summer.