Madonna stirs emotions and controversy in Muscovites

By Stone Martindale Sep 11, 2006, 23:20 GMT

Madonna waves upon arrival from London to Hotel Arrarat Hayat in central Moscow, Monday 11 September 2006. Madonna will perform her Confession concert in Moscow on the Luzhniki stadium tomorrow, Tuesday 12 September. EPA/SERGEI ILNITSKY

MOSCOW - Madonna’s upcoming concert in Moscow has drawn considerable positive notice and some minor protest.

Ahead of the scheduled Tuesday concert at Luzhniki Stadium, Madonna has wrestled with the city over a venue choice and altered her original date to perform (Sept. 11) after critics said it would be in bad taste to the families of the victims of the terror attacks five years ago.

The show’s notorious finale, where Madonna sings while suspended from a cross, is at the heart of the most negative press and objections to the show. The practice was protested at earlier stops of the “Confessions” tour in Italy, Germany and the Netherlands where last week a Dominie was arrested for phoning in a fictitious bomb threat.

“This lady has been glorifying human passions with the help of religious symbols for years, crosses, statues and beads. Now she thinks it is time for her to crucify herself in public. It means the singer is in need of spiritual help,” Father Vsevolod Chaplin, a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church, was quoted as saying by the Pravda news Web site.

Several small protests against the upcoming concert have taken place in the past few weeks, mostly by devout Russian Orthodox believers.

But for many Muscovites, Madge’s show is one of the most exciting events of the year’s cultural calendar, a sold-out ode to end the too short summer season.
Pravda reports that 7,000 police will be on duty for the concert, including riot police stationed outside the stadium.