The Confessions Tour (album)

Background

The Confessions Tour was recorded at Wembley Arena on August 15 and 16, 2006, during the London stop of Madonna's 2006 Confessions Tour, which promoted her 2005 studio album Confessions on a Dance Floor. It was the first release from her production company Semtex Films. The DVD contains the full twenty-one song set list, while the CD includes thirteen highlights. The tour was first broadcast on NBC during Thanksgiving 2006, with edits that removed "Paradise (Not For Me)" and heavily edited "Live to Tell". Madonna's performance of "Live to Tell", featuring a glass embellished crucifix and a crown of thorns, drew strong reaction from media and religious groups. The album was banned in Singapore, Malaysia and parts of East Asia due to the inclusion of these performances on the DVD.

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic found the CD version not all that much fun to hear, though the reinterpretations of 20-year-old hits were interesting, and noted the DVD felt less cold due to the visuals and efficient show, but considered the set primarily for diehards. Ed Gonzalez from Slant Magazine remarked that the concert finale reminds that Madonna's music need not be motivated by sex or politics to be good as long as it displays heart and soul.

Thomas Inskeep from Stylus Magazine complimented the finale, describing the tour as almost exclusively up-tempo, staged within an inch of its life yet more vivacious than anything she has done in years, and said the CD companion smokes, though he felt the disc loses momentum during the "Confessions" part. Jody Rosen from Entertainment Weekly commented that Madonna must be seen as well as heard, as the video portion proves. Chuck Campbell from Quad-City Times said the CD is handy, blocking out distracting images so fans can concentrate on the music, and described the CD/DVD combo as filling in the blanks left by I'm Going to Tell You a Secret.

Commercial performance

The album has moved over one million copies globally. In the U.S., it landed at number 15 on the Billboard 200, moving 40,000 units in its first week per Nielsen SoundScan. Canada saw it enter at number two on the Canadian Albums Chart, a position it matched in Argentina, where the Cámara Argentina de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas awarded it Gold certification for 20,000 shipments. In Argentina, the DVD version also performed strongly, finishing as one of 2008’s top sellers and earning Platinum status in two separate formats.

Mexico gave the album the top spot, while Brazil placed it at number four. Australia’s official ARIA Albums Chart didn’t list it, but it hit number one on the Australian Top 40 DVD chart on February 12, 2007, later ranking as the 27th best-selling DVD of 2007 there. The Australian Recording Industry Association certified it Platinum for 15,000 DVD units shipped. New Zealand saw it enter at number 23.

In Japan, it peaked at number ten on the Oricon weekly albums chart and stayed for twelve weeks. Hong Kong’s IFPI gave it a Gold Disc Award as one of the ten biggest-selling international albums of 2007. Across Europe, it topped charts in Belgium (Wallonia), the Czech Republic, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, and landed in the top ten across other nations. The UK saw a debut at number seven on the Albums Chart with 22,227 copies sold.

Norway missed the top ten by a narrow margin. In the Czech Republic, it held number one for three weeks and had sold 7,582 units by February 2008. The Netherlands shipped 35,000 copies. This European success pushed the album to number two on Billboard’s European Top 100 Albums chart, trailing only Norah Jones’ studio album Not Too Late.