Madonna Extreme

JERUSALEM —  Pop music star Madonna treated tens of thousands of ecstatic fans in Israel to the inaugural show of her “MDNA” world tour on Thursday, performing in a country where she has long claimed a special bond. The “Material Girl,” a devotee of a form of Jewish mysticism known as Kabbalah, danced, bumped, grinded and vogued in flashy costumes to a raucous crowd at Ramat Gan stadium near Tel Aviv. Madonna emerged on stage in a confessional, breaking through its glass window using a rifle, which she then aimed at the audience. She wore a skin-tight black outfit to sing her first song, “Girl Gone Wild,” accompanied by dancers dressed as monks. She went on to sing “Give Me All Your Luvin’” and a mash-up of the classic “Express Yourself” and Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” dressed as a marching band conductor. While some artists have opted to boycott Israel because of its policies toward Palestinians, the 53-year-old Madonna’s ties to the Jewish state have only strengthene...

Israel’s Ramat Gan Stadium. In new rehearsal footage, the 53-year-old legend is seen singing a mashup of her “Express Yoursel f” and Gaga’s “Born This Way” that concludes with a few lines from Madonna’s copycat-shaming “She’s Not Me.” Last year, when Lady Gaga released her hit single “Born This Way,” controversy erupted over the song’s similarity to Madonna’s “Express Yourself.” (Never mind that much of the resemblance is rooted in both songs’ use of a pretty common disco chord progression.) At first, things seemed cool between the two singers. They’d always gotten along publicly, and Gaga told Jay Leno that M’s camp reached out to say all was well in the diva-verse with regard to the songs’ similarities (something later denied by Madonna’s people). The whole thing appeared to have blown over until earlier this year, when Madonna was promoting her movie “W.E.” and her Super Bowl halftime performance during an ABC News interview. Madonna was asked what she thought of the comparison...