"Dancefloor" is the operative word for each of the album's 13 tracks, as even the tunes predating CONFESSIONS are treated with that album's thumping, glitzy vibe. Even old-school Madonna classics like "Lucky Star" and "Like a Virgin" fit into the pulsing, strobe-lit aesthetic, making the set a unified statement. The accompanying DVD raises the stakes further by revealing Madonna as a consummate entertainer whose stage show has been refined to perfection over the years. A must for Madonna fans, and a startling reminder of Madonna's vitality (after 25 years in the business), THE CONFESSIONS TOUR is a first-rate live document.

Like I'm Going to Tell You a Secret before it, The Confessions Tour is a CD/DVD souvenir set documenting a new millennium Madonna concert -- this time, a London show at Wembley supporting her 2005 neo-disco album, Confessions on a Dance Floor. Unlike Secret, whose centerpiece was a lengthy documentary, this is a straight-up live album with the DVD capturing a full 21-song set and the CD culling 13 highlights from the set, a whopping eight of them from Confessions ("Sorry" and "Sorry [Remix]" counted separately since they are, after all, indexed separately here). Even if the newer songs don't sound radically different from their album incarnations -- they're either delivered straight or puffed out like extended 12" remixes -- the handful of oldies that do show up here are given disco makeovers: "Like a Virgin" pulses with electro keyboards; "Lucky Star" eventually gives away to the ABBA sample that drives "Hung Up." This helps give the CD on The Confessions Tour a sonic cohesion that's about as stylized and chilly as its accompanying album -- the unity means it holds together, yet that icy reserve means it's not all that much fun to hear, even if the reinterpretations of the 20-year-old hits are interesting. The DVD doesn't feel as cold thanks entirely to the pizzazz of the visuals and the determined efficiency of the show, but even so, this is primarily of interest to the diehards who don't mind purchasing another live CD/DVD set just a year after the first. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine