Updated: Thursday, 31 May 2012, 9:33 PM EDT
Published : Thursday, 31 May 2012, 9:33 PM EDT
(NewsCore) - Dark Catholic imagery was spliced with blood, guts and guns as Madonna burst onto the stage at Tel Aviv's Ramat Gan stadium late Thursday to kick off her hotly-anticipated MDNA world tour of some 30 countries.
The graphic imagery was used to underline a message of peace in one of the world's most notorious conflict zones, according to the US star.
The portentous tolling of a church bell opened the first set, with bare-chested "monks" in burgundy robes swinging a giant golden censer in front of a giant red cross.
A plainchant melody turned into a Hebrew prayer as more monk-like characters rose out of the floor, mixing Jewish and Catholic imagery as the Material Girl rose in silhouette, shattering the back screen as she launched into "Girl Gone Wild."
Guns featured heavily in the next two numbers, "Revolver" and "Gang Bang," with the Queen of Pop and her dancers repeatedly "firing" into the audience with a variety of weapons, as huge images of empty bullet casings fell to the ground.
In between sets, Madonna addressed the audience, urging Israelis to end conflict and seek peace.
"I chose to start my world tour in Israel for a very specific and important reason," she said.
"You can't be a fan of mine and not want peace in the world," she added. "We all bleed the same color."
"If we can all rise above our egos and our titles and the names of our countries and our religions, and treat everyone around us with dignity and respect, then we are on the road to peace."
Kicking off her latest tour in Israel was a natural choice for the Catholic-born singer, who over the past decade has become deeply involved in the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah.
From Israel, she is to move on to Abu Dhabi and then to Europe and the Americas before ending in early 2013 in Australia, where she has not performed in more than 20 years.
All 32,000 Tel Aviv tickets sold out. More than 4,000 fans flew into Israel to attend the concert, with each paying from $62 for a ticket up to $620 for a VIP package.
The extravaganza marked the start of the 53-year-old's ninth world tour and her first since her "Sticky and Sweet" outing in 2008/2009.The Tel Aviv show is reported to have cost $3.9 million.
Copyright 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.
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