All of these people might profitably contemplate the opening performance by Madonna. Here's a woman who has never made a fetish of vocal technique — her larynx is only a part of her artistic arsenal, not the sole point of her existence. Madonna cares about songs and about creating a musical experience with them. This is what she did last night, rising up onstage with the ABBA sample burbling away and those cruel thighs flashing and the usual contingent of funky folk slinking and twirling around her. It was the Madonna experience. Mariah Carey, whose awkwardness onstage is almost touching, will never have this power to command as a performer. Carey may sell twice as many records in the US as Madonna these days (more than that, actually), but as they never say in the record business, sales aren't everything.

Kurt Loder on Madonna & Mariah Carey.