[11][12] Sire Records officially announced the Blond Ambition World Tour on November 16, 1989; Madonna's performance of the single "Express Yourself" at the MTV Video Music Awards was deemed a "preview".

An advertisement was put on Daily Variety magazine by choreographer Karole Armitage, it read: "Open auditions for fierce male dancers who know the meaning of troop style, beat boy and vogue.

[29] Madonna and Gaultier took three months to finalize the details of the costumes; they first met at New York City's Carlyle Hotel, with additional meetings taking place in Paris' Bofinger restaurant, Balajo Club, Zoopsie nightclub and Théâtre Equestre Zingaro.

[28] The fourth act, which featured scenic elements inspired by Art Deco skyscrapers, had a grand semicircular double staircase in the middle and backdrops that were cutout reproductions of Tamara de Lempicka's paintings.

[39] Accompanied by Niki Haris and Donna De Lory, her two backup singers and dancers, Madonna did a straightforward vocal rendition of the track, and an elaborate choreography, which included voguing, humping and simulated masturbation.

[28] The Art Deco act began with "Material Girl"; performed in a strong midwestern accent, Madonna, Haris and De Lory sat beneath beauty parlor hair dryers and wore fluffy pink dresses with dollar signs underneath bathrobes.

In his book Madonna: An Intimate Biography, J. Randy Taraborrelli wrote that, "brazenly sexual dance numbers and religious imagery commingled in a fast-paced, tightly choreographed unforgettable extravaganza".

[49] From the same publication, Robert Hilburn opined that, "Madonna's Blond Ambition show comes equipped with enough high-concept, Broadway-like choreography and stage design to satisfy the most demanding stargazer in a crowd equally populated by style-conscious wanna-be's and simply curious mainstream fans".

[57] Newsday's Frank DeCaro noted that, "in just over an hour and a half, [Madonna] juggles as many looks as she does a month's worth of international magazine covers", concluding that, "Blond Ambition is a night at the Roxy, the Pyramid and Studio 54 in its heyday, all rolled into one".

[60] Greg Kot from the Chicago Tribune felt that, "though the music certainly offered a few shake-your-booty thrills, it was Madonna the performer, dancer, rogue philosopher and smart-mouthed comic who made the evening memorable".

[62] In a mixed review, Jon Pareles from The New York Times wrote: "Madonna might be testing taboos, but she's hardly breaking new ground in rock theatrics", also criticizing the use of lip sync; "she would clearly rather lip-sync than risk a wrong note.

[64] In his review of the show in Gothenburg, Luis Hidalgo from El País expressed that, "the big question is knowing if Madonna sings live or not completely [...] The non-existence of natural gasping and agitated breaths reinforces this hypothesis, strongly denied by the organization".

[82][83] The Vatican's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano deemed it "sinful, blasphemous" and "a complete disgrace", while the Famiglia Domani, a private association of conservative Catholics, criticized its eroticism and called it "shameful".

Their own and others [...] Like theater, [Blond Ambition] asks questions, provokes thought and takes you on an emotional journey, portraying good and bad, light and dark, joy and sorrow, redemption and salvation".

[87][4] Nonetheless, the protests had effect and a planned second show in the city's Stadio Flaminio was canceled due to low ticket sales and a threatened general strike by labor unions.

During the first show at the city's SkyDome on May 27, the crew received a visit from the local police who threatened to arrest the singer for "lewd and indecent display", specifically the masturbation scene during the performance of "Like a Virgin".

[2] Soon after, the concert was released exclusively on LaserDisc, entitled Blond Ambition World Tour Live; it earned Madonna her very first Grammy win for Best Long Form Music Video.

The fact that the show was divided into different thematic acts represented, according to the author, "not only a level of creative planning unusual for concerts at the time but also the sheer volume of material Madonna had to work with".

[4] Lucy O'Brien noted that the singer had previously explored "conceptual musical theatre as concert" on 1987's Who's That Girl World Tour, but it wasn't until Blond Ambition that "art, spectacle and dance really came together".

[30] Courtney E. Smith wrote in her book Record Collecting for Girls: Unleashing Your Inner Music Nerd, One Album at a Time that, "[Blond Ambition] forever changed audience expectations for pop concerts.

Ilana Kaplan wrote that it "was more than just shock factor: It was meant to transform live pop music", and also that it helped Madonna "reclaim her narrative and power as the tabloids (wrongfully) deemed her a villain".

[114] Idolator's Mike Wass considered it the "blueprint for modern concerts [...] The Queen of Pop really shook things up by giving choreography, costumes and production as much attention as the live vocals".

[115] Writing for The Guardian, professor Sarah Churchwell wrote that the tour allowed Madonna to "catapult[ed] herself into megastardom, shaping the music industry" and establishing herself as "the mother of today’s multimedia concert extravaganzas".

The Religious segment, which began with the singer simulating masturbation and ended with her facing the judgment of the male authority figures in her life (her father, the Pope, God), is among the most audaciously conceived and impeccably executed moments of stagecraft in touring history".

[14] Similarly, Q magazine named it one of the "10 Greatest Gigs of All Time"; Sylvia Patterson explained that, "in spring 1990, Madonna was not only the most regonisable woman on Earth, but the most gloriously dynamic pop force on the planet.

[120] In 2022, Alim Kheraj from The Guardian, named the tour one of the 50 gigs that changed music, for "altering the blueprint for modern pop shows with this combination of narrative, choreography, high production values and fashion.

[124] Further influence has been recognized by critics on Michael Jackson's 1992–93 Dangerous World Tour, as well as on the live performances of Pink, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Marilyn Manson, Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber.

[130] For Harold Koda, the singer's use of the corset, an undergarment, as outerwear suggested that "an explicit control of one's image might transform, or at least destabilize, the patriarchal relationships of voyeuristic male and sexually objectified female".

[132] Rebecca Dana from The Daily Beast stated that the corset's "genius" lied in its subversion of traditional femininity: "Soft becomes hard; curvy becomes phallic; the engine of maternity transforms into a weapon—it's a Freudian nightmare".

[135] One of the performances of the Celebration Tour (2023–2024) sees Madonna "cuddled up" in a red velvet bed with a dancer dressed in a Blond Ambition attire, with "ponytail and everything", as noted by Billboard's Joe Lynch.