DEVOTION TO MADONNA STIRS A MATERIAL WHIRL

Material girl? Madonna????

Let’s put it this way: at the Orange County debut of pop music’s latest sensation Sunday at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, anyone with the inclination (and the bankroll) could have headed home with a shopping cart full of Madonna memorabilia.

And make no mistake, there were plenty of fans with both the desire and the money. Even while most of the 19,000 Madonna lovers who filled the Pacific were being enthralled by the pop upstart’s performance, the real action was taking place at half a dozen merchandise stands just outside the amphitheater.

Not only were there the usual buttons ($2), posters ($4 to $7), T-shirts ($10 to $14), sweat shirts ($20 to $24) and concert programs ($7), but also various items from the “Madonna Designer Jewelry” line, including heart-shaped rhinestone earrings ($10), star and crucifix-shaped earrings ($10), brightly colored plastic hoop bracelets ($10) and shiny silvery metal bracelets ($10). And for $14, there was even a black lace crop top just like the one Madonna wore on stage.

How did it all fare?

“I thought people were going to get crushed it got so crowded,” said one young woman behind a counter who declined to give her name. While the concert was in progress, the pace had slowed somewhat, but she said, “It’s going to get really bad after the show. I’m not looking forward to that.”

Most fans didn’t just walk away with a single purchase, but typically spent $35 to $45 on a variety of products.

“I’d like a medium and two smalls,” one young man said, pointing to a $14 sleeveless Madonna T-shirt as he pulled a wad of $20 bills from his pocket.

Said Bill Baird, an employee of the independent company that runs the merchandise concessions at the Pacific, “This is a lot better than at the (group) Firm concert last month. We started with seven boxes of posters (each containing 80 posters) and we’ve already gone through four.” The hottest item, Baird said, was a large $7 poster, approximately four feet square, with a close-up shot of Madonna’s face, with its alluring smile. “And the concert programs,” he added quickly. “They’re selling like mad.”

Although gates opened for the show at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, those who had tickets for lawn seating began lining up about 9 a.m. to jockey for the best positions on the grassy knoll.

Kim and Bob Sherwood, who brought their 2-year-old daughter, Kristin, to the concert, drove from their home in Riverside and arrived early enough to be the second group in line. With the Sherwoods was a friend, Renee Bengston, and her 10-year-old daughter, Michelle. They paid a broker $27.50 each for their five tickets. “And here I sit up in the grass,” Kim Sherwood said with a laugh.

Laguna Hills resident Linda Sixt, 15, her 17-year-old brother, Anton, and friend Kelly Hyder, 15, of Mission Viejo, managed to find a spot at the front of the lawn section, even though they hadn’t arrived until noon.

With the weather increasingly cold and a light rain falling in the early evening, Hyder and the Sixts were undaunted. “Rain or shine, we’ll be here,” Hyder said. “We’ve been fans since her first album came out.”

Had they seen Madonna’s acting debut in “Desperately Seeking Susan”? “We saw it four times,” Linda said enthusiastically. “My mom liked it, too.”

Another group of four high school chums drove from Highland Park to see their heroine. When it came to describing what it was about her that attracted them, they were divided.

“I like her songs. They have a good beat and they’re danceable,” said Hyok Lee, 16. It was 16-year-old Bryan Kwan, however, who came up with the response most common among the males in the audience: “She’s GOR-geous.”

The concert lasted 70 minutes--by coincidence, precisely the same time it had taken for the tickets to sell out. Afterward, fans had to weave their way through about two dozen limousines that were waiting in the amphitheater’s pickup area to transport some of Madonna’s more affluent fans. Another 40 or 50 limos were parked in a special limousine parking lot.

Are her fans worried whether Madonna can survive the emphasis on materialism and merchandising? Does she have the talent to last, or will she become the answer to next year’s rock trivia question?

“As long as she doesn’t pull an attitude like Prince, she’ll be around,” said a defensive Jesse McKelvey, 21, of Northridge.

Munching on a hot dog, 16-year-old Woodland Hills resident Jennifer Childs said she also had tickets to all three of Madonna’s sold-out shows this weekend at the Universal Amphitheatre. “She’ll be around if she keeps coming up with good music to dance to,” Childs said.

Perhaps the best response to the debate over Madonna’s longevity came from a Temple City teen-ager.

“I don’t even care,” said a grinning Danielle Welch, 17. “I like her now.”