Call Her the New-Material Girl

Madonna opened her first major North American tour in 11 years at the First Union Center on Saturday with a show that, on the surface, at least, seemed to have everything: Dazzling choreography, precise execution, an ambitious set list and, at its center, a buff, button-pushing perfectionist determined to sell a new, more mature sound.

But at least one ingredient regarded as essential to most pricey arena tours was missing: hit songs.

Madonna has a bevy of Top 10 singles in a career that stretches back nearly 20 years. But even though tickets topped out at $250 for the current “Drowned World” tour, crowd-pleasing nostalgia was in short supply. Only “Holiday” revisited her flashy-trash disco era, while hits such as “Like a Virgin” and “Vogue” were shelved.

It was a strategy at odds with most major tours by veteran artists, from the Rolling Stones to U2, who extensively revisit the old hits to keep the high-paying customers satisfied.

In contrast, Madonna performed 15 tracks from her two most recent albums, “Music” and “Ray of Light,” in the 22-song, 13/4-hour concert. Given the more atmospheric sonics and introspective songwriting that dominate these albums, the frillier earlier tunes might have made too jarring a contrast. In any case, it was clear that the singer is on a mission to yet again reinvent herself, this time as a Serious Artist With Something to Say.

On her last major tour, “Blonde Ambition,” Madonna was regarded primarily as a singles artist, a performer who trafficked in shock value and cheap thrills with songs and outfits that mocked everything from patriarchy to organized religion.

But lately, the emphasis has shifted toward making unified albums, and this tour--which reaches Los Angeles in September--reflects this high-minded approach. The concert was divided into four sets: a brash, bawdy punk-style opening volley, a brooding Oriental segment, an urban cowboy spiel and a Latin-tinged finale.

Always expert at synthesis and appropriation, Madonna liberally borrowed elements from other tours and movies, from the wire-mesh staging of Ricky Martin and the mutant nightmares of Marilyn Manson to the choreography of the Oscar-winning “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and the electro-acoustic balladry of U2.

Visually, this was an imposing procession of sometimes truly dazzling and surreal images. Particularly unforgettable was the moment when Madonna emerged arms outstretched in a kimono with sleeves that stretched 52 feet, transforming her into a geisha girl, somehow both hideous and wondrous, while four writhing dancers dangled from the rafters by their ankles. Later she was leaping like a superhero, dancing and twisting in air with the aid of a harness, as part of an elaborate martial-arts battle. During this segment, graphic scenes of rape, beating and violent revenge were enacted by Madonna and her coterie of dancers or flashed on the video screens, the female victim emerging bruised and bloodied, but ultimately triumphant over her male tormentors.

The cowboy segment tried to inject a note of levity, with Madonna mounting a bucking mechanical bull and hamming it up on a new, unreleased song that parodied the Dixie Chicks’ “Goodbye, Earl.”

The show’s exultant musical high point was an acoustic, flamenco-style version of “La Isla Bonita,” one of several tunes on which Madonna strummed a guitar.

But, in general, seriousness prevailed, in keeping with the singer’s recent music, which dwells on themes of self-realization and self-knowledge, and indulges in more than a bit of self-analysis: “I traded fame for love, without a second thought,” as she sang at one point.

As spiritual quests go, Madonna’s is strictly “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” revisited. The old Madonna might have punctured the earnestness of lines like “I ran to the forest /I ran to the trees/I ran and I ran/I was looking for me” (from “Mer Girl”). But on this night the old Madonna--the bustier-wearing, scandal-mongering prankster always ready to jiggle to a hot disco number and blow a raspberry in the face of the sanctimonious--was nowhere to be found.

In her place was a different, more diffident and mature performer, a singer who wants to tell the audience about her personal transformation. It was breathless theater, but it wasn’t about the fans. This was, ultimately, all about Madonna.

Madonna plays Sept. 9, 11, 13-14 at Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., downtown L.A., 8 p.m. (213) 742-7340. Sold out.