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Madonna The Celebration Tour setlist: All 28 songs played by Queen of Pop revealed

16 October 2023, 11:04

By Tom Eames

What songs does Madonna perform on The Celebration Tour? Here's the official setlist and every song included in the epic live show.

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Madonna is back on the road with her Celebration Tour , a retrospective of her four-decade-long career in music.

The pop icon kicked off the tour on October 14 at London's O2 Arena, the first of six sold-out shows at the venue. Fans were treated to a dazzling spectacle of songs, costumes, dancers, and special guests.

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But what songs did Madonna perform on the opening night of her tour? Here's a rundown of the setlist so far, though there's always a chance it may change throughout the tour.

The setlist featured over 25 songs, spanning Madonna's entire discography from her 1983 debut album to her latest release Madame X .

Warning: Spoilers below!

Madonna Carpool Karaoke

This is the full 28 song Celebration Tour setlist, in order, based on shows in London:

- Intro skit with Bob the Drag Queen, including elements of 'Lucky Star', 'Celebration' and 'Material Girl'

1. Nothing Really Matters 2. Everybody (contains elements of 'Where's the Party') 3. Into the Groove 4. Burning Up 5. Open Your Heart (contains elements of 'Live to Tell') 6. Holiday

- 'The Storm' interlude (contains elements of 'In This Life')

7. Live to Tell

- 'The Ritual' interlude (contains elements of 'Girl Gone Wild')

8. Like a Prayer (contains elements of 'Girl Gone Wild', 'Act of Contrition' and 'Unholy' by Sam Smith )

- The Sacrifice/Erotic interlude (contains elements of 'Living for Love', 'Erotica', 'Justify My Love' and 'Fever'

9. Erotica (contains elements of 'Papa Don't Preach') 10. Justify My Love / Fever 11. Hung Up 12. Bad Girl

- Ballroom interlude (contains elements of 'Up Down Suite', 'Vogue' and 'Break My Soul')

13. Vogue 14. Human Nature 15. Crazy for You

- The Beast Within interlude

16. Die Another Day 17. Don't Tell Me 18. Mother and Father 19. Little Star 20. I Will Survive (cover) 21. La Isla Bonita 22. Don't Cry for Me Argentina

- Madonna interlude (contains elements 'I Don't Search I Find')

23. Bedtime Story 24. Ray of Light 25. Rain

26. Like a Virgin (contains Michael Jackson tribute including 'Billie Jean') 27. Bitch I'm Madonna / Give Me All Your Luvin' 28. Celebration / Music

Madonna’s The Celebration Tour is set to continue until April 2024, visiting various cities in Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Australia.

Fans can expect some changes in the setlist as Madonna likes to surprise her audience with different songs and guests.

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Madonna Closes Out Celebration Tour With Record-Breaking Show in Brazil

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Madonna knows how to close out a tour!

On Saturday, the GRAMMY-winning musician, 65, made history as she broke the record for the largest audience for a standalone concert by any artist during the final night of her The Celebration Tour at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

Madonna's free show was attended by 1.6 million fans. The record was previously held by The Rolling Stones when they performed at the venue in 2006 for a then record-setting 1.5 million fans. 

Madonna's Celebration Tour show included performances of some of her biggest hits, including "Just Like A Prayer," "Nothing Really Matters," and "Music." The performance marked Madonna's first show in Brazil since 2012. 

The songstress had a special hometown guest during the "Vogue" portion of the show as Anitta surprised the audience. For the segment, the "Bellakeo" singer joined Madonna as a judge for the ball and held up a "10" sign for the dancers.

Following the show, Madonna took to Instagram to share a video, where she celebrates Brazil's culture by waving the flag on stage.

"Blame it on Rio 🇧🇷 Thank You Brazil!! 🔥🇧🇷🔥🇧🇷 🔥 @pabllovittar @itau @tvglobo #musicmakesthepeoplecometogether," she wrote. 

Ahead of the moment, Anitta -- who just released her latest album,  Funk Generation -- told ET she would be missing the Met Gala because she was showing up for Madonna.

"Not this year," she told ET when asked if was attending the Met Gala. "I'm gonna be in Brazil with Madonna."

Madonna kicked off her Celebration Tour in October 2023 at London's O2 Arena. The North American leg of the tour began in December 2023, and ran with a series of special guests including Andy Cohen , Kelly Ripa , Cardi B , Pamela Anderson and Julia Garner . 

The tour was delayed as the singer recovered from a near-fatal viral infection. Madonna got emotional during night one of the show as she reflected on the health scare .

"It's been a crazy year for me. I didn't think I was going to make it, neither did my doctors. That's why I woke up with all of my children sitting around me," Madonna revealed to a captivated audience at the time. 

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Madonna Announces The Celebration Tour Featuring a Setlist of Her Greatest Hits — See the Dates! 

"I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for," said the Queen of Pop in a press release

Get into the groove — Madonna is going on tour!

On Tuesday, the Queen of Pop announced she'll commemorate the 40-year anniversary of her career later this year with The Celebration Tour, which will span 35 cities around the world starting this summer.

"I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for," said Madonna, 64, in a press release about the tour, which is poised to showcase a career-spanning setlist and pay tribute to the city where she was first launched to stardom: New York.

The Live Nation-produced tour was announced with a hilarious video featuring Diplo , Judd Apatow , Jack Black , Lil Wayne , Bob the Drag Queen , Kate Berlant, Larry Owens, Meg Stalter, Eric Andre and Amy Schumer referencing Madonna's iconic Truth or Dare documentary by playing the classic game with the superstar.

"Madonna, I dare you to do a world tour and play your greatest motherf---ing hits," says Schumer, 41, in the clip.

Kicking off July 15 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, The Celebration Tour will make stops in cities including Seattle, Detroit, New York, Boston, Miami, Los Angeles and more throughout its North American leg, which wraps Oct. 7 in Las Vegas. Then, Madonna wil head overseas for European shows in London, Stockholm, Barcelona, Paris, Berlin and more from Oct. 14 through Dec. 1.

Presale tickets will become available for Citi cardholders and members of Madonna's Official Fan Club this week, and the general public can purchase tickets starting Jan. 20 and Jan. 27, depending on the show date. More information is available at Madonna's website .

Known from RuPaul's Drag Race , Bob the Drag Queen (born Caldwell Tidicue) will perform as a special guest for every show of the tour.

See below for Madonna's The Celebration Tour dates.

Jul. 15, 2023 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena

Jul. 18, 2023 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena

Jul. 22, 2023 – Phoenix, AZ – Footprint Center

Jul. 25, 2023 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena

Jul. 27, 2023 – Tulsa, OK – BOK Center

Jul. 30, 2023 – St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center

Aug. 2, 2023 – Cleveland, OH – Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse

Aug. 5, 2023 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena

Aug. 7, 2023 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena

Aug. 9, 2023 – Chicago, IL – United Center

Aug. 13, 2023 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena

Aug. 19, 2023 – Montreal, QC – Centre Bell

Aug. 23, 2023 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden

Aug 24, 2023 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden

Aug. 30, 2023 – Boston, MA – TD Garden

Sept. 2, 2023 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena

Sept. 5, 2023 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena

Sept. 7, 2023 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena

Sept. 9, 2023 – Miami, FL – Miami-Dade Arena

Sept. 13, 2023 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center

Sept. 18, 2023 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center

Sept. 21, 2023 – Austin, TX – Moody Center ATX

Sept. 27, 2023 – Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena

Oct. 4, 2023 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center

Oct. 7, 2023 – Las Vegas, NV – T-Mobile Arena

Oct. 14, 2023 – London, UK – The O2

Oct. 21, 2023 – Antwerp, BE – Sportpaleis

Oct. 25, 2023 – Copenhagen, DK – Royal Arena

Oct. 28, 2023 – Stockholm, SE – Tele2 Arena

Nov. 1, 2023 – Barcelona, ES – Palau Sant Jordi

Nov. 6, 2023 – Lisbon, PT – Altice Arena

Nov. 12, 2023 – Paris, FR – Accor Arena

Nov. 13, 2023 – Paris, FR – Accor Arena

Nov. 15, 2023 – Cologne, DE – Lanxess Arena

Nov. 23, 2023 – Milan, IT – Mediolanum Forum

Nov. 28, 2023 – Berlin, DE – Mercedes-Benz Arena

Dec. 1, 2023 – Amsterdam, NL – Ziggo Dome

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Madonna Unveils Ultimate Greatest Hits Show ‘The Celebration Tour’

By Larisha Paul

Larisha Paul

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.

Truth or dare? ? Madonna has rarely ever been one to shy away from the latter. In an announcement video that nods to her documentary of the same title, a slate of special guests prompts her with a challenge: “I dare you to do a world tour and play your greatest motherfucking hits.”

Madonna: the Celebration tour will span 40 years of the singer’s career, bringing her greatest hits to 35 cities across North America and Europe. “I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for,” Madonna shared in a statement.

On Thursday, she added an additional 13 dates due to “overwhelming demanded.”

General sale for the Celebration tour begins Friday, Jan. 20, at 10 a.m. local time. More information is available via the official Madonna website .

Bob the Drag Queen – who appears in the announcement video alongside Diplo, Judd Apatow, Jack Black, Lil Wayne, Bob The Drag Queen, Kate Berlant, Larry Owens, Meg Stalter, and Eric Andre – will join as support across the entire tour.

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This story was updated on Jan. 19 at 5:15 pm ET to include Madonna’s additional tour dates in bold .

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Madonna's Celebration tour proves this is the Material Girl's world – we're all just living in it

More than ‘just’ a greatest hits 78-date tour, Celebration is a musical journey through Madonna's life, her art, even her family

Madonna's tour 'Celebration' has kicked off in London. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Live Nation)

It’s almost impossible to believe that any Madonna tour since 1990’s Blond Ambition could be anything but a greatest hits, such is the body of her work, but the aptly-named Celebration – which kicked off in London this month – is actually her first. More than ‘just’ a greatest hits 78-date tour, this is a musical journey through her life, her art, even her family, with most of her children joining the icon on stage as an integral part of the polished production.

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As such, it’s also more than just The Immaculate Collection – people on a boozy night out, please remember that she’s had another 33 years of music since then. Whether you’ve paid attention to it or not doesn’t matter, you should be paying attention now. While it would be the envy of any artist to have a catalogue such as hers to choose from, you have to admire Madonna for not only curating an incredible set list, but also for having the balls to make notable omissions. After all, there aren’t many musicians who can sideline seven UK number one singles (out of 13, fact fans, from her 12 UK number one albums).

Yes, you’ll hear that more than 30 numbers are included – but they’re not all in their entirety or perhaps the versions you might expect. There’s a roar throughout The O2 Arena when the opening strings for Papa Don’t Preach begin, for example, only for it to play out as an introduction, a nod to something so great that alas simply isn’t great enough to sit alongside everything else in a show as incredible as Celebration.

If you’re a fully-fledged Madonna devotee – and if not, why not? – then you’ll pick up on so many nods, references and Easter eggs. That is, if you can catch them over the screams. It seems that the time Madonna spent researching her currently on-hold biopic has not been wasted – her life is quite literally flashing before your eyes here. There’s so much going on you almost wish there was time to fully assimilate the staging of each number or video screen littered with nostalgic throwbacks.

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The musical stings, the audio references, the visual hits, the direct recreation of various moments from previous record-breaking tours – Celebration is a relentless barrage of brilliance with thousands of people screaming for Madonna to hit them harder. But she’s not wallowing in past glory – she’s way too busy soaking up the adulation now while tearing up the stage, spread as it is across multiple catwalks representing areas of New York, a rising cube with imagery projected around it and a square ‘portal’ that lifts her into the ceiling and around the venue.

She’s never better than when a joy-fuelled club moment segues from the hedonistic Holiday with friends, to lamenting the loss of loved ones to HIV/AIDS in an incredibly moving performance of Live to Tell . Never have the lyrics hit so hard as she slowly soars above the arena, the faces of those lost to the disease filling the screen and taking the focus from her. It is, quite simply, breathtaking. Her twelfth tour once more leans into the theatrics she’s synonymous with – why simply sing your hits when you can make it a multi-media 360° experience? Because she’s Madonna, that’s why. Elevate, never imitate. This means Bob the Drag Queen isn’t simply the warm-up act, as people may originally have assumed – instead they’re an integral part of the production throughout, acting as host, narrator, ball emcee, security guard and at one point even a comedy cow. Yes, that might sound strange but trust me, it all makes complete sense when you’re in the material girl’s world.

It’s not perfect of course – you wouldn’t be a Madonna fan if you didn’t have conflicting opinions. A cover version of the perpetually-naff hen night staple I Will Survive feels tacky and, well, reductive for a woman able to discard so many hits from a set list. While the tribute to Michael Jackson is a direct nod to 1985’s The Virgin Tour, it now feels dated and unnecessary. Repeating The Beast Within from at least two previous tours obviously allows for a much-needed break – after all, it does feel as though Madonna spends the majority of the show on stage – but it adds little to the flow of the production.

This all pales in comparison to the show as a whole, mere niggles when you could spend all day watching her perform an arena show and still not get the full picture of Madonna’s life, success and achievements. Of course, it’s not just her life – it’s all of ours, with every song evoking a memory it’s a journey through a life soundtracked by one of the most influential women of our time.

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Arguably the closing section – there is no encore – which features multiple Madonnas, some of which have appeared at various points throughout, dancing to Bitch, I’m Madonna feels that it could equally have opened the show. That honour, however, goes to stone-cold classic Nothing Really Matters – which, when listening to the lyrics, feels as though it’s never been more resonant. It’s an artistic choice which sets out Madonna’s stall perfectly for the evening ahead with a show that lives up to its name perfectly. It’s long been tiresome seeing people knock Madonna – sections of the show flash various examples of ageism, sexism and more throughout her career – yet no-one works harder to constantly prove herself with less reason to do so. This production is a stark reminder of how culturally relevant she’s always been. Those who are loudly proclaiming that Madonna is ‘back’ simply haven’t been paying enough attention – Madonna has always been here and this celebration shows why the world she changed is all the better for it.

Madonna is currently touring across Europe and returns to London in December. Visit madonna.com for details.

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Madonna’s Celebration Tour Will Feature More Than 40 Songs Comprising a ‘Documentary Through Her Vast Career’

Singer's musical director Stuart Price said there will be no band on stage and that some "hits" will come in the form of costumes and videos.

By Gil Kaufman

Gil Kaufman

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After pushing back the launch of her eagerly anticipated career-spanning Celebration Tour due to a health scare earlier this year, Madonna is set to kick off the outing at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday (Oct. 14).

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The O2 launch will be the first of six shows at the venue, where Price noted fans will not see a band on stage for the first time since the beginning of Madonna’s career. “There are live musicians that perform at different parts of the show,” he explained. “But what we realized is that the original recordings are our stars. Those things can’t be replicated and can’t be recreated, so we decided just to embrace that.”

Price said honing the set list was a “big” challenge given Madonna’s decades of hits — including 50 No. 1s on Billboard ‘s Dance Club Songs chart — so many of the big ones will be played in full, while others will be interpolated into other songs and some will be used as “bridges” between acts. Price, who produced Madonna’s 2005 Confessions On a Dance Floor album and has been music director on three of her previous world tours, added that there will be around 25 songs performed in full, with elements of 20 others appearing in “some form.”

The show will also employ Madonna’s original multi-track recordings, including a vocal take Price said includes the sound of a “car going by in the background,” and, cryptically, a “solo from a guitarist who’s no longer with us.”

“The person that is going to take the stage looks incredible, sounds incredible, performs incredible,” said Price of the 65-year-old singer he noted has “fully” recovered. In fact, he said the legendarily detail-oriented star used the three-month delay to further tweak and dial-in the show.

“Madonna has very high expectations of how much hard work people will put into something,” Stuart said. “It’s very uncompromising – but she’s equally as hard on herself. So when she took a break, that pause created an opportunity to further enhance the show. And I’m sure the opportunity [for her] to focus on being 100% well was greatly received as well.”

He described the story line as reflecting the arc of Madonna’s career, “from being a young woman in New York and learning the scene, all the way through to motherhood, spiritual awakenings, and all the ups and downs. The storyline was just really, really compelling.” If that sounds similar to a since-shelved biopic that was to star Julia Garner, Price said that’s no coincidence since Madonna is expert at cross-pollinating ideas from different projects.

“In this case there’d been consideration about doing a biopic [which gave] this tour the potential for having a documentary aspect to it as well,” he said, which explains why the show will incorporate news footage, classic costumes and videos.

Check out Madonna’s tease of the tour launch below.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Madonna (@madonna)

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Madonna Brings Massive Free Concert to Rio, Capping Celebration Tour

The pop superstar performed a final date on her global trek marking four decades of hits: a set on Copacabana Beach before the largest live crowd of her career.

By Flávia Milhorance and Julia Jacobs

Reporting from Rio de Janeiro and New York

When Madonna stepped out onto the mammoth stage constructed on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach on Saturday night in a gleaming halo headpiece and black kimono, she was greeted by the largest live crowd of her four-decade career.

The free show, announced in late March, was a grand finale to the pop superstar’s latest world tour, which has delivered 80 performances since last October . Without ticket data, concert crowd sizes can be difficult to gauge; Riotur, the municipality’s tourism department, estimated that 1.6 million people flooded onto the 2.4-mile stretch of sand on Saturday that had been turned into a roughly $12 million playground surrounding the 8,700-square-foot stage.

It was the culmination of days of Madonna-mania in the city, where talk of the singer, 65, was inescapable. Her songs spilled out of stores and car stereos. Fans assembled outside her hotel and shouted her name. Updates about the concert, which was broadcast on the network Globo TV, dominated local media reports.

The spectacle in Rio was a milestone in Madonna’s career: the victory lap for her first stage retrospective, called the Celebration Tour , in which she chronicled her rise to stardom, performing hits like “Into the Groove,” “Like a Prayer” and “Ray of Light” with a cadre of dancers, four of her six children, and a wardrobe of elaborate costuming that recalled some of her most memorable looks.

“Here we are, the most beautiful place in the world,” Madonna announced early in the concert, indicating the ocean and the mountains around her. “This is magic.” Later, she expounded on her gratitude for her Brazilian fans. “You have always been there for me,” she said. “That flag: that green-and-yellow flag, I see it everywhere. I feel it in my heart.”

The two-plus-hour Rio show hewed closely to the Celebration show, with a few exceptions: Madonna added her 2000 track “Music” to the set list, rearranged as a samba with live drummers and a special guest, the Brazilian drag star Pabllo Vittar. “Live to Tell,” staged as a tribute to victims of AIDS , included photographs of the Brazilian musicians Cazuza and Renato Russo, and the actress Sandra Bréa. For “Vogue,” Madonna appeared in a sparkly dress in the colors of the Brazilian flag and was joined by the pop sensation Anitta , who helped “judge” the competitors strutting down the runway.

The show had lifelong Madonna fans — many of whom came dressed in homage to their heroine in cone bras and lace gloves — screaming and dancing along. Ernesto Magalhães, 42, adorned in the style of Madonna’s “Material Girl” era in a gown and boa while balancing on stilts, epitomized the exuberant spirit of the occasion: “I’ve been a Madonna fan since I was 8; I couldn’t miss this.” Surya Rossi, a 31-year-old illustrator, decided on a last-minute trip from Rio Claro, São Paulo, after coordinating with her cousin, and stayed with friends. “Madonna has been a tremendous influence on me, both as a feminist and an artist,” she said. “Her empowering history and approach inspire me.”

It was also something of a landmark moment for live concerts globally. At a time of astronomical ticket prices and rising production costs for major shows, a free concert attracting a crowd of this scale is exceedingly rare, especially in the United States. California’s Coachella festival, where a three-day general admission pass starts at about $500, draws up to 125,000 attendees a day. Musikfest, a mostly free music festival in Pennsylvania, welcomed about 1.3 million visitors over 11 days last year.

“To have a free show like that in recent years is relatively unheard-of,” Katelyn Yount, the director of festivals at AEG Presents, said of Madonna’s closing show. Hangout, an upcoming music festival on Alabama’s Gulf Coast that is among the annual events AEG produces, is capped each day at about 40,000 attendees, who pay more than $300 for a three-day pass.

If a performance of this magnitude was going to be held anywhere in 2024, it would probably be in Rio, where officials have experience with enormous crowds. In 2006, about 1.5 million people attended a free Rolling Stones concert at Copacabana Beach, Brazilian police and other authorities said at the time. An even larger crowd was said to have gathered for a Rod Stewart show there on New Year’s Eve in 1994.

The idea for the sprawling event was first planted two years ago, when Luiz Oscar Niemeyer, an executive with Bonus Track, a live entertainment company based in Rio de Janeiro, approached Madonna’s managers after hearing about plans for the tour. The Rolling Stones concert in 2006 helped convince him that something like this was possible, he said.

Negotiations stalled until last year, when a Madonna show in Mexico City was announced — ticketed dates for the Celebration Tour ended up wrapping with five nights there at the Palacio de los Deportes — and Niemeyer resumed his efforts to convince the pop star’s representatives and secure funding.

“It was an ambitious project for everyone, aiming to attract the largest audience of her career, and I thought this would help me persuade her,” Niemeyer said in an interview last week.

The concert’s corporate backers include the Brazilian bank Itaú and Heineken, and the government has made a significant investment as well.

Preparation for Madonna-palooza had consumed a segment of the city in recent days. A week ago, cargo planes carried about 270 tons of concert material to the city, including costumes and gym equipment. Eighteen sound and video towers were built across the beach, and last Wednesday, 4,000 workers prepared the stage in scorching heat.

Because this was the only Celebration concert in South America — Madonna last toured there in 2012 — fans congregated from all over the continent. In the days leading up to the event, a Madonna impersonator, Izelene Cristina, danced to “La Isla Bonita” at a bus station as she welcomed travelers. She would not be attending the concert because excitement over the superstar’s performance had led to a flood of bookings.

“Such is the life of an artist,” she said. “You work to move and entertain people.”

On Monday, Madonna and her touring team of about 200 arrived in Rio, heading directly to the French Riviera-inspired Copacabana Palace, the luxury hotel near where the stage was built. Later in the week, crowds gathered as close to the stage as possible, as the pop star crossed a specially built footbridge from the hotel to the stage to rehearse with some of her dancers.

Social media was flooded with clips of Madonna running through songs including the opener, “Nothing Really Matters.” “Are you happy? Are you ready?” she asked the assembled crowd at one point . The response: wild cheering. “OK, just checking,” she replied.

At a press briefing ahead of the concert, officials discussed the safety concerns that can accompany an audience of that size and unpredictable weather on the shore. Last year, the Brazilian D.J. Alok scheduled what had been billed as the “concert of the century” on Copacabana Beach, but a storm led part of the crowd to scatter, and concertgoers were faced with rampant pickpocketing , a problem at least some faced on Saturday night as well.

Marco Andrade, a spokesman for the Rio police, told reporters that the department planned to deploy 3,200 officers at the Madonna concert, compared with about 900 for Alok’s event. He said that facial recognition technology would be used at inspection areas, in addition to drones to monitor the crowd. In the end, the audience stretched into the ocean as well — a collection of boats anchored in the waters near the venue.

The atmosphere on the ground Saturday night was like a World Cup event, street carnival and New Year’s Eve celebration combined. Street vendors offered shirts, hats, cups and fans adorned with Madonna’s face and rainbow colors, and a plethora of barbecue, grilled cheese, empanadas and the Brazilian cocktail caipirinhas were available. To fight the heat, a firefighter atop a fire truck sprayed a jet of water on the crowd.

As the show ended with a remix of her 2009 track “Celebration,” Madonna addressed the audience for a final time: “Thank you, Rio,” adding “obrigada,” the equivalent in Portuguese. She smiled and let go of a Brazilian flag, flipped a white veil over her head and descended beneath the stage.

An earlier version of this article misstated the name of the Bonus Track executive who approached Madonna’s team about the Brazil show. He is Luiz Oscar Niemeyer, not Luiz Guilherme Niemeyer.

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Julia Jacobs is an arts and culture reporter who often covers legal issues for The Times. More about Julia Jacobs

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Madonna announces north american and european dates for 2023 celebration tour.

The superstar will explore her musical journey across four decades through concerts announced in a video featuring Amy Schumer, Lil Wayne, Kate Berlant, Jack Black, Judd Apatow, Eric Andre, Diplo and more.

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Madonna announced dates for her Celebration Tour on Tuesday with the help of some Hollywood friends.

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The tour will kick off this July in Vancouver and end in December in Amsterdam, spanning 35 cities in total across North America and Europe. Other major stops during the first leg include Detroit, Chicago, New York, Miami and Los Angeles, with 11 additional dates outside North America — in London, Barcelona, Paris and Stockholm, among others — slated for the fall and early winter.

Produced by Live Nation and featuring Bob the Drag Queen (Caldwell Tidicue) at all dates on the tour, the music event will honor Madonna’s musical journey across four decades with a special celebration of New York, the city where her career began. “I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for,” Madonna said in a statement included in her tour announcement .

Celebration Tour tickets go on sale at madonna.com/tour starting Friday at 10 a.m. local time. U.S. Citi cardmembers, European and Canadian AMEX cardmembers as well as Legacy members of Madonna’s official fan club will have access to separate presales. VIP packages — featuring premium tickets, exclusive access to a behind-the-scenes tour, a group photo onstage, a pre-show reception, a limited edition lithograph and more — will also be available at vipnation.com . 

The Celebration tour arrives nearly 40 years after Madonna’s 1985 North American Virgin Tour. Madonna last toured in 2019 and early 2020 as part of her Madame X theater tour.

More on the Celebration tour, including its dates and presales, can be found at madonna.com .

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Madonna attracts 1.6M fans for free concert in Brazil to wrap up her Celebration tour

RIO DE JANEIRO − More than a million people thronged Brazil's Copacabana beach for a free Madonna concert on Saturday, braving the heat to see the end of her "Celebration" world tour .

The sand and oceanfront boulevard around Rio de Janeiro's famed beach were filled for several blocks by a crowd the city estimated at 1.6 million.

Many had been there for hours or even days to get a good spot, while richer fans anchored in dozens of boats near the beach and onlookers crowded beachfront apartments.

Firefighters sprayed water before the concert, when temperatures exceeded 86 degrees Fahrenheit, to cool fans gathered near the pop queen's stage, and drinking water was distributed for free. Temperatures were around 81 F during the late night show.

Review: Madonna tells fans it is 'a miracle that I’m alive' at Celebration tour concert

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Madonna, 65, performed songs such as "Like a Prayer," "Vogue" and "Express Yourself" for more than two hours starting at 10:45 p.m. as she wound up the greatest hits tour that started late last year.

"Rio, here we are, in the most beautiful place in the world, with the ocean, the mountains, Jesus," Madonna told the crowd, referring to the city's huge mountaintop Christ the Redeemer statue. "Magic."

Brazilian pop artists Anitta and Pabllo Vittar, as well as younger musicians from samba schools, participated in the show.

More than 3,000 police officers were deployed around the concert area, where the Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart have also drawn million-strong crowds. The authorities used a crowd-management strategy similar to their handling of the city's famous New Year's Eve celebrations.

Madonna turns 65: So naturally we rank her 65 best songs

Brazilian authorities have stepped up their vigilance to head off heat-related health problems after a young Brazilian fan died from heat exhaustion at one of Taylor Swift's Eras tour shows last year.

Rio's state and city governments said they spent 20 million reais ($3.9 million) on the concert, while the rest was financed by private sponsors. The authorities estimate the concert could bring about 300 million reais to Rio's economy.

Contributing: Leonardo Benessato, Renato Spyrro, Rodrigo Viga Gaier, Sebastian Rocandio and Sergio Queiroz in Rio de Janeiro, and Andre Romani in Sao Paulo

Madonna Unveils Dates for ‘Celebration’ World Tour, Featuring ‘Four Decades of Mega Hits’

By Jem Aswad

Executive Editor, Music

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As expected, Madonna  has announced dates for “Madonna: The Celebration Tour,” in a viral video with a wink to her 1990 film “Truth or Dare.” The video features Judd Apatow, Jack Black, Lil Wayne, Diplo, Bob the Drag Queen, Kate Berlant, Larry Owens, Meg Stalter, Eric Andre and culminates with Amy Schumer daring Madonna to go on tour and perform her four decades of mega hits.

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“I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for,” Madonna says in the announcement. 

Bob the Drag Queen (a.k.a. Caldwell Tidicue) will be the special guest on all dates of the tour.  

Tickets go on sale starting Friday, January 20th at 10am local time at madonna.com/tour. Citi is the official card of the tour. Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets beginning today (January 17) at 2 p.m. local time through January 19 at 6 p.m. local time through the Citi Entertainment program.

Legacy members of Madonna’s Official Fan Club will have a pre-sale opportunity beginning on January 17 at 12 p.m. ET through January 18 at 5 p.m. ET for all North America based shows and from 9 a.m. GMT/ 10 a.m. CET to 5 p.m. GMT/ 6 p.m. CET on January 18 for U.K. and European shows.

THE CELEBRATION TOUR NORTH AMERICAN DATES:  

Sat Jul 15 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena 

Sat Jul 22 – Phoenix, AZ – Footprint Center 

Tue Jul 25 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena 

Thu Jul 27 – Tulsa, OK – BOK Center 

Sun Jul 30 – St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center 

Wed Aug 02 – Cleveland, OH – Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse 

Sat Aug 05 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena 

Mon. Aug 07 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena 

Wed Aug 09 – Chicago, IL – United Center 

Sun Aug 13 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena 

Sat Aug 19 – Montreal, QC – Centre Bell 

Wed Aug 23 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden 

Thu Aug 24 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden 

Wed Aug 30 – Boston, MA – TD Garden 

Sat Sep 02 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena 

Tue Sep 05 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena 

Thu Sep 07 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena 

Sat Sep 09 – Miami, FL – Miami-Dade Arena 

Wed Sep 13 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center 

Mon Sep 18 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center 

Thu Sep 21 – Austin, TX – Moody Center ATX 

Wed Sep 27 – Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena 

Wed Oct 04 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center 

Sat Oct 07 – Las Vegas, NV – T-Mobile Arena 

THE CELEBRATION TOUR EUROPE DATES:  

Sat Oct 14 – London, UK – The O2 

Sat Oct 21 – Antwerp, BE – Sportpaleis 

Wed. Oct. 25 – Copenhagen, DK – Royal Arena 

Sat Oct 28 – Stockholm, SE – Tele2 

Wed Nov 01 – Barcelona, ES – Palau Sant Jordi 

Mon Nov 06 – Lisbon, PT – Altice Arena 

Sun Nov 12 – Paris, FR – Accor Arena 

Mon Nov 13 – Paris, FR – Accor Arena 

Wed Nov 15 – Cologne, DE – Lanxess Arena 

Thu Nov 23 – Milan, IT – Mediolanum Forum 

Tue Nov 28 – Berlin, DE – Mercedes-Benz Arena 

Fri Dec 1 – Amsterdam, NL – Ziggo Dome 

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Madonna’s Celebration tour is a messy victory lap that needs more razzle-dazzle

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You have to respect Madonna’s idea of a nostalgia trip.

Standing onstage before an adoring audience of thousands Monday night at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, the pop icon flashed back 40-something years to the evening in the early 1980s when she debuted her song “Burning Up” for a smaller and more hostile crowd at New York’s legendary CBGB.

“People were screaming at me, ‘Show us your tits!’” she recalled. “And at the time, I didn’t have any tits because I wasn’t eating.” She laughed. “Being broke and homeless and friendless and jobless and foodless and anorexic — it was not a vibe.”

Monday’s concert was the first of five at the Forum on Madonna’s Celebration Tour — a career-spanning road show meant to “tell you the story of my life,” as she put it not long into the two-hour-and-15-minute performance. In the age of Taylor Swift’s world-conquering Eras Tour, that retrospective framing can seem like the obvious choice for a musician with a catalog as deep as Madonna’s.

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Yet the 65-year-old singer has always resisted a play-the-hits approach in favor of showcasing her latest work (as in the intimate theater dates she did in 2019 and 2020 behind her most recent studio album, “ Madame X ”). So it made sense that she felt a bit of explanation was in order.

“I hope you can handle it,” she told her fans, “’cause just imagine: I had to live it.”

Only a churl would deny Madonna the right to a victory lap, so monumental is her standing in pop history — not just as a maker of indelible songs and genre-defining videos but also as a cultural pathbreaker whose commitment to feminist and queer ideals continues to open lanes in the mainstream even now.

“You can all thank me for allowing you to have the courage to come out,” she said Monday, which is certainly one way to describe the work of ally-ship that’s long distinguished her career.

For a tour called Celebration, though, this show — with more than two dozen of Madonna’s songs divided into seven acts — was curiously short on joy; again and again, she brought the crowd’s attention to the indignities as opposed to the victories of her ascent, as in the CBGB anecdote or in a little skit before “Holiday” in which she acted out being turned away by a doorman at the Paradise Garage.

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Late in the night, she spoke for a few minutes about the “near-death experience” she suffered last summer that forced her to postpone the tour’s launch and left her nearly unable to walk from her house to her backyard.

“I know that sounds insane, but it was difficult then,” she said. “I didn’t know when I could get up again and when I could be myself again and when I would have my energy back.”

That she was telling us this from a stage — and with her trusted doctor in the house, she pointed out — was, of course, its own triumph. Yet Madonna’s performance rarely tapped into the sense of abandon you’d hope would accompany such a win. The result was easy to admire but not always easy to love.

Overly moody arrangements of once-ebullient hits like “Hung Up,” “Ray of Light” and “Like a Prayer” didn’t help; nor did the baffling decision to forgo all-timers such as “Music,” “Borderline,” “Secret” and “Lucky Star” to make room for the likes of Madonna’s forgettable Bond theme, “Die Another Day.” “Like a Virgin” was part of the show but only as a prerecorded mash-up with Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” that played as digital silhouettes of the two superstars were projected onto a screen. (As costume-change distractions went, it beat the vaguely pagan fire ritual undertaken by several of her dancers.)

Could you say that the life story Madonna promised to tell cohered Monday with any discernible logic? Not in a show that inexplicably jammed together the pugnacious “Human Nature” and the yearning “Crazy for You.” That’s not a problem, per se: A pop concert is a theater of personality and craft, not one of plot or character development. But a narrative this messy needed more razzle-dazzle.

Madonna being Madonna, she couldn’t help but dole out some during a few moments at the Forum. “Vogue” was a high point that had her dancers (including one of the singer’s daughters) competing in a rowdy ballroom tableau judged by Madonna and comedian Eric André. “Live to Tell” was a moving tribute to people who’d died of AIDS complications; “Take a Bow” was another gorgeous ballad, with Madonna’s strongest vocal of the night.

And then there was her surprising acoustic rendition of “Express Yourself,” for which she tweaked the song’s familiar intro — “Come on girls, do you believe in love?” — to include “boys,” “theys” and “thems.” On record, “Express Yourself” is a battering ram of industrial-funk encouragement; it exhorts the listener to create his or her own destiny. Here, as Madonna sang and strummed a guitar, the song seemed to acknowledge the cost of that process while urging us on all the same.

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Madonna will perform at Rio's Copacabana beach to close out her tour

Julia Carneiro

Over a million fans are expected to turn up on Rio's famous Copacabana beach Saturday for Madonna's end-of-tour mega concert.

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Free Madonna concert draws crowd of 1.6m to Brazil’s Copacabana beach

Area around Rio de Janeiro beach filled for several blocks as singer closes her Celebration world tour

With the world-famous statue towering over it from Corcovado mountain, Rio de Janeiro is well used to Christ the Redeemer. For one night only this weekend, it also had Madonna.

More than a million people thronged Copacabana beach on Saturday night, turning its vast stretch of sand into a massive dancefloor for a free concert by the pop star as she completed her world tour.

“Here we are in the most beautiful place in the world,” Madonna , 65, told the tightly packed crowd. Pointing out the ocean view and the mountains, she added: “This place is magic.”

In the run-up to the concert, the city had been buzzing, with fans lined up outside the stately Copacabana Palace hotel in the hope of catching a glimpse of the star. The city’s airport fielded an estimated 170 extra flights as fans poured in from around the world.

City officials estimated that 1.6 million people turned up for the concert, some watching from brightly lit apartments or hotels overlooking the beach, while others looked on from motorboats and sailboats anchored nearby.

As drones and helicopters flew overhead, the singer offered up a dazzling show, playing classics ranging from Like a Virgin to Like a Prayer, and cycling through dozens of sets and costume changes.

Flanked by giant screens, she began the show with her 1998 hit Nothing Really Matters, eliciting a huge cheer from the crowd.

“Oi, Rio!” she called out in Portuguese. The response was swift, carried by more than a million voices: “Oi, Queen Madonna!”

The singer also paid an emotional tribute to “all the bright lights” lost to Aids as she sang Live to Tell, against a backdrop of black-and-white photos featuring people who died from the illness.

The Brazilian pop artists Anitta and Pabllo Vittar, as well as younger musicians from samba schools, also took part in the show.

The show, which Madonna’s official website described as the biggest ever in her 40-year career, marked the final stop on her Celebration tour. Giant screens and 18 sound towers had been spread out along the beach to ensure the crowds could enjoy the event.

Fans, many of whom lined up hours or even days before the concert to get a good view, hailed Madonna’s performance. “I have never seen such a powerful show,” one told the BBC . “It’s unimaginable, very much out of the ordinary,” she added.

“Madonna is spectacular,” said another. “There’s no concert better than Madonna’s.”

City officials, on high alert after a young Brazilian fan died at a Taylor Swift concert last year as a result of heat exhaustion, ordered firefighters to cool down fans by spraying water before the concert. Free drinking water was also handed out as temperatures hovered at about 27C (81F) during the late-night show.

More than 3,000 police officers were deployed around the concert area, where the Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart have also drawn million-strong crowds.

Across Rio, anticipation had been building all week. “Welcome, Queen!” read Heineken ads plastered around the city, while bars and restaurants served up “Like a Virgin” cocktails. Across the Copacabana neighbourhood, the singer’s image was emblazoned on billboards, souvenirs and T-shirts.

As hotel bookings in Copacabana climbed to an estimated 98% of capacity, Rio state’s security readied plans that included the presence of 3,200 military personnel and 1,500 civilian police officers on standby, while the country’s navy carried out inspections of any vessel looking to follow the concert offshore. City officials estimated that the concert would inject as much as 293m reais (£46m) into the local economy.

With contributions from Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse

• Rio de Janeiro

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