02 madonna tour

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Plus special guest Bob The Drag Queen

• Date 14 Oct - 6 Dec 2023
• Venue The O2 arena
• Availability On sale now

Event Details

Madonna will bring ‘The Celebration Tour’, featuring four decades of greatest hits, to The O2.

Madonna announced the tour in an iconic viral video with a wink to her groundbreaking film Truth or Dare. The video features notable names such as Diplo, Judd Apatow, Jack Black, Lil Wayne, Bob The Drag Queen, Kate Berlant, Larry Owens, Meg Stalter, Eric Andre and culminates with Amy Schumer daring the global superstar to go on tour and perform her four decades of mega hits. Madonna, the best-selling female solo touring artist of all time, rises to the challenge announcing The Celebration Tour which will be highlighting her unmatched catalog of music from the past 40 plus years.

The Celebration Tour will take us on Madonna’s artistic journey through four decades and pays respect to the city of New York where her career in music began. “I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for,” states Madonna.

Important Information - How to download your tickets on The O2 app

For this show, if you’ve purchased your tickets from theo2.co.uk or AXS.com you’ll need to display your ticket on your phone via The O2 app. Ticket purchasers will receive an email with news and information on  AXS Mobile ID tickets  and how you can download your tickets to your phone. 

If you’ve bought your tickets for this show via AXS then you can re-sell your tickets with AXS Official Resale   which gives you a safe, simple, and fair way to buy and sell tickets.

For more information on re-selling tickets from AXS and other ticket agents  click here .  

Please note:  If you purchase  resale   tickets for this show through any website other than via theo2.co.uk or axs.com, your tickets may not be valid and access to the venue could be refused.

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Madonna at London’s O2 Arena: timings, setlist and everything you need to know for Celebration Tour

The Queen of Pop is finally here

Strap on your cone bras and get ready to get into the groove, because the Queen of Pop is landing in London this week. Madonna’s long-awaited ‘Celebration Tour’ is finally here, as everyone’s favourite material girl will step onto the stage at the O2 Arena this week. 

Celebrating 40 years of being a pop icon, Madge will be cracking out all the greatest hits. Stuart Price, Madonna’s musical director recently told the BBC: ‘A greatest hit doesn’t have to be a song. It can be a wardrobe, it can be a video, or a statement.’ We’re hoping this means she'll be putting on her Marie Antoinette get-up from the 1990 MTV Awards. 

To get you in the mood for a proper celebration, this is all the information you need ahead of the Madonna concert. 

When is Madonna playing at London O2’s Arena?

After kicking the ‘Celebration Tour’ off in the Big Smoke back in October (on Oct 14, 15, 17, 18, to be exact), Madonna plays the O2 again this week on December 5 and 6. 

When will Madonna come on stage?

Madonna’s exact stage time hasn’t been announced, but with a rumoured 40-strong set list her show could be at least two hours. O2 shows usually end at 11pm for weekday events. Her previous London shows saw Madonna come on stage between 8:50pm and 9:05pm. 

What time do doors open?

Doors open to the O2 arena at 6.30pm. 

Is there a setlist for her Celebration tour?

Madge and her team are remaining tight-lipped about the ‘Celebration Tour’ set list, but we do know it will span all four decades of her career, meaning hits including ‘Like a Virgin’, ‘Material Girl’, ‘Hung Up’, ‘Papa Don’t Preach’, ‘Vogue’ and ‘4 Minutes’ are all likely to be performed. 

Fans are also convinced she will be playing songs ‘Erotica’ and ‘Frozen’ as they are rumoured to have been heard in rehearsals. 

How much are Madonna tickets for O2 London?

Unsurprisingly, tickets to see Madonna in London don’t come cheap. When they were first released, seated O2 Arena tickets were on sale at face value for between £47.55 and £432.25, with VIP packages going up to £1,307.75 each. Ouch!

Currently, tickets for these shows are on sale starting at £158 and going up to about £540. Find tickets on AXS here . 

Is Madonna’s Celebration tour sold out?

Madonna initially sold out the London Stadium in a matter of minutes. However, after the tour was postponed due to the singer’s illness, there are a crop of tickets still available on Ticketmaster and other resale sites. Be warned though, they will cost you a pretty penny.

What are reviews saying about Madonna’s London tour?

Predictably, the reviews have been excellent. Alexis Petridis in the Guardian  revealed how the October show catered to Madonna’s eras and paid tribute to her influences, from eulogies to victims of the Aids crisis to a tribute to Prince. 

Mark Savage of the BBC said that the Queen of Pop ‘brought out her crown jewels’ and that the set celebrated her ‘radical legacy’. 

A five-star review from Helen Brown at the  Independent   said: ‘We should never forget how much Madonna changed the world – hers is a life and a legacy worth celebrating.’

Where is Madonna playing after London?

Where  isn’t  she playing? Having already played around mainland Europe for shows in places like Paris , Berlin , Barcelona and Lisbon , she’ll next head over to North America for shows in the US , Canada and Mexico .

In total, the ‘Celebration Tour’ will have 78 shows. You can see them all on Madonna’s official tour website here . 

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Culture | Music

Madonna live at The O2: The Celebration Tour review: the Queen of Pop remains as unpredictable as ever

“Age is a sin. I think the most controversial thing I have ever done is to stick around,” boomed an archive recording of Madonna towards the end of The Celebration as an onslaught of misogynist headlines, doubting critics, and Nineties footage of Cher branding her “mean” collaged themselves across The O2 .

Over the course of her forty years in pop, it’s certainly true that Madonna has ruffled a few feathers. From being condemned by the Vatican, to being threatened with arrest by the Canadian police for simulating masturbation on a velvet bed during the Blond Ambition tour, few other pop stars are as provocative, and one of the best things about Madonna is how much she clearly enjoys prompting a bit of pearl clutching.

Little has changed in this regard when it comes to this run of retrospective shows at The O2; opening night incorporated writhing masses of bodies, rings of fire, oily-torsoed dancers crucified on a spinning carousel, half-nude dancers, and a variation on the famous bed sequence for a snippet of Papa Don’t Preach. This time, she shared it with a companion wearing a flesh-coloured latex mask, who appeared as a foil to the star frequently during the show.

Often, the set was peppered with these kinds of throwbacks; for opener Nothing Really Matters, she appeared in a replica Gaultier kimono in a nod to the original music video. Her famous cone bra corset also made a return, alongside Stetsons, glimmering gowns, mirrored Versace jumpsuits, and a total of 17 archive looks.

Elsewhere, Madonna was joined by a number of her children on-stage; Mercy played piano for Bad Girl, while Lourdes and Estere took part in a ballroom segment during Vogue. Stella was among the line dancers, and her son David played guitar on Mother Father.

Midway through, Madonna told the audience that wanting to be there for her children saved her life following a bacterial infection that left her in intensive care earlier this year: “I didn’t think I was going to make it”. She also referenced the current war in Israel and Gaza: “Even though our hearts are broken, our spirits cannot be broken,” she said.

Despite being widely billed as a greatest hits set, it felt more like an artist’s memoir in live show form, with some left-field set choices including the trancey Björk collab Bedtime Stories, live rarity and Erotica ballad Rain, and the divisive Bond theme Die Another Day.

Debut album cut Burning Up was staged as a tribute to her first live performance at New York dive bar CBGB, Holiday saw her skipping into a recreation of the influential disco club Paradise Garage, and Don’t Tell Me recreated the music video’s iconic line-dancing routine step-for-step. Against black and white photographs of some of her late friends, including Keith Haring and Robert Mapplethorpe, Live to Tell became a moving tribute to “all the bright lights we lost from AIDs” and a stand-out moment of the night.

There were also a few hiccups.  A completely pre-recorded rendition of Like A Virgin, interpolated with Billie Jean, served as an incredibly puzzling tribute to Michael Jackson. Though the narrative of the show, a journey through Madonna’s life, started out strong, it weakened and became more confused as time went on.

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Technical difficulties early on also forced Madonna to muddle her way through a prolonged bout of stand-up for almost ten minutes: “this is exactly what you don’t want to happen on your opening night,” she joked. Credit to her for sticking it out, here’s hoping the hold-up isn’t the reason why Cherish, Frozen, and Borderline all missed out on making the setlist.

Still, it frankly wouldn’t be a proper Madonna show without a few surprise jokes about trading sexual favors for hot showers early in her career, nor a couple of musical curveballs. Forty years at the top of pop, and she’s still unpredictable as ever.

Madonna’s Celebration Tour continues at The O2 until October 18

Madonna The Celebration Tour Setlist in Full 2023: Songs for concert at London The O2 Arena

Madonna's The Celebration Tour is among the year's most eagerly anticipated live shows - here's everything you need to know about the tour as it hits the UK, Europe and North America.

Madonna 's The Celebration Tour kicked off at London's The O2 Arena on October 14 2023 as the first of six dates at the venue. Four will take place in October, followed by another two in early December after Madonna has criss-crossed Europe.

The tour was originally due to kick off in Toronto in July, but the singer was forced to postpone its launch after being hospitalised with a "serious bacterial infection" .

When the tour was announced in January, it was billed as "Madonna's artistic journey through four decades" and a show that "pays respect to the city of New York where her career in music began". The pop icon said at the time: "I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for."

Given that Madonna has 72 UK Top 40 hits to choose from – including 63 UK Top 10s and 13 UK Number 1s – assembling a setlist was no mean feat. Little wonder she has recruited Stuart Price, the co-producer of her chart-topping 2005 album Confessions on a Dance Floor , as part of her musical crew.

With the Celebration Tour now in full swing, here's the setlist in full. 

Madonna: The Celebration Tour 2023 setlist in full

1. nothing really matters, 2. everybody, 3. into the groove, 4. burning up, 5. open your heart, 7. live to tell, 8. like a prayer, 10. justify my love, 11. fever (cover), 12. hung up, 13. bad girl, 15. human nature, 16. crazy for you, 17. die another day, 18. don't tell me, 19. mother and father, 20. little star, 21. i will survive (cover), 22. la isla bonita, 23. don't cry for me argentina , 24. bedtime story, 25. ray of light, 27. bitch i'm madonna, 28. celebration, read more: 65 incredible madonna chart facts, feats and trivia, what are madonna's uk tour dates.

October 14 2023 - The O2 Arena, London, England October 15 2023 - The O2 Arena, London, England October 17 2023 - The O2 Arena, London, England October 18 2023 - The O2 Arena, London, England December 5 2023 - The O2 Arena, London, England December 6 2023 - The O2 Arena, London, England

What are Madonna's European tour dates?

October 14 2023 - The O2 Arena, London, England October 15 2023 - The O2 Arena, London, England October 17 2023 - The O2 Arena, London, England October 18 2023 - The O2 Arena, London, England October 21, 2023 - Sportpaleis, Antwerp, Belgium October 22, 2023 - Sportpaleis, Antwerp, Belgium October 25, 2023 - Royal Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark     October 26, 2023 - Royal Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark         October 28, 2023 - Tele2 Arena, Stockholm, Sweden     November 1, 2023 - Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, Spain     November 2, 2023 - Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, Spain         November 6, 2023 - Altice Arena, Lisbon, Portugal     November 7, 2023 - Altice Arena, Lisbon, Portugal November 12, 2023 - Accor Arena, Paris, France     November 13, 2023 - Accor Arena, Paris, France         November 15, 2023 - Lanxess Arena, Cologne, Germany November 16, 2023 - Lanxess Arena, Cologne, Germany         November 19, 2023 - Accor Arena, Paris, France     November 20, 2023 - Accor Arena, Paris, France     November 23, 2023 - Mediolanum Forum, Milan, Italy       November 25, 2023 - Mediolanum Forum, Milan, Italy          November 28, 2023 - Mercedes-Benz Arena, Berlin, Germany     November 29, 2023 - Mercedes-Benz Arena, Berlin, Germany         December 1, 2023 - Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam, Netherlands     December 2, 2023 - Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam, Netherlands December 5 2023 - The O2 Arena, London, England December 6 2023 - The O2 Arena, London, England

Who is Madonna's support act Bob the Drag Queen?

Bob the Drag Queen – also known as Christopher Delmar Caldwell – is an American drag performer, comedian, TV star and LGBTQ+ activist.  He won the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race and co-hosted three seasons of the drag-themed reality show We're Here.

Can I get tickets for Madonna The Celebration Tour?

Tickets for the UK dates in London are nearly all sold out but you can get your hands on any remaining UK tickets here (affiliate link*)

If you're looking to see her perform in Europe or North America there are a few still available.

Where can I buy Madonna The Celebration Tour merch?

You can pick up tour merch from the designated official stands at London's The O2 Arena. If previous Madonna tours are anything to go on, prices are unlikely to be anywhere close to rock-bottom.

*This article contains affiliate links, if you purchase tickets through these links we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

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INTO THE GROOVE MADONNA

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Fantastic show, but she had to cut Sorry, Oh Father and another song because of the technical issues at the start of Open Your Heart, otherwise the show wouldn't have finished by the 11pm curfew.

What is the point in calling this article the 'setlist in full' when you don't actually tell us a single track that we can expect? Just ask the cleaner to write for you, they couldn't do a worse job. 

Edit:- Some surprising omissions, equally some surprising inclusions. Would have expected to see Material Girl and Frozen. Masterpiece is easily in my top 5 favourites, it is criminal that it never did better.

and what better way to greet the one and ONLY undisputed Queen of Pop with her very own Royal Standard Flag...

https://metro.co.uk/2023/10/11/madonna-gets-epic-royal-nod-as-celebration-tour-kicks-off-in-london-19645591/

"The Queen of Pop kicks off her Celebration tour at the 02 on Saturday and to mark the 65-year-old’s arrival in the capital the world-famous venue has created a Madonna-themed flag much like the Royal Standard flag.

The Royal Standard flag is flown at full mast whenever King Charles III is in residence at Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle and Madonna’s flag will let everyone in London know she’s in town.

Made by the royal family’s very own flagmakers, Madonna’s flag will stay up throughout her five headline shows, in which the A-lister will belt out four decades of her biggest hits.

Steve Sayer, vice president and general manager at the O2, said of the idea: ‘The arrival of Madonna and The Celebration Tour in London is arguably the biggest UK event in pop music this year.

‘Madonna has been at the forefront of the genre and part of pop culture for four decades, and we’re very proud that this hotly anticipated tour kicks off right here at The O2. This Royal Standard flag feels like a fitting tribute to pop royalty, and the perfect way to kick off six incredible shows."

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 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 Celebrates Four Decades of Hits With Career-Spanning Spectacle

After a health-related delay, the pop superstar launched her Celebration Tour in London with a performance devoted to her full catalog of hits.

By Derrick Bryson Taylor and Ben Sisario

Derrick Bryson Taylor reported from London, and Ben Sisario from New York.

They wore pearls with crucifixes, lace gloves, tulle skirts and body-sculpting corsets. Some even crimped their hair and drew on fake beauty moles, while others wore simple white T-shirts with only the letter M on the back. Spanning generations, the concertgoers arriving at the O2 Arena in London used Saturday night as an opportunity to dress in their favorite Madonna era, even if that was decades before they were born.

Madonna, 65, is on the road for the first time since 2020 with her global Celebration Tour, a stage spectacle touching on more than 40 of her hits across four decades. The show opened at the O2, a 20,000-capacity arena, three months after its planned first date, following a health scare for the pop icon. In June, Madonna was hospitalized shortly before the tour’s scheduled debut in Canada. At the time, her manager said she had a “ serious bacterial infection ” that resulted in the singer staying in an intensive care unit for several days.

Madonna swore that the tour — her first devoted to her full catalog of hits, rather than to a specific album release — would go on. In recent weeks, she has filled her Instagram account with tantalizing , and very on-brand, images from rehearsals, showing her dressed in a lacy black bustier, practicing onstage steps and resting her fishnet-clad knees .

Fans waited out a 30-minute delay before Madonna arrived onstage in London, opening with a medley of hits before acknowledging the challenges that had led to the moment. “How did I make it this far? Because of you,” she said, adding, “But I will take a bit of credit, too.”

It was clear from the beginning that this concert would be as much a journey through Madonna’s career as it would a bona fide dance party. Set on an elaborate stage that jutted out into the audience, several hanging retractable screens showed images of the singer. At other times, they displayed powerful portraits, as when she launched into “Live to Tell” and the screens displayed images of Freddie Mercury, Arthur Ashe and more people who died from AIDS.

For more than two hours, with the help of her dancers and some of her six children, Madonna blazed through her catalog of songs, singing several hits like “Holiday,” “Like a Prayer,” “Hung Up,” “Ray of Light” and “Bad Girl.” Her costumes were sexy, religious and futuristic.

Though the show had been in the works for months, it was not without technical difficulties. Early on, Madonna paused the show so the sound could be reset. She entertained the audience during the delay by speaking at length about her rise to stardom while technicians worked behind the scenes. Later in the show, between songs, Madonna expressed concern for those affected by violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip. “It breaks my heart to see children suffering, teenagers suffering, elderly people suffering, all of it is heartbreaking,” she said. “Even though our hearts are broken, our spirits cannot be broken.”

Madonna also reflected on her health struggles this year. “I forgot five days of my life, or my death,” she said. “I don’t really know where I was, but the angels were protecting me.

“If you want to know my secret, and you want to know how I pull through and how I survive, I thought, ‘I’ve got to be there for my children. I have to survive for them,’” she said. She then led the crowd in a singalong of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.”

The 24 performers onstage notably did not include a live band: Stuart Price, the tour’s musical director, told the BBC that “the original recordings are our stars.” The stage, which encompasses 4,400 square feet, was designed to echo Manhattan neighborhoods, as well as the wedding cake from Madonna’s 1984 MTV Video Music Awards performance of “Like a Virgin.” During the show, she is swept across the venue in a square-framed box 30 feet off the ground.

Carla Nobre, 38, of Nottingham said that seeing Madonna in concert had been on her bucket list, but that she had been disappointed with the performance.“There was too much talking,” she said.

Jenni Purple, 54, from the southern coast of England said the concert, which was her first time seeing Madonna live, had been “absolutely incredible.” “I loved all the medleys, I loved the costumes, I loved all the dances,” she said with a broad smile. “Everything was just mind-blowing.”

In the past, Madonna’s tours have been news-making events tied as much to her latest music as to her cycle of stylistic reinventions. But Celebration is essentially the pop superstar’s Eras Tour , as Taylor Swift has styled her latest outing: a staged romp through decades of hit songs and signature looks, giving fans a chance to relive her career as a stages-of-life experience. (Seventeen of Madonna’s previous costumes were recreated for the tour, and some of the merchandise for sale includes replicas from past treks.)

With her Virgin Tour in 1985, Madonna introduced herself as a punk-glam dance star whose every crucifix pendant or flap of denim was zealously adopted by fans. Who’s That Girl (1987) and Blond Ambition (1990) grew increasingly elaborate as Madonna pushed the fashion envelope with looks like Jean Paul Gaultier’s memorable cone bra and set the bar for bold, imaginative pop megatours. The Girlie Show (1993), in which Madonna appeared as a dominatrix, was the accompaniment to a period of daringly explicit material like her “Sex” book and “Justify My Love” video, which was banned from MTV.

After an eight-year absence from the road, Drowned World (2001) reintroduced Madonna as a new mother, an electro-pop heroine and an acolyte of kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism. In more recent years, her Confessions Tour (2006) cast her in late-70s disco style, and Rebel Heart (2015-16) found her playing guitar, in addition to executing the complex choreography for which she is known. Her most recent tour, Madame X, which was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic, saw Madonna looking to reinvent her stage performance once again in a more intimate, almost cabaret form, mostly eschewing arenas for spaces like the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

For Madonna, the 78-date Celebration Tour is a chance to assert her star power in a year when live music has been dominated by Swift and Beyoncé — women who, like Madonna before them, have used talent and deep media savvy to remake pop stardom in their own image. In July, Beyoncé acknowledged the debt, when Madonna, making one of her first public appearances after her hospitalization, attended Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour in New Jersey. “Big shout-out to the queen,” Beyoncé called out during a performance of the “Queens Remix” of her song “Break My Soul,” which blends in Madonna’s 1990 smash “Vogue” — another hit that mined, and honored, gay dance culture of that period.

Madonna returned the acknowledgment on Saturday, playing a bit of the same remix during an interstitial moment.

When Madonna’s latest tour was announced in January, it immediately became one of the year’s big-ticket events — and yielded a micro-flood of hot takes about the singer’s age. But the tour appears to be far from sold out; Ticketmaster still shows many seats available at some major venues like Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where Madonna will start the North American leg of the tour with three shows in December.

Back in 2009, Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet Tour set box-office records when it sold more than $400 million in tickets. Since then, the economics of live music have exploded; Beyoncé has already well exceeded that amount with her Renaissance shows, and Swift may well sell close to $2 billion in tickets by the time her Eras Tour is completed.

Legacy has clearly been on Madonna’s mind lately. Last month, the 1989 Pepsi commercial that introduced her song “Like a Prayer” — before it was pulled amid outrage over its music video, which featured an interracial kiss and the singer dancing in front of burning crosses — was finally aired again during the MTV Video Music Awards.

Madonna, who had been paid $5 million for the promotion — and kept the money — said on social media : “So began my illustrious career as an artist refusing to compromise my artistic integrity.” She added, “Thank you @pepsi for finally realizing the genius of our collaboration. Artists are here to disturb the peace.”

It was clearly on fans’ minds as well. Aisha and Maia Letamendia Moore, 17-year-old twins from southern England, near Brighton, wore looks that drew on the Vogue and Like a Virgin eras. “I think she’s such an influence,” Maia said. “She did so many things that were so controversial. She wasn’t scared to do it, she wasn’t scared what people would say.”

Others mentioned rumors that Celebration could be Madonna’s last tour. Helen Dawson, 47, who said she first saw Madonna during the Who’s That Girl Tour in 1987, would abide no such thought. “Never, she won’t give up,” Ms. Dawson said. “This is just a new celebration, a new era.”

Derrick Bryson Taylor is a general assignment reporter. He previously worked at The New York Post’s PageSix.com and Essence magazine. More about Derrick Bryson Taylor

Ben Sisario covers the music industry. He has been writing for The Times since 1998. More about Ben Sisario

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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

Related Articles

Madonna setlist from Celebrations Tour in Dallas, March 24, 2024. First of two shows

M adonna performed the first of two shows on Sunday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Here is the setlist from the Celebrations Tour show.

Nothing Really Matters

Into the Groove

Open Your Heart

Live to Tell

Like a Prayer

Justify My Love

Human Nature

Crazy for You

Die Another Day

Don’t Tell Me

Mother and Father

Express Yourself

La Isla Bonita

Don’t Cry for Me Argentina

Bedtime Story

Ray of Light

Bitch I’m Madonna

©2024 Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Visit star-telegram.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Madonna announces The Celebration 2023 tour with massive London show at The O2

The Queen of Pop is back and will celebrate four decades of greatest hits on her new tour

• 14:19, 17 JAN 2023
• Updated 08:27, 18 JAN 2023

Madonna fans rejoice as the Queen of Pop is back with her unveiling of a global tour. The pop icon wil be coming to London as part of her highly anticipated global tour.

Madonna: The Celebration will bring together four decades of mega hits to fans across the world, highlighting her unmatched cataloge of music from the past 40 plus years.

Announcing the tour in an iconic viral video, Madonna told her fans that she couldn't wait to give them a show that they have been waiting so desperately long for.

READ MORE: Adam Lambert to play exclusive show at KOKO Club

She said: "I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for.”

Madonna, the best-selling female solo touring artist of all time, will kick off her 35-city global tour in North America on Saturday, July 15th at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC with stops in Detroit, Chicago, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and more before making her way to Europe where she will hit 11 cities throughout autumn, including London on Saturday October, 14 at The O2.

Tickets for her London show and other dates will go on sale via Ticketmaster and Live Nation on Friday, January 20 at 10am. Fans who are legacy members of Madonna’s Official Fan Club will have a pre-sale opportunity beginning from 9am on Wednesday, January 18 for UK and European shows.

Fans who are with O2 can also get pre-sale access to the tour on O2 Priority. Those who sign into O2 Priority will be taken to a special queue on Wednesday, January 18 from 10.30am. For ticket updates, follow our live blog here.

Fans can also purchase VIP Packages, which may include premium tickets, exclusive access to a behind the scenes tour, group photo on-stage, pre-show reception, limited edition lithograph and more.

THE CELEBRATION TOUR NORTH AMERICAN DATES:

Sat Jul 15 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena Tue Jul 18 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge 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 ADDS NEW DATES TO THE CELEBRATION TOUR

Due to overwhelming demand, Madonna today announced the addition of 13 new dates in North America across The Celebration Tour. Produced by Live Nation, the 35-city global tour now includes second shows in Seattle, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas along with a third show in New York. Tickets for the newly added performances go on sale tomorrow – FRIDAY, JANUARY 20TH at 10am Local Time alongside the shows already announced in each respective city. The highly anticipated tour will kick off on Saturday, July 15th at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC with stops in Phoenix, Chicago, Los Angeles, and more before making its way to Europe where she will perform in 11 cities throughout the fall, including London, Barcelona, and Stockholm, among others. The Celebration Tour will wrap on Friday, December 1st in Amsterdam, NL at Ziggo Dome. Following Madonna’s viral video that announced the tour earlier this week, the response has been incredible, with fans looking forward to seeing the best-selling female solo touring artist of all time perform her unmatched catalog of music from the past 40 plus years in a live setting. The tour toasts to the incomparable movement of individualistic celebration, creativity and cutting-edge innovation Madonna has created over the course of her career. The Celebration Tour will offer a one-of-a-kind experience with special guest Bob the Drag Queen a.k.a. Caldwell Tidicue across all dates on the global tour. TICKETS: Tickets for newly added dates will go on sale tomorrow, Friday, January 20th at 10am local time. Visit madonna.com/tour for complete tour and ticket listing. ADDITIONAL SHOWS: As previously announced, tickets for performances in Phoenix, Denver, St. Paul, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Washington, and Atlanta will go on sale Friday, January 27th at 10am local time. Citi is the official card of Madonna The Celebration Tour. Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets starting Tuesday, January 24 at 10am local time through Thursday, January 26 at 6pm local time. For complete presale details visit www.citientertainment.com . Legacy members of Madonna’s Official Fan Club will have a pre-sale opportunity starting Monday, January 23 at 10am local time through Wednesday, January 25th at 5pm local time.  VIP: Fans can also purchase VIP Packages, which may include premium tickets, exclusive access to a behind the scenes tour, group photo on-stage, pre-show reception, limited edition lithograph & more. For more information, visit vipnation.com .

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Will there be international tour dates?

How to buy madonna tickets for 2024 tour.

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Madonna is wrapping up her current concert tour over the next few days with a trilogy of shows in Mexico City. Prices have been climbing over recent days, so you'll have to be sharp if you want to buy Madonna tickets for these dates while you can for the The Celebration Tour.

Before she takes her final bow of the Celebration Tour concert series in April 2024, Madonna will have performed 52 shows across 27 cities in the US, Canada, and Mexico. While many dates earlier in the tour were available for under $100, these final dates will cost you at least $245 at the time of writing. Still, it's a few grand cheaper than the Swifties have been paying this year.

• More events: Olivia Rodrigo tickets | Taylor Swift tickets | Adele tickets | Rolling Stones tickets

With the concert series being a retrospective celebration of her iconic career, The Celebration Tour's setlist unsurprisingly includes plenty of Madonna's timeless hits. Songs like "Like a Prayer," "Vogue," "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," and "Like a Virgin" have been performed across various dates on her tour.

We've got you covered if you're still looking for tickets to Madonna's Celebration Tour. Here's our breakdown of Madonna's remaining 2024 tour schedule, purchasing details, and original and resale ticket prices. You can also browse the available tickets for sale on StubHub and Vivid Seats at your leisure.

Madonna 2024 tour schedule

All concert times are listed in local time zones.

How to buy tickets for Madonna's 2024 concert tour

Madonna tickets have been on sale for a while now, so all original ones via Ticketmaster are long gone.

However, Madonna tickets are still available through verified resale vendors like StubHub and Vivid Seats .

How much do Madonna tickets cost?

The price for standard original tickets to Madonna's 2024 tour varies depending on date, location, and demand. For example, concert dates in major cities like New York City tend to be more expensive.

Standard original tickets still available on Ticketmaster a few weeks ago  were comparable to prices on verified resale platforms. However, the remaining original tickets have all been snapped up though, so resale vendors are your only hope now.

The Celebration Tour originally had VIP tickets available for premium prices. Madonna's 2024 concert series had The Immaculate VIP Package, Iconic VIP Package), You Can Dance Premium Ticket Package, and Where's The Party Premium Ticket Package. The prices for original tickets for each package on Ticketmaster started at $1,750, $895, $545, and $475, respectively.

Who is opening for Madonna's tour?

Madonna has not announced any additional opening acts for her 2024 concert dates. However, the artist is joined by Bob the Drag Queen, a special guest in each of her shows, who helps introduce the concert and interacts with Madonna as the emcee.

Madonna's 2024 tour began with the international leg in Europe, so the only remaining concerts in The Celebration Tour outside the United States are in Mexico.

In April, she'll have five performances in Mexico City, where she'll take her final bow of The Celebration Tour on April 26.

You can purchase logo and accolade licensing to this story here . Disclosure: Written and researched by the Insider Reviews team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our partners. We may receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at [email protected] .

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Madonna Thanks ‘Incredibly Talented’ Kids for Joining Her on Celebration Tour

"They never stopped practicing… they never stopped cheering me on and supporting me," the superstar wrote.

By Hannah Dailey

Hannah Dailey

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Feid & ATL Jacob Take 'Luna' to the Moon, Rising to No. 1 on Latin Airplay

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“Rehearsals began over a year ago with almost a 2 month break waiting for me recover from a near death experience,” she continued, referring to the shows she had to postpone due to her severe bacterial infection and subsequent hospitalization last year. “They never stopped practicing… they never stopped cheering me on and supporting me … They were also going to school and rehearsing every night. !! . am so very proud of all of them.”

Madonna is also mom to daughter Lourdes Leon, whom she shares with ex-boyfriend Carlos Leon, and son Rocco Ritchie, whom she shares with ex-husband Guy Ritchie. She and the director went on to adopt David shortly after the “Material Girl” singer founded her charity organization Raising Malawi in 2006. Later, she adopted Mercy, then Stella and Estere — all three of whom are also from Malawi — as a single mother.

The new post comes one day after Madonna opened up about touring with her kids in an interview with W Magazine . “When I go on tour, nothing brings me more happiness to know, we are all working on the same show creating the magic together,” she told the publication. “It would be boring if they were just traveling from hotel to hotel, and occasionally coming to watch the show.”

“Of course, I am also their mother so sometimes we get on each other’s nerves,” she added. “We are a family of artists but are also a family and that’s what happens.”

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Taylor Swift equals Madonna’s record of 12 UK No 1 albums

Swift now has joint highest number of chart-toppers for a female artist, as The Tortured Poets Department earns biggest opening week in seven years

Taylor Swift has tied with Madonna to become the female artist with the most UK No 1 albums, earning her twelfth chart-topper with the global phenomenon that is The Tortured Poets Department.

Swift also dominates this week’s singles chart, with three songs in the Top Five including a No 1 for Fortnight, featuring Post Malone. It’s her fourth No 1 single, and her third chart double.

With 207,000 chart sales, a figure combined from streams and purchases, The Tortured Poets Department outsold the rest of the Top 10 combined and has the UK’s biggest opening week of sales in seven years, since Ed Sheeran’s ÷ in 2017.

Bruce Springsteen also has 12 No 1s, while the only artists with more are the Beatles (16), the Rolling Stones (14), Robbie Williams (14) and Elvis Presley (13).

No artist has got to 12 No 1s as swiftly as Swift, though – she did it in 11 years and six months, considerably quicker than the Beatles, who needed to wait until 1977’s The Beatles at Hollywood Bowl to get their 12th. Eight of those No 1s have been since 2020, partly thanks to her project to re-record her albums from an ill-fated deal with former label Big Machine.

The Tortured Poets Department, a 31-track, two-hour double album which includes songs that pick apart her recent relationships with actor Joe Alwyn and singer Matty Healy with unflinching candour, has further established Swift as the century’s biggest music star.

It became the most streamed album in a single day on Spotify, then the fastest album to reach a billion streams on the platform. Twenty-two of the 50 most streamed songs globally on Thursday were by Swift.

After three days on sale, Swift had sold 700,000 vinyl copies of The Tortured Poets Department in the US, breaking the weekly record (since records began in 1991). That number is particularly remarkable considering that around a million vinyl albums were sold in total in the US in 2023, with nearly 10% of those sold by Swift (chiefly her album Midnights).

The rest of the UK chart is put rather in the shade, but last week’s singles chart-topper Hozier manages to outsell a couple of Swift’s songs and sit at No 2. Swift’s recent tour support artist Sabrina Carpenter rises to No 5 with her peppy Espresso, now the second-most streamed track globally on Spotify.

In the album chart, Pearl Jam reach No 2 with Dark Matter to earn their tenth UK Top 10 album and joint-highest placing. UB40 reach No 5 with their album UB45, their highest placing since 1994. Thanks to a special Record Store Day release, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours – spending its 1,042nd week in the UK charts – jumps up to No 9.

With TTPD out in the world, Swift now looks to the next leg of her Eras tour. After concluding the Asia and Australia leg with six nights at Singapore’s National Stadium in March, she will begin the European leg on 9 May with four nights in Paris. Eras reaches the UK on 7 June at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium, and later includes eight dates at Wembley Stadium, equalling a record set by Take That.

According to data by US live music analysts Pollstar, Eras had already made over $1bn in revenue by the end of 2023, and estimates that by the end of the tour in December it will gross over $2bn – comprehensively beating the previous record of $939m set by Elton John’s farewell tour.

She will probably score her 13th No 1 album as early as 2024, with fans looking forward to her re-recorded version of 2017 album Reputation – a release date has not yet been announced.

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