The Celebration Tour[1][2] is the twelfth concert tour by American singer
Madonna,[3] visiting cities in
North America,
Europe and
South America and anticipating 81 shows.[4][5] The tour started on October 14, 2023, at
The O2 Arena in London, England, and it is set to conclude on May 4, 2024, with a free concert at the
Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[b] As Madonna's first retrospective tour, it highlights recording career which spans to more than four decades.[7]
After Madonna developed a "serious bacterial infection" in late June, leading to a multiple-day stay in the
intensive care unit, she announced the postponement of the initial North American leg via an Instagram post. The rescheduled dates were announced on August 15, 2023.[11]
Background
Early speculations of a Madonna tour for 2022–2023 were swirling after the release of her
remix album Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones; in October 2022, outlets in Latin America began reporting that the singer had booked a reservation at the
Estadio Centenario in
Montevideo, Uruguay, for early October 2023.[12] In a
YouTube video promoting Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones, Madonna is asked about a potential greatest hits tour. She sarcastically responds "Do you want me to go on tour?"[13]
On January 4, 2023, British tabloid The Sun, among other media outlets, were reporting about a rumored tour celebrating Madonna's recording career of over 40 years (her
debut record was released in 1983).[9][10] Rumors were fueled after Madonna wiped or hid her Instagram posts on January 16.[14] The tour was formally announced on January 17 on Madonna's official website and social media channels.[15] In her statement, Madonna said: "I am excited to explore as many songs as possible, in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for".[16] On January 24, Variety reported that as a result of the development and production of the show,
Madonna's biopic, which she was directing and co-writing, had been temporarily postponed.[17]
The Celebration Tour marks two unprecedented facts in Madonna's career: the first is that this is her first time touring without promoting a specific studio album; the second is that the tour set list will exclusively focus on her greatest hits.[16] BBC music correspondent Mark Savage suggested that her
Re-Invention World Tour was her closest or first formal greatest hits tour, claiming that the set list largely ignored her then-current album, American Life[16] —although six of the album's 11 tracks were performed nightly.
Development
Building off the excitement of week's announcement, Madonna turned directly to
her fanbase as she built out her Celebration Tour setlist, asking her fans "What song would you like to dance to at my show?" on her social platforms.[18] California-born artist Jess Cuevas was in charge of tour's promotional poster,[19] and Ricardo Gomes was commissioned as tour's footage creative director.[20]
British electronic musician
Stuart Price, who previously worked with the singer on her tours and produced her 2005 album Confessions on a Dance Floor, told the
BBC that "a greatest hit doesn't have to be a song [...] It can be a wardrobe, it can be a video, or a statement." He went on further to state "many hits will be played in full, some will be interpolated into other songs, and still more will be used as 'bridges' between acts." When asked by journalist Mark Savage if there were comparisons to other tours that utilize different track rotations, Price stated "Madonna's reputation is for being highly precise and highly rehearsed across all departments. When you look at a tour of this scale, it has so many moving parts, so many elements, that everything has to be highly fixed [...] but there's one thing that's always dynamic, and that's Madonna herself. Her personality is so strong, her interaction with the audience is so strong, that it creates opportunities for variation from night to night."[21]
Postponement
After Madonna developed a "serious bacterial infection" in late June, which led her to a several day stay in
intensive care unit (ICU),[22] she announced the postponement of the initial North American leg via an Instagram post.[23][24] The rescheduled dates were announced on August 15, 2023.[11]
Speaking about her health struggles in the first show on October 14 in London, she reflected: "I forgot five days of my life, or my death [...] 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'".[25]
Rehearsals
Rehearsals first began in
New York City in April.[26] In early June, work moved to the
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in
Uniondale but were temporarily stopped during Madonna's stay at the ICU at the end of the month and during her recovery.[27] Rehearsals then restarted in mid August at the same venue.[28] In early October, the team moved to
Manchester to rehearse at the
AO Arena.[29] She made a total six weeks of rehearsals after her return from hospital.[30] Stage director and architech Ric Lipson from Stufish, commented: "Madonna rehearses unlike most artists [...] Other artists, their dancers go and build the show somewhere and they come in a few weeks later".[30]
Madonna enlisted French collective performing artists
(La)Horde to manage the artistic direction of the tour's choreography, alongside other artists, including Americans
Travis Payne and Megan Lawson, and Belgians
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and
Damien Jalet, headed by Nicolas Huchard.[20]
Production
The singer's accompanied by onstage performers, including her children David Banda playing the guitar and Mercy James in the piano.
Madonna enlisted Lewis James as the creative director and
Jamie King.[31][32] She collaborated closely with them, with James saying she "is extremely involved in the process [...] she has a lot of conviction in her ideas, and she knows what she wants".[31] The Celebration Tour boasts a crew of 24 onstage performers, including some Madonna's children, and additional 175 crew members accompanied her.[33][34]
London-based entertainment architecture company Stufish, designed the stage headed by Ric Lipson.[35][30] Madonna also closely collaborated with the company.[36] Lipson stated the stage was designed to create a vast network of "on-stage runways that allowed her to get up close and personal with nearly every section of the arena",[35] and unlike her previous tours, it focused more on staging, lighting and photography.[30] The arena production received a positive comment by UK Rolling Stone,[35] and achieved a nomination at the 2024 TPI Awards.[37]The Arts Desk describes the show as a "biographical concept album as dance theatre".[38]
Stage and lighting
The production featured various stage elements, including a circular lighting rig, a spinning chapel, a giant cube and several hanging retractable screens.
The design of the stage evokes her historical wedding cake setup from the
1984 MTV Video Music Awards and
Manhattan neighborhoods (where Madonna kickstarted her career in the early 1980s).[30] It is a three-layered circular stage combined with a 230 m (750 ft) length of catwalk,[32][25][39] as well as the shape of a clock, nodding to the element of time.[36] With 4,400 square feet on stage, it is the largest square footage of any Madonna tour.[32] The production equipment has 80 tons, and consists of 3700 amps of show power, 600
intelligent lights to illuminate the stage and 14 spotlights for the singer, as well 3600 square feet of LEDs to give a complete imagery to the show.[39][33]
The stage have also a circular lighting rig,[40] and an illuminated portal frame, designed to act like a time machine looking into the past, present and future where Madonna is lifted 9 m (30 ft) off the ground, and move at 4.5 m (15 ft) per second.[39] It is also used by some of her children, including David Banda.[38]
Other stage elements include a giant
disco ball, a giant cube and a spinning carousel-like glass-window with large crucifixes depicting a
chapel.[41][42][43][38] For the cube design, Madonna collaborated with game designer and artist Gabriel Massan inspired by her video "
Bedtime Story" and Massan's dreamy landscapes. The cube is raised and projectors cover each side of the cube, with her movements recorded in real time.[44] Described as a "city of portraits",[36] the show have also several hanging retractable screens, and used the most amount of video in her touring career.[39][25] Speaking about the screens that came out constantly with projections on, according to Lipson, it allows singer's image and "key motifs" of her career to be "displayed to the entire crowd throughout the show".[35]
Music
Price became assigned as musical director for the tour following a call with Madonna congratulating her on the announcement of the tour.[21] Although some of her children play instruments,[45] for the first time in her touring career, there was no a live band, which according to Price, the reason is "to let the original recordings shine".[46] He also stated "There's a couple of spoken word sections in the show where we just use track. But it's all live vocals".[47]
Upon the announcement, various publications elaborated their dream
set list, including Rolling Stone, Consequence and Variety.[49][50][51] On January 18, 2023, Billboard dedicated a list of potential songs across the four decades they would like to hear, as well as creating a poll for fans to comment on what song they would like to see be performed.[52] On January 20, 2023, the poll showed the 1987 single "
Causing a Commotion" as the leading contender.[53]
Initially, media reported costume designer Guram Gvasalia from
Vetements was enlisted to be the costume director.[54] In early April 2023, Madonna showcased her costume archives on Instagram ahead of the tour.[55] She enlisted creative duo designers Yohannes and Rita Melssen.[56] The costume duo created and designed almost all outfits paying tribute to her four decades of
fashion; they began their research by looking at Madonna's polaroids and performances from her beginnings, commenting "we wanted to reference everything that she's done, and make something new out of that".[56] According to Yohannes and Melssen: "She is involved in every single process of the costume design. She looks at all the fabrics, sketches, and buttons. She cares about who the characters are, and the clothes telling that story".[56] The new costumes received positive commentaries by publications such as The New York Times, Harper's Bazaar and Vogue.[25][57][56] The Celebration Tour was nominated at the
2024iHeartRadio Music Awards in the category Favorite Tour Style.[58]
The Celebration Tour is a two-hour-plus set with multiple-costume-change and more than 30 songs.[61][62] The show was separated into five different sections: Uptown, Downtown, Midtown, East and West "grids".[33] According to tour creative director Lewis James, the stage and show also serves as an archive of her life, celebrating with her fans, and is a "continuation of her legacy" more than just a biography.[31][36] Madonna's six children also joined on stage during multiple moments of the show, including
Lourdes Leon in London,[63] and Rocco Ritchie (her son with
Guy Ritchie) in Sweden,[64] which represents her present as a mother and celebrating family.[36]
Throughout the concert,
Bob the Drag Queen serves as an
emcee, appearing during different moments of the show interacting with the singer,[65] often dressed as
Marie Antoinette (resembling Madonna's "Vogue"
1990 MTV Video Music Awards performance).[56][31] During segments of the show, dancers appear wearing recreations of 17 outfits originally worn by Madonna, representing many of her reinventions.[32] The show includes more past references, including the bed from her
Blond Ambition World Tour with a lookalike donning a latex mask.[31]
On the day of the general sale, January 20, additional second dates were added in
Amsterdam,
Antwerp,
Barcelona and
Milan, along with a third date in
Paris and two extra dates in London due to popular demand.[71] Over 200,000 fans queued to buy tickets for the London shows,[72] and nearly 30,000 in Netherlands according to
Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (ANP).[73]Ticketmaster's website in Spain
crashed for moments.[74] Despite numerous reports that tickets for the tour were some of the most expensive ever for any artist, shows across
North America and
Europe experienced "extraordinary demand" and sold out in record time, prompting Madonna's team to add several new dates in both continents.[75][76][77][78][79][80][81] On that date, the first three New York City shows sold-out in under 15 minutes, the first two London dates within 20 minutes, the Paris shows under seven minutes, and her Amsterdam date sold out in 10 minutes.[82]
On January 23, second dates in
Copenhagen,
Cologne,
Berlin and
Lisbon were announced.[83][84][75] On January 23, Madonna herself posted a short video on her official platforms such as Instagram and
TikTok, thanking her fans for their "love and support".[85] On January 26, after the four shows in London had sold out, a fifth concert, to be held at the O2 Arena in December 2023, was announced due to "sensational demand" for tickets by British fans.[86] Later that day, due to continued demand, new dates were also added in Brooklyn and
Inglewood, bringing the total number of shows in both New York City and
Los Angeles to six.[87] On the following day, a fourth and final concert in Paris was announced, as well.[88] On January 30, due to continued "extraordinary demand", a sixth show at the O2 Arena in London, to be held on 6 December 2023, was announced.[89] On March 27, 2023, due to continued "overwhelming demand", eight additional shows were added in the United States (billed as the last ones to be held in the country for the tour),[90] including second dates in Phoenix and Washington, D.C., and third shows in San Francisco and Las Vegas. The first shows in Nashville, Palm Springs, Sacramento, and Philadelphia were announced as well.[90]
After anticipation in the Mexican press,[91] the first show in
Mexico City was officially announced on April 17, 2023, to be held at the
Palacio de los Deportes.[92][93][94] On April 21, 2023, a second concert was added after the first show sold out in minutes.[95][96] After it also sold out within minutes of going on general sale,[96][97] a third date at the venue was added the following week.[98][97] Due to "overwhelming demand", a fourth show was announced on May 4, 2023,[99] while a fifth and final date was added on December 1, 2023.[100]
Boxscore
The European leg, consisting of 27 shows, grossed $77.5 million and sold 429,000 tickets, according to Billboard.[101] At the O2 Arena, Madonna was the third highest grossing act after the
COVID-19 pandemic era up to that point, behind
Elton John and
Queen + Adam Lambert.[101] According to Attitude, shortly after its opening, the tour became one of the highest-selling shows in the UK during 2023.[102]
Philanthropy and activism
The addition of the show in Nashville was in reaction to
Tennessee Senate Bill 3 and to "over 100 anti-LGBTQ+ bills currently before state legislatures" in the United States.[90][103] Calling the oppression of LGBTQ+ people "unacceptable and inhumane", the artist vowed to donate portion of the proceeds from the Nashville show to
trans rights organizations.[90] After the North American leg was rescheduled, the concert in Nashville was cancelled due to scheduling conflicts.[104]
In early October 2023, it was announced Madonna teamed up with Ministry of Tomorrow, to launch a limited edition line of exclusive merchandise available both online and at handful of venues along the tour's route. The 100% of proceeds are reportedly going to Madonna's
Raising Malawi charity organization and Chema Vision Children's Center in Kenya. She also encouraged her fans to make donations to these organizations.[105][106]
During the opening show in London on October 14, Madonna nods to her activism addressing about the ongoing war between
Israel and Hamas-controlled Palestine, saying "It's so painful to witness [...] It breaks my heart watching what's happening in Israel and Palestine",[40][107] and in a long statement during her third London show, she addressed "we cannot lose our humanity".[108] Madonna was among the first celebrities to condemn
Russian invasion of Ukraine back in 2022, and during the Celebration Tour she conveyed her solidarity with Ukraine wearing their flag at some point of the show.[109]
Madonna paid tribute to
LGBT community wrapped with a
Pride flag, accompanied with shirtless back-up dancers with the word "no fear" written on their backs and shown signs with the message "Transgender rights are human rights".[102][110]Attitude's Dale Fox felt "throughout practically every number, she honours the LGBTQ+ culture that's been a part of her career from the very beginning – and beyond".[102]Human Rights Campaign press secretary, Cullen N. Peele and author
Mary Gabriel also remarked her advocacy.[111]
Madonna paid homage to AIDS victims, including
Keith Haring,
Herb Ritts, and
Freddie Mercury, during her segment of "
Live to Tell". Ukrainian-born director Sasha Kasiuha was commissioned by Madonna to orchestrate the video effects, and also worked together with Stuart from Instagram account The AIDS Memorial.[114] Described as an "emotional moment",[115] after the completition of her first London shows, Vogue's Liam Hess, commented: "Madonna herself seemed visibly pained as she gazed out across the faces of the friends and fans who were lost to the disease".[59] British singer
Elton John to AIDS Memorial thanked and praised her tribute to AIDS victims.[116][115] In February 2024, Madonna removed a photograph of
Luther Vandross from this section, after the latter's estate publicly reminded Madonna that Vandross did not have, and did not die from, HIV or AIDS.[117][118]
Madonna also paid homage to her family, including her mother and son David Banda's mother with a redemption of "Mother and Father", while she is accompanied of Banda playing guitar.[59] During her first show in Portugal, on November 6, 2023, Madonna thanked Lisbon, the city where she lived for three years (2017–2020) while Banda was training football soccer; she sung a brief version of "
Sodade" by
Cesária Évora.[119][120] She paid tribute to her daughter
Lourdes Leon singing "Little Star" celebrating her 27th birthday (October 14), during the opening show in London.[65]
Reception
Critical response
The Celebration Tour debuted with mostly rave reviews in London.[121][122] Paul Sandle from Reuters stated that her performance proved her energy and charisma.[123]Variety's Mark Sutherland said that Madonna proved she was still the "Reigning Queen of Pop Music", "Still dancing [and] still singing".[61] Various publications including The Times, The Guardian and UK Rolling Stone gave her four out five stars, describing it as "totally captivating" and "a celebration, well and truly delivered".[124][125][126] Her other European shows also attracted generally positive reviews by local publications, including in Sweden,[127] Belgium,[128] Denmark,[129] Spain,[130][45] Portugal,[131] and France.[132]
Although general responses from critics has largely been positive, they have honed on some weakness points, including her tardiness along with some brief technical issues including shows in Antwerp, Barcelona and London, as well her usage of pre-recorded vocals in some tracks and omitted songs of her
catalog.[130][126][38][45] Giving five out five stars, Nick Levine from NME complimented the tour but was critical towards the tribute she made to Michael Jackson describing it as a "dud visual" and saying it looks "a bit cheap".[133]The Arts Desk's Thomas H Green described the show as "spectacular, ambitious and occasionally bemusing".[38] In a less positive review, Shaad D'Souza from Pitchfork commented the tour feel "unusually scrappy" compared to her "meticulous" and "highly conceptual" past shows.[112]
Tardiness lawsuits
Following a reported tardiness during its opening day in the North American leg, on December 13, Madonna and Live Nation faced a lawsuit in early January 2024, by two concertgoers.[134] They criticized Madonna, Live Nation and the arena venue of "unconscionable, unfair, and/or deceptive trade practices", with Live Nation responding, a technical issue caused the delay.[134] This was followed in April by another suit filled in Washington D.C. by concertgoers who accused her of showing "total disrespect for her fans".[135] In the document, the lawyers claim the singer made the fans "wait hours for her performance in a hot, uncomfortable arena".[135]
Impact
With over 600,000 tickets sold in a single day,[136][137] The Celebration Tour became one of the
world's fastest-selling concert tours with The New York Times describing it as "one of the year's big-ticket events".[25] On June 30, Billboard reported approximately 1.2 million tickets have been sold.[138] However, some media reports stated there were available tickets remaining, mainly after she postponed the tour due to illness and by
resellers.[139][25][140] Regarded as one of the most anticipated tours of 2023 by publications like
Pitchfork,[141] the then upcoming tour was called by Eric Frankenberg from Billboard as a "global victory lap". He also said it "further cementing her legacy as the Queen of Pop".[137] On October 24, 2023, Rolling Stone's John Lonsdale commented the tour is "already proving to become one of the most popular shows of both this and next year".[140]
On October 11, 2023, a
Royal Standard flag for Madonna's honor was created in O2 Arena to mark the arrival and duration of her accompanying shows. The giant flag made by
royal family's flag-makers,
Flying Colours Flagmakers, features an image of Madonna's 1986 album True Blue, with its creators saying "She is true pop royalty [...] We've been manufacturing flags for the Royal Family for over 20 years, but we've never made a flag quite like this".[142] Steve Sayer, Vice Presedent at O2 Arena, stated: "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 [...] This Royal Standard flag feels like a fitting tribute to pop royalty".[142]
According to Another Magazine, the tour dominated UK headlines "for a good few days" and the show is a "staggering feat that contextualised the performer's ascent to global stardom".[31]The Daily Telegraph's Stephen Doig, labeled as "a glorious testament not just to her longevity but her enduring status as an icon who's pushed the boundaries of music and fashion".[143] Similarly, Laura Snapes from The Guardian notes how some "critics praised its canny assessment of her musical, cultural and societal impact",[41] while she adds, the tour could be divide in two parts: How history shaped Madonna, and how Madonna shaped history.[144] Abel Olivares from Spanish music magazine Mondo Sonoro complimented the singer leading her own retrospective tour spotlighting the "good, bad, ugly and beautiful" moments of her career.[145]
Tourism
On January 19, 2023 during tour presales date, more than 90% of hotels around London's O2 Arena were booked up for Madonna's concert.[146] According to
Viagogo, fans from 71 countries attended to her London shows,[59] which represented a 130% spike in sales compared to average.[102] She was the second best-selling female performer of 2023.[102]
Madonna is set to perform on May 4, 2024, a free concert at
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[147] The event that routinely attracts crowds of over 1 million,[148][149] is expected by its organizers to draw between one and two million people,[150][151] and might be the biggest attendance of her career,[152] as well as one of the
largest attends in music history.[153]
Prior to her show's confirmation and participation, discussions about her impact on the local economy had already been addressed, notably by Rio de Janeiro's Municipal Secretary of Tourism.[154][147][155] According to a survey by the city's
prefecture which was based on an estimated one million attendees, the single event would yield an estimated
R$293.4 million; 30 times more than the
R$10 million invested, and a 20% rise in taxes over the same period last year.[150]Agência O Globo referred as the "Madonna effect" to the tourism boost closely associated with the singer, which include an increase of hotel bookings and airline flights.[156][157]
According to
Decolar, searches for flight tickets surged by 82% compared to the weekend before her show's announcement,[158] while searches for accommodations increased by 1000% on
Airbnb's platform.[153] Furthermore, the Union of Hotels and Accommodation of Rio de Janeiro (HotéisRio), reported a 30% increase in demand for accommodation in just one day within various establishments,[159] with full occupancy in the area expected near the event's date, what would represent a 20% increase over the previous year.[160][161][157] On April 1, 2024, the Brazilian Tourist Board,
Embratur, confirmed almost 7,500 airline tickets via Forward Keys, representing a nearly fourfold increase in the average number of international tourist arrivals at all Brazilian airports, and an overall increase to 27.3% of international flights compared to the same period in 2023.[161]
Set list
The following set list was obtained from the concert held on October 14, 2023, at the O2 Arena in London, England.[40][65][162] It does not represent all concerts for the duration of the tour.
Act I
"It's a Celebration" (Bob the Drag Queen introduction; includes elements of "
Lucky Star", "
Material Girl", "Vogue", "
Express Yourself" and "Bitch I'm Madonna")
During the concert in London, on October 14, 2023, Madonna performed "Little Star" a cappella as a tribute to her daughter,
Lourdes Leon, in celebration of her 27th birthday.[65]
The concert in London on October 15, 2023, ended immediately following the performance of "Rain", due to venue curfew restrictions and Madonna being late to start.[165]
During both concerts in Lisbon, on November 6 and 7, 2023, Madonna sang "
Sodade" by
Cesária Évora.[120]
During the concerts in New York City on December 13, 2023, and on January 23, 2024, Madonna sang "I Love New York" during the performance of "Burning Up".[166][167]
Starting from the concert in Boston on January 8, 2024, "I Will Survive" was replaced by "Express Yourself".[168][164] During that concert, and in Vancouver on February 21, 2024, Madonna performed "
This Little Light of Mine" acapella prior to the song.[169]
During the concerts in Toronto on January 11 and 12, 2024, and the concert in Detroit on January 15, 2024, "Rain" was replaced by "
Frozen",[164][170] while starting from the concert in Saint Paul on February 13, 2024, it was replaced by "
Take a Bow".[171][172]
During the concert in New York City on January 29, 2024,
Tokischa joined Madonna on stage to perform "Hung Up".[173]
^The tour was scheduled to begin on July 15, 2023, at the
Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada, but due to Madonna's bacterial infection, the start of the tour was delayed.[6]
^
abcdefExcept London and Paris, rest of the European dates' earnings are combined as total gross in Billboard[101]
^
abcdCombined totals for all Paris shows as per Billboard[101]
^Originally scheduled to take place on August 27, 2023, at
Madison Square Garden. For this show, tickets were completely refunded and attendees were required to buy new tickets.
^Most dates were originally scheduled from July 15 to October 7, 2023, but were rescheduled due to illness.
^
abcdOriginally scheduled to place on September 27, 28 & 30, and October 1, 2023, at the
Crypto.com Arena, respectively. For these shows, tickets were completely refunded and attendees were required to buy new tickets.
^Trebay, Guy (December 1, 2023). "Madonna Lived to Tell". The New York Times.
Archived from the original on December 9, 2023. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
^Mortensen, Emmy Musse (October 26, 2023).
"Koncertanmeldelse: Madonna i Royal Arena" [Concert review: Madonna at Royal Arena] (in Danish). Poplish.
Archived from the original on November 2, 2023. Retrieved November 2, 2023.