Madonna exceeded expectations opening night at the O2 in London during the first of four sold out nights of her Celebration Tour.
The pop icon who turned 65 in August hit the stage Saturday, October 14, after having to delay the kick off of the world tour due to a serious bacterial infection in June.
“I didn’t think I was going to make it, neither did my doctors. That’s why I woke up with all of my all of my children sitting around me,” she told the crowd about her mysterious illness that kneecapped her "crazy year."
Madonna told the Brits the thing that pulled her through were her family.
“If you want to know my secret, and you want to know how I pulled through and how I survive, I thought, ‘I’ve got to be there for my children. I have to survive for them,’” she said to cheers.
It was a family affair in London, and hopefully throughout the 78-date tour that will span 15 countries.
Her 17-year old daughter Mercy James tickled the ivories on “Bad Girl.”
Her three other daughters, Lourdes Leon and twins Stella and Estere, participated on the highly entertaining “Vogue” segment where dancers busted the famous moves on what looked like a three-tier wedding cake.
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Madonna split her two-hour performance into five acts which spanned her entire five-decade career.
None of her 14 studio albums were represented live with more than three songs each.
Her self titled debut, Erotica, Ray of Light and True Blue each had three tunes in the show. American Life and Bedtime Stories each had two tune plucked from them and placed in the spotlight. Nine other albums saw one tune performed and there were three cover songs.
Upon looking at this 28 track setlist of Madonna's does anything seem to be missing? Look at the last Act, the part where ones biggest songs might be.
Madonna, ever the rebel, did not perform "Like A Virgin" opening night. The title track of her breakthrough sophomore album, proved she was no flash in the pan but a force to be reckoned with for decades to come.
Tours were often highlighted by the performance of that titular tune, so to speak. But in London it was part of a video/silhouette tribute to Michael Jackson, her date to the Oscars back in the day.
“There was a period of time when we hung out," Madonna told Rolling Stone in 2009 about her relationship with the King of Pop in 1991. "He wanted to work with me, I think he wanted to get to know me, and I wanted to do the same. So that’s what we were doing: watching movies, having dinner, hanging out, going to the Oscars, being silly, seeing if we could work."
No music was ever made between the pair, so perhaps this little video segment of the video king and queen was appropo for the Celebration.
Opening night was a historic one for several songs which hadn't been performed live this century.
"Nothing Really Matters," "Justify My Love," "Bad Girl," "Little Star," "Bedtime Story," and "Rain" hadn't been heard in front of audiences since the '90s.
Meanwhile, "Mother and Father" and "Die Another Day" hadn't been performed since 2004's Re-Invention Tour.
The tour has several interesting statistics, according to its press release. Of note are:
8th Tour partnering with director Jamie King.
13th Culture shaping tour.
24 Onstage performers.
800 Square ft. of stage, the largest for any Madonna tour. Inspired by the grid of Manhattan with Uptown, Downtown, Midtown, East and West stages.
8 Humidifiers in Madonna’s dressing room.
3 Traveling mobile gyms.
3 Layered circular stage where the traditional main stage would be, inspired by the wedding cake of Madonna’s original VMA performance.
3 Physical therapists.
5 Family members on stage.
40 Pairs of boxing gloves.
230 Ft. of combined length of catwalk that gets Madonna 105ft far into the venue.
14 Spotlights for Madonna and over 600 intelligent lights to light the stage and arena with over 8800 lighting cues.
17 Archived costumes recreated.
4 Rehearsal venues.
80 Tons of production equipment.
200+ Traveling crew – 25 in the costume department alone.
How did the Brits like it? They seemed to love it.
You probably shouldn't miss this tour. Some nights are already sold out so now that the opening night has received rave reviews, you might want to get your tickets before it's too late. You can get them through Madonna's website.
THE CELEBRATION TOUR EUROPE DATES:
Sat, Oct 14 London, UK The O2
Sun, Oct 15 London, UK The O2
Tue, Oct 17 London, UK The O2
Wed, Oct 18 London, UK The O2
Sat, Oct 21 Antwerp, BE Sportpaleis
Sun, Oct 22 Antwerp, BE Sportpaleis
Tue, Oct 25 Copenhagen, DK Royal Arena
Thu, Oct 26 Copenhagen, DK Royal Arena
Sat, Oct 28 Stockholm, SE Tele2 Arena
Wed, Nov 01 Barcelona, ES Palau Sant Jordi
Thu, Nov 02 Barcelona, ES Palau Sant Jordi
Mon, Nov 06 Lisbon, PT Altice Arena
Tue, Nov 07 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
Tue, Nov. 16 Cologne, DE Lanxess Arena
Sun, Nov 19 Paris, FR Accor Arena
Mon, Nov 20 Paris, FR Accor Arena
Thu, Nov 23 Milan, IT Mediolanum Forum
Sat, Nov 25 Milan, IT Mediolanum Forum
Tue, Nov 28 Berlin, DE Mercedes-Benz Arena
Wed, Nov 29 Berlin, DE Mercedes-Benz Arena
Fri, Dec 1 Amsterdam, NL Ziggo Dome
Sat, Dec 2 Amsterdam, NL Ziggo Dome
Tue, Dec 5 London, U.K. The O2
Wed, Dec 6 London, U.K. The O2
THE CELEBRATION TOUR NORTH AMERICAN DATES:
Wed, Dec 13 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center
Thu, Dec 14 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center
Sat, Dec 16 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center
Mon, Dec 18 Washington, US Capital One Arena
Tue, Dec 19 Washington, US Capital One Arena
Mon, Jan 8 Boston, MA TD Garden
Tue, Jan 9 Boston, MA TD Garden
Thu, Jan 11 Toronto, CA Scotiabank Arena
Fri, Jan 12 Toronto, CA Scotiabank Arena
Mon, Jan 15 Detroit, US Little Caesars Arena
Thu, Jan 18 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
Sat, Jan 20 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
Mon, Jan 22 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Tue, Jan 23 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Thu, Jan 25 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
Mon, Jan 29 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Thu, Feb 1 Chicago, IL The United Center
Fri, Feb 2 Chicago, IL The United Center
Mon, Feb 5 Pittsburgh, US PPG Paints Arena
Thu, Feb 8 Cleveland, US Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse
Tue, Feb 13 Saint Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
Sat, Feb 17 Seattle, US Climate Pledge Arena
Sun, Feb 18 Seattle, US Climate Pledge Arena
Wed, Feb 21 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
Sat, Feb 24 Sacramento, US Golden 1 Center
Tue, Feb 27 San Francisco, CA Chase Center
Wed, Feb 28 San Francisco, CA Chase Center
Fri, Mar 1 Las Vegas, US T-Mobile Arena
Sat, Mar 2 Las Vegas, US T-Mobile Arena
Mon, Mar 4 Los Angeles, CA Kia Forum
Tue, Mar 5 Los Angeles, CA Kia Forum
Thu, Mar 7 Los Angeles, CA Kia Forum
Sat, Mar 9 Los Angeles, CA Kia Forum
Mon, Mar 11 Los Angeles, CA Kia Forum
Wed, Mar 13 Palm Springs, US Acrisure ArenaS
at, Mar 16 Phoenix, US Footprint Center
Tue, Mar 19 Denver, US Ball Arena
Sun, Mar 24 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
Mon, Mar 24 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
Thu, Mar 28 Houston, TX Toyota Centre
Fri, Mar 29 Houston, TX Toyota Centre
Mon, Apr 1 Atlanta, US State Farm Arena
Thu, Apr 4 Tampa, FL Amalie Arena
Sat, Apr 6 Miami, US Miami-Dade Arena
Sun, Apr 7 Miami, US Miami-Dade Arena
Sun, Apr 14 Austin, TX Moody Center
Mon, Apr 15 Austin, TX Moody Center
The Celebration Tour Mexico Dates
Sat, Apr 20 Mexico City, MX Palacio De Los Deportes
Sun, Apr 21 Mexico City, MX Palacio De Los Deportes
Tue, Apr 23 Mexico City, MX Palacio De Los Deportes
Wed, Apr 24 Mexico City, MX Palacio De Los Deportes
