madonna the virgin tour wiki

The Virgin Tour

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The Virgin Tour was the first ever tour by Madonna . The tour only visited cities in North America and took place in 1985. It was originally planed to be a world tour,but it was restricted to North America and Canada only. It supported her first two albums Madonna (1983) and Like a Virgin (1984).The band Beastie Boys were signed to be the opening act.

Background  [ ]

The Virgin Tour was officially announced on March 15, 1985, by Warner Bros. Records label. Before the tour, the live performances of Madonna only shows limited at night in nightclubs like Danceteria, CBGB and the Mudd Club and at the MTV Video Music Awards for the first installment in 1984, where she played her song " Like a Virgin ". After the success of her second studio album Like a Virgin , the record company wanted the presentation of the album by sending a Madonna world tour. However, the tour was abridged by the United States and Canada. She did not visit Europe, Asia or other continents. At first there were plans to set dates in England and Japan because of the big Madonna fan base in both countries. In the end, several US dates They were added and the tour was moved to larger concert halls due to huge selling tickets. Madonna was very nervous to perform in front of a large audience, and singing with a live band for the first time. During a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone, the interviewer Austin Scaggs asked Madonna about her feelings and emotions during the tour, as it was the first time I was performing in front of large audiences. Madonna responded by saying:

"That whole tour was crazy because I was singing in small clubs like CBGB and the Mudd Club to introduce in sports stadiums. I acted in a small theater in Seattle and the girls wore college skirts, stockings below her knees, gloves . lace, beads, bows in their hair and big earrings I said, 'This is insane!' After Seattle, all the shows were moved to arenas. I've never done a bus tour. Everyone says they are really fun. "

Madonna commenting on "The Virgin Tour".

The 17.162 tickets for three shows in New York at the prestigious Radio City Music Hall were sold in 34 minutes breaking record sales. The same thing happened to the rest of the dates. The demand for tickets was so high that the presentations dedicated to very quiet places had to be changed to appear in larger venues like stadiums. In San Francisco, the tour shirts were sold at an average of six seconds each.

The collection revolves $ 17.8 million dollars. On this tour, Madonna performed the first successes of his career that were included in the previously released two studio albums by the singer: Madonna and Like a Virgin .

The first concert tour was limited only to the United States and Canada and did not cross either Europe or Asia, and its subsequent tours accustomed. Initially the idea was to plan dates in countries like Britain, France and Japan due to the large number of fans of Madonna that existed in these countries, however, dates finally published did not reflect this idea. It was not until 1987 in its second Who's That Girl World Tour when Madonna would visit those countries. In the end many of the initially planned dates were added other or moved due to the great demand for tickets and strong ticket sales. Madonna performed at each of the dates indicated without allowing any cancellation.

Madonna wore a short segment of the song "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson during the performance of "Like a Virgin". An interesting fact about this tour is the most fanatism of his assistants, who dressed and looked like Madonna.

Setlist [ ]

• " Dress You Up "
• " Holiday "
• " Into the Groove "
• " Everybody "
• " Gambler "
• " Borderline "
• " Lucky Star "
• " Crazy for You "
• " Over and Over "
• " Burning Up "
• " Like A Virgin " (contains excerpts from " Billie Jean ")
• " Material Girl "
• 1 Ray of Light Photoshoot
• 3 Erotica Photoshoot

Madonna The Virgin Tour

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The Virgin Tour was the debut concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna. The tour supported her first two studio albums, Madonna (1983) and Like a Virgin (1984). Although initially planned for an international audience, the tour was restricted to the United States and Canada. Warner Bros. Records decided to send Madonna on tour after "Like a Virgin" became a success. After an official announcement on March 15, 1985, Madonna and her team began production plans. She wanted the tour to be a reflection of her own self and collaborated with designer Maripol for the costumes.

Beastie Boys were signed as the opening act, while record producer Patrick Leonard was the music director. The stage was triangular and included ramps around it, with lighting arrangements hanging about 30 feet above. Four giant screens lined three sides of the stage's outer perimeter. The set list consisted of songs from Madonna and Like a Virgin. Madonna was backed by two dancers as she moved energetically across the stage. The show ended with her in a wedding dress, performing "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl".

The tour received a mixed reception from critics, but was a commercial success. As soon as it was announced, tickets were sold everywhere. Macy's New York department store was flooded with buyers, who bought tour merchandise ranging from shirts and sunglasses to crucifix earrings and fingerless gloves. On its end, the tour was reported to have grossed over $5 million, with Billboard Boxscore reporting a gross of $3.3 million.

The tour was recorded and released on VHS and LaserDisc, as Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour, which received a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). With the commencement of the Virgin Tour, a wide-ranging audience—especially young women—thronged to attend, attired in Madonna-inspired clothing. This frenzy regarding Madonna gave rise to a new term called Madonna wannabe—a word that was ultimately officially recognized by the Webster's Dictionary in May 1991.

Prior to the tour, Madonna's only live performances were limited to evening shows at Danceteria, CBGB and Mudd Club, and at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards, where she performed her song "Like a Virgin". Following the success of the Like a Virgin album, the record label wanted to milk-in the success of the album by sending Madonna on a worldwide tour. However, the tour was restricted within United States and Canada. It did not visit Europe, Asia or other continents. Early on there were plans to schedule dates in Britain and Japan due to Madonna's large fan bases in both countries, however the final schedule did not reflect the idea. In the end several more U.S. dates were added and the tour was moved to larger concert venues due to overwhelmingly strong ticket sales. Madonna was quite nervous to perform in front of a huge audience, and singing with a live band for the first time.

After the tour was confirmed, Madonna and her troupe started work on it. Madonna wanted it to be "loud and brazen, and a reflection of my street-style and DGAF attitude." She wanted a concert where people can enjoy themselves as much as she would enjoy performing. Commenting on the development, Madonna said "I normally hate performances where there is just a singer singing, and a lame-ass band playing in the background; or shows where there is a rocker screaming his lungs out and jumping on the crowd. That just plain sucks! That's why I wanted something different, something that would be memorable." For the show, Madonna collaborated with her designer friend Maripol for the clothes and the fashion. Maripol operated a small fabric boutique called Maripolitan in Greenwich Village, where the designs and the clothes for the tour were decided by her and Madonna. Rehearsals for the show started in late February, with auditions and choosing the dancers going on in-between. Madonna specifically wanted male back-up dancers, citing that the "provocating moves that I do on stage works better with men beside me." To further promote the tour, Warner Bros. Entertainers Merchandise Management Corp. introduced the Boy Toy collection, named after the belt buckle Madonna wore on the Like a Virgin album cover picture. It consisted of a rectangular buckle, with the words "Boy" and "Toy" emblazed on it in gold color. For choosing a music director for the tour, Madonna's manager Freddy DeMann contacted record producer Patrick Leonard, who had just returned from the Victory Tour by The Jackson 5. At first Leonard said no, feeling exhausted from the Victory Tour, but after he spoke to Madonna on the phone, he found her charming, and agreed to sign for the tour.

Beastie Boys were signed as the opening act for the tour. Adam "MCA" Yauch of the group recollected: "One day, Russell Simmons, co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, came in and said, 'Hey guess what—Madonna's manager called. Do you guys want to go on tour with her?" DeMann had asked for another group called The Fat Boys, but Simmons did not manage them and lied, saying "Oh, the Fat Boys have another gig that week. What about Run–D.M.C.?" But they were too expensive according to DeMann, and hence ultimately Beastie Boys were chosen. Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz from the band commented: "It's not like any of us knew Madonna that much, but we all used to hang out at Dancetaria, so we knew about each other. I don't know why she thought it would be a good idea though. It was a terrible idea. But it was great for her in a way because we were so awful that by the time she came onstage, the audience had to be happy." The circular stage for the tour, consisted of three ramps around the perimeter, which were connected with each other. A long line of stairs descended to the main stage from the central ramp; it was flanked by the band. About 30 feet above the stage, the speakers were suspended from a circular beam. Four giant screens lined the outer perimeter of the stage, on three sides.

The show opened with Beastie Boys performing six of their songs for 30 minutes. They were accompanied by their DJ, Rick Rubin, who scratched the music, with The Beastie Boys prancing around the stage, making lewd gestures towards the audience. As they finished their performance, the backdrops started displaying Madonna's images from her music videos. The band—consisting of guitarists, bassists, a drummer and three synthesizer players—came into focus, and the music started. Madonna's voice was heard, saying: "Don't be afraid... it's gonna be alright." Then, Madonna's silhouette appeared behind a white screen on top of the stairs as the first beats kicked in. The white screen lifted and she is finally seen, wearing a psychedelic housecoat, a blue see-through crop-top and her characteristic black bra. She also had lacy leggings and crucifixes around her ear and her neck. She posed on the stairs before reaching the microphone to sing "Dress You Up". After dancing to the last note of the music, Madonna and the two male back-up dancers went to the back of the stage, as the music of "Holiday" began. Taking a moment to ask the audience how they are feeling, Madonna declared, "I was never elected homecoming queen, but I sure feel like one now", and started the performance of "Into the Groove", playing a tambourine. A boombox was present on the stage during the performance, Madonna sitting and playing with it, and addressing it as her "box". She continued with "Everybody", while asking the audience to clap along with her. As she finished the vigorous performance of "Everybody", the lights were dimmed and the introduction music of "Angel" started. Rotating lights fell on the stage. Madonna appeared sitting on top of the stairs and gradually descended. During the intermediate bridge, she and her dancers moved energetically around the whole stage, as white balloons fell on them from above. Madonna continued singing as the lights were dimmed again. She finished the performance and disappeared behind the wings for a costume change. She appeared on the stage wearing a black, fringed micro-top and similar skirt, with her belly-button exposed, and a number of crucifixes in different sizes, hanging from different parts of her body.

As the guitar intro of "Gambler" started, Madonna stood on the side-stage and started dancing energetically, as flashlights fell on her. While singing the song, she sometimes opened her jacket and sometimes straddled a steel structure present on the side of the stage. The performance ended with Madonna jumping off the side stage, onto the main one. She then performed "Borderline", "Lucky Star" and "Crazy for You"—while touching the hands of the audience members. Madonna then returned to the microphone and started singing "Over and Over" from Like a Virgin. It was followed by "Burning Up" during which she caressed one of the guitarist, ultimately disappearing for another costume change. As the music of the song "Like a Virgin" started, Madonna returned on the stage, wearing a wedding dress, holding a bouquet in her hand and a long white veil behind her. Accessorized by a white bow atop her head and lacy, three-quarter length gloves, she also had a crucifix on her waistband and another hanging from a long chain around her neck. Madonna asked the audience "Will you marry me?" When the audience answered affirmatively, she threw the bouquet towards them and started singing the song. Madonna continued singing the song while rolling around the floor, and added a snippet of Michael Jackson's Motown-style single, "Billie Jean". Balloons floated out towards the audience again as she pulled apart her veil and threw it towards the audience. She returned to the stage in the arms of one of the backup dancers, wearing a boob tube and a tight white skirt, carrying a bunch of notes in her left hand, and a number of garlands around her neck. In a self-parodying performance of the song "Material Girl", at the end of the performance Madonna asked the audience "Do you really think I'm a material girl? ... I'm not ... Take it [Throwing fake money] ... I don't need money ... I need love." As she began to strip off more clothes and jewelry, she was apprehended and marched offstage by an extra posing as her father. In Detroit, her father Tony Ciccone himself did the honors. The show ended with Madonna returning onstage once more to take her fur coat and doing a curtsey.

The tour received generally mixed reviews from critics. Jason Stratley from The Philadelphia Inquirer said that "On stage, wiggling and writhing, a rock-video vision of messy, bleached- blond hair, bare skin, sequined paisley and dime store diamonds was the flash-and-trash rock queen Madonna. Behold the Madonna clones—she is turning into one fine legend." Jeff Sewald from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette felt that "the modus operandi [of the tour] was clear. Madonna was not only selling her music to throngs of teen-agers and adults alike, but she was selling herself and the entire package proved to be a joy for the 14,500 screaming fans. [...] Madonna's 'Virgin Tour' had torn the cover off Pittsburgh's sexuality." Rachel Lee from The Sacramento Bee felt that "more than any pop star in recent memory, even Boy George and Prince, Madonna is an image. Her hour-long concert here Tuesday night, as professionally performed and well-choreographed as it was, did nothing to give her more dimension than the two already bestowed on her." Arthur Daniels from Lexington Herald-Leader felt that "Madonna looked grim, but the fans were delighted when the blond rock star made her first major concert appearance to kick off her 'Virgin Tour'. [...] She looked blank and did not look up as she passed fans who gathered by the stage door before the show."

Robert Hilburn from the Los Angeles Times commented: "Madonna represents a contemporary fantasy figure that revives the glamour, innocence and raw sexuality of many of Madonna's own teen heroes, including Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. Like the early Monroe, Madonna may portray a bimbo, but there she's clearly no pushover. Though the audience was on its feet throughout, it often seemed that Madonna was operating beneath her potential in this pop format. It's important to demonstrate that she can handle herself live, but the simplicity of pop concerts doesn't begin to tax her ambition or talent. In fact, she has so little to do other than express this aggressive, sexy attitude that the show seemed long at just over an hour". Heidi Sherman from Spin commented, "The Virgin Tour was Madonna's first, yet it put her in the same league as Prince and Bruce Springsteen. It proved that Madonna was beyond real. And if her stage presence indicated she was more showgirl than musician, at least she knew how to gussy up her act for the postfeminist MTV age. Boy Toy? Not exactly. She was a bonafide pop star in the process of becoming a cultural icon."

Laura Fissinger from South Florida Sun-Sentinel felt that "'Virgin Tour' establishes Madonna more as a bimbo, rather than the strong, independent woman people think her to be." David O'Reilly from Philadelphia Daily News said that with the concert "Madonna proved once more why she was called a 'talentless bimbo'; it was utter trash." Richard Defendorf of Orlando Sentinel gave a positive review, saying "Madonna's 'Virgin Tour' was very enjoyable and she put her music video charms in her live performances." Maya Hathoray from The Miami Herald said that "We know [Madonna is] sexy, exotically beautiful and her funk/pop songs make us want to dance, but on stage, she is extremely tame compared to her raw persona in her music videos. She is like daddy's little girl." Mary Edgar Smith from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution observed that "It was obvious from the apparel of the young girls at last week's Virgin Tour concerts in Tampa and Orlando, Fla., that the 26-year-old singer had more to give to the music world than what others suggest. She will be a force to be reckoned with." Stephen Holden from The New York Times commented, "While her pubescent lookalike fans cheer approvingly, the star's manipulation of such symbols as a wedding gown, a cross, furs and jewels becomes a lighthearted communal psychodrama. Madonna has brought traditional little girl's games of dress-up and playing with dolls (using oneself as model) into the television age by turning them into a public spectacle." A review in Variety by John Gleeson said that "Madonna's singing was like a soundtrack to a more visceral display of herself, her persona, her nonstop dancing and her surprisingly explicit sexual dare, which included a visual climax—so to speak—to every other song." Paul Grein from Billboard said that "Madonna's show was stylish, well-paced and consistently entertaining."

As soon as the tour was announced, tickets were sold out almost everywhere. In San Francisco, tour shirts were selling at a clocked rate of one every six seconds. All 17,672 tickets for Madonna's show at New York City's Radio City Music Hall were completely sold out in a record-breaking 34 minutes. Both the shows at Chicago's UIC Pavilion were sold in a single day with a record breaking 18,000 tickets being sold. In Philadelphia, record breaking 31,000 tickets were sold in under four hours. Along with ticket sales, merchandise associated with the tour also sold rapidly. T-shirts, posters and promo-magazines featuring Madonna's image were picked up by the fans, even though most them were overpriced compared to the market value. After its end, the Virgin Tour was reported to have grossed over $5 million, with Billboard Boxscore reporting a gross of $3.3 million.

When the tour first started, people—especially women—thronged to see it wearing clothes inspired by Madonna. Debbi Voller, author of Madonna: The Style Book, observed that "Hundreds of thousands of young girls came to the concert dressed like her, with bleached and tousled hair, see-through tops, bras, fingerless gloves and crucifixes. Magazines and TV shows ran lookalike competitions." This frenzy regarding Madonna gave rise to a new term called Madonna wannabe—a word that was ultimately officially recognized by the Webster's Dictionary in May 1991. Madonna was mystified as to why all the women would want to copy her look. She commented,

"I never set out to be a role model. I am a strong woman, a successful woman, and I don't conform to a stereotype. For so long women have been told that there are certain ways they mustn't look if they want to get ahead in life. And there I was dressing in a forbidden way and yet obviously in charge of my life. It was then I realized why were all of them out there in their seats, dressing like me."

While the tour was going on, the American lingerie industry reported that their turnover was suddenly up by 40 percent and that Madonna's image was responsible for this underwear revival. Sam Gower from Rolling Stone commented, "In the sixties, women burned their bras, now they wear five at a time, and bare their belly buttons. Madonna has done for the corset and crucifix what punk did for the safety pin. Macy's New York department store was flooded with buyers, who bought the tour merchandise like the crucifix earrings and fingerless gloves." The demand was so huge that Macy's had to refill the merchandise time again. Madonna's subversive antics on the tour provoked fiery and antics among the press. Rolling Stone said: "Like Marilyn Monroe, Madonna is bent on epitomizing and championing a vision of female sexuality, and like Monroe she is often dismissed as an artist for doing so." Suzanne Ferriss, author of On Fashion said that "Virgin Tour exemplified Madonna's extended desire to treat boys as toys and her chastity belt coming off at her own whim and desire. Her dance numbers with men during the tour shows them as her underlings, accessories that she toys with and totally dominates."

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Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour

All the Madonna wannabes come out for the first tour that saw The "Queen of Pop" Legend begin. All the Madonna wannabes come out for the first tour that saw The "Queen of Pop" Legend begin. All the Madonna wannabes come out for the first tour that saw The "Queen of Pop" Legend begin.

• Daniel Kleinman
• James Foley
• Michael Perea
• Silvio Ciccone
• 3 User reviews
• 1 Critic review

• Self - Dancer …
• Self - Guitar

• Self - Bass Guitar …
• Self - Keyboards
• Self - Drums
• (as Jonathan P. Moffet)

• James Foley (opening sequence)
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• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia The performances of "Angel", "Borderline" and "Burning Up" were removed from the track list of the video, as Kleinman believed that Madonna's performance was not her best in them.

Madonna : "I went to New York. I had a dream. I wanted to be a big star, I didn't know anybody, I wanted to dance, I wanted to sing, I wanted to do all those things, I wanted to make people happy, I wanted to be famous, I wanted everybody to love me. I wanted to be a star. I worked really hard, and my dream came true."

• Connections Featured in Britney and Melissa's Total Male Makeover (1999)
• Soundtracks Dress You Up Written by Andrea LaRusso and Peggy Stanziale Performed by Madonna , Michael Perea , Lyndon B. Johnson , Patrick Leonard , Bill Meyers , Jonathan Moffett , Bill Lanphier , James Harrah and Paul Pesco .

User reviews 3

• Dec 15, 2008
• November 13, 1985 (United States)
• United States
• Madonna: The Virgin Tour - Live
• Detroit, Michigan, USA (Cobo Arena)
• Limelight Productions
• Sire Records Company
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

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• Runtime 50 minutes

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THE VIRGIN TOUR (1985)

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April 10 – Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. Paramount Theatre April 12 – Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. Paramount Theatre April 13 – Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. Paramount Theatre April 15 – Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall April 16 – Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall April 19 – San Diego, California, U.S.A. SDSU Open Air Theater April 20 – San Diego, California, U.S.A. SDSU Open Air Theater April 21 – Costa Mesa, California, U.S.A. Pacific Amphitheater April 23 – San Francisco, California, U.S.A. Civic Auditorium April 26 – Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. Universal Amphitheater April 27 – Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. Universal Amphitheater April 28 – Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. Universal Amphitheater April 30 – Tempe, Arizona, U.S.A. ASU Activity Center May 3 – Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. Convention Center May 4 – Houston, Texas, U.S.A. Hofheinz Pavilion May 5 – Austin, Texas, U.S.A. Frank Irwin Center May 7 – New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A. Lakefront Arena May 9 – Tampa, Florida, U.S.A. USF Sun Dome May 10 – Orlando, Florida, U.S.A. Orange County Civic Center May 11 – Miami, Florida, U.S.A. Sportatorium May 14 – Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. The Omni May 16 – Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A. Public Hall May 17 – Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.A. Cincinnati Gardens May 18 – Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. UIC Pavilion May 20 – Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. UIC Pavilion May 21 – St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A. Civic Center May 23 – Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Maple Leaf Gardens May 25 – Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. Cobo Hall May 26 – Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. Cobo Hall May 28 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Civic Center May 29 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. The Spectrum May 30 – Hampton, Virginia, U.S.A. Hampton Coliseum June 1 – Columbia, Maryland, U.S.A. Merriweather Post June 2 – Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.A. The Centrum June 3 – New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A. The Coliseum June 6 – New York City, New York, U.S.A. Radio City Music Hall June 7 – New York City, New York, U.S.A. Radio City Music Hall June 8 – New York City, New York, U.S.A. Radio City Music Hall June 10 – New York City, New York, U.S.A. Madison Square Garden June 11 – New York City, New York, U.S.A. Madison Square Garden

All the pictures watermarked Lanphier , have been posted in the gallery and merchandise sections with permission by Bill Lanphier

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Madonna: the virgin tour — live.

1985 Directed by James Foley , Daniel Kleinman

Madonna: The Virgin Tour — Live contains the concert footage from The Virgin Tour, filmed at Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan on May 25, 1985. Madonna launched her first major concert tour in support of her album Like a Virgin, and this video captures the Material Girl on-stage, baring her famous tummy and dancing up a storm as she belts out a set of hits from her first two albums.

Madonna Patrick Leonard Bill Meyers Jonathan Moffett Bill Lanphier James Harrah Paul Pesco Lyndon B. Johnson Michael Perea Silvio Ciccone

Directors Directors

James Foley Daniel Kleinman

Cinematography Cinematography

Jan de Bont Jerry Watson

WEA/Reprise

Alternative Title

Madonna The Virgin Tour Live

Music Documentary

Releases by Date

09 may 1985, releases by country.

• Theatrical PG-13

54 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by nathaxnne [hiatus <3] ★★★★½ 5

Madonna is a punk. Madonna is a punk because anyone could be Madonna, even Madonna. Madonna is a punk because no one could be Madonna, not even Madonna. Madonna wasn't a superstar because she was good at writing songs or dancing or putting together outfits. Madonna is a superstar because she is Madonna. what else is she going to do? other stars you can imagine them at other jobs, doing other things. Madonna u can imagine doing those jobs, u can imagine her doing any job, but they would all be the same and she would be the same at all of them, she would have that job and keep that job because she was Madonna not because she was…

Review by jonny 1

randomly bought this vhs at the thrift store yesterday and it turns out my mom attended this exact concert and there’s a shot of her in the crowd during like a virgin. fucking insane lol

Review by Callisto ★★ 2

Great concert film.

It's interesting reading what some critics had to say about this release:

The video received mixed reviews from critics. Annie Temple from Philadelphia Daily News said that the release was "not so flattering" and "was a sloppy job". Dennis Hunt from the Los Angeles Times said that "the video is sometimes distracting and blurry, wonder what went wrong during recording. The angles are awkward, especially when the audience members are shown touching Madonna's hand. Was it really necessary to show a fan coming unannounced on the stage?"

Equally interesting are these tidbits from the Wikipedia page about the tour in general:

While the tour was going on, the American lingerie industry reported that their turnover was suddenly…

Review by Ed_W00d ★★★½ 1

Petite rétrospective des spectacles de Madonna avant d'aller voir sa douzième tournée, le 18 janvier prochain.

On a ici sa toute première avec seulement deux albums derrière la cravate ( Madonna et Like a Virgin ), ce qui donne donc un concert très court, mais donné par une jeune femme de 27 ans en pleine possession de ses moyens.

Une heure de chant, de danses enflammées et de nostalgie des années 80! 🎤

Review by Hexed_Lee ★★★★½

Look, I know celeb worship is bad, don't obsess over people you don't know and haven't ever met, yadda yadda...but I love Madonna. Sometimes I think that's because I'd like to be Madonna, or be with Madonna, or maybe I'm just gay, but there's a huge amount of respect and adoration either way. I couldn't count the number of times I've listened to the songs off those first two albums, psyched up by her platitudes on Over and Over or Spotlight, going a little beyond '85.

But it's not just the music. It's the work ethic. In a lot of ways Madonna is the ultimate success story. Sure, she had a lot going for her, she was white, conventionally (very)…

Review by Michael Shawn ★★★½ 1

Seeing this for the first time after first experiencing most of Madonna's other tours, it's almost quaint. Her first big tour, it was just her, a couple of dancers, and a band. Some limited choreography. And a very limited set, devoted to her first two albums. Curiously, she doesn't perform one of her biggest early hits, "Borderline," nor does she sing "Angel." Both of these were released as singles, and yet non-singles "Gambler" and "Over and Over" are performed. Her singing is hit and miss, much of it due to her energetic dancing. And there are no big setpieces at all. It's a dull show by today's standards, but I guess it was just how they were done then. It's still entertaining and it's fun to see Madonna in her prime, but at an hour long, it leaves you wanting much more.

• Size Matters! — My Movie Collection (or, I’ll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours…)

Review by Jonatan Santana ★★★★

I was watching this today while I was taking a shower and it was awesome. Early Madonna is everything! That Like a Virgin/Billie Jean medley is simply perfection!

Review by Dylan Spice ★★★★

Madonna at her most raw as a preformer but even after only two albums she has more iconic hits than most pop stars do in a whole career.

Review by SergeGainsbourg ★★★★★

Peak performance.

Review by k swizzle ★★★★★

gambler most underrated madonna song

Review by lonewolfbklyn ★★★★★ 1

Her best tour, for her best album. Young, raw, charismatic Madonna captured at her peak. Pop doesn’t get much better than this. Her successful subsequent tours would get slicker, more produced, and set a template still followed today by wannabe pop tarts, but this has an naive magic that holds up.

Review by Andrew ❦

How the fuck was this her first tour?

Select your preferred poster

I love to perform, life on the road is a grueling and rough thing for me.

Madonna, 1985 .

Madonna kicked off her first major live show, The Virgin Tour , at the Seattle Paramount Theatre in April 1985, delighting thousands of fans in the US and Canada. The tour climaxed with a sell-out performance at the Radio City Hall in New York, where Madonna made history selling 19.000 tickets in 35 minutes.

Girls attended the concerts dressed up just like Madonna, wearing dozens of bracelets, crosses and laces, creating the “wannabe” phenomenon, while parents and the “moral majority” started questioning whether the show was too racy for teenagers.

Madonna commented saying:

I get out there and work. My fans love it, and they come from a wide range, and all kinds of backgrounds. If they’re happy, I’m happy, so much for all the goofs who wanna decide if my show deserves an R or an X rating.

One of the parts of the show that were considered too hot, was the spoken introduction to Everybody . Madonna used to bring a boom box on stage and then used to say:

Every girl has a box, but my box is special. Because mine makes music. But of course it has to be turned on.

Some parts of the show were probably considered too hot for home video at the time, as the Everybod y intro and songs such as Burning Up , with a sexually charged Madonna dancing all over the stage, are missing from the Warner official video of the Detroit gig of the tour.

Another two numbers missing from the home video are Borderline and Angel .

Madonna noted that her Virgin show was full of self irony:

If you can’t make jokes about yourself, then you’re not going to be happy. You’ll be the saddest person that ever lived. In my concerts there are so many moments when I just stand there and laugh at myself.

For the show’s ending, when “her father” comes on stage and drags her away, Madonna might have been inspired by an episode of her early life in Michigan.

She once told a music magazine that she performed at the St Andrew’s local talent show arriving on stage, wearing a bikini and covered from head to toe with fluorescent green paint, looking pratically naked. Her father was mortified and fuming and wanted to drag her off stage.

She recalled for Rolling Stone:

I was pratically naked, but the talent show was my one night a year to show them who I really was and what I could really be and I just wanted to do totally outrageous stuff.

During the Detroit concert of the Virgin Tour her real father, Silvio Ciccone , came on stage and dragged her away while the pre-recorded dialogue played at the end of Material Girl went:

Father : Madonna, come down off that stage this instant!

Madonna : Daddy is that you?

Father : Come down this instant young lady!

Madonna : But Daddy I’m having a good time!

Father : You heard what I said!

Madonna recorded a special spoken intro for the VHS release of The Virgin Tour .

The lines were a sort of short summary of her struggling days, done in a funny voice.

I went to New York I had a dream I wanted to be a big star I didn’t know anybody I wanted to dance I wanted to sing I wanted to do all those things I wanted to make people happy I wanted to be famous I wanted everybody to love me I wanted to be a star I worked really hard And my dream came true

Giving a look back at this tour’s Memorabilia, the most desirable item by fans today is by far the Tour Programme .

Being the Virgin Tour a Us/Canada tour only, it was hard at the time for fans from other parts of the planet to get this mini book with rare official photos from her first videos and beautiful images by Herb Ritts .

Among the other merchandise that was snapped up by fans at gigs there was a range of Boy Toy items, from tank tops to belts and T-shirts.

A selection of rosary beads and crucifix earrings was also available.

The Virgin Tour also sees the first appearance of the “ Madonna Money “. Madonna throws to the audience this specially created $100 bills from a nation called the “ Altered States Of Madonna ” during Material Girl, when she states that she needs love, not money, because money “it’s been nothing but trouble”.

Feeling nostalgic? Click here to read the original version of this article from the MadonnaTribe Vaults .

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Every Madonna Tour, Ranked

Looking back on the Queen of Pop's groundbreaking concerts over the years.

By Sal Cinquemani

Sal Cinquemani

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In 1974, at the age of 15, Madonna snuck out of her father’s house in suburban Detroit to attend David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs Tour. She was summarily grounded for the summer, but the punishment was worth it. “I don’t think that I breathed for two hours. It was the most amazing show that I’d ever seen,” Madonna said during a speech inducting the Thin White Duke into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

Madonna’s first two tours, 1985’s Virgin Tour and 1987’s Who’s That Girl World Tour, served as experiment labs for the burgeoning superstar. In 1990, her Blond Ambition World Tour revolutionized the pop concert. Drawing inspiration from Bowie’s theatricality, Prince’s cheeky flamboyance and Michael Jackson’s stage command, she offered audiences an immersive experience that went beyond conventional live performance.

Each of Madonna’s subsequent tours have pushed the boundaries even further, embracing technology for multimedia (and multi-sensory) presentations of her music. On the heels of her own induction into the Rock Hall of Fame in 2008, the singer’s Sticky & Sweet Tour became the highest grossing tour for a female artist in history – a record she held until 2023, when it was finally eclipsed by Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour, according to Billboard Boxscore.

Madonna could have hung up her corset long ago and she would still be one of the most successful live acts of all time. But she continues to push herself – and us. Her latest trek, the career-spanning Celebration Tour, will wrap up with a historic free show at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on May 4. The concert will be broadcast live on TV Globo and will likely see Madonna performing for her biggest audience to date – more than 40 years into her career.

To get in on the celebration, we’ve ranked all 12 of Madonna’s boundary-busting tours.

The Virgin Tour (1985)

Madonna’s very first tour was propelled, like most things related to the queen, almost entirely on the strength of her sheer force of will — and, of course, her raw talent. A magnetic and skilled performer (that toss and catch of the tambourine!), Madonna sprinted through a relatively short setlist culled largely from her first two albums, dancing and belting out hits like “Into the Groove” and “Burning Up” like her rent was due yesterday. But she didn’t need to worry about paying the bills for long: When the tour kicked off in April 1985, she was playing modest theaters; two months later, she was performing to a sold-out crowd of Madonna wannabes at Madison Square Garden.

Who’s That Girl World Tour (1987)

Compared to the Virgin Tour just two years earlier, Madonna stepped up the production values, choreography and theatricality for her first world (and stadium) tour. Dramatic performances of “Papa Don’t Preach,” “Live to Tell” and her then-most recent No. 1 on the Hot 100, “Who’s That Girl,” hinted at what was to come on future tours in terms of spectacle and ambition. Though it was only her second tour, Who’s That Girl would become the last of Madonna’s shows to resemble a conventional pop-rock concert.

Re-Invention World Tour (2004)

Coming off of the commercial disappointment of her 2003 album American Life , Madonna returned to the place she’s always thrived: the stage. The Re-Invention Tour was nothing she hadn’t done before or wouldn’t do better in the future, but — for the first time in years — she was embracing her past, performing rocked-out renditions of early hits “Burning Up” and “Material Girl” with electric guitar in hand, and even reinventing a few fan favorites like “Hanky Panky” and “Deeper and Deeper.” As for the queen herself, she was in top form both vocally and physically.

Madame X Tour (2019-2020)

Part jukebox musical, part avant-garde performance art and part standup special, the Madame X Tour revolved around a James Baldwin quote… and a typewriter. Yes, Madame X is a stenographer. The tour took place in theaters and opera houses instead of the usual arenas, offering a more intimate and interactive experience. Highlights included a jazzy version of “Human Nature,” a neo-noir restaging of “Vogue” and a crowd sing-along to the resistance anthem “I Rise.”

Rebel Heart Tour (2015-2016)

A blend of Cirque du Soleil, Broadway and burlesque, the Rebel Heart Tour saw dancers swinging on 10-foot stilts, dressed as nuns on stripper poles and sliding down giant LED screens. As for Madonna, she seemed more at ease on stage than ever, playing the coy chanteuse a la Blond Ambition and strumming the ukulele to “True Blue” – the first time she’d performed the song in nearly three decades. In fact, Rebel Heart was heavier on the hits than any tour since Re-Invention, including a Latin-infused medley of classics “Dress You Up,” “Into the Groove” and “Lucky Star,” as well as a modern twist on “Material Girl.”

Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008-2009)

After a first act that didn’t quite live up to the lofty standards Madonna had previously set, the Sticky & Sweet Tour eventually hit its stride. The ‘Gypsy’ and ‘Rave’ segments in particular – including an electrifying rendition of “La Isla Bonita” featuring Ukrainian group Kolpakov Trio and a heavy metal version of “Hung Up,” which ended with Madonna shredding her guitar to Pantera’s “A New Level” – were as exhilarating as any of her previous tours’ best moments.

The Celebration Tour (2023-2024)

Madonna’s latest tour is the sight and sound of a legend fully embracing her legacy. With no new album to promote, the setlist is packed with so many iconic songs – including a handful she’s never performed on tour before, such as “Bedtime Story” and “Bad Girl” – that more than a dozen of her 28 top 5 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 had to be omitted. A musical recounting of the Queen of Pop’s life and career, the Celebration Tour touches on her rise to fame in New York, the AIDS crisis (via a stirring rendition of “Live to Tell”), the media backlash she suffered in the early ‘90s and her spiritual rebirth, in which she rises like an AI phoenix on a glowing cube and — quicker than a ray of light — soars above the crowd. Masterful.

Drowned World Tour (2001)

Pioneered by bands like U2, live concerts had moved closer to multimedia presentations in the years since The Girlie Show in 1993, and Madonna fully embraced the artistic potential that new technology allowed. For her first tour in eight years, Madonna pulled out all of the stops: smoke machines, acrobatic stunts, line-dancing, even Japanese anime. And with only a handful of older songs making the cut – including tour staples “Holiday” and “Human Nature” – she proved she was still laser-focused on the present… and the future.

The MDNA Tour (2012)

Coming on the heels of Madonna’s iconic halftime performance at Super Bowl XLVI, the maximalist MDNA Tour was one of her most ambitious, employing elaborate stage combat, slacklining, Tetris-style cubes that rose 16 feet above the stage and a backdrop of eight rotating video screens. It was also one of her most intense shows. At 54, Madonna was in peak form, performing intricate choreography in spiked stilettos nonstop for two hours straight. The only chance she had to take a breath was during a surprisingly poignant piano version of “Like a Virgin” … after which the air was literally squeezed from her lungs by a corset being tightened around her. 

The Girlie Show (1993)

Inspired by cabaret and classic Hollywood musicals, The Girlie Show was a visual tour-de-force. The second act, dubbed ‘Studio 54,’ rivaled the ‘Religious’ segment from Blond Ambition for sheer catharsis, with the freedom of the orgiastic disco era (“Deeper and Deeper”) juxtaposed with the subsequent AIDS crisis (“In This Life”), as well as a captivating fever dream of choreography set to a remix of “Justify My Love.” Madonna was in fine voice throughout, growling her way through “Express Yourself” and harmonizing beautifully on “Rain.” She’s never had a better live band, either — and even mused about collaborating with them on an album, though it sadly never materialized.

Blond Ambition World Tour (1990)

With its elaborate costumes (courtesy of French designer Jean-Paul Gaultier), Broadway-style sets (designed by Madonna’s brother Christopher Ciccone) and quasi-narrative arc, the Blond Ambition Tour is the blueprint – the mother of the modern pop concert. The show infamously found Madonna exorcising herself of the guilt of her Catholic upbringing. The ‘Religious’ segment, which began with the singer simulating masturbation and ended with her facing the judgment of the male authority figures in her life (her father, the Pope, God), is among the most audaciously conceived and impeccably executed moments of stagecraft in touring history.

Confessions Tour (2006)

The Confessions Tour snags the top spot on our list for two reasons. First, it served as a culmination of everything Madonna had learned from Blond Ambition through Re-Invention, combining spectacle, drama and good ol’ fashioned performance mojo. Like its namesake, 2005’s Grammy-winning Confessions on a Dance Floor , the show struck a deft balance between dance-party hedonism and intimate introspection. Madonna’s 2000 Hot 100 chart-topper “Music” was transformed into a roller-disco fantasia, while a haunting rendition of “Live to Tell” saw the veteran provocateur suspended from a giant disco-fied cross in order to shine a light on the plight of AIDS in Africa.

Most importantly, Confessions was Madonna’s most cohesive and consistently thrilling show to date. Musical director Stuart Price skillfully arranged and remixed early hits like “Erotica” and “Like a Virgin” to fit the Eurodisco aesthetic of Confessions . Plus, each act of the show was a visual and aural smorgasbord, from the opening equestrian segment, which found Madonna emerging from a giant glitter ball and commanding a stripper-poll-cum-carousel-horse, to the extended finale, which mashed up “Lucky Star” and “Hung Up” into a nearly 15-minute explosion of ear and eye candy.

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Madonna's 1985 Virgin Tour Debut In Seattle

Madonna's "Virgin Tour” 1985 – the debut concert tour by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee – kicked off at Seattle's Paramount Theatre with the Beastie Boys as her opening act.

The KIRO 7 web team dug deep into the treasure trove of archived tape to find a snippet of Madonna's performance from 1985 – a clip that hasn't been broadcast since the night of Aug. 10, 1985. It shows nearly a minute of "Dress You Up," which was the first song she performed that night.

The clip from that night and the news story from that historic Seattle event are available only on KIROtv.com.

Before the Seattle debut of The Virgin Tour, Madonna played New York clubs and performed with Prince in Los Angeles. But that first performance in 1985 on a Wednesday night in Seattle was the start of her major concert dates.

According to Internet reviews of The Virgin Tour Wikipedia page, Madonna took to the triangular stage, surrounded by four giant screens, backed by two dancers and performing for the first time with a live band.

During a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone, Madonna reminisced about that starting point of what became a star-studded career.

"That whole tour was crazy, because I went from playing CBGB and the Mudd Club to playing sporting arenas," she told the magazine. "I played a small theater in Seattle, and the girls had flap skirts on and the tights cut off below their knees and lace gloves and rosaries and bows in their hair and big hoop earrings. I was like, 'This is insane!' After Seattle, all of the shows were moved to arenas."

Madonna had three shows in Seattle – April 10, 12 and 13 – and all three were sellouts by the time she took the stage that first night. The Beastie Boys weren't well received by the pro-Madonna crowd. The show was a year before "Licensed to Ill" was released

Their 30-minute set got off to a bad start when one of the Beastie Boys declared himself King of the Paramount, and generally made the pro-Madonna audience feel like a swarm of hillbillies, P-I pop music critic Gene Stout wrote in his review.

"Dressed in what looked like a Boy George outfit, she looked reluctant, almost scared, and kept her eyes on the ground as she and her small entourage swept past a modest gathering of fans," Stout wrote.

Madonna started the show with "Dress You Up," followed with "Holiday," and performed "Borderline" for the first time live as her seventh song. Madonna ended by debuting "Material Girl" as her encore. Click here to see a copy of her 1985 Seattle setlist .

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The Virgin Tour

1985 concert tour by madonna / from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, dear wikiwand ai, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:.

Can you list the top facts and stats about The Virgin Tour?

Summarize this article for a 10 year old

The Virgin Tour was the debut concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna . The tour supported her first two studio albums , Madonna (1983) and Like a Virgin (1984). Although initially planned for an international audience, the tour was restricted to the United States and Canada. Warner Bros. Records decided to send Madonna on tour after Like a Virgin became a success. After an official announcement on March 15, 1985, Madonna and her team began production plans. She wanted the tour to be a reflection of her own self and collaborated with designer Maripol for the costumes.

Beastie Boys were signed as the opening act, while record producer Patrick Leonard was the music director. The stage was triangular, with walkways and ramps around it, with lighting arrangements hanging about 30 feet above. Four giant screens lined three sides of the stage's outer perimeter. The setlist consisted of songs from her first two records, Madonna and Like a Virgin . Madonna was backed by two male dancers as she moved energetically across the stage. The show ended with her in a wedding dress, performing " Like a Virgin " and " Material Girl ".

The tour received a mixed reception from critics, but was a commercial success, with many newly-obsessed Madonna fans in attendance. As soon as it was announced, tickets were sold out nearly everywhere. Macy's New York department store created a “Madonna department”, where shoppers could find not only official tour merchandise, but also clothing, jewelry, and accessories to replicate what was considered (at the time) to be the Madonna “style”. The store was flooded with fans, who bought everything from chunky bracelets and bangles, scrunchies and headbands, to pearl necklaces and rings. The store also carried shoes, shirts, denim jackets, large sunglasses, and Madonna’s “signature” accessories: rosary-style necklaces, crucifix earrings, fingerless gloves, and even a replica of her iconic belt, with the metal buckle carved to say “BOY” in all capital letters. On its end, the tour was reported to have grossed over $5   million ($ 14.16   million in 2023 dollars [1] ), with Billboard Boxscore reporting a gross of $3.3   million ($ 9.35   million in 2023 dollars [1] ).

The tour was recorded and released on VHS , Betamax and LaserDisc , as Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour , which received a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). With the commencement of the Virgin Tour , a wide-ranging audience—especially young women—thronged to attend, all nearly decked-out in Madonna-inspired outfits. This frenzy surrounding Madonna gave rise to a new term called Madonna wannabe —a reference to her obsessive followers (during the mid-1980s) that would be officially recognized by the Webster's Dictionary in May 1991.

Category : The Virgin Tour

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Madonna returns to Austin after 40 years with sweaty, sexy Celebration Tour at Moody Center

“It took 40 years to invite me back,” Madonna told an Austin audience on Sunday night. “Should I take that personally?”

The Queen of Pop indeed last performed in the Live Music Capital in 1985 at the Erwin Center. Strange, but true (blue).  Perhaps the mistress of reinvention, ever looking for the new, waited until that venue was demolished and she could pack in two nights at Moody Center . She’ll perform again on Monday.

Regardless, Austin has missed a lot of Madonna over four decades. That made her retrospective Celebration Tour all the more spectacular — and if the cradle of weird can appreciate anything, it's a spectacle. 

Madonna postponed her original September dates following a health scare, and pent-up fan pride runneth over. Before the show, material girls and leather daddies filed through the corridors of the arena. Blonde Ambition-era high ponytails mingled with “Lucky Star” hair bows. Local drag artists like Brigitte Bandit — in full “Like a Virgin” regalia — posed for photos a few steps away from a Trisha Yearwood-branded nacho stand. On the floor, a group of middle-aged ladies in tulle skirts and fishnet gloves chatted next to a row of bears in decades-old concert tees. Accessorization was key. If you forgot your chunky silver cross pendant, hopefully someone could lend you their riding crop.

The air conditioner took the night off. The show had an 8:30 p.m. start time, but the main event didn’t get going until 10:30 p.m., when tour emcee Bob the Drag Queen emerged wearing the rosy contents of Marie Antoinette’s closet. 

“It’s showtime,” Bob said with a tongue pop. 

Her Madgesty lived up to her name, appearing as a holy apparition, much more exciting than her namesake’s various cameos on pieces of toast. Cloaked in a dark kimono with giant sleeve cutouts, Madonna donned a headpiece equal parts crown and halo to sing late-’90s techno earworm “Nothing Really Matters.”  A giant lighting rig circled above like an even larger hat from heaven. It’s right there in the name, folks.

“Nothing takes the past away/ Like the future,” she sang. The song made a fitting icebreaker for the mother of all pop music: “Everything I give you/ All comes back to me.”

Then it was off to the time machine — though as the star admitted later in the show, the setlist made emotional sense, if not always the chronological kind. First stop: Danceteria. Madonna conjured her early 1980s it-girl era with “Everybody” and “Into the Groove.” Dancers swarmed around her in thrift store finery and spotted the singer in a backbend. There was a lot of crotch work.

“I’m about to share the story of my life with you,” Madonna said during the first of several rambling, prickly stretches of crowd work that skirted right up to coherence but instead opted for a middle finger. Joined by a masked dancer dressed as her past self, she asked if everyone knew what a metaphor was. An audience member asked who her next boyfriend would be. “My next boyfriend is me,” she cracked.

Then, Madonna offered a sage bit of advice for the next two hours: “Embrace the confusion.”

The singer astral projected into CBGB with an electric guitar as her guide, shredding through “Burning Up” and spewing Budweiser at the front rows. (Shout out to the stage tech responsible for wiping up Ms. Ciccone’s beer spit immediately afterward.) 

So much of Sunday’s party hinged on awe-inspiring choreography. For “Open Your Heart,” Madonna and company made iconic use of a few chairs and the laps that went on top of them. For “Holiday,” the singer and her crew became a many-headed disco hydra massed around a mirror ball the size of New Jersey.

A trip through time also invited sorrow. At the end of “Holiday,” a dancer fell to the ground as Madonna gazed mournfully. She entered a floating picture frame rigged to the ceiling, one of the night’s most oft-used set pieces, for a gorgeous rendition of “Live to Tell.” Around her, photos memorialized icons lost to AIDS — Freddie Mercury, Keith Haring, Robert Mapplethorpe, Arthur Ashe, Cookie Mueller and more. An affecting vigil from a pioneering activist.

But this was a Madonna show, so then shirtless men in lace gimp masks came out to writhe around glowing crosses. Robed monks, rosary beads, a Catholic censer and a snippet of Sam Smith’s “Unholy” helped usher in “Like a Prayer.” One of her most controversial pop culture moments, the song played like a thumping salute to sacrilege and gymnastics.

Madonna put on a Marlene Dietrich wig and thrusted her way into the 1990s: “Erotica,” “Justify My Love” and “Bad Girl.” In the middle there, she squeezed in 2005’s “Hung Up,” which might have felt like an awkward fit for that act if not for the fleet of topless dancers.

Of course, Madonna couldn’t curate her legacy without two things: cone bras and “Vogue.” Bob the Drag Queen took the stage with a glittery bowler hat and a houndstooth fan to take Austin to the ballroom. Clips of the tour’s “Vogue” segment have gone viral for months, and it was just as joyful in person. A conically breasted Madonna always welcomes a special guest to help her judge a cavalcade of runway looks. For Sunday’s show, she brought up drag superstar Trixie Mattel , and the pair gave their 10s and chops as appropriate. A gay ol’ time.

The dancers weren’t the only ones falling into dips on stage. The setlist meandered a bit after Ginger Rogers danced on air and Rita Hayworth gave good face. “Human Nature” and “Crazy For You” led into James Bond theme “Die Another Day,” a song this reviewer appreciates for nostalgic reasons but admits is an oddball cut for a four-decade hit parade. If you longed to see Madonna dressed like a character from Alejandro Jodorowsky’s “The Holy Mountain” while dropping mainstream music’s foremost reference to Sigmund Freud, congrats.

The wide-brimmed hats kept coming. Madonna stripped to full cowgirl leathers, boot-scooted and strummed out “Don’t Tell Me” from the “Music” album. For “Mother Father,” she brought out son David Banda to sing and play guitar. (She also welcomed daughters Mercy and Estere onstage to perform during “Bad Girl” and “Vogue,” respectively.)

“People don’t get tired in Texas, do they?” Madonna asked after picking up her fallen cowboy hat with her foot. More freewheeling Madge moments: bragging on the kids, talking about forgiving herself for mistakes, berating an audience member for not lighting up his phone upon her command. 

“It’s so important you understand the concept of light,” she said while vamping about darkness and such. Madonna led the “boys and girls and theys and thems” in a campfire singalong to an acoustic “Express Yourself.” 

During “La Isla Bonita,” she projected jumbo photos of cultural revolutionaries like Sinead O’Connor, Che Guevara and Martin Luther King Jr. Not sure what the thematic connection between song and imagery was, but RIP Malcolm X — you would have loved dreaming of San Pedro, I guess.

As Madonna rounded the home stretch, she changed into a pink wig and textured silver catsuit that evoked Jane Lynch performing “Super Bass” on that one episode of “Glee.” Nevermind the sartorial critique: As Madonna soared above the arena in her aerial frame and doused the crowd in lasers during “Ray of Light,” she truly was goddess of her universe.

“Take a Bow” led into a questionable amount of time devoted to a Michael Jackson tribute. But there wasn’t much time to marinate on that, as Madonna stormed the stage flanked by her cadre of dancers, all dressed in recreations of some of her most famous looks. The finale: “Bitch I’m Madonna,” of course. 

Super Bowl Madonna strutted next to “Frozen” Madonna. If you’d sealed an Austin fan in a cryogenic tube for the decades since the pop icon last came to town, the multiversal procession might have driven them to madness.

But, then again … the American-Statesman’s review of Madonna’s 1985 show praised the “slick, polished, contemporary Las Vegas-style production.” The critic also wrote: “Madonna may be considered by some music critics as a fleeting pop star and her penchant for lingerie and erotic posturing understandably irritates feminists. Nevertheless, Madonna is a formidable, timely talent.” 

Erotic posturing. Formidable talent. She might be the living avatar of reinvention, but Madonna never lost her own plot. That’s something worth waiting 40 years to celebrate.

Eric Webb is an award-winning culture writer based in Austin. Find him at www.ericwebb.me .

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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.

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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.

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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

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