madonna the celebration world tour

Madonna Unveils Ultimate Greatest Hits Show ‘The Celebration Tour’

• By Larisha Paul

Larisha Paul

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Jem Aswad

Executive Editor, Music

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

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

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

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

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

THE CELEBRATION TOUR NORTH AMERICAN DATES:  

Sat Jul 15 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena 

Sat Jul 22 – Phoenix, AZ – Footprint Center 

Tue Jul 25 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena 

Thu Jul 27 – Tulsa, OK – BOK Center 

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

Wed Aug 02 – Cleveland, OH – Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse 

Sat Aug 05 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena 

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

Wed Aug 09 – Chicago, IL – United Center 

Sun Aug 13 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena 

Sat Aug 19 – Montreal, QC – Centre Bell 

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

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

Wed Aug 30 – Boston, MA – TD Garden 

Sat Sep 02 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena 

Tue Sep 05 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena 

Thu Sep 07 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena 

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

Wed Sep 13 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center 

Mon Sep 18 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center 

Thu Sep 21 – Austin, TX – Moody Center ATX 

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

Wed Oct 04 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center 

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

THE CELEBRATION TOUR EUROPE DATES:  

Sat Oct 14 – London, UK – The O2 

Sat Oct 21 – Antwerp, BE – Sportpaleis 

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

Sat Oct 28 – Stockholm, SE – Tele2 

Wed Nov 01 – Barcelona, ES – Palau Sant Jordi 

Mon Nov 06 – Lisbon, PT – Altice Arena 

Sun Nov 12 – Paris, FR – Accor Arena 

Mon Nov 13 – Paris, FR – Accor Arena 

Wed Nov 15 – Cologne, DE – Lanxess Arena 

Thu Nov 23 – Milan, IT – Mediolanum Forum 

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

Fri Dec 1 – Amsterdam, NL – Ziggo Dome 

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Madonna Sets Dates For 2023 Hit-Filled ’Celebration Tour’ – See Complete Roster

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Madonna has announced details about her upcoming world tour, dubbed The Celebration Tour , confirming the project in a starry video that mirrors a scene from the 1990 documentary Truth Or Dare.

The video – see it below, but it’s probably NSFW – features the singer at a dinner party with guests including Jack Black, Lil Wayne, Judd Apatow, Diplo and others, with each playing the Truth or Dare game. When it comes to Amy Schumer’s turn, she dares Madonna to go on a tour performing her many hits. Madonna takes the dare.

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Bob the Drag Queen will appear as a special guest on the tour.

Tickets go on sale Friday, January 20 at 10 a.m. local time at madonna.com/tour.

THE CELEBRATION TOUR NORTH AMERICAN DATES:

Sat Jul 15 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena

Tue Jul 18 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena

Sat Jul 22 – Phoenix, AZ – Footprint Center

Tue Jul 25 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena

Thu Jul 27 – Tulsa, OK – BOK Center

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

Wed Aug 02 – Cleveland, OH – Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse

Sat Aug 05 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena

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

Wed Aug 09 – Chicago, IL – United Center

Sun Aug 13 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena

Sat Aug 19 – Montreal, QC – Centre Bell

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

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

Wed Aug 30 – Boston, MA – TD Garden

Sat Sep 02 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena

Tue Sep 05 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena

Thu Sep 07 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena

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

Wed Sep 13 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center

Mon Sep 18 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center

Thu Sep 21 – Austin, TX – Moody Center ATX

Wed Oct 04 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center

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

THE CELEBRATION TOUR EUROPE DATES:

Sat Oct 14 – London, UK – The O2

Sat Oct 21 – Antwerp, BE – Sportpaleis

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

Sat Oct 28 – Stockholm, SE – Tele2

Wed Nov 01 – Barcelona, ES – Palau Sant Jordi

Mon Nov 06 – Lisbon, PT – Altice Arena

Sun Nov 12 – Paris, FR – Accor Arena

Mon Nov 13 – Paris, FR – Accor Arena

Wed Nov 15 – Cologne, DE – Lanxess Arena

Thu Nov 23 – Milan, IT – Mediolanum Forum

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

Fri Dec 1 – Amsterdam, NL – Ziggo Dome

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Madonna announces The Celebration global world tour to mark 40th anniversary

The Celebration tour will mark four decades of Madonna's greatest hits, starting with her self-titled debut album, and will include a date at London's O2 Arena. The star revealed the news with a video announcement - featuring cameos from several other well-known stars.

By Gemma Peplow, arts and entertainment reporter

Tuesday 17 January 2023 16:56, UK

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Madonna has announced a major world tour marking her 40th anniversary, including a show at London's O2 Arena.

The announcement comes after weeks of speculation the Queen of Pop had been planning something big to celebrate her career since the release of her self-titled debut album, which launched her on the path to stardom with hits including Holiday, Lucky Star and Borderline.

Writing on Instagram - after previously clearing her page to make way for the news - Madonna simply said: "Come join the party!" In a statement sent to Sky News, she said: "I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for."

The Celebration tour will feature the 64-year-old artist's four decades of greatest hits, starting in Vancouver, Canada, on 15 July. The star will play gigs across Canada and the US between July and October, before launching the European leg at the O2 on 14 October.

She will follow this with shows in cities including Barcelona, Paris and Berlin, finishing in Amsterdam on 1 December - taking in 35 cities in total.

Tickets will likely sell out quickly, so it is possible there could be an announcement of further shows to come.

As the tour was revealed on big screens featuring clips from her back-catalogue in London, Madonna also released a video featuring stars including Diplo, Judd Apatow, Jack Black, Lil Wayne and Bob The Drag Queen, culminating with Amy Schumer daring the star to take on the tour of her career so far.

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Madonna is one of the biggest-selling artists of all time and the best-selling female artist in the world, holding numerous records in the US and UK - with 13 number one singles in the UK she has more than any other female artist, as well as 12 number one albums.

In 2022, she became the first woman to chart in the US Billboard top 10 in every decade since the 1980s.

Her last tour was the smaller Madame X tour in 2019 and 2020, which saw the star performing at more intimate theatre venues. However, the shows were delayed due to the singer suffering knee and hip problems, and some were cancelled due to the pandemic. This time round, she will be on stage at major arenas, including Madison Square Garden in New York.

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'She needs no introduction'

Over the years, Madonna has been known for continuously reinventing her music and her image, with hits including Like A Virgin, Into The Groove, Papa Don't Preach and Like A Prayer in the 1980s; Vogue, Justify My Love, Erotica and Frozen in the 1990s; and Music, Hung Up, Sorry, and collaborations with Britney Spears (Me Against The Music) and Justin Timberlake (4 Minutes) in the 2000s.

Her first greatest hits album, The Immaculate Collection, released in 1990, is one of the best-selling albums of all time, with reported sales of around 30 million. Overall, she is reported to have sold up to 300 million records worldwide.

A multi-Grammy, Brit and Ivor Novello winning performer, she was also inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2008, her first year of eligibility, for which she was described in her introduction as "the record-setting, line-crossing, sexuality-flaunting, ever-evolving Material Girl".

It continued: "Madonna is an icon. With her larger than life persona and penchant for provocation, she needs no introduction."

As well as her music, the star is almost as famous for pushing boundaries with fashion and her choices of controversial and even explicit outfits over the decades.

In the early days of her career, she pioneered the "underwear as outerwear" trend by wearing a corset bodysuit with conical bra cups, designed by Jean Paul Gaultier, and in 1992 published Sex, a book of erotic photographs.

In 2016, she attended the Met Gala in a bondage-inspired Givenchy outfit featuring leather, lace, thigh-high boots, a thong and nipple pasties; in 2021, she hit out at Instagram for taking down provocative photographs in which her nipple was exposed.

Read more from Sky News Entertainment: Taylor Swift: The Ticketmaster tour chaos explained Blur announce reunion for one-off Wembley gig Peter Kay announces first stand-up tour in 12 years

In 2022, the singer revisited a number of tracks which made her an international star, including a new take on her 1998 classic Frozen, which she recorded with Canadian musician Sickick, and a remix of her dance hit Hung Up with Dominican rapper Tokischa.

It followed a reformed partnership with her previous long-time record label Warner Music Group, which produced her debut single in 1982.

Tickets for Madonna: The Celebration tour will go on sale on Friday.

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Madonna Finally Kicks Off Celebration World Tour In London  

By Eve Batey

It was a stressful summer for Madonna fans. Just weeks before her 78-stop career-retrospective Celebration World Tour was set to kick off in North America, the singer was rushed to a New York City hospital for a severe bacterial infection that prompted her to cancel that continent’s dates . But the 65-year-old icon and mother of six isn’t known as the hardest-working woman in show business for nothing, and on Saturday, she reclaimed the stage to rave reviews.

Madonna’s stop at London’s 20,000-seat O2 arena had been on the books since tour plans began, but when her health scare paused her Celebration schedule, Oct. 14 became its de facto kickoff date. This is her 13th tour, and her first since 2020; as the name promises, it’s intended as a celebration of her four decades of hits. An opening-night set list captured by Billboard suggests that the show lived up to its name: early songs like “Holiday” and “Burning Up,” career highs such as “Like a Prayer” and Vogue,” and 2000s-era entries like “Music” and “Bitch I’m Madonna” all made an appearance.

Of course, fans had to wait a bit to hear those hits. Technical difficulties meant the show was delayed by 30 minutes, the New York Times reports . Four songs in, yet another delay, prompting Madonna to say, “This is exactly what you don’t want to happen on your opening night, so this wasn’t planned. I’m sorry,” AFP reports . 

While her crew worked to restore order, she regaled the crowd with some early-career anecdotes, including her days of housing struggles. “I had no way to take a bath,” she said of her younger days in New York. “So I would actually date men who had showers and bathrooms. Those were the days, and that is the truth.”

“I’m pretty damned surprised that I made it this far, and I mean that on so many levels. How did I make it this far? Because of you. I’m going to take a bit of credit, too.”

She also addressed her June health crisis, saying, “It was a crazy year for me and I didn’t think I was going to make it. I forgot five days of my life.”

“But the angels were protecting me and my children were there and my children always save me every time. And if you want to know a secret as to how I survived, I thought, ‘I have to survive for them. I have to survive for my children.’”

The hotly-anticipated show was met by critical praise—not a given for the star, who noted Saturday that “To age is to sin. I think the most controversial thing I’ve done is to stick around.” According to The Independent’s critic, Helen Brown , “I’ve sat through a couple of Madonna’s more robotic stadium shows in the past, feeling as though I was bearing witness to a seven-figure PowerPoint presentation from Brand Madonna. But at 65, the woman who once sang of wanting to “conquer and deliver and despise” the world has a renewed appetite for human connection.”

Writing for the BBC , Mark Savage says that Madonna “looked and sounded incredible throughout, moving from one elaborate set-piece to the next with conviction and power.” Variety’s Mark Sutherland agrees, writing, “Madonna still doesn’t know how to quit, boy, has she learned how to come back.”

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Madonna’s Celebration Tour pulls record 1.6M fans into the groove at Rio’s Copacabana

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More than a million music fans gathered at Brazil’s iconic Copacabana beach to prove their love to Madonna over the weekend.

The “Get into the Groove” and “Vogue” pop diva concluded her career-spanning Celebration Tour with a bang over the weekend, treating fans in Rio de Janeiro to a free beach concert on Saturday. “This really happened,” the singer reminisced in an Instagram video shared Sunday.

The Instagram clip shows an aerial view of attendees assembling on the sandy Brazilian strip, which stretches more than 2 miles along the coast. While some fans danced on the beach, others hosted house parties in nearby beachfront apartments and hotels, the Associated Press reported.

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

Madonna brought her career-spanning Celebration tour to the Kia Forum for a night of hits, memories and grievances.

March 5, 2024

“This place is magic,” the 65-year-old singing icon said during her show, which also featured appearances from Brazilian artists Anitta and Pabllo Vittar.

An estimated 1.6 million people gathered for Madonna’s Celebration Tour finale, Brazilian outlet G1 reported, citing Rio City Hall’s tourism agency. The event was also broadcast on Brazilian network TV Globo. Even before a million-plus fans descended on Copacabana over the weekend, Madonna announced in late March that her send-off would be her “biggest gig yet.”

“The show will be free of charge as a thank you to her fans for celebrating more than four decades of her music over the course of the epic global run of the tour,” her website said.

Saturday’s concert broke Madge’s personal attendance record — 130,000 fans at Paris’ Parc des Sceaux in 1987 — by more than tenfold. Madonna also bested the record previously held by the Rolling Stones’ 2006 Copacabana concert , which drew 1.5 million people.

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” @Madonna makes history in Rio tonight marking the largest ever standalone concert for any artist, with over 1.6 million fans attending as she closes The Celebration Tour,” Live Nation announced on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday.

Madonna’s Celebration Tour launched in October, months after she was hospitalized for a bacterial infection last June. The Grammy winner brought her headline-generating tour to Inglewood’s Kia Forum for several nights in March.

Times critic Mikael Wood wrote that the singer’s Celebration Tour “ was curiously short on joy. ”

“A pop concert is a theater of personality and craft, not one of plot or character development,” he added. “But a narrative this messy needed more razzle-dazzle.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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MADONNA ADDS NEW DATES TO THE CELEBRATION TOUR

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

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Madonna kicks off Celebration Tour with nonstop hits, performance from her daughter

Madonna officially kicked off her Celebration World Tour in London over the weekend, wowing fans with a litany of hits and memorable surprises.

Among the highlights of the show at O2 Arena on Saturday was when the pop icon sang a snippet of "Little Star," which she dedicated to her daughter Lourdes Leon, who celebrated her 27th birthday on opening night.

Leon appeared alongside Madonna's 11-year-old daughter Estere, who impressed the crowd when she vogued onstage.

Madonna and Leon both looked on proudly as Estere moved across the stage.

Many of the Queen of Pop's most beloved songs were included in the set list, from "Into the Groove" to "Open Your Heart" to "Vogue," as well as "Live to Tell," "Like a Prayer," "Ray of Light" and "Holiday."

Variety noted that she threw some snippets of other artists' songs into the mix, including Sam Smith and Kim Petras' "Unholy" and Prince's "Let's Go Crazy." She also performed a cover of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" and did a mashup of her late friend Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" and her own hit "Like a Virgin."

Madonna highlighted the controversy she's caused in her career by showing news headlines and video montages throughout the evening, according to Variety. The video screens also paid tribute to friends she'd lost to AIDS, and she offered a plea for peace in the Middle East. At various times, she "flew" over the crowd in an illuminated "portal" that took her through different eras in her career.

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The Celebration World Tour continues with two more sold out shows at London's O2 Arena on Oct. 17 and 18 before heading to Europe. It arrives in the U.S. in December, kicking off the North American leg of the tour with three shows at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Here's the full set list, according to Madonna's team:

• "Celebration Intro/Nothing Really Matters"
• "Everybody"
• "Into the Groove"
• "Burning Up"
• "Open Your Heart"
• "Holiday"
• "Live to Tell"
• "Like a Prayer"
• "Act of Living For Love/The 90's"
• "Erotica"/"Papa Don't Preach"
• "Justify My Love"/"Fever"
• "Hung Up on Tokischa"
• "Bad Girl"
• "Vogue" (Estere's Ball)
• "Human Nature"/"Crazy For You"
• "The Beast Within" (Interlude)
• "Die Another Day"
• "Don't Tell Me"
• "Mother and Father"
• "I Will Survive"/"La Isla Bonita"/"Don't Cry For Me Argentina"
• "I Don't Search I Find" (Interlude)
• "Bedtime Story"
• "Ray of Light"
• "Rain"
• "Billie Jean" vs. "Like A Virgin"
• "Give Me All Your Luvin'/B**** I'm Madonna"

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Madonna unveils 2023 world tour dates with wild celeb-filled 'Truth or Dare' video

NEW YORK — Madonna will "Take a Bow" with a new tour through North America and Europe starting this summer that will be a "Celebration" of the pop icon’s hits, which include 38 songs in the Billboard Hot 100.

The artist, 64, announced the tour Tuesday with a  star-studded video that nodded to her 1991 film "Truth or Dare" with a roundtable featuring Diplo, Judd Apatow, Jack Black, Lil Wayne, Bob The Drag Queen, Kate Berlant, Larry Owens, Meg Stalter, Eric Andre and Amy Schumer as the group plays a NSFW version of truth or dare.

"Madonna, I dare you to do a world tour and play your greatest (expletive) hits," Schumer challenges. 

"Four decades? As in 40 years? As in all those songs?" Madonna replies. "That's a lot of songs. You think people would come to that show?" 

The room's consensus is yes. 

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

"OK, so the answer is: (expletive) yeah," Madonna says as the rest of the celebrities erupt into cheers, shouting "Madonna world tour!"

Evan Rachel Wood on her Madonna transformation: She 'is the most confident person on Earth'

When is the Madonna: The Celebration Tour?

The 35-city Live Nation-backed Madonna: The Celebration Tour will kick off July 15 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, with stops in Detroit, Chicago, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Denver, Atlanta and Boston, among others. That leg ends on Oct. 7 in Las Vegas.

Then the Material Girl hits Europe, where she has 11 dates throughout the fall, including London, Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, Milan and Stockholm, among others. The tour will wrap in Amsterdam on Dec. 1.

Tickets go on sale starting Friday, Jan. 20.

Review: Madonna's 'Madame X' concert film is compelling and confounding

What music is Madonna performing during her tour?

The singer will "be highlighting her unmatched catalog of music from the past 40-plus years," according to the announcement. It will also "pay respect to the city of New York, where her career in music began."

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

Some of Madonna’s Hot 100 hits include "Vogue," "Music," "Crazy For You," "Like a Virgin," "Like a Prayer," "Justify My Love," "Live to Tell" and "Papa Don’t Preach."

Madonna covers Vanity Fair 'Icons Issue'

Vanity Fair Italy, France and Spain teamed up for a joint " Icons Issue " featuring Madonna on the cover in honor of her Celebration Tour. When asked about how much her provocative and highly criticized career has cost her, the pop star said she "could answer several billion" dollars , but "the thing it’s cost me the most is loss of sleep and maybe less time spent with people I love – also peace of mind. But I feel that it is a necessary part of the journey I am on and it’s a price I have accepted."

Madonna has pushed boundaries throughout her career, but it's simply reflective of her environment. Vanity Fair Italy called her a pioneer of inclusivity and she seemed resistant to accepting the label. "I am not really sure what it means to say I was one of the first," she said. "The people who supported me were largely members of the LGBTQ+ community and of different ethnicities. That was my support system, so why wouldn’t I in turn support and champion them?"

Madonna discusses her relationship with religion

Madonna's persona and stage name is based on Catholic figure The Madonna or The Virgin Mary, a choice that has been met with backlash since the start of her career. Although she was raised Catholic, she told Vanity Fair that she's never taken criticism to heart. "I thought if the Catholic Church did not perceive my work as an artist as doing something good, then that was their problem and an extension of their narrow mindedness and inability to see that anything that brings people together," Madonna said.

Today, Madonna is "not subscribing to religious groups that are exclusive of others or extremist in any shape," but she does "think it’s important to have ritualistic behavior and a spiritual life."

"My relationship with religion is that I remain very involved in my own spiritual practice and I think it’s imperative for everyone to have a spiritual practice – but I am not defining that for other people," the singer added.

Contributing: Naledi Ushe, Hannah Yasharoff, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

More: Madonna’s ‘Erotica’ showed that sex doesn’t always sell. But it can move the needle.

And: Watch Madonna 'disturb the peace,' share her 'Matrix' regret in wild Jimmy Fallon interview

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The Amplifier

Madonna’s hits-filled celebration tour, dissected.

Hear five standouts from the set, and six we wish she’d played.

By Caryn Ganz

Dear listeners,

Lindsay is desperately seeking some time off this week, so I am the first of your guest playlisters: Caryn, the pop music editor. I’m going to tell you a secret — you could consider it one of my confessions on a dance floor. I saw Madonna’s Celebration Tour seven times; eight if you include the livestream from Rio de Janeiro on Saturday night, where the Queen of Pop wrapped her first-ever retrospective with a free show before an estimated 1.6 million people on Copacabana Beach.

Some have asked why, so a brief explanation: I believe Madonna is the most important and influential solo figure in pop history, and I don’t skip opportunities to see her onstage, where she has innovated and thrilled throughout her four-decade career. (If you’re wondering who was behind “ 60 Times Madonna Changed Our Culture ,” wonder no more.) I was too young to catch the Virgin or Who’s That Girl tours — and nobody took me to Blond Ambition or the Girlie Show (ahem, parents) — so my live history begins with Drowned World in 2001 and I have done my best to catch up.

The Confessions Tour from 2006 is the best I’ve seen in person, the Tears of a Clown revival at Art Basel in 2016 was the zaniest, and Celebration is the first one I’ve reviewed (on its U.S. leg’s opening night in October). Repeated viewings haven’t changed my initial critical overview, though some parts of the show grew on me, some vocal performances sharpened up, and some of the extemporaneous speeches Madonna gave during the two breaks each night designed for them were stunningly raw and moving. (See Bonus Tracks below for more on that.)

But the point of today’s playlist is to take a deeper (and deeper) look at the songs Madonna did — and didn’t — select for the tour. The first five tracks are my favorites from the show, which has a lot to do with how she staged them. The second six are songs that were sorely missed, so should you ever do a Celebration 2, M, please consider them official requests.

Crazy for you,

Listen along while you read.

1. “like a prayer”.

The Celebration Tour stage encompassed 4,400 square feet, including a spinning circular platform that was the focal point for several songs — including this standout, performed on a carousel that rose into the air as shirtless dancers in loincloths and masks draped themselves in crucifixion-like poses. The entire show was set to backing tracks rather than a live band, and for this 1989 hit, it was a remix featuring booming bass and a few seconds of Sam Smith and Kim Petras’s “Unholy” at the beginning and end. (The precise mix isn’t available, but the “7” Remix” edit gets you close.) Chills, I tell you! ▶ Listen on Spotify , Apple Music or YouTube

2. “Live to Tell”

Much has been written about the stunning performance of this 1986 song, which Madonna staged as a tribute to victims of AIDS. She floated above the crowd in a rectangular box gazing at black-and-white portraits of those lost to the disease (including many of her friends and collaborators) on massive screens around her, which multiplied to demonstrate the scale of the epidemic. Each night I saw the show, she had a genuine emotional response and delivered her strongest vocals here.

▶ Listen on Spotify , Apple Music or YouTube

3. “Nothing Really Matters”

Madonna started the show with this song from “Ray of Light” (1998), using it as a table setter before she went back in time and revisited the story of her career. It was a striking entrance: She held a few poses on the spinning platform at the base of the stage, and slowly rotated out toward the audience in a black kimono and halo headpiece. As a song choice, it was a pointed opening statement about maturing, life choices, different kinds of love, and beginnings and endings.

4. “Don’t Tell Me”

The videos for “Don’t Tell Me” and “Hung Up” feature my favorite Madonna choreography, and while I was extremely happy to get them both live on this tour, they were both abbreviated! (So were a lot of other songs, but these felt especially egregious.) Still: I love this one’s stubborn message, and it was a blast to see the group number recreated on the Celebration stage — and a reminder that Madonna, always ahead of the curve, went cowboy chic back in 2000.

5. “Open Your Heart”

The section of the show dedicated to Madonna’s early days in New York and her first hits underscored the grit it took to get noticed and the glee she took in escaping on the dance floor. “Everybody” and “Holiday” were delightful, but her live performance of “Open Your Heart” made me discover the song anew: beautifully constructed, simple and still dramatic in the best ways, a real piece of pop perfection.

OK, now for the requests: This 2000 song joined the set list for the finale in Rio, but it should have been there the whole time! It’s a statement of purpose that encapsulates Madonna’s entire career. It is electrifying heard over the speakers of an arena — we know this, because it was the centerpiece of her Confessions Tour, when she performed it as an ecstatic roller disco in a crisp white suit.

7. “Secret”

Personally, I would have traded “Human Nature” for this “Bedtime Stories” single, which has one of the more unusual chord progressions in the Madonna catalog — a satisfying blend of major and minor that actually sounds mysterious and alluring.

8. “Oh Father”

Motherhood was the defining theme of the Celebration show, a thread that ran from the opener “Nother Really Matters” through the many moments featuring Madonna’s children (four of them went on the road and appeared each night). She performed “Mother and Father,” a song about loss from her 2003 album “American Life,” with her son David, and it did grow on me as a result. (I would have preferred “Hollywood,” but that’s a whole other mood.) Still, I missed “Oh Father,” the dramatic ballad from “Like a Prayer” that was a highlight of Blond Ambition.

9. “Material Girl”

We had a lot of early hits in the show, so I get why it didn’t make the cut, but I will say this: Someone was playing this 1985 smash on a sound system outside of Barclays Center after the second show I saw in Brooklyn, and watching the crowd dance and shout along, I realized I missed this moment during the concert. Still a certified banger!

10. “Beautiful Stranger”

Some of Madonna’s best songs have arrived on soundtracks (that’s where we got “Vogue”!) and I have an enduring love of this kicky little tune from the 1999 album that accompanied “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.”

11. “Frozen”

Madonna performed “Frozen” a handful of times on Celebration, subbing it in for “Rain,” but I got “Rain” all seven times and was thirsty for this “Ray of Light” track instead. It’s a masterpiece of downtempo electro with a beautiful vocal and ear-tickling synth flourishes. It brings the drama we crave! Next time, Madonna, please?

The Amplifier Playlist

“Madonna’s Hits-Filled Celebration Tour, Dissected” track list Track 1: “Like a Prayer” Track 2: “Live to Tell” Track 3: “Nothing Really Matters” Track 4: “Don’t Tell Me” Track 5: “Open your Heart” Track 6: “Music" Track 7: “Secret” Track 8: “Oh Father” Track 9: “Material Girl” Track 10: “Beautiful Stranger” Track 11: “Frozen”

Bonus Tracks

As I mentioned above, Madonna addressed the audience for two extended periods during each show. On Jan. 23 at Madison Square Garden, she spoke about AIDS in New York in the 1980s, singling out Ellen Matzer and Valery Hughes in the audience — two nurses, “heroes,” she said, on the front lines of the epidemic, working in wards where “there were no visitors.” She went on, describing her own stop in a hospital room where she encountered a young man on the brink of death. “I laid down on the bed next to him, and he held my hand and he said, ‘Mother, thank you for coming,’” she said, her voice starting to break. “And it just made me think, these women here tonight, they did this every [expletive] day. And they got no thanks. So please say thank you to them right now.” It was a moment of gratitude that had most of the arena in tears.

Also, Madonna used “I Don’t Search I Find” as the soundtrack to a spectacular video montage near the end of the show that captured what made her inescapable — and irresistible to the media — throughout her career. It’s the best song from her most recent studio album, “Madame X,” and I recommend it.

Caryn Ganz is The Times’s pop music editor. More about Caryn Ganz

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Madonna announces “The Celebration” world tour

She’ll perform a career-spanning show in 35 cities in north america and the u.k./e.u..

Madonna will spend 2023 on an expansive world tour dubbed "The Celebration." The new concerts will be both a retrospective of Madonna's four decades in pop music and a tribute to New York City, where Madonna's career began in the 1980s. “I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for,” Madonna says in a press release.

"The Celebration" begins this July in Vancouver and runs for 25 dates in the United States and Canada. The remaining 10 will take place in the United Kingdom and European Union starting this October in London. Bob The Drag Queen will open at all dates. Tickets go on general sale here this Friday, January 20, and Friday, January 27 at 10 a.m. local time.

Read Next: Sacrilegious chic is the trendiest way to protest

The news comes with an announcement video starring Madonna and a bunch of celebrities playing Truth or Dare. Lil Wayne , Jack Black, Eric Andre, Amy Schumer, Kate Berlant, Bob The Drag Queen, and more take part in the japes. Watch below, followed by the full tour itinerary.

Madonna 2023 The Celebration world tour dates

July 15 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena July 18 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena July 22 – Phoenix, AZ – Footprint Center July 25 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena July 27 – Tulsa, OK – BOK Center July 30 – St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center August 2 – Cleveland, OH – Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse August 5 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena August 7 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena August 9 – Chicago, IL – United Center August 13 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena August 19 – Montreal, QC – Centre Bell August 23 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden August 24 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden August 30 – Boston, MA – TD Garden September 2 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena September 5 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena September 7 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena September 9 – Miami, FL – Miami-Dade Arena September 13 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center September 18 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center September 21 – Austin, TX – Moody Center ATX September 27 – Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena October 4 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center October 7 – Las Vegas, NV – T-Mobile Arena October 14 – London, UK – The O2 October 21 – Antwerp, BE – Sportpaleis October 25 – Copenhagen, DK – Royal Arena October 28 – Stockholm, SE – Tele2 Arena November 1 – Barcelona, ES – Palau Sant Jordi November 06 – Lisbon, PT – Altice Arena November 12 – Paris, FR – Accor Arena November 13 – Paris, FR – Accor Arena November 15 – Cologne, DE – Lanxess Arena November 23 – Milan, IT – Mediolanum Forum November 28 – Berlin, DE – Mercedes-Benz Arena December 1 – Amsterdam, NL – Ziggo Dome

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Madonna just gave the biggest live performance of her career

The concert was the final stop of Madonna's "Celebration Tour, and tickets were free. It was on Saturday at Brazil's Copacabana Beach. About 1.6 million people were there to cherish the event.

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