There’s no doubt about it — Madonna is still the reigning queen of pop.
On Saturday night, the Material Girl kicked off their highly-anticipated Celebration Tour at London’s O2 Arena with an electrifying two-hour set that had the 20,000-strong crowd on their feet for the duration of the show.
The superstar, 65, opened with “Nothing Really Matters,” followed by “Everybody” and “Into the Groove,” before experiencing a technical problem.
She quickly resolved the breakdown, sharing stories from her youth with the crowd during an unexpected 10-minute intermission. “I was in my first band… I was broke, I was hungry and I still wasn’t making anything – but I could see the future, thank God,” she recalled, adding that she had “no way to take a bath” at the time .
“I’ve actually dated men who had showers and bathtubs,” she continued, prompting cheers and laughter from fans. “I would sneak into the conversation, ‘So…do you live alone?’ And usually they would say yes… And I said, ‘Do you have a bathroom or a shower?’ And they’d also nod and look at me like I was a crazy person, and I’d say, ‘Let’s go to dinner!'”
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After getting back on track, Madonna had the crowd dancing to more than 40 of her biggest hits, including “Like a Prayer,” “Crazy for You,” “Justify My Love” and “Ray of Light.”
In a lovely moment, the star paid tribute to her daughter Lourdes – who turned 27 on Saturday – by leading the crowd in a sing-along of her song ‘Little Star’.
She also addressed the conflict between Israel and Palestine, saying, “There are a lot of really crazy things going on in the world that are so, so painful to witness.”
“It breaks my heart to see children suffering, teenagers suffering, elderly people suffering. It’s all heartbreaking, okay? I’m sure you’ll agree. But even though our hearts are broken, our spirits cannot be broken. Are you with me ? A lot of people say, well, what can I do? I’m just one person. You feel hopeless. You feel helpless, right? What can we do? There’s so much we can do,” she continued. “First and foremost, we can say: ‘I can make a difference because I individually can bring light to the world with my actions, with my words every day. I’m sorry, it’s not about lecturing you, but all of us together are very powerful people.. . we can unite in a place of light and love.”
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Madonna also reflected on her “crazy year”, which included a terrifying hospitalization over the summer due to a serious bacterial infection.
“I didn’t think I would make it. Neither did my doctors. That’s why I woke up with all my children sitting around me. I forgot five years of my life or my death, I don’t really know where I am. But the angels protected me and my children was there. And my children always save me every time,” she said about Lourdes, Rocco (23), David (18), Mercy (17) and Stella and Estere (11). “If you want to know my secret and you want to know how I got out and survived, I thought, I have to be there for my kids. I have to survive for them.”
It was even more significant then that Madonna’s children joined her on stage throughout the night: Mercy played the piano for “Bad Girl”, Estere DJed and danced with her mom to “Vogue”, Stella appeared on stage during “Don’t Tell Me” and David played guitar on “Mother and Father”.
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Still, the show had its moments of debauchery and spectacle, including topless dancers, multiple costume changes, aerial stunts and more. In part two, Madonna paid tribute to those who died of AIDS, including Freddie Mercury, by singing “Live to Tell”.
The pop star’s sold-out London show is the first stop in a 78-concert world tour that will take her from Europe to North America until April 2024, before closing where she first rose to stardom: New York City.
“I’m excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes of giving my fans the show they’ve been waiting for,” she said in a press release when the Celebration Tour was first announced in January.
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Source: HIS Education