Tour by Madonna | |
Location |
|
---|---|
Associated albums | Various |
Start date | October 14, 2023 |
End date | May 4, 2024 |
Legs | 2 |
No. of shows | 81 |
Attendance | 1.1 million[1] |
Box office | |
Madonna concert chronology |
The Celebration Tour was the twelfth concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It began on October 14, 2023 at the O2 Arena in London and ended on May 4, 2024 with a free concert on Copacabana Beach at Rio de Janeiro. Originally set to start on July 15, 2023 in Vancouver, the tour was postponed to October after Madonna developed a "serious bacterial infection" in late June which led to a multiple-day stay at the intensive care unit. As her first retrospective tour, it was based entirely on her back catalogue and 40-year career.
Rumors of a tour first began circulating on mid-to-late 2022, following the release of the compilation Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones. After major speculation, the tour was officially announced on January 17, 2023, in a truth or dare-inspired video. Madonna's first all-arena tour since 2016, tickets quickly sold out and multiple dates were subsequently added in many major cities. The tour would eventually become one of the fastest-selling concert tours.
Stufish, a British company the singer had worked with in the past, was in charge of the stage which was inspired by New York in the early 1980s. Designers working on the wardrobe included Guram Gvasalia from Vetements, Donatella Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Dilara Fındıkoğlu. The official set list included songs Madonna hadn't performed live in more than a decade. Madonna paid tribute to the LGBT community, to friends lost to HIV-AIDS, and to artists who've inspired her in concert.
Critics reacted positively towards the tour, highlighting its retrospective nature. Criticism was aimed at the singer's tardiness, with attendees going as far as to file two lawsuits against her. Billboard reported Celebration to have grossed over $225.4 million from an audience of 1.1 million, scoring the highest-grossing tour of 2024 so far.[3] The free concert in Rio de Janeiro drew a crowd of over 1.6 million people, which became Madonna's largest crowd of her career and set records for the largest audience ever for a stand-alone concert and the largest all-time crowd for a female artist.