News

With the wrap of her Rebel Heart tour,Madonna owns the No. 1 slot on the weekly tally of top-grossing Hot Tours (see list, below), based on $62.4 million in sales from the final two legs of her four-continent jaunt. A swing through seven Asian markets in February and a final trek in Australia and New Zealand rounded out the world tour that kicked off last fall in North America.

Her highest-grossing venue during the Asian leg was a two-night stand in the Tokyo metropolitan area at the Saitama Super Arena on Feb. 13 & 14. With $9.6 million in ticket sales, the arena also ranked as the highest grossing venue throughout the entire six-month trek. The tour finale, a two-show stint at Sydney’s Allphones Arena on March 19 & 20, generated $6 million in revenue, the top sales among the venues during the final leg Down Under.

Madonna’s 40 Biggest Billboard Hits

Final overall box office counts for the Rebel Heart tour totaled $169,804,336 from 1,045,479 sold tickets at 82 sold out performances worldwide.

Kevin Hart follows in the second slot on the Hot Tours recap based on a sold out engagement in Sydney, also at Allphones Arena. The comedian performed two nights at the venue, selling a total of 27,284 tickets on Feb. 7 and 8. With a $2.2 million box office take, the Sydney engagement was the final date for his What Now? tour’s Aussie leg that also included performances in Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane during February.

Hart’s yearlong tour kicked off last April with 129 shows set in U.S. and Canadian markets through the end of 2015. An international leg began in January and included shows in European and Asian cities before heading to Australia. The What Now? tour’s final run was a string of South African dates at the end of March.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member Van Morrison scores the No. 3 ranking on Hot Tours with a $1.6 million gross from two sold out concerts in Los Angeles at the Shrine Auditorium. A total of 12,318 fans saw the veteran artist during the Jan. 15-16 run.

The L.A. engagement kicked off Morrison’s 2016 touring schedule that also included a three-night sold out stint at Oakland’s Fox Theater beginning on Jan. 18. A handful of European shows followed in March, and a series of U.S. shows are booked in April, including an appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on April 23. Also, a slate of upcoming performances are booked in Europe during the summer months.

More at Billboard

It’s not often we see Madonna in tears. The Queen of Pop has a steel persona and is a beacon of unflappable girl power. Strong and resilient, every aspect of her public life carefully controlled for our viewing pleasure.

But over the past few months we’ve witnessed the most shocking transformation yet from a woman who has surprised us for decades. Now we are seeing a vulnerable, sensitive mom who is experiencing a pain so raw and deep that for the first time she’s exposing herself in front of the whole world as she struggles to comprehend her new reality.

Over Christmas it was revealed the 57-year-old is involved in a tug of war with her ex-husband Guy Ritchie (they were married for eight years, but divorced in 2008) over their 15-year-old son, Rocco Ritchie. While Rocco has spent most of his time since the split living stateside with his mom, he has now decided he wants to be based with his dad in London.

“There is a stability that being with his dad can give him. He wants to be near his friends,” a London source says. “Over the holidays he decided he didn’t want to be on the road touring with his mum. He seems to really like London. It’s a cool place to live and he feels at home there.”

But that decision has been heartbreaking for Madonna. It’s a hard thing for any mother to accept her child is choosing not to be with her. As one source explains to me, “She is doing how you would imagine she is doing. The best she can under the circumstances but it’s been incredibly upsetting for her.”

Another source echoes, “Her heart is broken over this whole situation, she loves her son so much.”

When Rocco refused to fly back to New York to spend Christmas with his mother, Madonna and Guy took their disagreement to court (both in New York and London). Shortly thereafter, Madonna went back on the road. She had a world tour to finish and was forced to confess to her arenas full of fans the pain she was going through.

“It’s true, there is no love stronger than a mother for her son,” she admitted while singing “La Vie en Rose” during a New Zealand show. And then on stage in Mexico City she tearfully revealed, “I, too, go through challenging times in my life, and right now is one of them.”

But Madonna’s critics are translating her emotional low into a downfall that straddles all spheres in her life—both personal and professional. Three decades of hard work seemingly forgotten as observers try to find a deeper reason why Rocco wouldn’t want to be with her anymore. Her vulnerability has been met with accusations of weakness. Headlines and rhetoric focusing on what a “mess” she is and how she’s drinking too much (because she’s been doing shots on stage—which a source clarifies is actually just water). Bashing Madonna has become a blood sport. At times it’s been misogynistic and ageist.

And then there are the stories about her being late to the stage, and not being able to sell out her concerts.

While there is no denying Madonna can be outrageous and scandalous. And, yeah, I get it, starting a concert late so some people miss their train home is rude (although bear in mind she has completed 82 concert dates since September so in my book we can excuse her for the odd bit of tardiness). But somehow people are forgetting that losing a son is probably the hardest thing she has ever had to endure. It doesn’t matter how much fame or money you have, that kind of loss is universal and debilitating on every level.

She has spent three decades at the top of her industry. She’s managed it by adapting, by knowing what she wants and not being afraid to go for it. She’s a trailblazer who has constantly pushed the boundaries and arguably given performers such as Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears the freedom they have today. Just because she’s showing us her soft side, and admitting she’s hurting like hell, does not make her a target.

One friend is keen to set the record straight: “I’m fed up with reading all the negative press about her. She barely drinks; so all those stories of her being drunk are not true. She only occasionally has alcohol. Her whole routine on stage is meticulously choreographed. She’s an artist, there are times when she is doing the most complicated moves, there’s no way she could do that if she was drunk.”

“You have to remember, Madonna is the ultimate performer, and some of the outrageous things she says on stage are part of her act. But people are taking things literally, they are trying to see the negative in everything.”
Another source says, “This is real life. This is the kind of situation that cuts hard. And yet despite it all she’s doing her work for her fans, she’s keeping it together. She’s allowed to hurt. She’s allowed to be emotional.”

Meanwhile, Rocco’s world in London is very different from life on the road with his mom. He’s now been enrolled in school and has a good group of friends; he’s even been hanging out with Victoria Beckham and David Beckham’s son, Brooklyn Beckham. “He seems really happy,” says a London-based source. “He enjoys being with his dad. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t love being with him mom too, but his life in London seems to suit him right now. He’s been cycling around and really likes being in the city.”

The next court hearing over where Rocco will be based is currently scheduled for June. And ultimately Madonna and Guy will have to accept whatever the court decides—no matter how tough it will be for either of them to swallow.

For Madonna, now that the tour is over, it’s time to pick up the pieces, privately. While one source claimed Madonna was planning on traveling to London to spend time with Rocco during his Easter break, unfortunately that does not seem to have worked out. Guy and Rocco are now in the Maldives on holiday. When her world tour ended last weekend, Madonna instead flew back to New York. It may be a while until mother and son are reunited.
“She’s heartbroken, but ultimately it will be OK,” says an insider. “She’s going through what any of us would feel faced with the same situation.” Her child has grown and wants to be able to make his own decisions. She was admittedly a rebellious teenager herself, and knows what it feels like to want your own independence.

More at EOnline

CONCERT

Madonna

Allphones Arena, Sydney

March 20

REVIEW ROSS McRAE

4.5 stars

After a 23 year wait, Madonna returned to Australia for the final leg of her Rebel Heart world tour, bringing with her the controversy that has surrounded much of her three decade-plus career.

Epic late starts, reports of drunken behaviour onstage, emotional break downs due to a custody battle and being accused of sexually assaulting a minor dominated the headlines during the Material Girl’s almost two week stint Down Under.

After taking Melbourne and Brisbane by storm, the 57-year-old pop culture icon hit Sydney for the last two shows of her 82 date tour.

The Australian press went into overdrive when Madonna turned up on stage in Brisbane for her first Queensland show of the tour at 11.18pm, almost two hours past her expected start time.

For her final show on Sunday night, the second of two nights at Sydney’s Allphones Arena, Madonna once again took no notice of the backlash, finally appearing on stage at a very tardy 11.30pm – the latest of the entire world tour – before proceeding to begin an almost three hour set – the longest of the tour.

Expectation and anticipation went into overdrive for the Harbour City fans, who appeared to keep a calm albeit weary vigil as they awaited the pop diva to finally appear on stage.

A rousing reception after a video introduction featuring Mike Tyson heralded her long awaited arrival.

Madonna’s 12th studio album Rebel Heart dominated the early proceedings before Burning Up, her first ever Australian hit in 1983, upped the ante with Madonna rocking out while playing a Flying V guitar.

The show’s spectacular highlight came early on when Madonna performed Holy Water, her Kanye West produced ode to oral sex, mashed up with Vogue while pole dancing alongside scantily clad dancers dressed as nuns, one of which she sensationally body surfed on much to the crowd’s jaw-dropping glee.

Somewhat apathetically, Madonna apologised for her late start explaining that she was filming the Sydney show for a future DVD release and that she wanted everything to be perfect.

She then pulled out the almost forgotten 1980s hit True Blue, which was remixed into a sweet acoustic love song performed while she strummed on the ukulele.

The momentum continued as Madonna worked her way through a string of exceptional pop performances, proving why she is still at the top of her game in a live arena after so long and with so much detrition.

Deeper and Deeper, from 1992’s Erotica, was in its high energy original form, HeartBreakCity leading into Love Don’t Live Here Anymore showcased her vocal prowess and an electro dance version of Like a Virgin brought the house down as she danced without abandon, solo on the cross shaped catwalk like it was the 1984 MTV Music Video Awards all over again.

It might have been the last show of a gruelling world tour, but there was no signs of exhaustion as Madonna worked her way through the mammoth 160 minute show that peaked at the end of its third act with the 1989 monster hit Like a Prayer that saw the packed arena almost shake to its core.

The well-publicised potty mouth was evident throughout, with Detroit-raised entertainer teaching the crowd to use her favoured catchcry (“f… f… f… yeah”) whenever she addressed them.

But there was no emotional breakdown, no mention of her “missing” 15-year-old son Rocco, no drunken slurring and no falling off tricycles.

For the final show, she gave a heartfelt thank you to her loyal dancers, crew and band before allowing them to spank her (all 19 of them) while playfully making light of the scandal where she exposed a 17-year-old fan’s breast onstage last week in Brisbane.

“I am 18. I am old enough to know better and young enough to want to anyway,” she joked while being bent over as her crew waited their turn to spank her behind.

The “sexual assault scandal”, as it has been referred to in the press internationally, was again referenced when said teenager Josephine Georgiou and her mum Toni were in the crowd in VIP seats and were singled out by Madonna when she did her nightly bridal bouquet toss into the crowd.

A master media manipulator, Madonna used the moment to ask Josephine to marry her before deciding it wouldn’t work because they both can’t cook and the Gold Coast model is a vegan.

As the clock hit 2am, an exhausted and satisfied crowd put their hands collectively in the air as Madonna finished her show, and tour, with a faithful, upbeat performance of Holiday before she strapped on a harness and disappeared behind the video screens.

She said she would be back, but Australians have heard that many times over the years.

It might have been 23 years, but Madonna did not disappoint or make her presence in Australia unnoticed, and for a 57-year-old woman to still create such a buzz – for good or bad – against the social media pop starlets of the modern world that is no easy task.