 | |
Madonna news - Jan. 2009
← Dec. 2008 | Feb. 2009 →
No tour extension for North America or Australia
31 January 2009The touring industry is ebullient since Madonna has extended her Sticky & Sweet Tour for a second year, something she has never done. Madonna will perform 24-25 European concerts this summer beginning July 4 in London, ENG and the last one booked so far is on August 20 in Ljubljana, SLO. Paul Oakenfold is the opening act on all of the extended tour dates.
Sixteen concert dates have been released, and the London concert is the only repeat market from last year. The rest of the tour will include appearances in cities she has never performed in before, such as Werchter, BEL; Marseille, FRA; Hamburg, GER; Oslo, NOR; Helsinki, FIN; Tallinn, EST; and Ljubljana, SLO; as well as stops in Romania, Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria.
She has booked a few cities that she has not performed in for more than 15 years, inculding Madrid, SPA; Gothenburg, SWE; and Munich, GER. Shows are to be announced for Bulgaria, Hungary, Russia, Romania and Serbia.
Arthur Fogel, Live Nation's Chairman of Global Music and CEO of Global Touring/Artist Nation, advised TicketNews that there is "no chance for a North American extension of the tour." "This is a first for me," Madonna said in a statement. "I've never extended a tour before. I'm excited to be going back on the road, visiting places I've never been and returning to places I love."
In 2008, the Sticky & Sweet Tour was seen by 2.35 million fans in 58 cities and grossed about $282 million. The tour boasted record-breaking ticket sales everywhere, including 650,000 tickets sold in her series of South American dates; 72,000 tickets at Zurich's Dubendorf Airfield -- the largest audience ever assembled for a show in Switzerland; 75,000 tickets in London and four sell outs in New York's Madison Square Garden (60,364 tickets).
"This new run of dates will further solidify Madonna's position as one of the top selling touring artists of all time," added Fogel, the tour producer.
And despite reports in the Australian media that four concerts are scheduled for an September/October outing Down Under, Fogel said that there is no validity to the reports. Madonna has only toured Australia once -- back in 1993. (source: TicketNews)
Are you attending the Sticky & Sweet Tour 2009?
30 January 2009In our brand new poll, we'd like to know if our visitors are going to see Madonna on the road in 2009. Vote here and don't hesitate to leave your comments!
Billboard: Same production and performers
Source: Billboard - 30 January 2009Madonna will crank up her Sticky & Sweet Tour again this summer with about 25 more shows in the U.K. and Europe, which will add to the total of what's already the top-grossing tour ever by a female or solo artist.
The final leg of the tour will start in London at the O2 Arena on July 4. Madonna will also play the Manchester (U.K.) Evening News Arena, with the rest of the dates on the tour being stadiums in European markets she has either never played or hasn't played in several years, according to tour producer Arthur Fogel, chairman of global music for Live Nation. The complete route and venues will be released tomorrow morning.
Adding another leg to a tour is a highly unusual move for Madonna. "It absolutely has not happened in the four tours I've been involved with," Fogel tells Billboard.com. "There has been talk [of extending] during each one, but it has never come to be. But with this one, she loves the show, she's had a great time and she's excited about playing new markets."
Fogel says the demand is clearly present in these fresh Madonna markets; London is the only repeat market from the 2008 leg. "It's amazing when you look at the number of markets that she's never played, including this last run in 2008," he says. "We went to quite a few markets she has never played or hasn't been to in 15-plus years. This [extension] is really a continuation of that in the sense of playing new and different markets."
Madonna has enjoyed remarkable box office growth over her past four tours, raking in $75 million in 2001, $125 million in 2004, $194 million in 2006 and $280 million last year, according to Billboard Boxscore. All of these tours were produced by Fogel and his team, and all included roughly the same number of dates (55-60 shows). Attendance has also remained steady, and ticket prices were the same on the past two tours, Fogel says.
The extension will take Sticky & Sweet to around 80 shows, and boost it well into the top five grossing tours of all time. Despite the more than six-month break, the tour will feature the same production and performers as 2008. "It is a long hiatus, but everybody was excited to continue," Fogel says. "So we basically worked out the arrangements for all the performers, crew and equipment and we'll be ready to go."
The Sticky & Sweet tour was the first under a 10-year multi-rights agreement between Madonna and Live Nation, valued in some reports at about $120 million.
Madonna replaces Werchter Boutique festival in Belgium
30 January 2009UPDATE: We have learned that Madonna is not headlining Werchter Boutique, as we first reported, but is in fact replacing the event. The festival won't be happening this year and instead it will be the show of Madonna, preceded by Paul Oakenfold's opening act. (thx to Jeffrey for the link)
For her very first visit to Belgium, Madonna has chosen the open air festival ground of Werchter, which can hold up to 80.000 people, making it one of the largest shows on this tour. Tickets will cost € 75 (regular standing) and € 85 (golden circle) and will go on sale on Sat. 7th of February at 9am through the website Proximus Go For Music and the phone number 0900 2 60 60 (max. 6 tickets/person).
Press release: Stickier & Sweeter in new European markets *official*
30 January 2009MADONNA'S 'STICKY & SWEET TOUR' GOES BACK ON THE ROAD SUMMER 2009
Special Guest Paul Oakenfold To Open All Shows.
MOST SUCCESSFUL CONCERT TOUR OF 2008 VISITS 22 MARKETS BEGINNING JULY 4 IN LONDON
Tour To Thrill Audiences In 13 First Time Stops for Material Girl
Madonna's phenomenally successful Sticky & Sweet Tour, already the #1 Biggest Grossing Tour in history for a solo artist, will embark on another series of shows beginning July 4th in London.
Stops will include appearances in never before played markets such as Werchter Belgium, Marseille France, Hamburg Germany, Oslo Norway, Helsinki Finland, Tallinn Estonia, Ljubljana Slovenia as well as stops in Romania, Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria it was confirmed today by Live Nation. Additional appearances by Madonna will include return visits after more than 15 years to Madrid, Gothenburg and Munich.
"This is a first for me. I've never extended a tour before. I'm excited to be going back on the road, visiting places I've never been and returning to places I love" commented Madonna about the new run of dates.
Raves around the globe for the tour include the London Times which remarked, "In the premiere league of song-and-dance spectaculars, the queen of pop remains unrivaled and undefeated." "The choreography, visuals and live talent were world class and mind-blowingly well executed, intelligent and witty," glowed The Independent (UK).
In 2008, the Sticky & Sweet Tour was seen by 2,350,285 fans in 58 cities. With record breaking ticket sales everywhere, including 650,000 tickets sold in her series of South American dates, 72,000 tickets at Zurich's Dübendorf Airfield - the largest audience ever assembled for a show in Switzerland, 75,000 tickets in London and four sell outs in New York's Madison Square Garden (60,364 tickets).
"This new run of dates will further solidify Madonna's position as one of the top selling touring artists of all time," said Arthur Fogel, Live Nation's Chairman of Global Music and CEO of Global Touring/Artist Nation. Special Guest for Sticky & Sweet 2009, Paul Oakenfold has long been one of the most important - if not the most important - name in modern club culture. He has remixed The Rolling Stones, U2, Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Snoop Dog, Muse, New Order, The Cure, Massive Attack and even Elvis Presley, and produced The Happy Mondays. The two-time Grammy nominee is in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the biggest DJ in the world. His new artist album, Pop Killer, is due out later this year. Madonna's multi-Grammy-nominated CD, Hard Candy, debuted at Number One in over 37 countries.
| Show date | City | Venue | On sale date |
| 04 July | London, UK | O2 | Fri. Feb. 06 |
| 07 July | Manchester, UK | MEN Arena | Fri. Feb. 06 |
| 11 July | Werchter, Belgium | Festivalpark | Sat. Feb. 07 |
| 14 July | Milan, Italy | San Siro | Fri. Feb. 06 |
| 21 July | Barcelona, Spain | Olympic Stadium | to be announced |
| 23 July | Madrid, Spain | Vicente Calderon | to be announced |
| 28 July | Hamburg, Germany | Trab-Arena Hamburg Bahrenfield | to be announced |
| 30 July | Oslo, Norway | Vallehovin | Mon. Feb. 09 |
| 04 August | Tallinn, Estonia | Tallinn Song Festival Ground | to be announced |
| 06 August | Helsinki, Finland | West Harbour | Mon. Feb. 09 |
| 09 August | Gothenburg, Sweden | Ullevi | Mon. Feb. 09 |
| 11 August | Copenhagen, Denmark | Parken | Mon. Feb. 09 |
| 13 August | Prague, Czech Republic | Chodov Natural Amphitheatre | to be announced |
| 15 August | Warsaw, Poland | Bemowo Airport | to be announced |
| 18 August | Munich, Germany | Olympic Stadium | to be announced |
| 20 August | Ljubljana, Slovenia | Hippodrome | to be announced |
In 2009, Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour will also visit Marseille in addition to performances in Bulgaria, Hungary, Russia, Romania, and Serbia.
The Icon ticket presales for the shows listed in the grid below will start on Feb. 3 at 10am LOCAL TIME in the city where the show will take place for legacy Icon members and at noon LOCAL TIME in the city where the show will take place for newer members. Additional ticket presales will be announced as they are confirmed.
Who is a legacy member? A Legacy Icon Member is someone who has been a long time Platinum member of Icon. To read more about legacy access visit the help section. You can also check your membership status to see if you are considered a Legacy ICON Platinum Member. Visit your MY ACCOUNT details to check your current offer status.
We highly recommend that you review the presale instructions in advance of participating in an Icon presale event. Our fan club sale system will generate your fan club sale passcode for you when the shows go live. For the 2009 tour dates, eligible Icon members will be able to purchase up to 4 tickets to each show during the presale with their membership.
| Show date | City | Venue | Legacy Icon Member Presale | Icon Member Presale |
| 04 July | London, UK | O2 | Tue Feb. 03 at 10am | Tue Feb. 03 at Noon |
| 07 July | Manchester, UK | MEN Arena | Tue Feb. 03 at 10am | Tue Feb. 03 at Noon |
| 11 July | Werchter, Belgium | Festivalpark | Tue Feb. 03 at 10am | Tue Feb. 03 at Noon |
| 14 July | Milan, Italy | San Siro | Tue Feb. 03 at 10am | Tue Feb. 03 at Noon |
| 30 July | Oslo, Norway | Vallehovin | Tue Feb. 03 at 10am | Tue Feb. 03 at Noon |
| 04 August | Tallinn, Estonia | Tallinn Song Festival Ground | Tue Feb. 03 at 10am | Tue Feb. 03 at Noon |
| 06 August | Helsinki, Finland | West Harbour | Tue Feb. 03 at 10am | Tue Feb. 03 at Noon |
| 09 August | Gothenburg, Sweden | Ullevi | Tue Feb. 03 at 10am | Tue Feb. 03 at Noon |
| 11 August | Copenhagen, Denmark | Parken | Tue Feb. 03 at 10am | Tue Feb. 03 at Noon |
The bomb will drop today
30 January 2009European fans, be prepared! This afternoon, it is expected that the details of the European summer tour are announced. And some countries that have never been visited by Madonna before, are in for quite a treat! Stay tuned!
Raising Malawi wins MySpace Impact Award
Source: Madonna.com - 28 January 2009Madonna fans have made a real difference by helping Raising Malawi to earn this month's Myspace Impact Award.
The Impact Award honors MySpace members who are making a positive impact in the world. Raising Malawi was nominated for its work to eliminate poverty and empower vulnerable children in the impoverished nation of Malawi.
As this month's winner, Raising Malawi receives a (USD) 10,000 grant to be put toward improving the health and education of Malawi's kids. In a nation where every penny truly counts, this money will do a great deal of good.
The Impact Award also means invaluable publicity for Raising Malawi and its partner organizations. Now millions of people worldwide will learn of Malawi's plight and what they can do to help.
Madonna and Raising Malawi would like to thank all the fans who voted for Raising Malawi and helped to spread the word about the important work of this remarkable organization. With the unified support of dedicated volunteers worldwide, there's no limit to the impact we can make.
To learn more about the work of Raising Malawi and how you can be part of it, please visit www.raisingmalawi.org.
European summer tour 2009 officially confirmed *official*
27 January 2009Madonna's official tour site, tickets.madonna.com has revealed that the rumours are true and Madonna is indeed going to tour Europe this summer! More details to be revealed later this week. Currently there are no official dates scheduled for the tour.
UPDATE: Madonna.com confirms it is an extension of the Sticky & Sweet Tour:
Madonna fans, are you ready for more?
We are happy to confirm that the rumors are true: Madonna has decided to extend her Sticky & Sweet Tour. She is looking forward to an amazing summer in Europe, hitting the cities she didn't get a chance to in 2008.
While detailed itinerary will be released later this week, we highly encourage you to wait for official on-sale dates and info before ordering tickets to rumored shows and venues.
Get ready for another hot summer.... Madonna is hitting the road again!
Why is Madonna horsing around in Palm Beach?
Source: Los Angeles Times - 27 January 2009It may come as no surprise to her millions of fans to find out that Madonna likes horses. She's certainly got the legs for riding. But polo ponies? Whacking little balls around with a wooden mallet? Wait, I'm starting to see the appeal...
Seems the freshly free Madonna may soon be watching a bit of polo at the hoity-toity, upper-crusty FTI Wellington Equestrian Festival at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center.
According to my old friend Sharon Robb at the Sun-Sentinel newspaper in Fort Lauderdale, Madonna has been working with British riding coach Daisy Trayford at the SF multimillion-dollar 14-ring facility.
Madonna was rumored to make an appearance at Sunday's $50,000 Equisport Agency Grand Prix. She was spotted by Dish Rag spies at the Equestrian Center this weekend, checking out the scene but mentioned she might not make an appearance in the stands due to press and photographers.
Our source says: "Madonna was in a box with a few other adults at the table watching the horses jump. She had an orange hat on with her hair pulled back. I did not see any kids with her or A-Rod. I know that she is here for two weeks with her trainer."
According to Robb's report, Trayford has worked with Madonna since she purchased two horses from Trayford's Exmoor Eventing.
If she does come to some events, she won't be lonely. Robb sez rocker Bruce Springsteen may attend to watch his daughter Jessica and Big Apple Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg could turn up to see daughter Georgina. CNN chatter Lou Dobbs might come to watch daughter Hillary. All three girls are 2012 Olympic equestrian hopefuls. Who knew?
Can Madonna's daughter Lourdes be next on a polo pony? And will Alex Rodriguez join Madge at the polo grounds? Or perhaps that new Brazilian model named Jesus Luz she's been romantically linked with? So many questions...
Re-Invention Tour DVD to come out "someday"
24 January 2009Madonna's official fanclub ICON has launched a new service where registered users can ask Madonna's manager Guy Oseary on a quarterly basis. The 10 most asked questions will be published. To avoid receiving dozens of mails asking the most obvious question among the fan community, they posted the following disclaimer:
Before you e-mail your question, please note that Guy has already provided us with an answer regarding a possible release of the Re-Invention Tour on DVD: "There is no current plan for the Re-Invention Tour DVD. As you know it was shot and it will come out someday, but nothing is planned for it as of now."
Of course this does not come as a surprise, as a 5 year-old tour obviously would not be among Madonna's top priorities in the foreseeable future, even though fans relentlessly kept asking Guy Oseary during the Sticky & Sweet Tour.
Currently, parts of the Re-Invention Tour can be seen in the I'm Going To Tell You A Secret documentary (available @ Amazon.com) and it seems we're gonna have to settle with that for a long time and focus on the Sticky & Sweet Tour DVD that hopefully will not receive such a poor treatment from Madonna and her team.
Sticky & Sweet Tour extension in summer of 2009? *rumour*
23 January 2009Fansite MadonnaTribe reports that currently there are plans to extend Madonna's record-breaking Sticky & Sweet Tour in the summer of 2009.
As of now, it's shaping up to be an European-only tour with some new cities visited in July & August, including the already rumoured Marseille and Milan. The show itself would be most likely the same as in 2008 with little changes.
Personally, we're not sure about the point of the extension because most of European market was covered in 2008 while Madonna still keeps ignoring other parts of the world, and we wouldn't be surprised if Live Nation conceived the whole idea only to avoid Celine Dion breaking Madonna's own record of biggest grossing solo tour.
As always, we'll keep you updated, but without any official confirmation, this is treated as a strong rumour at the moment.
Behind the scenes of the Louis Vuitton campaign
Source: Madonna.com - 22 January 2009As you probably know, Madonna will be the face of Louis Vuitton's 2009 Spring Campaign. While the first photographs [by Marc Jacobs] have surfaced on both the internet and in the press, the Louis Vuitton website is now featuring some exclusive behind the scenes footage filmed during the making of the campaign at the Cafe Figaro in Los Angeles. Click here to watch the video at Louis Vuitton's website.
Glastonbury performance denied
Source: efestivals.co.uk - 22 January 2009Michael Eavis, organizer of the Glastonbury Festival, spoke up about headliner rumours and denied Madonna's appearance:
The Festival organiser was also asked by The Western Daily Press about the current rumours concerning the line-up. He replied, "Most of the rumours already out there are pretty good, I must say. Not necessarily all of them, but most of them are good."
Although he wouldn't confirm of deny whether eFestivals' predictions of Bruce Springsteen, Blur, and Neil Young were true, when their names were mentioned. He did reiterate that he had a fourth headliner up his sleeve.
Mr Eavis asserted, "There's one missing out there that is a really good one that people haven't latched on to yet, so I'm very pleased about that. It's good to have one surprise." He also ended rumours of Madonna making an appearance, adding, "No, that's not a good one".
Madonna bashed over leaked outtakes
22 January 2009Over the past few days, several outtakes from photoshoots by Steven Klein and Tom Munro in 2008 have surfaced on the Internet. You can download a whole bunch at the French fansite Absolument Madonna.
The outtakes for the Hard Candy album shoot in particular have caused a stir in the press. Especially some raunchy but not retouched pictures caused a lot of bashing in the British trash media (mostly the same who accuse her of having surgery when she does look good in a picture). It's kinda ironic that Madonna is now even judged on the material that she hasn't even released...
E! Online dished: "Has the 50-year-old finally gone too far? Photos of the singer's Hard Candy campaign have emerged, showing her dressed in medical gauze, a disposable thong and boots that look like they were stitched together by some creepy Tim Burton character.", while the Daily Mail started it all with "She has no intention of growing old gracefully - or in comfort, it seems. Madonna strapped, wrapped and laced herself into a very improbable outfit to promote her 11th studio album, Hard Candy.
The all-white ensemble, with bandages at chest and wrist, was probably meant to appear sexy or tough. But the singer ended up looking as though she'd sustained several injuries and was in serious danger of collecting a few more.
Her boots had such high heels that even she would have struggled to perform a jig - and if she had, those knickers definitely wouldn't have stayed put. Judging by the sour look on her face, she was regretting the whole idea." Although they do admit that "Madonna's body remains in remarkable shape for 50, thanks to her punishing workouts and diet."
First Madonna-Jesus picture surfaces
17 January 2009The first two pictures of the photoshoot for W Magazine have surfaced. One of them features hunky Brazilian model Jesus leaning over to kiss Madonna, who sports long blond hair and a sexy black outfit.The other is a close-up of Madonna while drinking, bringing out her eyes beautifully.
Nude photo of 20-year-old Madonna on auction block
Source: AP via Yahoo! - 17 January 2009A nude photo of Madonna, taken before erotic songs and risque costumes catapulted her to superstardom, is expected to sell for at least $10,000, Christie's auction house says.
Madonna, then known as Madonna Louise Ciccone, may have earned as little as $25 for the 1979 modeling session.
The raw, full frontal black-and-white image, taken by Lee Friedlander, appeared in Playboy in 1985 and is to be auctioned Feb. 12. Madonna was a 20-year-old dancer trying to make ends meet when she answered Friedlander's newspaper ad seeking a nude model, said Matthieu Humery, head of Christie's photography department.
Humery said this week that six photos from the shoot were sold to Playboy and the one up for auction is "maybe the most explicit one."
"For Friedlander it is a very typical way of taking pictures of a woman," he said. "He likes very natural women. It reflects Friedlander's aesthetic.
"There's not a hint of glamorizing," he added. "That's what makes it powerful."
He said he knows of no other prints of the black-and-white photo.
Friedlander has said of the photo session that Madonna "seemed very confident, a street-wise girl. She told me she was putting a band together but half the kids that age are doing that. She was a good professional model."
The other five pictures from the Playboy spread were sold together in 2003 for $7,170.
Another, later photo of Madonna, by Helmut Newton, is in the auction and is also expected to fetch $10,000 to $15,000. In that shot, also sold to Playboy, Madonna is wearing lingerie, curly blond hair and a seductive expression. A man kneels beside her.
The Madonna photos are among 150 images by some of the biggest names in photography that are being sold from the collection of Leon and Michaela Constantiner.
Last month, more than 350 photographs from the New York couple's collection were auctioned. One highlight was a collection of photographs of Marilyn Monroe that were taken by Bert Stern for Vogue magazine the year Monroe died. They sold for $146,500.
Christie's say the record auction price for a nude photo is the $1.6 million paid last year for Edward Weston's 1925 "Nude."
Queen of Disco beats Queen of Pop
17 January 2009Unfortunately after 6 consecutive #1s on Billboard's Hot Dance / Club Play chart, Madonna fails to score her 40th chart topper with latest single Miles Away. After two weeks at #2, it falls to #5 on next week's chart, with the crown taken by none other than Donna Summer, one of Madonna's main inspirations, who's back to the dance scene with her first studio album in 17 years and 'Fame (The Game)' is already the 3rd #1 from the album. Interestingly, the act who held Madonna off the top spot last week was The Killers, whose single 'Human' is produced by longtime Madonna collaborator Stuart Price.
As its highly unlikely that Hard Candy gets a 4th single, we're gonna have to wait for Madonna's next project to score her 40th dance #1! Madonna's only other #2 hit on the dance chart is 1995's Human Nature, which spent 3 weeks at the runner up position.For more chart details, check out the list of Madonna's previous dance hits and the full chart run of Miles Away.
Madonna saddles up for horse riding festival
Source: ContactMusic - 15 January 2009Madonna isn't horsing around when it comes to her Equestrian ambitions - the Queen of Pop is flying out a top British trainer to the U.S. in a bid to transform her into a competitive rider.
The Material Girl star has her sights set on becoming a top-class horsewoman, and has roped in U.K. eventer Daisy Trayford to coach her at the FTI Equestrian Festival at Wellington, Florida in March (09).
The singer has flown out two horses from the U.K. to help realise her dressage dreams.
And Trayford can't wait to get the star into the paddock - insisting the notoriously tough superstar is a "dream pupil".
She tells Britain's Horse + Hound publication, "She's very driven, listens to what you say and just wants to do it and improve. You can always get somewhere with someone like that. She's a dream pupil.
"When I started teaching her she hadn't jumped at all and now she can jump a course of 1.05m. Jumping and hacking are her two favourite things."
It isn't the first time Madonna has tackled the world of horseriding - she was left with three cracked ribs, a fractured collarbone and broken hand after being thrown from horse at her Wiltshire, England estate in 2005.
Madonna is the highest-grossing pop act of 2008
Source: Los Angeles Times - 14 January 2009It's official: Madonna tops Calendar's Ultimate Top 10, our annual survey combining sales of concert tickets, albums and digital downloads to measure which acts were most popular with the broadest swath of music lovers.
Madonna was the No. 1 concert attraction in North America during the year, according to Pollstar, the concert-tracking magazine, and she enjoyed album sales to the tune of $12.5 million in addition to downloads of $2.3 million.
For the year, there's also a total split between Nielsen SoundScan's ranking of the 10 biggest-selling performers of 2008 and Pollstar's Top 10 highest-grossing North American concert tours.
In recent years the Pollstar and SoundScan rosters have veered away from one another. Typically, classic-rock acts that appeal to well-heeled baby boomers rake in the most money at box offices, while hot but still developing pop, R&B and hip-hop artists sell more albums.
The highest any Top 10 SoundScan act finished in Pollstar's 2008 ranking was No. 13, where the Jonas Brothers (No. 7 among album sellers) landed after playing to 1.3 million fans last year.
Concert revenue hit $4.2 billion in 2008, according to Pollstar, a 7% rise over the previous year, even though the number of tickets sold was down. An 8.4% increase in average ticket prices was behind the rise, figures that are "astounding considering the economic environment in which they were generated," Pollstar Editor Gary Bongiovanni said.
The road is still where artists tend to make the most money. Only three of the Nielsen SoundScan biggest-selling artists of 2008 -- AC/DC, Coldplay an the Jonas Brothers -- make the Ultimate Top 10, even folding in their revenue from digital track sales, which we began including in the Ultimate Top 10 ranking last year.
The best example? Taylor Swift sold more albums than any other act last year: 4 million, giving her $52 million in revenue from album sales using $13 as the average price of a CD. But she placed No. 12 in the Ultimate Top 10 calculations because she played only a handful of concerts as a headliner. She spent most of the year as a supporting act on Rascal Flatts' tour.
That leaves the upper reaches of the Ultimate Top 10 to the veterans, and no one outperformed Madonna, whose combined income of $120 million is a drop from the previous year's winner, the Police, which logged $140.7 million.
In fact, Madonna's total is the lowest for a No. 1 since the Ultimate Top 10 began in 1997, when the Rolling Stones posted $100 million on concert ticket and album sales. The record belongs to 'N Sync, which earned $212.9 million in 2000 at the height of teen pop.
The Material Girl took in $105.3 million from touring, in addition to $14.8 million from music sales. It's hard to decide what's more impressive. The average gross at her shows, mostly in stadiums, was an eye-popping $5.5 million, and she drew about 36,000 people per show. Additionally, the average ticket price was $153.88, easily the highest among Pollstar's Top 50 grossing tours. Worldwide, according to Pollstar, she amassed $281.6 million.
~ Congratulations to Madonna! Notice how little music sales mean next to her amazing tour gross, proves that she's still a clever businesswoman, as she was smart to focus on the tour instead of promoting her CD only to sell some extra copies with much less revenue. It's incredible how Madonna manages to lead the pop industry even after 25 years!
Join Madonna, vote for Raising Malawi
Source: Madonna.com - 13 January 2009Helping Malawi's one million orphaned children is much easier than you think.
By voting for Raising Malawi in this month's MySpace Impact Awards, you can help Madonna's charity win a (USD) 10,000 grant.
So if you've always wanted to make an impact, now's your chance.
It's fast, it's free, and it can make a real difference in the lives of impoverished children.
Go to www.myspace.com/impactawards. Vote for Raising Malawi today and every day thru January 26. A better future is at your fingertips.
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction: Biggest Madonna event of 2008
11 January 2009In the past weeks, Mad-Eyes asked its visitors about 2008's most important Madonna event. The majority of the visitors considered Madonna's induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as the biggest Madonna event of 2008 (32% of the votes).
Madonna was inducted by recent musical partner-in-crime Justin Timberlake on March 10th and gave fans a fantastic speech, thanking her friends and collaborators, which event was the celebration of her 25 years in the music industry.
The runner-up was the Sticky & Sweet Tour kick-off in Cardiff, while the divorce announcement was marginally beaten by the release of 12th studio album and 7th US #1 album Hard Candy for the 3rd place. With the votes so split between the choices, we know it was definitely big year for Madonna and fans had a lot of great Madonna moments in 2008!
Sticky & Sweet DVD in March
5 January 2009Fellow fansite MadonnaOnline Brasil has received exciting news about the upcoming DVD release of the Sticky & Sweet Tour. This is the first Madonna product released under her new Live Nation contract.
The DVD, which will contain exciting bonus material, will be distributed worldwide by Universal Music in March 2009! The release will be accompanied by a large promo campaign.
Madonna planning 'high-energy routine' for Britney tour
Source: ContactMusic - 5 January 2009Madonna and Britney Spears are planning an explosive dance routine to ensure her forthcoming comeback world tour kicks off with a bang. The Queen of Pop is expected to appear as a surprise guest on Spears' upcoming Circus tour later this year (09).
The Toxic hitmaker joined her mentor Madonna on-stage in Los Angeles in November (08) during the U.S. leg of her Sticky & Sweet Tour, and the Material Girl is reportedly desperate to return the favour. Spears has reportedly hired Jamie King, the choreographer of Madonna's last three tours, to create a high-energy routine the duo can perform together.
A source tells Britain's Daily Mail, "When Britney joined Madonna on stage for her Sticky & Sweet Tour it was very sedate. This is going to be a high-energy dance routine - getting back to what they are both good at: Performing." Madonna and Spears shocked fans when they puckered up for an on-stage kiss during their performance at the MTV VMAs in 2003. They also teamed up on a track, Me Against the Music, the same year.
Madonna in Maldives / tour extension rumours
4 January 2009Same as last year, Madonna is spending the first days of the new year at the Maldives. Except that this time, it is without Guy.
Meanwhile, there are rumours doing rounds that the Sticky & Sweet Tour would be extended with a few shows in London. While that may sound very exciting to many fans, this is very unlikely.
Previous tours have had similar rumours which also turned out to be untrue. It's very unlike Madonna to be repeating the same tour concept and setlist a few months later, and to come with a new concept & setlist for a few shows only is unpractical and logistically impossible. An extension to other markets, such as Asia and/or Australia would make more sense, but that possibility has already been considered and dropped by Live Nation for economical reasons.
There are also rumours about Madonna appearing at the Glastonbury festival. Although there's nothing officially announced, that is a more likely possibility, comparable to her one-off appearances on Live Earth and Coachella. But for the moment, let's not get our hopes up.
Madonna strikes a pose for Louis Vuitton
Source: Times Online - 3 January 2009When Louis Vuitton asked Madonna to be the face of its latest campaign, it made her an offer she couldn't refuse.
"This was really different," explains Antoine Arnault, communications director of Louis Vuitton, when asked how Madonna came to front the company's new spring/summer campaign.
"Usually, these things take much, much longer," he explains; a lengthy process of identifying the right person to embody the fashion and luxury-goods brand, the right photographer, the right look for the campaign, plus, of course, all the deal-making a project like this involves. This time, however, pretty much everything was agreed inside a week.
"On the Monday," Arnault recalls, "we had a meeting, and Marc Jacobs suggested Madonna. I thought, yes, great idea, but it will never happen. Then, in the meeting, Marc sent her a text saying, 'Love, would you like to be the new Louis Vuitton woman?' Five minutes later, she'd replied. He showed me his phone, and she'd said, 'Yes, I'd love to do it.'" What could be simpler?
Clearly, when a big brand like Louis Vuitton chooses a new face for its campaign, it's not just a matter of affectionate text messages between Marc Jacobs and Madonna. Men like Louis Vuitton's CEO, Yves Carcelle, have to agree that it is a good idea, not a whim, as well as, of course, Carcelle's boss and Antoine Arnault's father, Bernard Arnault, head of the LVMH luxury-goods empire.
But as Antoine Arnault sees it, "Marc knows the brand probably better than anyone now," having been artistic director for a decade, during which time Louis Vuitton has expanded massively. Jacobs had seen Madonna in concert the week before, but it wasn't some "let's be crazy" decision, Arnault explains, citing how Jacobs had previously picked J-Lo as the face of Louis Vuitton in 2003. "That wasn't an obvious choice, perhaps, but it instantly put us on the top in the US in one campaign.
"Madonna is glamorous," Arnault continues. "She has a global image. She's the ultimate performer and businesswoman, and not someone who is just a famous singer. She has travelled; she has tried to change things." And if her personal life isn't perfect right now, "Well, that only makes her more human." Once the proposal had been made, and provisionally accepted, in both cases by text, "Then we had to agree on a figure, a concept, a photographer." Yet the whole process seems to have been plain sailing - an object lesson, if you like, in the degree of certainty that people at the top of the fashion industry tend to display about their creative choices.
The figure? Well, just how much Madonna is being paid for what is, in a sense, both one day's work and the product of many years at the top of her game is a moot point. Some have claimed it's $10 million (£6.6 million). But Arnault is careful to puncture that, saying, "The figure is really, really lower than that. In times like these, it would be totally irresponsible to pay anyone $10 million."
The concept? Madonna has been photographed in a nostalgic, Parisian bistro setting, perhaps at that "waiters whistling as the last bar closes" moment in the early hours. "Only it's in LA," Arnault quips, not Paris - "One of those French bistros in California where you really think you're in France" - and it's daytime and there are hundreds of paparazzi outside. Madonna smoulders quietly, all fishnets and high kicks, with a glamour that gives more than a nod to Dietrich, long an acknowledged influence. She's wearing Marc Jacobs' ready-to-wear clothes for Louis Vuitton, styled by Marie-Amélie Sauvé, with, of course, due prominence given to some lovely bags and shoes, those accessories that have long been such steady earners for the brand.
But there is a certain quietness to the images, a kind of gentleness, perhaps, which might also (along with that willingly professed prudence over Madonna's fee) be a sign of the extraordinary times we live in. Certainly, when I put it to Arnault that the crunch might be changing the aesthetic and that, in particular, a certain kind of flash advertising message now looks passé, even wrong somehow, he doesn't exactly demur. "Other people can try to rationalise every campaign, but there is certainly a feeling that emerges from designers, photographers, creatives of all kinds, which is maybe something they don't talk about, but which they can feel."
The photographer in question here is Steven Meisel, rather than Mert and Marcus, who have shot all of Louis Vuitton's campaigns since 2002, including those amazingly effective shots of J-Lo. "We were very happy with them," Arnault insists, but all good things come to an end - and, after all, it was Meisel who photographed the wilder, younger, more in-your-face Madonna who leapt off the pages of Sex, the book which caused such a storm back in 1992. So this campaign can be seen as something of a reunion, Meisel additionally having photographed Madonna for Vanity Fair late last year. Jacobs and Meisel are old friends, too, Arnault explains, "from the crazy years of the Eighties".
And once Antoine Arnault had assembled his dream team? "I think the three of them were in touch with each other on the phone almost every day," he says of the run-up to the shoot, "talking about ideas, sharing references, then talking about individual shots." On the big day itself, "About 50 people were on the set, which sounds like a lot, but it's all in the preparation, in the make-up and the set and so on. Once that was in place, Madonna would come out, get into position, and the shots went amazingly quickly, sometimes in about 15 minutes. It was a delight."
↑ Back to top of page