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Madonna news - Feb. 2009
← Jan. 2009 | March 2009 →
Mario Testino kicked Madonna into touch on photoshoot
Source: ContactMusic - 27 February 2009Famed photographer Mario Testino got physical to create the iconic image of Madonna on her Ray Of Light record cover - he kicked her into position.
The celebrity snapper worked with the Material Girl star to come up with an image for her now famous 1998 album cover sleeve.
But the photo shoot wasn't an easy one - with Testino having to physically tackle the notoriously tough singer to convince her to keep posing.
He says, "At 2pm she (Madonna) said, 'OK, I'm tired. We're done.' And I said, 'But I don't have the pictures yet.' She said, 'You're working for me and I say we're done.' I said, 'No, we carry on.'
"The picture she used on the cover came after that. She didn't intimidate me, you see. I thought, I have to push my luck here, so I started kicking her like this, with my foot. She was like, 'Hey, what are you doing?' And I was, like, move here, move here,' and suddenly this created an intimacy. When these people come across someone who treats them as an equal, it puts them at ease."
~ Coincidentally, Ray Of Light celebrates its 11th anniversary today. Happy Birthday! ;-)
Why Madonna wore the Beckham dress for W photoshoot
Source: W Magazine - 25 February 2009Costume designer Arianne Phillips, the stylist behind "Blame it on Rio," has been collaborating with Madonna for more than a decade, from the star's geisha-inspired period to her Patty Hearst look for American Life. Phillips, who also masterminded the clothing for Madonna's two previous epic photo portfolios for W (2003's "Madonna Unbound" and 2006's "Madonna Rides Again"), talked to us about the looks she chose for their latest collaboration.
The black zippered dress is so prominent in the story. What made you choose it and what did its designer (Victoria Beckham) have to do with it, if anything?
I initially chose this dress for the classic 50s-60s slim silhouette, which was what I was after for our story. I was also intrigued since it is from Beckham's debut collection -- I liked the "story" of one pop star to another. And I was pleasantly surprised at the high quality of the dress. The fabrication, details and fit are very well thought out.
Tell us about that graphic sequined dress. All the credit says is that it's vintage and from The Way We Wore, the vintage store in LA.
The dress is reminiscent of our initial inspiration for the shoot, the 1963 Jeanne Moreau film The Bay of Angels. It's from the select archives of Doris Raymond, the owner of The Way We Wore. Madonna had specifically requested I include some vintage 50s and early 60s garments to mix with the contemporary designer fashions, and Doris is my "go to" person for vintage. She has an amazing eye and unique sensitivity to vintage.
What are the sunglasses Madonna wears in so many of the shots?
I believe those are D&G. We loved them.
What's with the little lace gloves?
With styling I find it's always about balance -- not over accessorizing, while still being able to create a character. There was a finished, formal quality to the way women dressed in the 50s and 60s. Their outfits were complete with hat, gloves, jewelry and hosiery, and there was a modesty and femininity to the way women dressed. I found that the little lace gloves finished her character perfectly, as they're both demure and provocative.
What's up next for you?
I designed the costumes for Tom Ford's directorial debut, A Single Man, starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore, which is forthcoming this fall. Right now I'm helping refurbish and create some new looks for Madonna's summer tour extension and I'm getting ready to attend the women's collections in Paris.
~ So it means there will be some changes in Madonna's costumes for the new Sticky & Sweet shows. Arianne Phillips created the Old School & Futuristic Rave outfits, the former will most likely get the most changes as on 4 shows Madonna sported a pink version of it. The Givenchy numbers will most likely remain the same. Of course we'll only know for sure in July...
Madonna turns back time at Oscar party
Source: Daily Mail - 23 February 2009A remarkably fresh-faced Madonna attended the Vanity Fair Oscar party last night - looking much younger than her 50 years.
The recently divorced star revealed a glowing complexion - just days after being photographed with red raw, angry-looking skin.
There had been speculation the mother-of-three had endured a beauty treatment ahead of the ceremony.
She picked a floor-length black gown which showed off her toned arms and wore her hair in a casually tousled mane.
And it certainly seems to have paid off - for Madonna looked even younger than she had at the Oscars two years ago.
The Like A Virgin singer attended with her husband at the time, Guy Ritchie, again opting for a floor-length black gown.
But the singer's face looked visibly more lined back then.
Madonna, who watched ex-husband Sean Penn pick up a gong for his performance in Milk, was perhaps making an extra effort to stand out in the wake of her divorce.
In her new pursuit of all things young, the star is now dating 22-year-old Jesus Luz.
Last week it emerged that details of her and Ritchie's divorce could be made public when legal proceedings move to New York.
Court orders concerning their two sons need to be ratified as Madonna plans to live in the city permanently.
But unlike English family law courts, the New York Supreme Court hearing, listed for March 2, will be open to the public.
Sticky & Sweet Tour gets a show in Udine, Italy
23 February 2009Madonna's official tour site reveals great news for Italian fans: the Sticky & Sweet Tour is now scheduled to stop in a second show in Udine, Italy! Madonna will perform at the Stadio Friuli on July 16th, just after the Milan show. The ICON presales are happening tomorrow at 10 am while the public sales are on Thursday, February 26th.
It's the first time since the Drowned World Tour that a Madonna tour stops for more than 1 Italian show, and it's the first time since 1990's Blond Ambition Tour that Madonna performs in 2 different Italian cities.
Belgrade & Bucharest shows announced, 2nd Oslo date added
19 February 2009Madonna.com finally announced the official tour dates for Serbia & Romania and they added a second date for Oslo, Norway, which is surprising because Madonna is going to perform 3 dates in a row at the end of July, which hadn't happened since the Drowned World Tour.
Additionally, sales dates for Madrid & Tallinn have been revealed as well:
| Show date | City | Venue | Icon Member Presale | Public Sale |
| 23 July | Madrid, Spain | Vicente Calderon | Mon Mar. 02 at 10am | Thu Mar. 05 at 8 am |
| 29 July | Oslo, Norway | Valle Hovin Stadium | Thu Feb. 19 at 10am | Mon Feb. 23 at 9 am |
| 04 August | Tallinn | Tallinn Song Festival Ground | Wed Feb. 25 at 10am | Thu Mar. 05 at 9 am |
| 24 August | Belgrade, Serbia | USCE Park | Mon Feb. 23 at 10am | Fri Feb. 27 at 10 am |
| 26 August | Bucharest, Romania | Parc Izvor | Mon Feb. 23 at 10am | Tue Mar. 03 at 10 am |
Russia remains the only officially announced country that still does not have a scheduled date. Currently, the 2009 leg of the Sticky & Sweet Tour has 25 shows scheduled, check out the full itineary here.
Madonna won't appear in 'New Moon' but may provide songs
Source: Entertainment Weekly - 18 February 2009Widespread Internet chatter that Madonna may participate in some capacity in the Twilight sequel, New Moon, may be only partly true, a source close to the production tells EW. Summit Entertainment, the studio behind the movie series, has no plans to cast the pop star and sometime actor in New Moon.
However, because Madonna's manager, Guy Oseary, is a producer on the project, there is some talk of her providing songs for the sequel. Still, no deals have been made yet, and the plans haven't progressed beyond the that'd be cool stage.
Sticky & Sweet DVD delayed?
18 February 2009Brazilian fansite MadonnaOnline, who broke the news last month saying the new tour DVD would come out in March, is now reporting that the DVD is delayed until the end of the summer 2009 leg of the tour. They say it's mostly based on business decisions and that the disc will have loads of bonus material.
The Brazilians also deny the rampant rumour that Madonna is not satisfied with the footage; the DVD concert is definitely Buenos Aires. Warner seems to be part of this whole scheme because they delayed the upcoming greatest hits to make sure it's released at the same time with the DVD so it could get more promo. There are talks about a possible 4th single released from Hard Candy to fill the gap, but nothing is certain.
It's bad news, but we can't argue with the fact that it would have been weird to have the DVD in our hands before catching her on tour again this summer. ;-) Let's hope it'll be worth the wait!
Sales info for Ljubljana, Slovenia
Source: Madonna.com - 16 February 2009Slovenian Madonna fans, the Sticky & Sweet Tour will stop at Ljubljana's Hippodrome on August 20th. While the public ticket sale will start on February 23th, please note that a fan club devoted pre sale will start on February 17th, at 10am local time for Legacy members and at Noon local timefor newer members.
Sales info for Warsaw, Poland
Source: Madonna.com - 16 February 2009We're happy to confirm that Madonna will perform at Warsaw's Bemowo Airport on August 15th. A devoted fan club presale will start on February 17th, at 10am local time for Legacy members and at Noon local time for newer members. Please note that the online public ticket sale for this show will start on February 20th and on February 27th for classic outlets.
William Orbit returns with new solo album
Source: NME.com - 13 February 2009Former Madonna producer William Orbit is to release his first solo album since 2006 in May.
Orbit, who produced Madonna's 1998 album Ray Of Light and Blur's '13' in 1999, releases 'My Oracle Lives Uptown' on May 4.
The star said in a statement that the record is "more of a party album" than his previous solo efforts. He also admitted he "overworked" himself after gaining fame as Madonna's producer, saying, "I got into a state of overwork after the Madonna thing. I shouldn't have, but I see this all the time with other artists.
"I had a bit of success, made some money and then proceeded to work my ass off. It's like a drug - you keep working so you don't have to think about where you are going. But the penny dropped, and now I'm doing the records I wanted to make."
Clips of the new album are available to listen to on Myspace.com/williamorbit.
~ One of the tracks on Orbit's new album is "Purdy", which is the soundtrack of Madonna's H&M commercial from 2007. William's fantastic official site, featuring discography, pictures and bio is still up and running, but he recently started a cool new blog where you can hear his new stuff, read his thoughts, and he's even willing to answer fan questions, including queries about Madonna, not to mention his competitions to give away new music. Check it out!
Nude Madonna photo fetches $37,500
Source: Yahoo! Music - 13 February 2009A full-frontal, nude photo of a 20-year-old Madonna has fetched 37,500 US dollars at a New York auction, an apparent record auction price for a photograph of the superstar singer.
According to Christie's auction house, an unnamed European buyer bought the picture, which had been expected to sell for up to 15,000 dollars.
Madonna, then known as Madonna Louise Ciccone, was a dancer trying to make ends meet when she answered a newspaper ad seeking a nude model. She may have earned as little as 25 dollars for the 1979 photo session.
Lee Friedlander's raw, explicit black-and-white image appeared in Playboy in 1985.
The photograph auctioned was one of six from that shoot that appeared in Playboy; the other five pictures were sold together in 2003 for 7,170 US dollars.
Madonna tops 2009 Music Money Makers list
Source: Billboard.com) - 12 February 2009If anyone had any doubt that touring is where the money is in the music business, a quick look at the top Moneymakers for 2008 should hammer the point home.
Regardless of genre, retail sales or radio play, each of the 20 acts on Billboard's Moneymakers list toured in 2008. (Taylor Swift mostly opened for Brad Paisley but doesn't get credit for that revenue). For almost all of them, touring generated the most revenue. And in a year when recorded-music sales declined yet again, many earned more at the box office than ever before.
The top five Moneymakers are also the five acts that earned the most on tour, and in the same order, according to Billboard Boxscore. Eight of the top 10 Moneymakers are in the Boxscore top 10.
Even more remarkably, the top Moneymaker -- Madonna -- only had the 50th-best-selling album in the country. She ranked 14th on the list of digital track sellers and didn't place on the ringmasters chart. Her place on Moneymakers, like her $242,176,466 income, comes from the highest-earning tour that took place in 2008.
In fact, those questioning whether Madonna rates a reported 10-year, $120 million 360 deal with Live Nation might reconsider. Madonna's Sticky & Sweet tour took in $229,886,340 at the box office, although the extravagant production might have cost up to 40% of that gross, according to industry estimates. The margin is much better on tour merchandise, where Madonna probably raked in more than $18 million in sales, not counting her licensing business.
Of course, nothing helps reduce tour production costs like more touring. So Madonna will perform another run of concerts this summer -- 25 shows in the United Kingdom and Europe -- which will add to the take of the top-grossing tour by a female or solo artist.
Outside of the United Kingdom, all of Madonna's concerts will be in stadiums, so she'll gross several million dollars per night. By fall, Sticky & Sweet will have run for 80 shows and earn a place in the top five grossing tours of all time.
This is the first time Madonna has ever extended a tour. "It absolutely hasn't happened in the four tours I've been involved with," says Madonna's tour producer Arthur Fogel, chairman of global music for Live Nation.
"There's 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."
Madonna to perform in Budapest, Hungary
Source: Madonna.com - 12 February 2009As announced last month, the Sticky & Sweet Tour is to stop in Hungary this summer. Madonna will perform at Budapest's Kincsem Park on August 22th. The public ticket sale will start on February 20th, at 10am local time. Also, a devoted fan club pre sale will start on February 17th at 10am local time for Legacy members and at Noon local timefor newer members.
UPDATE: Tickets will be sold via Ticketpro. There will be 3 categories for standing tickets: Bronze (~ 50 €), Silver (~ 75 €), Gold (~ 100 €). All seated tickets will cost 115 € except VIP which will be 365 €. Every fan is allowed to purchase up to 6 tickets.
Madonna's show will see the debut of the recently renewed Kincsem Park as a concert venue. The park itself is in the middle of Budapest and can be easily reached by public transport and will feature a bigger capacity than the national stadium.
Madonna to perform in Sofia, Bulgaria
Source: Madonna.com - 11 February 2009Bulgarian fans, we are happy to announce that Madonna will perform at Sofia's Vasil Levski Stadium on August 29th.
While the public ticket sale will start on February 19th, at 10am local time, please note that a fan club devoted pre sale will start on February 12th, at 10am local time for Legacy members and at noon, local time for newer members.
Marseille concert date announced
Source: Madonna.com - 11 February 2009We are happy to confirm that Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour will stop at Marseille's Stade Velodrome (France), on July 19th.
A devoted fan club pre sale will start on Friday, February 13th at 10am local time for Legacy members and at noon, local time for newer members.
The public ticket sale for this show will start February 18th, at 10am local time.
Madonna and Moore teaming up again for Oscars
Source: E Online - 11 February 2009Move over, Vanity Fair. Madonna and Demi Moore are on their way to becoming the new queens of Oscar night.
I just got word that the two Hollywood sirens will, as they did last year, cohost a party with Guy Oseary at Oseary's L.A.-area home after this year's awards ceremony on Feb. 22. Among the guests at last year's soiree were Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi, Cameron Diaz, Orlando Bloom and even Sir Elton John and his husband, David Furnish, who made their way there after hosting their annual AIDS fundraiser.
Madonna and Moore's guest list will again be invite-only. Hopefully, Moore and hubby Ashton Kutcher will convince Madonna to twitter from the party.
Press release: Hot Madonna summer shows sell out in minutes!
Source: Live Nation via PR Newswire - 10 February 2009Already the biggest grossing tour in history for a solo artist, Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour is once again set to be the sweet success story of the summer. Ticket sales for the 2009 leg of Madonna's phenomenally successful Sticky & Sweet Tour went on sale this weekend and tour promoters Live Nation have already reported immediate sell-outs.
In London and Manchester where tickets sold out in minutes on Friday, second shows have now been confirmed for July 5th in London and July 8th in Manchester, marking Madonna's final UK dates in 2009. On Saturday, having never previously performed in Belgium, over 70,000 tickets were sold for the Werchter Festivalpark concert, making it an incredible one-day sell-out event.
This morning, tickets in Oslo sold out as quickly as they could be processed and disappeared in under 30 minutes. In Helsinki, Madonna's Sticky & Sweet August 6th performance (76,000 tickets sold), will be the biggest show by one artist ever organized in Finland. Gothenburg's performance was also an immediate sell-out with over 55,000 tickets sold in two hours.
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 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).
Special Guest for Sticky & Sweet 2009, Paul Oakenfold has long been one of the most important names 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.
viagogo is the Official Premium Ticketing Partner for Madonna's European Tour 2009. Premium tickets and VIP packages will be available from Friday 6th February on www.viagogo.co.uk. In addition, viagogo will be the Official Secondary Ticketing Exchange where fans can buy and sell their tickets. viagogo facilitates the exchange between someone who wants to sell and someone who wants to buy a ticket for a live event. It guarantees that buyers receive their tickets in time for the show and sellers receive payment. viagogo is Europe's leading ticket exchange. *Not applicable for Sticky & Sweet shows in Germany & Italy.
Barcelona sales details
Source: Madonna.com - 10 February 2009The tickets for the July 21st show, scheduled for Barcelona, Spain are going onsale next Thursday, February 19th, which will be preceded by the devoted ICON fanclub sales on Monday, February 16th at 10 am.
Behind the scenes in Rio
9 February 2009The editor of W Magazine posted some details from behind the scenes of the photoshoot:
Leave it to Madonna to have the last laugh. With the tabloid media in a frenzy over the 50-year-old's divorce from Guy Ritchie and alleged dalliance with 33-year-old New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, does she low-key it and go out publicly only with her kids? Does she find an "age appropriate" man, someone born, say, before the Beatles arrived in America?
Hell, no. Madonna has never been one to hide. Nor to apologize. Provocation is simply in her nature. So she teamed once again with photographer Steven Klein for a W photo shoot that thumbs her nose at prudes and busybodies who would call her a cougar.
If you think A-Rod is too young for her, how about 20-ish Jesus Luz, a Brazilian model discovered during casting for the shoot in Rio de Janeiro? Madonna and Luz's obvious chemistry, Creative Director Dennis Freedman recalls, quickly sidelined the other, more seasoned male mannequins as Klein's heat-seeking lens homed in on the megastar and the unknown. Soon the shoot's plot, told in Klein's cinematic style, evolved into the story of a strong, powerful, exceedingly chic woman and her new, boyish, beautiful plaything.
"Blame It on Rio" is Madonna and Klein's third collaboration for W. The first, "Madonna Unbound" (April 2003), found her twisted like a pretzel in a photographic meditation on the performance process. The second, "Madonna Rides Again" (June 2006), explored her, uh, passion for horses. And now comes her appreciation for the male form. "Each one is extraordinarily ambitious," says Freedman.
But who would expect anything less from Madonna? Say what you will about her, she is no slacker. She agreed to undertake the W project on her two-day break between concerts in Rio and São Paulo on the South American leg of her Sticky & Sweet Tour. The first day was devoted to fittings, and on the second, Freedman says, "she worked well into the night" as the crew plowed through a storyboard's worth of scenes. And if she managed to squeeze a little pleasure into all that business, who are we to criticize?
New W Magazine photoshoot published online
9 February 2009The official website of W Magazine publishes Madonna's long awaited photoshoot with Steven Klein, 'Blame it on Rio'. The photoshoot indeed appears to be a throwback to Madonna's raunchy years, with Madonna looking like as if it was 1991! However, unlike the SEX book, the photoshoot is very clean and classy, with only a few shots showing Madonna explicitly together with Brazilian model Jesus Luz, most pictures feature Madonna and the gentlemen dressed up elegantly in a fancy hotel. The photoshoot took place in Rio de Janeiro during the South American leg of the Sticky & Sweet Tour and it was styled by longtime collaborator Arianne Phillips.
Czech Republic & Poland sales info
9 February 2009Madonna.com reveals that the sales for Prague are happening on Saturday, February 14th with ICON sales tomorrow at 10 am. Meanwhile, Polish media reports that the Warsaw concert aims to be one of the biggest Madonna shows ever: Live Nation is planning to put 100.000 tickets onsale! Which is scheduled for Friday, February 20th with an ICON presale date to be announced later.
New dates added for London & Manchester
9 February 2009Madonna's official site announces that Madonna added two more UK dates: July 5th as the second London show and July 8th as an encore in Manchester. The ICON presales are tomorrow at 10 am while the public sales are taking place at Thursday, February 12th at 9 am. With these extra dates, the 2009 leg of the Sticky & Sweet Tour already has 18 officially announced shows.
No Grammy wins for Madonna
9 February 2009Madonna ended up losing both of her nominations at the 51th Grammy Awards: Best Dance Recording went to Daft Punk while Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals was handed to Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. Madonna was rumoured to make a surprise appearance at the award show, but she was nowhere to be seen in the end, turning out that the producers used Madonna in the promo commercials for nothing...
Blame it on Rio: Raunchy Madonna is back
Source: New York Daily News - 8 February 2009As if A-Rod didn't have enough to worry about.
Photos of Madonna getting hot and sticky with four Brazilian boy toys are about to hit newsstands.
Even as Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez battles allegations of steroid use, W magazine will debut a 45-page spread in which the kabbalah vixen of his dreams can be seen simulating (at least we think she's simulating) sex with a quartet of hunks.
The biggest slice of beefcake in the spread is 22-year-old Ford model Jesus Luz, who's rumored to have replaced A-Rod as Madonna's main muscleman.
The layout, shot by top fashion photographer Steven Klein, shows Her Madgesty, 50, half-naked in black lingerie, straddling one stud on a hotel bed while being attended by three other pleasure-givers, one of whom barely conceals his manhood with a towel.
Although not as explicit as her X-rated 1992 book, "Sex," the shoot marks Madonna's return to the sort of arty raunch she abandoned when she married British director Guy Ritchie and took on the airs of an English countrywoman.
The W portfolio, headlined "Blame it On Rio," gives prominent play to Luz, who reportedly accompanied Madonna to the Maldives in December. Last week, he was seen with her in New York, where he's said to have dined with the Material Mom and her children.
Asked about the nature of Madonna's relationship with Luz, her rep, Liz Rosenberg, said, "I'm told they're kind of friends."
Belgian ticket sales goes problematic
7 February 2009Many Belgian fans who got up early this morning for the ticket sales, ended up in frustration and without tickets. Even before the start at 9am, the website www.proximusgoformusic.be crashed and the phone line got jammed. When someone actually got through, there were no Golden Circle tickets offered. Later it turned out that the only fans who obtained Golden Circle tickets, obtained them before the official on-sale at 9am! The SMS ticketing was the only service that seemed to work somewhat, although many got a confirmation for general standing instead of the golden circle they wanted.
Nele Bigaré, representative of Live Nation Belgium says that their servers are working fine but fans need to practice patience. "Our computers can normally treat up to 16.000 ticket registrations in an hour. Because of the rush this is now only 7.000. Also those wanting to order tickets by phone should be patient." There was no official word yet whether the show was already sold out.
Meanwhile, tickets are already appearing on e-Bay at outrageous prices, despite efforts by the Belgian government to halt the black market for tickets. On forums and social network sites such as Facebook, Belgian fans are complaining about the ticket system, which causes the same problem at every major concert. In Belgium, tickets for major events are not sold through physical sales points.
UPDATE (3pm): The show is NOT sold out yet! Although there are no more Golden Circle tickets, you can still try and get general standing tickets through the channels mentioned below.
UPDATE (11pm): Apparently the show is now sold out. However, there's now a waiting list to which you can subscribed for both general and Golden tickets.
Sales info for Werchter, Belgium
6 February 2009
Tickets for the show on the festival ground of Werchter, Belgium will go on sale tomorrow morning at 9am (CET). There are only two categories: Golden Circle (85 euro) and General Standing (75 euro). In total there will be 65.000 tickets released, though a part of that was already sold during Tuesday's Icon presales.
As is the habit in Belgium, tickets will not be sold through any physical sales points. Everyone has to pass through the Proximus GoForMusic service, which offers 3 options:
1. By phone: call the premium number 0900 2 60 60.
2. Online: Surf to the ticket site www.proximusgoformusic.be, but make sure you're registered beforehand.
3. By SMS: Belgian mobile phone users can send a SMS text message with the code "MAD" followed by the amount of tickets to the shortcode 3060. This service costs 0.50 euro and must be activated beforehand in your GoForMusic profile.
The maximum amount of tickets per person is 6.
Good luck!
Madonna's UK tour dates sell out
Source: BBC - 6 February 2009Both UK dates on Madonna's Sticky & Sweet world tour have sold out.
Tickets to the gigs, at London's 02 Arena on 4 July and Manchester's MEN Arena on 7 July, were snapped up by fans just minutes after going on sale.
The tour, to promote her album Hard Candy, is the biggest grossing in history for a solo artist.
Madonna has visited Europe and both North and South America since kicking off the tour at Cardiff's Millennium stadium in August last year.
~ Recently, a UK radio station already gave away tickets for July 5th, so it's only a matter of time of announcing more UK dates, possibly one more for each city.
Germany ticket sales date announced
5 February 2009Madonna's official site informs German fans that the ticket sales for the Hamburg & Munich shows will take place on Friday, February 13th, while the ICON fanclub presales are already happening tomorrow at 8 am. You can check out all the shows and sales dates list here.
Madonna's International Dance Music Awards nominations
Source: Madonna.com - 5 February 2009Madonna is nominated for the 'Best Pop Dance Track' (4 Minutes) and 'Best Solo Artist' awards at this year's International Dance Music Awards ceremony, which will take place during the Winter Music Conference in Miami from March 24 to March 28, 2009.
Click here to cast your vote now (registration required).
Boxscore numbers for Brazil
4 February 2009Finally, Billboard reports the Boxscore numbers of the last shows of the 2008 leg of the Sticky & Sweet Tour. All 5 Brazilian shows sold out and they were a massive success. These reports bring the grand total gross of Sticky & Sweet Tour to an astonishing $270,454,518!
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Dec. 14-15, 2008
$7,322,269
107,000 / 107,000
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Dec. 18, 20-21, 2008
$15,462,185
196,656 / 196,656
ICON presales start today
3 February 2009Today, the Icon presales will start for the shows in UK, Belgium, Italy, Norway, Finland, Sweden & Denmark.
Legacy Icon members can start buying their tickets at 10am local time; other members will get access at noon. Please check your ICON account details to see if you're eligible for these presales.
Eligible Icon members will be able to purchase up to 4 tickets to each show during the presale with their membership.
Good luck!
| 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 |
| 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 |
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