A Pop Music Feature
The Queen of Pop takes to the stage as her long-awaited CELEBRATION TOUR launches in London and reveals a setlist of greatest hits and fan favorites from her four decades in music (re)volution!
The Queen of Pop’s long-anticipated latest concert tour has finally launched! Madonna’s aptly entitled “Celebration” World Tour 2023 is out the gate, with the first of six sold-out shows launching in London at the O2 Arena. The 78-date tour was postponed from premiering earlier this summer after the artist was reportedly struck with a respiratory ailment that forced her to reconfigure her itinerary and instead push for a start in the fall. The Celebration Tour is touted as Madonna’s most ambitious outing yet, and by far the most intricate of any of her 12 previous live endeavors, but the artist would stand for no less on a tour earmarked with many of her greatest hits.
It’s a career 4 decades running and still strong, as evidenced by the fan enthusiasm over the initial announcement that after Madonna had just released a greatest hits package of 50-chart-topping dance remixes, she would indeed hit the road again. The 65-year-old Madonna reflected on what shape the show would take, especially after trailblazing the effect of completely reimagining what a pop music concert should look and sound like. With Madonna’s elevated tastes in all music genres, her keen eye for fashion, and her iconic appropriation of cinema to elevate the music video medium of the years, the Celebration Tour is an amalgamation of these things, interweaving her most profound catalog of songs best suited to narrate the audience through the eras of Madonna.
To live up to the “celebratory” nature of her most unparalleled career, Madonna, re-teaming with her musical director and “Confessions” co-conspirator Stuart Price embellished the tour’s setlist with a cross-section of her biggest hits and fan-favorite tracks. See the full setlist below as experienced by the audiences attending Saturday night’s opening show in London:
Celebration World Tour 2023 setlist…
“Nothing Really Matters”
“Everybody”
“Into the Hollywood Groove”
“Burning Up”
“Open Your Heart”
“Holiday”
“Live To Tell”
“Like A Prayer”/“Unholy”/“Act of Contrition” (Mashup)
“Erotica”
“Justify My Love/“Fever” (Medley)
“Hung Up on Tokischa”/“Hung Up” (Medley)
“Bad Girl”
“Vogue”
“Human Nature”
“Crazy For You”
“Die Another Day”
“Don’t Tell Me”
“Mother and Father”
“Little Star” (A Cappella)
“I Will Survive” (Cover Song)
“La Isla Bonita”
“Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”
“Bedtime Story”
“Ray Of Light”
“Rain”
“Bitch I’m Madonna”/“Give Me All Your Luvin’” (Medley)
“Celebration”/“Music” (Medley)
The setlist is likely to change as it crisscrosses the globe into 2024.
The Celebration Tour is presently regarded as Madonna’s most expensive world tour with a complex stage and unique rigging that is designed to move the performers around the various stages quickly and efficiently. It is also drawing the attention of many fashionistas who are delighted that Madonna is revisiting some of her most iconic looks from previous outings, and paying homage to her various incarnations across multiple video monitors and projections that will play throughout the show.
Get your “FansEyeView of Madonna’s very saucy official tour announcement video here:
THE CELEBRATION TOUR | starring Madonna | is weaving its way to a city near you! Goto madonna.com for the latest tour information and where to get available tickets.
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