The Celebration Tour

The Celebration Tour
Tour by Madonna
Promotional poster for the tour
Location
  • Europe
  • North America
  • South America
Associated albumsVarious
Start dateOctober 14, 2023 (2023-10-14)
End dateMay 4, 2024 (2024-05-04)
Legs2
No. of shows81
Attendance1.1 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 one of the highest-grossing tours of 2024.[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.

  1. ^ a b Frankenberg, Eric (May 9, 2024). "Madonna is only woman to achieve this boxscore feat as the Celebration Tour wraps". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 10, 2024. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
  2. ^ Gensler, Andy (May 5, 2024). "Madonna's Rio concert sets all-time attendance record with 1.6 million fans". Pollstar. Archived from the original on May 9, 2024. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
  3. ^ Roeloffs, Mary Whitfill (July 5, 2024). "Madonna's World Tour Is 2024's Highest-Grossing On Record (But Taylor Swift Will Probably Win Out)". Forbes. Retrieved July 25, 2024.