Madonna is two weeks away from starting her Celebration tour in London. She kicks it off with four dates at the O2 Arena.
But is drama coming? On Instagram Madonna dumped a bunch of rehearsal photos including two indicating her left knee is causing a commotion. In one picture she’s got a blue brace on it. In another. she’s lying down with some kind of compress on the knee and a tour assistant bending down and tending it.
Forget about the postponement of this tour in June when Madonna had to be raced to the hospital with a scary if short-term ailment. On her last tour, Madame X missed many shows citing physical injuries. After many breaks she cancelled even the final performance because of “indescribable pain.”
Injuries and illnesses are to be expected for artists of a certain age, and Madonna is now 65. This fall we’ve seen Bruce Springsteen and Steven Tyler each felled by different conditions resulting in the cancellation of tours. These people are human!
Meanwhile, Madonna’s US ticket sales are lagging. The first US show isn’t until December 13th in Brooklyn, but there are plenty of seats available at reasonable prices — and some way over the top! One problem with this tour is that there’s no album, or film, or scandal to propel it along. The tour itself doesn’t have a “hook” yet other than it’s the most successful female performer ever celebrating 40 years of hits. Even in Europe, where there are sold out shows, there are tickets available.
Something tells me that as we get closer to Madonna’s arrival here, sales will pick up. After all, there are few superstars left and, aside from Taylor Swift, few coming!
