Madonna Fan Blog

Cardiff and London VIP Packages on sale now

2008-05-09T14:58:00.000-07:00

VIP packages to the Sticky and Sweet Tour at Cardiff and London are on sale now.

There are different packages available - visit www.livenationinternational.com/madonna and click on the appropriate venue.

Swiss Press 20 Minutes

2008-05-09T14:50:00.000-07:00

Madonna's Paris concert made the front cover of Swiss newspaper 20 Minutes on Wedneday 08 May - along with an article about 'the kiss'.

And today's edition of the newspaper featured this article about Madonna's tour and rumours of a stop in Zurich.

Thanks to Oliver

Malawi set to approve adoption official

2008-05-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

Authorities in Malawi are set to grant full adoption rights of an African boy to US pop star Madonna, a high court official indicated Friday, citing a leaked document.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the court in Lilongwe would hear a full review on May 15 of an 18-month interim custody order granted in 2006 for Madonna to adopt David Banda.

The court had also received recommendations from the ministry of women and child development to make the adoption permanent.

The document, referring to Madonna's filmmaker husband Guy Ritchie and herself, said: 'Mr and Mrs Ritchie have shown a strong commitment in providing the infant with all essential needs like love, safe home environment, care, protection, material as well as emotional support.'

The document, filed by an official of the ministry identified as Simon Chisale, said David, the son of peasant farmer Yohane Banda, had 'bonded well with the couple and other key members of the household.'

The report said David, plucked from an orphanage in poor health, 'continues to develop into a happy thriving toddler. His survival, growth and development is excellent.'

The celebrity couple were being monitored at their London home whether they were suitable parents for David by Malawian social workers.

The official said Madonna, who is expected to return to Malawi next week to continue her charity work, will not be required during the hearing, which will be held in camera.

'She will have to come to court to sign the full adoption documents later,' the official said.

From AFP Via Yahoo! News

Russian Magazines Starhit

2008-05-09T14:35:00.000-07:00

Madonna was on the cover of Russian magazine Starhit (30 April - 06 May issue) - the magazine featured a four-page article on Madonna.

Thanks to Andrej

Give It 2 Me debuts on Billboard Hot 100

2008-05-09T14:33:00.000-07:00

Madonna's next single Give It 2 Me produced by Madonna and The Neptunes, is this week's hot shot debut, entering at the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #57.

Thanks to jct7722

Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour: Date Sheet

2008-05-09T11:03:00.000-07:00

Dial M for Madonna - Upcoming Art Show

2008-05-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

Albert Crudo's "McDonna: Over a Billion Serviced"

The WOW Storefront Gallery at 6650 Hollywood Blvd is having a spectacular opening on Friday, May 23, called "Dial M for Madonna" and it's all about Madonna inspired art. Over forty artists are showing images of her decades long career in the form of paintings, sculptures, photography and videos. Be sure to check out the conical bra made of chocolate.

E! Online's Marc Malkin enthuses over the upcoming "Dial M for Madonna" art show at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery. Watch video here.

StubHub Enlisted in Resale Of Madonna Concert Tickets

2008-05-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

Madonna's coming concert tour is to feature what appears to be a first in the concert business: An official ticket reseller that will peddle seats at marked-up prices to fans who couldn't get them through normal channels. In the U.S. and Canada, eBay Inc.'s StubHub will serve as the "official fan-to-fan ticket marketplace." In Europe, the role will be filled by Viagogo Ltd., a ticket reseller that also will sell "VIP packages" -- higher-priced tickets that include amenities like backstage passes and meetings with performers.

The Source: The Wall Street Journal

Sticky and Sweet Tour!

2008-05-09T10:58:00.000-07:00

*official tour poster nro.2

After giving her old label Warner Brothers one last going-away present with the number one debut of Hard Candy, Madonna is ready to make good on her ten-year contract with Live Nation by launching her Sticky and Sweet Tour. The trek will kick off in Cardiff, Wales, on August 23rd, spin through Europe and then cross the Atlantic for an October 3rd show in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Material Girl will then play stadiums and arenas throughout the U.S. before venturing down for a South America jaunt. Live Nation will produce the tour, Madonna’s first since her record-breaking Confessions tour raked in $260 million in 2006. Ticket prices will be in the $55-$350 range. Full tour dates to the first Sticky and Sweet leg are after the jump.

August 23 - Cardiff @ Millennium Stadium
August 26 - Nice @ Stade Charles Ehrmann
August 28 - Berlin @ Olympic Stadium
September 2 - Amsterdam @ Arena
September 4 - Dusseldorf @ LTU Arena
September 6 - Rome @ Olympic Stadium
September 9 - Frankfurt @ Commerzbank Arena
September 11 - London @ Wembley Stadium
September 20 - Paris @ Stade de France
October 3 - E. Rutherford @ Izod Center
October 6 - New York City @ Madison Square Garden
October 7 - New York City @ Madison Square Garden
October 15 - Boston @ TD BankNorth Garden
October 18 - Toronto @ Air Canada Centre
October 22 - Montreal @ Bell Centre
October 26 - Chicago @ United Center
October 30 - Vancouver @ BC Place Stadium
November 1 - Oakland @ Oracle Arena
November 4 - San Diego @ Petco Park
November 6 - Los Angeles @ Dodger Stadium
November 8 - Las Vegas @ MGM Grand Garden Arena
November 11 - Denver @ Pepsi Center
November 16 - Houston @ Minute Maid Park
November 19 - Philadelphia @ Wachovia Center
November 22 - Atlantic City @ Boardwalk Hall
November 24 - Atlanta @ Philips Arena
November 26 - Miami @ Dolphin Stadium

Madonna Confirms World Tour Details

2008-05-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

Madonna has announced that she will begin a world tour in August. The singer's 'Sticky & Sweet' tour will take in 27 arena and stadium shows across Europe and North America, beginning at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on August 23. Further dates, including stops in Mexico and South America, are to be announced later this year.

Tickets go on sale on May 16, with prices for the UK dates beginning at £55.

Madonna's last concert tour, 2006's 'Confessions Tour', grossed more than $260m, making it the most successful tour by a female artist ever.

Madonna to end tour at Dolphin Stadium

2008-05-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

Madonna's Sticky and Sweet tour is coming to South Florida, promoters announced Thursday. The tour will wrap up Nov. 26, a Wednesday, with a show at Dolphin Stadium. That's nearly two months after the North American leg of the tour kicks off Oct. 3 in East Rutherford, N.J. It is Madonna's first major tour since 2006. Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. May 31.

They are priced at $70, $120, $195 and $390.

Tickets are available at www.livenation.com, www.madonna.com and all TicketMaster outlets or charge-by-phone at: Miami-Dade, 305-358-5885; Broward, 954-523-3309; or Palm Beach, 561-966-3309. There will be a six- ticket per person limit for stadium events.

Madonna World Tour Kicks Off in August!

2008-05-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

*official tour poster nro.1

Madonna will kick off her "Sticky and Sweet" world tour on Aug. 23 in Cardiff, Wales, the 49-year-old pop star announced Wednesday. The aptly-titled tour follows the release of her latest chart-topping album Hard Candy.

After Cardiff, the tour will continue through Europe, making stops in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy, as well as elsewhere in the U.K., including a Sept. 11 performance at London's Wembley Stadium.

The tour's North American leg kicks off Oct. 3 in East Rutherford, N.J., followed by 17 performances in the U.S. and Canada, including N.Y.C.'s Madison Square Garden on Oct. 6 and Oct. 7, and L.A.'s Dodger Stadium on Nov. 6. The final U.S. date is on Nov. 26 at Miami's Dolphin Stadium. Additional dates in Mexico and South America will also be added, said the tour organizer.

Exclusive Madonna Interview (AT&T)

2008-05-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

Check out AT&T blue room’s exclusive interview with the Madonna about her new album, “Hard Candy": http://www.attblueroom.com/music.

Madonna reveals behind the scenes insights into the making of “Hard Candy,” including what it was like to work with Justin Timberlake and Pharrell, as well as background on some of the album’s top songs. Describing “Hard Candy,” Madonna says, “everybody experiences loss, everybody wants something they can’t have, everybody takes things for granted, everybody wants to have fun…so I think [“Hard Candy” has] very universal themes.”

*Thank you to David Fishman from AT&T!

Madonna Stunned By Sexual Cleansing Ritual

2008-05-09T10:26:00.000-07:00

Pop superstar Madonna was left shocked and appalled by a bizarre sex ritual which young widows in Malawi have to go through after their husbands die - because it fuels the spread of Aids in the country. In her new documentary I Am Because We Are, Madonna chronicles the plight of the people in the African nation, where she adopted her son David in 2006, and she admits some local customs left her feeling sick.

In one segment of the harrowing new film, the star reveals a young widow is forced to have sex three times with a stranger from outside her village as part of a cleansing ritual. She says, "When this woman's husband dies of Aids, she is required by the village head tribal chief to go through this sexual cleansing. Until she does, basically the village is, like, at a standstill. And, if she refuses to do it, she will be ostracised by everyone."

Madonna Upset Her French Fans

2008-05-09T10:23:00.000-07:00

Pop superstar Madonna upset her fans in France on Tuesday night (06May08) after turning up to a concert more than two hours late. The Holiday hitmaker further disgruntled her followers by only giving a 40-minute performance in the nation's capital, Paris.

Dressed in a black T-shirt, trousers and big boots, she finally took to the stage on a big chair by sipping champagne directly from the bottle. She got up from the chair and kissed one of her female dancers - like she did with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards - before performing Hard Candy.

One fan, Melanie Monnier, told WENN after the show, "She is great, but the wait and the shortness of the show were a bit disappointing. There was a real lack of emotion."

And fan Guy Juliean even doubted Madonna was performing live. He said, "The show was perfect - too perfect with no room for any emotion. Was she singing live? I'm not sure. It was good to see her but I'm a bit disappointed by her lack of charisma tonight on stage."

The singer announced her love of France and spoke of the honour of performing on the same stage as the iconic French chanteuse Edith Piaf, or fellow legends Juliette Greco and Marlene Dietrich. Lenny Kravitz, John Galliano and Kelly Rowland were among the crowd to see her perform four singles from her new album Hard Candy, as well as Hung up and Music.

Robyn Rules Out Working With Madonna

2008-05-09T10:19:00.000-07:00

Swedish singer Robyn has ruled out a possible duet with Madonna - because she's more of a "celebrity" than a musician.

Robyn insists she wouldn't work with the Material Girl until she concentrates on her career rather than her status in the media spotlight. The star says, "I don't expect to work with her! Anyway, I don't collaborate with celebs, I work with musicians."

O'Donnell Pushing Madonna To Direct Nip/Tuck Episode

2008-05-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

Show regular Kelly Carlson says, "Madonna's been approached because Rosie is on our show and they're very good friends. I've begged the producers to get her on the show. She has such a great mind for stuff like this that I think she'd be a great director for an episode. I would also love to have Madonna on as a character."

David Banda's Father on Madonna Film

2008-05-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

Some 100 miles from Malawi's capital, the dusty village of Lipunga has no movie theaters or video players, let alone electricity. But villager Yohane Banda has at least heard that Madonna's new documentary is meant to draw attention to this southern African country's poverty. It's a subject Banda knows well. Poverty forced him to put his son in an orphanage — and now Madonna is on the verge of adopting his son, David Banda, who turns 3 in September.

Banda said David's mother died when his son was just a month old. He believed that he could not care for him alone and that placing him in an orphanage was his "surest" chance to survive. "After losing two sons, I really wanted David to survive," Banda said in a telephone interview Monday. Two children born earlier had died in childbirth, as did a third baby his second wife bore after David was sent to the orphanage.

Banda, a peasant farmer who ekes out a living growing maize, tomatoes and potatoes, said he used to ride a bicycle to visit his son at the orphanage. When he wasn't able to go, David's grandmother would visit. "It isn't true that we abandoned him," Banda said in Chichewa.

Banda said he had originally planned to bring David home when he was old enough to eat solid food. Instead, the pastor who runs the orphanage came to him some two years ago to say a "rich white woman" was interested in adopting David. "We sat down as a family to consider it. After banging our heads together we thought this was good for David so we readily agreed," Banda said.

Banda said that when he met the singer and her husband in a Lilongwe court in 2006, when a judge gave the celebrity couple temporary custody of David, he was promised he would be seeing his son occasionally. The judge is expected to rule on Madonna's adoption request later this month. Last month, two reports by a Malawian child welfare officer who had visited David in London were released, recounting that David has "bonded well" with Madonna's family, and recommending the adoption be approved.

When "I Am Because We Are," the documentary Madonna produced and narrated, premiered at New York's Tribeca Film Festival last month, an audience member asked the pop diva about the difficulty of adopting children from Malawi. "It's a new concept, the concept of adoption, consequently it's very, very time-consuming," she said. "I guess if you really want to do it you have to be willing to walk through the fire."

The film shows poverty and disease devastating the lives of Malawi's children, and urges people to volunteer. Madonna provides food, education and shelter for Malawian children through her Raising Malawi organization, and first met David while setting up her charity projects here.

Madonna At The Top

2008-05-09T10:04:00.000-07:00

It's a busy week at the top of the The Billboard 200, with Madonna's "Hard Candy" leading the action at No. 1. It is the artist's seventh chart-topper, the second-most among all female artists -- only Barbra Streisand, with eight, has more. The Warner Bros. set moved 280,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. After racing 68-3 last month, the diva's single "4 Minutes" featuring Justin Timberlake gave Madonna her 37th top 10 hit -- the most of any artist in the rock era. Until now, she and Elvis Presley were tied with 36 apiece.

Fortissimo Takes Madonna's Docu

2008-05-09T10:01:00.000-07:00

Foreign sales company Fortissimo Films has picked up international rights to Madonna's Malawi documentary "I Am Because We Are." Pic preemed at Tribeca and will also screen at Cannes, where it will be presented as part of amFAR's annual Cinema Without Aids fund-raising event. "Because" examines the plight of the African country that has been struck down with the AIDS epidemic. It is predominantly told through the stories of orphaned children, but also includes interviews with Bill Clinton, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Dr. Paul Farmer. Directed by first-time helmer Nathan Rissman, pic is produced, written and narrated by Madonna. Hong Kong- and Amsterdam-based Fortissimo handles all rights outside North America, where the pic is repped by CAA.

Madonna Goes French

2008-05-09T09:58:00.000-07:00

It was a case of recycling rather than reinvention for Madonna last night as she pulled out her tried and tested move - a lesbian kiss - during her show in Paris last night. The singer, who is rapidly approaching 50, locked lips with one of her female backing dancers during a private concert in the French capital, just like she did with Britney Spears at the MTV Awards more than five years ago. She told the 1,500-strong crowd at the Olympia: "Why do I have this relationship with France? I'm always drawn to working with French people - and frenching French people. Vive la France!"

It is the latest attention grabbing tactic in less than a week by Madonna, who is apparently rather eager to keep her crown as the Queen of Pop in the youth-obsessed music world. The mother of three spent almost every second of her track Four Minutes bumping and grinding against Justin Timberlake during a recent show in New York.

Last night Madonna was keen to feel the love from her audience, asking her fans: "Who do you love more, me or the Rolling Stones?" Her fans responded with cheers to which she said: "I thought you might say that."

She reprised her spot on her black-and-gold throne, wearing a black satin bodice, satin pants and tailcoat with pink lining, lace-up boots with six-inch heels for the half-hour set. Madonna is in the throes of promoting Hard Candy, her 10th chart-topping album.

UK Press South Wales Echo

2008-05-08T18:06:00.000-07:00

Today's edition of Welsh newspaper the South Wales Echo featured this news that the Millenium Girl will be starting her tour in Cardiff.

Thanks to Nicky

38th #1 on Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play

2008-05-08T18:04:00.000-07:00

4 Minutes has become Madonna's 38th #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play chart. Unfortunately the track falls two places to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Here is how Madonna is performing on other Billboard charts:

#1 - Billboard European Hot 100

#1 - Billboard Canadian Hot 100

#1 - Billboard Hot Singles Sales

#1 - Billboard Hot Dance Single Sales

#1 - Billboard Comprehensive Album 'Hard Candy'

#1 - Top Internet Album 'Hard Candy'

#1 - Top Digital Album 'Hard Candy'

#2 - Billboard Hot Dance Airplay

#3 - Billboard Pop 100

#3 - Billboard Hot Digital Songs

#4 - Billboard Hot Digital Tracks

#7 - Billboard Pop Airplay

#11 - Billboard Hot 100 Airplay

Thanks to Micheal

Sticky & Sweet Tour Tour Posters

2008-05-08T14:21:00.000-07:00

Here is the first look at how the tour will be promoted in the media - below is the two different versions of the tour poster.

Thanks to Cécile

Sticky & Sweet Tour ICON Presales

2008-05-08T14:01:00.000-07:00

Fans who are members of Madonna's official fanclub, ICON (members before 01 May 2008), should visit tickets.madonna.com to find out the conditions and details about pre-sale tickets for the tour.

Sticky & Sweet Tour Itinerary

2008-05-08T13:54:00.000-07:00

Here is the current tour itinerary for the Sticky & Sweet Tour - additional dates and venues are to be announced and dates in South America and Mexico will follow later.

Official Press Release Sticky & Sweet Tour

2008-05-08T13:27:00.000-07:00

Madonna, the world's tastiest sweetheart, has announced more non-stop treats for her legions of legendary and devoted fans. Following the latest news that 'HARD CANDY' has debuted at Number 1 around the globe, it has been confirmed that Madonna's 'STICKY & SWEET TOUR' will begin (hip) hopping around the world on August 23rd in Cardiff, Wales with stops in major European markets through September including London (11-September) and Paris (20-September).

The North American leg of the 'STICKY & SWEET TOUR' begins October 3rd at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with stops at New York's Madison Square Garden on October 6th and 7th, followed by performances in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and more before stopping at Miami's Dolphin Stadium on November 26th. Madonna's 'STICKY & SWEET' tour will also visit Mexico and South America later this year. (Show dates, and on sale information in these markets will follow at a later date.)

Confirmed today by Guy Oseary, Madonna's manager and Arthur Fogel, Live Nation's CEO Global Touring and Chairman Global Music, who is producing the tour, 'STICKY & SWEET' will play arenas and stadiums throughout Europe and North America including a number of cities where Madonna has not performed in the past fifteen years.

'STICKY & SWEET' will be directed by Madonna's long time creative collaborator Jamie King. The musical director will be Kevin Antunes. For complete tour and ticket information, fans can visit: www.livenation.com and www.madonna.com

TICKETS: Tickets for 'Sticky & Sweet' will go on sale beginning Friday, May 16th in London, Paris, Cardiff and Nice followed by on sales Saturday, May 17th in Amsterdam, Boston and Chicago with E. Rutherford and New York City on sale Monday, May 19th. Additional on-sales vary and are listed below or available at www.livenation.com and www.madonna.com. There will be a 4 ticket limit per person at the arena performances and a 6 ticket per person limit for stadium events.

MADONNA.COM: Icon is Madonna's official fan club. Legacy members of Icon get first access to tickets starting May 12th, 2008. Fan club members who join May 1st and later will not have access to presale tickets. However, all ticket buyers for the tour get a free trial one year Virtual Icon membership which provides access to the largest digital archive of Madonna photos online, a social networking community of dedicated Madonna fans, contests, news and much more. Sign up for Icon at Madonna.com today.

Citi:: 'We are proud to provide Citi® cardmembers with access to one of the most anticipated tours of 2008,' said Vik Atal, Chairman and CEO, Citi Cards. 'The Madonna tour is a great example of the benefits of our alliance with Live Nation which enables us to offer our cardmembers exceptional experiences through our innovative Private Pass Program.' Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets beginning Tuesday May 13th at 10am ET through Citi's Private Pass Program®. For complete presale details visit: privatepass.citi.com. *Applicable for Sticky & Sweet shows in the U.S.

www.stubhub.com: StubHub is the official fan-to-fan ticket marketplace for Madonna's North American Tour 2008.* StubHub is the world's largest ticket marketplace enabling fans to buy and sell tickets to a vast selection of nearly 30,000 sports, concert theatres and other live entertainment events. StubHub reinvented the ticket resale market in 2000 and continues to lead through innovation. The company's unique online marketplace, dedicated solely to tickets, provides all fans the choice to buy or sell their tickets in a safe, convenient and highly reliable environment.

All transactions are processed and delivered via StubHub's patent-pending Fan Network (SM ticket delivery service, supported by seven-day toll free customer service at 1-866-STUBHUB and backed by an industry-first Fan Protect Guarantee. *Applicable for Sticky & Sweet shows in Canada & the U.S. (excluding Mexico)

www.viagogo.co.uk: viagogo is the Official Premium Ticketing Partner for Madonna's European Tour 2008*. Premium tickets and VIP packages will be available from Friday 16th May 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.

French Press Le Parisien

2008-05-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

Madonna's Paris concert was featured in French newspaper Le Parisien yesterday - click to enlarge.

UK Press Metro

2008-05-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

Wednesdays edition of UK city newspaper the Metro feature this picture from the Paris show - and as much as we would like to think she did pull a random fan out of the crowd - it is infact one of her dancers she is kissing!

Madonna to announce Summer tour

2008-05-08T03:46:00.000-07:00

Madonna's upcoming tour will begin Aug. 23 in Cardiff, Wales, and will include between 50-60 shows total, Billboard.com has learned. Details of the tour, produced globally by Live Nation, will be announced later today (May 8). Billed as the Sticky and Sweet tour, Madonna's trek in support of her current chart-topping Warner Bros. release "Hard Candy" -- which debuted atop the Billboard 200 yesterday -- will play stadiums in the U.K. and Europe until the end of September, arenas and a "handful" of stadiums in 16 markets in North America in October and November, and then stadiums in Mexico and South America late November-December. "I'm thrilled to be involved in another worldwide Madonna extravaganza," Arthur Fogel, chairman of global music for Live Nation, tells Billboard.com. Fogel has helmed Madonna's last three world tours, which grossed almost $400 million combined. Her 2006 Confessions tour is, at $194 million, the top-grossing tour ever by a female artist. The upcoming tour is the first major manifestation of the multi-faceted 10-year deal between Madonna and Live Nation, valued in published reports at $120 million. "The reality is she's delivered her last album to Warner Bros., and it's a smash, which is great for everybody," Fogel says. "We now have a tremendous opportunity with a tremendous artist to do all kinds of new and innovative things on many different levels, and this tour will be the start of that rollout." The tour follows a familiar Madonna touring blueprint in that it visits a limited number of markets in a four-month time frame, with multi-night stands in major cities. Ticket on-sale details will be announced today, along with a presale through Live Nation's corporate sponsorship partner Citi. Fogel says ticket prices will be "basically the same as they've been the past two tours," which means primarily in the $55-$350 range.

From Billboard.com - thanks to Christopher

Madonna hits #1 on Billboard

2008-05-07T18:39:00.000-07:00

Madonna's Hard Candy has reached the #1 spot on Billboard - the album is the Madonna's seventh chart-topper, the second-most among all female artists with only Barbra Streisand beats Madonna with eight.

According to Nielsen SoundScan the album sold 280,000 to make #1.

Thanks to Terry

Paris Sticky and Sweat

2008-05-07T18:38:00.000-07:00

Paris was hot yesterday, but Madonna made the Olympia Hall in Paris last night THE hottest place in town.

Fans had queued for hours, even days, to enter the show. Along with competition winners from ICON and NRJ, 500 tickets were given away at the door on the day of the show.

Before the show NRJ promotion staff handed out lollipops and sweets to waiting fans and curious onlookers, who must have been wondering what was happening - however they only had to look up at the Olympia's marquee to see that Madonna was in residence that night.

ICON winners were let in first and secured front row spots against the barriers, then other fans were let in, trying to grab a prime viewing spot. Meanwhile upstairs in the balcony, press photographers set up as the guests settled into their seats.

Every so often, the floor audience would cheer and wave as a French celebrity was spotted, and just before the show started Lenny Kravitz arrived and delighted a young fan by kissing her on the hand and making her day - along with waving at the fans below in the crowd.

To keep fans amused while they waiting in the hall there was a DJ playing a set, who was later followed by Madonna's DJ from the band, who played some Candy-themed songs to help hype up the crowd.

The hall was heating up into one large sweatbox, and it soon became a case of 'sticky and sweat', rather than 'sticky and sweet'.

Due onstage at 10:00pm, fans waited until just after 10:30pm before she arrived!

The room went black, fans surged forward, the Hard Candy album covers that had featured on the electronic screens faded away and the show was upon us - the Queen arrived on her throne ready to invite us into her candy shop!

Seeing Candy Shop live brought a new perspective to the song, not being one of madonnalicious' favourites on the album, the live version totally rocks, whether it is the energetic performance of the song, or just seeing Madonna's enthusiasm, it is great and would be a super tour opening number.

A bottle of champagne, an acoustic guitar, and a kiss on the lips for a female dancer (shock horror - the press will love that!) follow before Madonna starts Miles Away, dedicating it to all those who were 'afraid to love'. The simplest performance of the night, but Madonna still reacting to the crowd, even giving a massive wink for those in the balcony.

Again the room goes black and fans feel another show-stopping performance is on it's way. The video screens light up and 4 Minutes begins - with no Justin in person - just on the screen!

For those who watched the Roseland show, the choreography works just as well with Madonna reacting, dancing, writhing over the video-version of Justin. The clever routine is a hit, and shows just how much preparation had gone into these promo shows.

Madonna then mentions the other great artists who have been on this stage, Edith Piaf, Marlene Dietrich, we all think we are going to get a moving speech, that is until she screams....'But they're all dead!'.

A hard rock version of Hung Up follows, with Madonna rocking out on the electric guitar, ending the song with her grinding her guitar against the amp.

And now Give It 2 Me, the second single. Again what a great performance, this time Madonna wears a pair of 'geeky' glasses, it all adds to the light hearted feel of the night. Madonna appears to be really enjoying the show, winking, laughing, interacting with the audience. She is performing sharper dance moves than some of the younger dancers!

Now the last song, Music - fans know it is the end, but give it their all, dancing, clapping, trying to reciprocate all the energy Madonna put into her performance.

For those lucky 1,500 who attended the show, it was a night to remember, and as fans filtered out of the venue, the occasional chant of My sugar is RAW! could be heard echoing along the boulevard!

Madonna's Paris Show Speech

2008-05-07T18:25:00.000-07:00

madonnalicious reader Jeyan attended the show last night, and filmed this clip of Madonna's speech to the fans before she performed Hung Up.

'Who do you love more, me or the Rolling Stones'

2008-05-07T13:31:00.000-07:00

Pop diva Madonna turned sexy hard-rock queen for a night at a private concert in Paris Tuesday night, telling her fans she loves to french-kiss the French as she ground away at an electric guitar.

Wearing black from head to toe, her blonde curls loose to her shoulders, Madonna put on a high-voltage half-hour show for a privileged 1,500 fans to mark the release of 'Hard Candy', her 10th chart-topping album.

'Who do you love more, me or the Rolling Stones?' she asked the crowd packing the Olympia, a mythical concert hall near the Paris opera, before launching into a ear-popping heavy-metal version of her mega-hit, 'Hung Up'.

'I thought you might say that,' quipped the queen of pop, who turns 50 on August 16, as the adoring crowd roared back their answer.

The Material Girl made her stage entrance seated in a black-and-gold fairytale throne, wearing a black satin bodice, satin pants and tailcoat with pink lining, lace-up boots with six-inch heels, and twirling a magician's wand.

Madonna told the concert hall it was 'a historical moment' for her to be performing on the same stage as the iconic French chanteuse Edith Piaf, or fellow legends Juliette Greco and Marlene Dietrich.

'Why do I have this relationship with France? I'm always drawn to working with French people - and frenching French people,' she quipped. 'Vive la France!'

Despite lukewarm reviews, Madonna's hip hop-influenced new album 'Hard Candy', co-written and produced with former N-Sync singer Justin Timberlake, and hip hop stars Timbaland and Pharrell Williams, shot straight to the top of the charts in France and across Europe upon its release last week.

Madonna has described the title as 'a juxtaposition of tough and sweetness' - but her performance in Paris was tough from start to finish.

Flanked by an electriying crew of hip-hop dancers and surrounded by pulsing video screens, Madonna ground, bumped, skipped and jumped her way through four of her new tracks - including the chart-topping 'Four Minutes' - as well as the now classic 'Music' and 'Hung Up'.

The magician's gear and heeled boots quickly gave way to dance-friendly running shoes and sleeveless black top, before she pulled out the saturated electric guitar for a heavy-metal sounding finale.

'Hard Candy' is Madonna's last album on the Warner label before she takes up her astronomical 120-million-dollar (78-million-euro), 10-year deal with US concert promoter Live Nation.

The Paris gig was the second of three private concerts being held to mark its launch, after New York on April 30 and before London on May 10.

One third of tickets went to listeners of the French radio station NRJ, which organised the French event, with the rest snapped up by VIPs and fans in the know, from France and elsewhere.

Andrew Stewart, 37, has seen Madonna 17 times on stage since 1987 and flew in from Thailand specially to catch the show.

'She's just the most amazing performer,' said the British web designer. 'She doesn't compare to anyone.'

From AFP Via Yahoo!

Press Pictures L'Olympia Paris

2008-05-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

Here are the first selection of press pictures from last night in Paris.

From AFP / AP / Reuters Via Yahoo! News

US TV VH1 Countdown

2008-05-07T13:06:00.000-07:00

Madonna is scheduled to be on VH1 Countdown on Saturday 10 May (probably a pre-recorded interview as she is performing in Kent that day).

Fans should submit votes for 4 Minutes - the video is in the Top 5 and but it would be great to have the song #1 on the day she appears on the show.

Please vote at www.vh1.com/shows/series/top_20_countdown/vote

Thanks to Jason

Fans and L'Olympia ready for Madonna

2008-05-07T13:05:00.000-07:00

madonnalicious reader Olivier sent in these pictures from outside L'Olympia venue before the show yesterday evening in Paris:

Walked by Olympia Hall tonight before Madonna's show. No luck for me, I couldn't get in! I took a couple shots from outside.
There was a large crowd, 'NRJ Loves Madonna' posters everywhere, girls handing out candies to those on line, NRJ Radio limos with Madonna's CD cover on them and a great large Madonna display on the Olympia front!

And here are some pictures madonnalicious took of the ICON winners tickets and wristbands allowing them entrance to the venue.

Another season, another Nip/Tuck rumour

2008-05-07T13:03:00.000-07:00

Rosie O'Donnell is hoping to persuade pal Madonna to direct an episode of hit plastic surgery drama Nip/Tuck, after playing a recurring role on the show.

The actress and U.S. TV personality has played lottery winner Dawn Budge on a handful of episodes of Nip/Tuck, since making a naked debut in 2006 - and now she wants her pal to get on the set.

Show regular Kelly Carlson says, 'Madonna's been approached because Rosie is on our show and they're very good friends. I've begged the producers to get her on the show.'

'She has such a great mind for stuff like this that I think she'd be a great director for an episode. I would also love to have Madonna on as a character.'

From contactmusic.com

German Magazines gab

2008-05-07T13:01:00.000-07:00

Madonna is featured on the cover of the May 2008 edition of Frankfurt's GAY magazine gab. Fans can download the magazine at www.gab-magazin.de

Thanks to Greg

Madonna's New York Apartment

2008-05-07T10:07:00.000-07:00

Madonna's place in Upper West Side Manhattan, designed by her brother, Christopher. I wouldn't necessarily feel comfortable in a place like this, quite clinical in my opinion, even if luxurious. I like the colors though and the paintings. Note: Images might not be current. Source: Architectural Digest Magazine. *Thanks to Spygurl.

"Hard Candy" Official Commercials

2008-05-07T06:10:00.000-07:00

Commercials for Hard Candy - the same commercials also ran in Finland.

Short Clip From Madonna's Paris Show

2008-05-07T06:06:00.000-07:00

Clip from Paris Hard Candy promo concert. So she wore glasses there? Looks like those glasses worn by her daughter, when they left the Kabbalah center recently. Hmm. Gave them to her, ha?

Madonna "Britney-Kisses" Dancer In Paris Show

2008-05-07T05:59:00.000-07:00

Madonna performed at The Olympia in Paris - 6th of May - and got some on-stage action from a backup dancer... Searching repetion... Oh, Britney and Christina, VMA's! Only one difference here: this time it doesn't seem that cool nor provocative - more so it looks like she is french kissing a kid.

Lindsay Clydesdale: "Madonna Has Diluted Her Image"

2008-05-07T05:50:00.000-07:00

"She's done the virgin look, the dominatrix, the pretend lesbian and the charity do-gooder but Madonna's latest image change is by far her worst. On the publicity trail for her new single with Justin Timberlake, she's tried to reinvent herself by teaming up with a younger star. Unfortunately, instead of making her look youthful and sexy, the pictures of Madge pinning Justin to a wall while she writhed against him and thrust her groin at the cameras, were cringe-worthy. Rather than raising pulses, the only thing rising among many fans was bile in throats. Who is this embarrassing old lady trying and failing to prove she's still got "it"?

Yes she has an incredibly fit body and her face looks suspiciously smooth for a woman who turns 50 in August. But is there any need to push it, literally in poor Justin's case, in our faces? She can wear what she likes but there's a chance her choice of hooker boots, leotards and an allergy to bras are a bid to distract us from her music which, let's be honest, isn't her strong point.

Problem is, neither is her image now.

Her 30-year career has only lasted this long due to her ability to change her look from album to album but now reality and middle-age has set in, it's not so easy to hoodwink fans. They've seen the spreads in the glossy magazines where she poses in Barbour and wellies with horses on her country estate. They've watched her read the twaddle she penned in spiritual books for kids, in tea dress and pearls. And they couldn't miss the furore over her adoption of a baby from Malawi.

Madonna has diluted her image to the point where her life seems to be style over substance. Her reputation is a mess of conflicting messages - get your boobs out for the boys, dress chastely for the kids, save the planet, smash the system, blame religion, use religion. I don't know if even she knows what she stands for any more. And yet the constants in her life are her husband and three kids. When she's not trying to sell us something from the vast industry that is Madonna, she seems perfectly happy to drop the sexual aggressor act and be a mum and wife.

And at her age, why not?

So when Madonna decides to release another album and accompany it with shots of her perched on a throne with her legs spread and brandishing a cane, it makes us gulp but for all the wrong reasons. It's just too embarrassing, like catching your parents having sex or imagining the Queen on the loo.

If Madonna still thinks she's hot, it's probably down to her menopausal hormones. Here's hoping her next reinvention will be "Madonna in retirement"."

Source: Glasgow Daily Record, writer Lindsay Clydesdale.

Madonna's Double Success In The UK

2008-05-07T05:42:00.000-07:00

Outselling its nearest competitor, ‘Hard Candy‘ is Madonna’s tenth #1 album. The albums’ staggering first single “4 Minutes” featuring Justin Timberlake, also tops the single’s chart for a second week. Incredibly this is the fourth time Madonna has had a single and album simultaneously at #1. No other solo female artist has done the double more than once. Madonna has had more UK number 1’s than any other female artist and is the most successful female solo artist, ever!

Madonna’s Double’s:

1986 - album: True Blue - single: Papa Don’t Preach
1989 - album: Like A Prayer - single: Like A Prayer
2005 - album: Confessions On A Dance Floor - single: Hung Up
2008 - album: Hard Candy - single: 4 Minutes

“4 Minutes” is a global smash, topping the European and World charts and notching up over a million downloads. ‘Hard Candy’ is the highly anticipated creative collaboration between Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland and Pharrell Williams. Madonna performed a set at New York’s Roseland Ballroom on Wednesday April 30th, 2008 and will headline Radio 1’s Big Weekend, May 10th.

Madonna Selling Her Wiltshire Mansion?

2008-05-07T05:35:00.000-07:00

Madonna is set to make a tidy profit — after selling the country home bought for $18m in 2001 for a whopping $24m.

The Material Girl star, 49, decided to put the Wiltshire pad on the market because she and hubby Guy Ritchie don’t spend enough time there. The pop superstar used to spend her time riding horses around the 5-acre estate, but since focusing on her career again, the singer has not spent enough time at Ashcombe to make it worth running.

A source said: “She has been touring and promoting for months and not visited. She still loves riding but despite many lessons is not very proficient. Her famous fall, in which she broke a shoulder, was not her last. Her longing to be an English countrywoman has also faded. Having tried shooting she hates it and banned Guy from doing it there. The family did have a routine of going to the Kabbalah center on Saturday mornings in London. Then they’d travel to Ashcombe and spend the weekend riding, shooting and jogging. But it hasn’t happened much lately.”

Madonna — who celebrates her 50th birthday later this year — now plans to spend her days at her homes in London. She is thought to own at least five properties in the Capital. They include a $14m Marylebone townhouse in which she lives with Guy, and kids Lourdes, 10, Rocco, 6, and David, 2. They also have places in New York and Beverly Hills, US and own facilies which are in the use of the Kabbalah center.

*Packing her "things up" at this side of the Atlantic?

Madonna Embarrassed by Being "Fully" Clothed?

2008-05-07T05:29:00.000-07:00

Madonna said in a statement released recently that she was "embarrassed" by the recent publication of photos showing her fully clothed.

"I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be 'artistic,' and now, seeing the photos and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed," the 49-year-old pop star said in a prepared statement. "I apologize to my fans, who expected more from me and less from my wardrobe."

The photos, published in the latest issue of Vanity Fair magazine (really?), show Madonna clothed from head to toe, not an inch of cleavage visible. Not even an ankle.

"I'm completely disillusioned," said famous blonde woman Paris Hilton. "I'm not even sure what that means, but I heard someone say it once. Something about being annoyed with somebody, I think? Anyway, like, I totally idolized Madonna when I was a girl and, like, based my whole career on her, you know? I mean, except for the part about singing catchy pop tunes and putting on sharply choreographed live shows that millions would pay to see. Pretty much just the tramp part, basically. I mean, look at me. I'm totally naked right now! And now you tell me, like, Madonna posed with all her clothes on? What if this catches on? How am I going to get everyone to pay attention to me if I have to cover my body with colored fabrics like all the other girls do?"

Though Vanity Fair readers are not Madonna's normal target audience of teen girls, the photos were widely distributed through the Internet, allowing her fans to see a side that the singer does not normally reveal.

*I find this story rather contradicting. Madonna was posing in Vanity Fair wearing boots, bustier and panties, so basically only undergarments! I think the writer has been mistaken. He might have referred to one of the Elle photoshoots (as she has graced the cover of few) where she is indeed wearing pants and and hats and dresses and the pics aren't really that sexy, they are more like catalogue images - and not in line with her current image at all. If the writer indeed means Vanity Fair photos, then this story is, you know, crock of shit?

Madonna Gets Stolen

2008-05-07T05:11:00.000-07:00

Cardboard cut-outs of pop diva Madonna in provocative poses used to advertise her new album have been stolen from music shops across Hong Kong, a news report said Sunday. At least 10 of the 30 1.6-metre-high cut-outs advertising the 49- year-old's new album, Hard Candy, have been taken from shops since they went on display last week, the Sunday Morning Post reported.

Record company Warner Music told the newspaper it was unheard of for people to walk away with nearly life-size cut-outs from shops, but said it did not plan to raise the matter with police.

"We have had people ripping off posters before, but stealing cut- outs certainly takes some guts," Kelvin Wong, vice-president of Warner Music Asia, told the newspaper.

New Madonna Interview By Alicia Quarles

2008-05-07T05:07:00.000-07:00

Timbaland and the Neptunes are so dominant as producers, they can sometimes upstage the artist they're working with. On her new album, "Hard Candy," Madonna made sure that she wasn't a guest star on her own album.

"I thought of it as a true and equal collaboration. ... I like to think that when you listen to the record, you don't just go, 'Oh, that is a Timbaland record or that's Pharrell (of the Neptunes).' That you hear it and you go, 'There is something new and different about it."

Finding something new and different is the approach that's kept Madonna on top for most of her 25-year recording career - and made her a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year. The 49-year-old pop queen is once again dominating music airwaves, but she's also making her mark far away from the celebrity spotlight, in Malawi. The impoverished African nation, from which she found David, the young child she is in the process of adopting, is the subject of her new documentary, "I Am Because We Are," and her charitable efforts.

Madonna sat down with The Associated Press recently and chatted about her new musical path, life in Malawi and raising kids in the eye of the paparazzi, among other things:

AP: You recently signed a deal with Live Nation and "Hard Candy" is your last on Warner Brothers Records. What do you hope to accomplish with the deal?

Madonna: No. 1, coming up with new interesting ways of releasing music. Finding new ways to get music to people, that is one thing. Two is being an equal partner on my records which I have never been before. I have always been signed to a label and I get a percentage of what I earn and now it is 50/50, which is great, and three, is all the great shows I plan on doing.
AP: Would you ever do a pay for play with your music similar to Radiohead?

Madonna: No ... I don't know. I am not sure I like the idea of saying pay whatever you want for it. I think it is good to be specific. ... Put a value on it.

AP: Your film, "I Am Because We Are," is about Malawi, a country that has been ravished by AIDS and poverty. Is it difficult to find hope in such depressing circumstances?

Madonna: I did find hope there because in spite of all of the hardships that people have to endure there, as I say in the film, I saw so much happiness there. I saw that people with so little had so much appreciation for life and so much joy. It gave me a real sense of appreciation for what I have and it made me, it put things in perspective for me. ... We have so much and we can often get caught up in our little stupid problems. The kids have nothing to play with. They get plastic bags and bunch them together in what looks like a ball with twine and that is their soccer ball. They are happy. It is fine. You get a real sense of appreciation there.

AP: Do you think the documentary will help to silence some of your critics?

Madonna: It helps explain a lot of the story and the mystery to people. People will have a better perspective. It is always good to know the whole story before you jump to conclusions. The movie isn't just about the adoption, but I hope it will fill in some blanks for people.

AP: What is the hardest thing you had to endure while making this documentary?

Madonna: I think the hardest thing is watching parents lose their children. I think that is a pain that is unendurable, to bury your children. It is supposed to be the other way around.

AP: Would you adopt again from Malawi?

Madonna: I would like to. They are still trying to finesse the laws and make it so it is not such a long waiting period, which would be good. I would prefer that.

AP: How are you going to balance your projects in Malawi with promoting this album?

Madonna: Not that I have very much free time, but I have a lot of ongoing projects in Malawi. I am building a girls school, and orphan care center. I am refurbishing an orphanage. I have lots of kids to look after on scholarship funds, so I have relationships with people and I want to go back and check in on everybody.

AP: How do you deal with the paparazzi always taking pictures of your children?

Madonna: I don't like it when they get in their face. It is scary and frightening especially if you are not used to it and you are a kid. I think Lola is a little bit more familiar with it now. My son (Rocco) is still seriously irritated by it.

AP: You, Prince and Michael Jackson turn 50 this year. Will you be throwing a big, joint party?

Madonna: If there is, I am not throwing it. I am tired of throwing parties!

AP: Maybe you all could do a Rolling Stone cover together.

Madonna: Really? (smiles) I don't know. Ask them. I am a little bit tired of being the one who always has to ask everything. You are going to have to go to them.

Source: The Seattle Times, written by Alicia Quarles (The Associated Press).

UK TV The Big Weekend

2008-05-06T13:00:00.000-07:00

Fans in the UK who couldn't get tickets to Madonna's headlining act at the Radio 1 Big Weekend concert on Saturday 10 May - can watch her performance on TV.

LIVE - Saturday 10 May - BBC 3 - Madonna set between 9:15pm and 10:00pm

HIGHLIGHTS - Tuesday 13 May - BBC 1 - Highlights of show and Madonna's set

Hong Kong Magazines Beats

2008-05-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

Madonna is featured in the May 2008 issue of Hong Kong entertainment magazine Beats.

Thanks to River

Russian Magazines Dosug, Grazia and Pohudei

2008-05-06T07:00:00.001-07:00

Here are some recent Russian magazine covers that featured Madonna - click to enlarge.

Thanks to Anya

UK Charts Give It 2 Me

2008-05-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

Even though it is not yet a single release, Madonna's Give It 2 Me has charted on the UK singles chart #73 on downloads alone.

Check out the chart at uk.launch.yahoo.com/uk/single_charts

Thanks to John

Chart Reports

2008-05-06T05:00:00.000-07:00

From Belgium - thanks to Dan:

'4 Minutes' stays at #1 for a second week and she enters the Album chart at #2 in both the Flemish and French parts of Belgium.

From Denmark - thanks to Kent:

Single Chart Top 40 - Back at #1 with sales of more than 7,500 copies (which is a lot in Denmark).

AirPlay Chart Top 20 - Spends another week at #1.

iTunes Singles Top 100 - Still at #1

iTunes Album Top 100 - #1 Deluxe Version, #3 Ordinary Version

From Finland - thanks to Carla:

Madonna has rocked the charts in Finland. Not only has '4 Minutes' been the #1 single for 5 weeks in a row, but 'Hard Candy' went straight to #1 also!

From the Netherlands - thanks to Arend:

Madonna entered at #1 in the album chart with 'Hard Candy'. In the single chart '4 Minutes' remains stuck at #2.

From Uruguay - thanks to Mauricio:

Madonna's new video '4 Minutes' is leading the MTV LatinAmerica charts at #1. The show is called 'Los 10 más pedidos' and it's broadcasted to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Japanese and Taiwanese Hard Candy

2008-05-06T04:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a look at the Japanese and Taiwanese versions of Hard Candy - the sticker on the Japanese version states that Miles Away will be the theme song for TV program Chances.

Thanks to Stephen

Another chance to get tickets to Paris

2008-05-05T17:01:00.000-07:00

If you didn't win tickets to the exclusive show Madonna will perform at the Olympia Hall in Paris on May 6, here is your chance to attend this special event!

The first 500 fans who lineup in front of the Olympia Hall, 28 Boulevard des Capucines, 75009 Paris, tomorrow morning, will get a wristband allowing them to attend the show tomorrow night!

Wristbands will be given away tomorrow, May 6, at 10am, Paris time.

From Madonna.com

Hard Candy Concert Footage (New York)

2008-05-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

UK Magazines Grazia

2008-05-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

The 05 May issue of UK magazine Grazia reruns the worst outfits article that featured previously in US magazine US Weekly.

Madonna promotional cut-outs 'disappear'

2008-05-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Promotional life-size cardboard cut-outs of Madonna have sparked a thieving spree across Hong Kong by fans of the star, according to reports.

The 1.6 metre-high two dimensional replicas of the singer advertising her 11th studio album Hard Candy, which was released last week, have gone missing from record stores in the country.

Ten of the 30 displays in Hong Kong have been stolen over the past week, but Madonna's record company Warner insists it will not raise the matter with local police.

Kevin Wong, vice president of Warner Music Asia says, 'We have had people ripping off posters before, but stealing cut-outs certainly takes some guts.'

From contactmusic.com

US TV 106 & Park Interview

2008-05-05T07:07:00.000-07:00

Madonna was interviewed on 106 & Park on BET last Friday - fans can now watch a stream of the interview at www.worldstarhiphop.com - or watch it below.

Fans can also pick their favourite Madonna video and see it live on 106 & Park by voting at www.bet.com/OnTV/BETShows/106andpark/106_Vote_Poll

Thanks to AJ

Madonna tops British singles and album charts

2008-05-05T07:06:00.000-07:00

Pop superstar Madonna topped both the British singles and album charts out Sunday, the fourth time in her career she has stood atop both lists.

'4 Minutes', which features Justin Timberlake, has now topped the singles charts for three weeks running. It was joined this week by 'Hard Candy', the diva's 10th chart-topping album.

The 49-year-old has had 13 British chart-topping singles: nearly double that of her nearest rival among female solo artists, Kylie Minogue, who has seven.

From AFP Via Yahoo! News

Hard Candy Store Displays

2008-05-05T07:05:00.000-07:00

Here is a look at some more Hard Candy displays from around the world sent in by madonnalicious readers.

Hong Kong - thanks to Matthew:

Hong Kong - thanks to Terry:

Mexico - thanks to Hector:

New York City - thanks to Lisa:

North Attleboro, Massachusetts - thanks to Mathias:

Pics From Madonna's Hard Candy Show (New York)

2008-05-04T18:57:00.000-07:00

Madonna Hard Candy Concert (New York)

2008-05-04T18:29:00.000-07:00

Madonna left little to the imagination as she ground her groin against young Justin Timberlake after slamming him into a wall at her Hard Candy New York concert. It was hard for us not to blush as the pair performed their eye-popping duet live for the first time on stage. With their 25 year age gap, it could easily have seemed like a drunken aunt getting a bit too frisky with the young lads at her nephew's party. But the Crazy For You singer, nearly 50, looked amazing as she vamped it up in dominatrix-style boots and a low-cut top. And judging by the grin on his little ferret face, Justin enjoyed every minute.

To squeals of delight from 2,000 fans, they writhed around while belting out their new single, 4 Minutes. The steamy duet came halfway through Madonna's sensational hour-long comeback gig at New York's Roseland Ballroom on Wednesday. She had flown us out to join her for the gig - a curtainraiser for her Hard Candy tour, later this year. Fortunately for Justin, her hubby Guy Ritchie stayed at their London home on childminding duties.

So he also missed his missus thanking young JT for making an old woman very happy. Panting, she said: "I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have made a record with Justin, Timbaland, Pharrell and Kanye West."

She then strummed a few bars of Satisfaction on her black guitar, before joking: "You people thought you were coming to a Rolling Stones concert? F*** that!"

But the X-rated performance did leave her a little flustered. As she dedicated Hung Up to the fans who'd camped out overnight, Madonna royally cocked up. She missed a beat and glowered at her band as if it was their fault. Then she seemed to slip and fall on her bum leaving the stage. Oops! Not that anyone minded. From the moment she first appeared on a revolving M-shaped throne in a rhinestone encrusted tracksuit, the atmosphere in the tiny venue was electric.

Her slick routines with tightly choreographed male dancers got everyone waving their Hard Candy lollipops. Even for someone half her age, her energy was breathtaking. All hail the Queen of Pop - her reign's far from over.

On Throne, Onstage, Online and on Cellphone

2008-05-04T18:24:00.000-07:00

Halfway through her 32-minute set on Wednesday night at the Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan — a promotional show for her new album, “Hard Candy,” that was attended by 2,200 lucky, screamy fans — Madonna offered a message of sympathy. “All you people I saw sleeping in the street last night,” she announced, holding a jet-black electric guitar, “this song is for you.”

It was “Hung Up,” about the agony of waiting. And as she finished the song, she added, just in case the message wasn’t clear, “Anybody who knows me knows how much I hate to wait.”
New York may be a city of the impatient, but for Madonna’s admirers, the chance to see her do a free, stripped-down version of a stadium show, with a team of backup dancers and a guest appearance by Justin Timberlake — and in a room minuscule by her usual touring standards — was something worth waiting for. And waiting for a very long time.

Madonna played six songs, four from “Hard Candy,” which was released on Tuesday. But the line outside Roseland, on West 52nd Street, formed 60 hours before showtime. By late Tuesday it had stretched around the block, as the faithful stood and sat and slept and caffeinated themselves for the chance to score one of the 750 wristbands that guaranteed free admission.

There is something almost quaint about an overnight line for concert spots in an era of Internet presales and text-message ordering. But Madonna’s show was also part of a technologically sophisticated, 21st-century product rollout that involved multiple media tie-ins. It was broadcast live on the Internet by MSN and on cellphones worldwide by Verizon and Vodafone. In addition to the spots given to fans on the line — that’s on a line, not online — about 1,000 went to radio and Internet contest winners, and 200 to members of Madonna’s social-networking fan club.

And at 49, Madonna is on the entrepreneurial vanguard of the music business. “Hard Candy” is her last album for her longtime label, Warner Brothers. In October she announced a deal with the touring giant Live Nation that would encompass recordings, tours, merchandising and other revenue sources; it is valued at a reported $120 million.

Billboard said on Wednesday that the first-day sales of “Hard Candy” exceeded 100,000 copies in the United States, giving it a good chance of being next week’s No. 1.

The room roared with “Omigods” and lighted up with digital-camera flashes when Madonna emerged at 10:09 p.m. from behind a revolving stage barrier, dressed in shiny black and wearing lace-up boots. Backed by a band whose members worked in the far corners of the stage, she opened with “Candy Shop,” a new song with a bubbly synth hook that was a ringer for a 1980s club hit.

Next, holding an acoustic guitar and with computer graphics whizzing over the screens behind her, she played another new one, the wistful “Miles Away.” But big roars returned when Mr. Timberlake emerged in a sharp white jacket and black scarf for the third number, “4 Minutes,” and joined Madonna in some dirty dancing that had slight bondage overtones — with Madonna dominant, of course.

The show was swift clockwork. At 10:23, right after “4 Minutes,” Madonna picked out the riff to the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” on the electric guitar and led a grungy version of “Hung Up.” At 10:32 there was a slight costume change — she put on a black zip-up top with “HARD” in silver letters on the front and “CANDY” on the back — and, with a team of b-boy backup dancers, sang another high-energy, retro-electro new song, “Give It 2 Me.”

Then came “Music” from 2000, much dancing and a quick makeup and hair fix in the wings. By 10:42, Madonna and her dancers had swung back through the revolving wall, and the lights went up. Some had waited for more than two days for a half-hour show. But no one seemed to be complaining.

“I had the time of my life tonight,” said Jeanrené St. Pierre, a fan-club contest winner from Montreal who wore a “BOYTOY” necklace. “Of course it was worth it.”

Madonna's "Hard Candy" Debut Disappointing?

2008-05-04T18:16:00.000-07:00

Even though Madonna just did her big launch gig in New York, she might feel a bit worried when looking at how frequently her current CD, Hard Candy, is leaving the stores. It is expected to move between 275,000 and 300,000 copies its first week in America, which should easily put it at #1 - which was expected as well. However, Hard Candy is falling short on it's predecessor.

Her last album, Confessions, debuted to about 350,000 copies during its first week, without much radio support for its first single Hung Up. A lot of support has been given to her new single, 4 Minutes, massive campaigns and deals have been signed and put up to promote the album - which makes her expected debut that much more disappointing. In comparison, the "rival diva" Mariah Carey, not only sold about 475,000 copies of her new CD, E=MC2, but it was also her biggest debut week ever.

Part of the suggested blame has been put to Madonna herself. She has not done much promotion for her new album. She appeared in "106 & Park" for the first time in BET history, but has not done that much tv to promote the album - at least not in America. We look forward to seeing how things develop and reporting as the figures come in - or the dates for additional new shows she's going to be in!

Every Album "Feels Like First Time" For Madonna

2008-05-04T17:59:00.000-07:00

Madonna's career may span more than 25 years, but during an exclusive performance on Wednesday to celebrate the release of her 11th studio album the U.S. superstar told fans it still feels "like the first time." The athletic 49-year-old performed six songs for around 2,000 people at New York City's Roseland Ballroom, including four from "Hard Candy," her final album for long-term label Warner Bros. released internationally this week.

"Even though I have made what seems like 100 records, every time I put one out it's like the first time and the best time," said Madonna, dressed in knee-high black boots, black satin sweatpants with glittery side stripes and a corset. "Hard Candy" scored solidly among critics, although much of the credit, or blame, they said, should go to the established hit-makers with whom she collaborated -- the likes of Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Kanye West and Pharrell Williams.

Timberlake joined her on stage at the Roseland to perform the single "4 Minutes," which went to No. 1 in the British singles charts and peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 listing. "I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have been able to make a record with him, Timbaland, Pharrell, Kanye," she told the crowd.

The mother-of-three, who wowed the crowd with her dance moves, also performed "Candy Shop," "Give It 2 Me" and "Miles Away" from her latest album, along with "Music" and an acoustic version of "Hung Up."

Madonna, one of the world's biggest-selling artists, ditched Warner Bros. last year and signed a 10-year deal, including a three-album commitment, with concert touring company Live Nation believed to be worth $120 million.

Below acoustic version of "Hung Up", a clip which proves Madonna doesn't sing all the way live in her concerts - but then again, this comes as no surprise to us fans... or if it did, where have you been all these years?!

Madonna On BET's "106 & Park" Show

2008-05-04T17:50:00.000-07:00

Madonna's 11th studio record, "Hard Candy" landed her first public appearance on BET's "106 & Park". Madonna sat down with Rosci and Terrence J to talk about her lead single, "4 Minutes" featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland. Right before the commercial break, they played a new single from her called "Candy Shop" which was produced by Pharrell Williams. As for what she wore to the show, Madonna rock a gold-chain laden Givenchy black dress, according to Style Watch. Madonna has gotten some fierce criticism for her look, comments go to "over the top, even for her". She wore the same costume in a recent You Tube Message, just lose the jacket.

Bottom's Up!

2008-05-04T17:37:00.000-07:00

Madonna - who also drank champagne straight from the bottle during her New York show, has revealed she and Justin Timberlake drank tequila and vodka after her performance. The '4 Minutes' singer - who stunned crowds at the free Manhattan concert when she welcomed Justin on stage - revealed she was feeling slightly hung-over after partying on April 30. She said: "We had to celebrate. We decided we both work too hard and have to have fun. I had a shot of tequila. I may have had a lemon drop, too! We 'tied one on', as they say."

The 49-year-old singer and her 27-year-old collaborator went to New York's exclusive nightclub The Box where they danced and drank with friends including Josh Duhamel, fashion designer Alexander McQueen and R.E.M frontman Michael Stipe. Madonna also said despite leaving her "brat" side behind her, she still likes displaying her "cheeky side" in her music.

She told US TV show 'Entertainment Tonight': "I think I'm many things. I think I'm a lady, I think I'm a brat, I think I'm a nerd, I think I'm a pimp, I think I'm a mother, I think I'm a kid. I can't be a brat forever! But that was fun, it was fun being a brat. I've still got my cheeky side."

She has also hailed her fellow singer Justin Timberlake as the future of music, insisting his ambitious ways will ensure his music will top charts for years to come. The hitmaker impressed the queen of pop after collaborating on her latest smash hit 4 Minutes, helping the star produce her 11th number one album Hard Candy. And the Material Girl singer admits she was drawn to work with the pop hunk because he understands the crazy ways of the music industry better than anyone else. She says, "He's ambitious but not in an offensive way. He's incredibly responsible and he's good at what he does. I think he has a long future in front of him. He understands the insanity of being a pop star."

Madonna Feat. Justin - 4 Minutes (Live, Roseland - New York)

2008-05-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

Madonna Defends Her "Copy Cat"

2008-05-04T17:30:00.000-07:00

Teen idol Miley Ray Cyrus, (who also recently did a parody video of Madonna's 4 Minutes) aka Disney’s Hannah Montana is getting support from major stars after her photo controversy. Since the release of her artsy but yet some what racy pictures for Vanity Fair by famous photographer Annie Leibovitz, which portraits her rather as a vixen barely covered with a sheet and bare back, celebreties like Madonna, Britney Spears and TV host Rosie O’Donnell hurry to defend the 15 year old Nashville native singer and actress.

"My daughter Lourdes is a fan, and I don’t think she really cares about the photo”, said Madonna. “It’s not a big deal. What is a big deal? Let’s talk about something that’s a big deal.”

Britney Spears offered to help and Rosie O‘Donnell makes it even more clear. — "Leave Miley Cyrus alone“.

But facts are telling differently. A nationwide poll from Inside Edition and People Magazine find that 70% find her pose inappropiate. Even Ariana Huffington got involved, asking if her action was tasteful or too much. "I was so honored and thrilled to work with Annie,“ said Miley. “I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be artistic and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed. I never intended for any of this to happen,“ she adds.

Asked in a recent interview how she is coping with problem situations, Miley said that she is not afraid of challenges. "I find solutions to problems“, she said. Strong words for a teen girl that has to grow up fast withstanding pressure by her parents and the entertainment industry. "My parents are best ones in whole wide world. They protect me and only want the best for me. It doesn’t matter in how much trouble I get,“ she said.

And what does Annie Leibovitz has to say? “I’m sorry that my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted. Miley and I looked at fashion photographs together and we discussed the picture in that context before we shot it. The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful.”

A misjudgment from both sides that may threaten at least family-oriented Disney’s sought after image of a beautiful, innocent rising star.

"Luckiest Girl In The World"

2008-05-04T17:22:00.000-07:00

Queen of Pop Madonna gathered together some of the biggest names in the fashion industry to celebrate the release of her new album. The singer held a gig in New York to launch her latest record Hard Candy and made sure that the city's most stylish residents were on hand to help her. Donna Karan, Dominico Dolce, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler were among the famous faces attending the event at Manhattan's Roseland Ballroom.

She "even managed to convince" Justin Timberlake, who has written and produced a number of tracks on the album, to join her on stage and perform. After the pair's duet, Madonna thanked Timberlake and said that she felt like the "luckiest girl in the world" to have worked with him on the new album.

The 35-minute show, which was free to attend, saw fans of the 49-year-old camp out to get entry into the event.

Meanwhile, reports in the Daily Record suggest Madonna will be performing for a Scottish crowd for the first time this summer. An insider allegedly told the newspaper that she is in talks over playing Hampden Park for 50,000 fans.

Mr.Bitch Gives Fashion Judgement

2008-05-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

I put this bluntly: Madonna should change her dressers. I don't care who they are, but for the most part they should be fired. While the sum of all parts may have looked even great (in the recent New York concert) when seperated it just did not work. The opening number was highlighted by the Dolce & Gabbana jacket with pink lacing and the look was fine, but once the jacket was removed, the look changed - drastically and for the worse. The baggy, regular looking gym pants, with attached glitter stripes (made of waaaaay too hard material) didn't exactly look like a million bucks - they looked rather sad, poorly made and bulky in all the wrong places.

While Madonna may have strutted around proudly in lace 25 years ago, the kind of shirt she was wearing reminds me (sadly so) of all the unfit 50-something women who try to cover up the looseness of their arms in what else than: lacy garments. Madonna surely does not have loose arms. Neither does she have any need to cover her perfectly fit body. The combination of lace and gym pants certainly didn't make her look hip nor youthful. It was like a mix of "what granny's got in the closet" put together with "what are the grandchildren wearing".

My eyesight was saved - luckily - after she took the damn shirt off. It surely is no time for 'M granny' clothing line - and especially not if one is seriously trying to hit younger/wider audience. She could have pulled this off a better and looked more youthful - all she would have had to do, was to call me!

Just for the record - even if this judgement reminds you of the infamous Mr.Blackwell's worst dressers list, it is not based on common knowledge on my part. My true profession is fashion and therefore I do know what I'm talking about and this judgement is not reversible. But, saying that, fashion is also a matter of personal taste. So in that respect, my opinion falls in line with the rest of you.

Vote 4 Minutes in Eastern Europe

2008-05-04T16:40:00.000-07:00

4 Minutes needs some help on these Eastern European radio and TV stations is not doing that well in these radios and music channels, so more votes would be welcome.

Cidade FM - http://cidadefm.clix.pt/destaques/top40/vote.asp

Difusora FM - http://www.difusorafm.com.br/vote

Los40 - http://los40.co.cr/lalistav.asp

Mix FM - http://www.mix.fm/music/mixed20/default.asp

Radio Comercial - http://radiocomercial.clix.pt/tnt/votar.aspx

MCM - http://www.mcm.net/programmes/hit-mcm/

MTV Italy - http://www.mtv.it/tv/programmi/trl/vota.asp

MTV Romania - http://www.mtv.ro/sondaje/mtv-by-request

MTV Tr3s - http://www.mtvtr3s.com/ontv/dyn/mi_trl/voting.jhtml

Thanks to Trovante

Madonna's Big O in a Test

2008-05-04T16:13:00.000-07:00

A Madonna comeback is like the return of spring: After a long, bleak absence of colour and sound, the trees fill with blossoms and the birds begin speaking in the language of love and renewal. And pop music's greatest trickster reinvents herself again, in the manner of the season's first insect sac releasing its fast, wild hostages. Fifty years old this August, Our Lady of Perpetuity has masterminded her return this week with the album Hard Candy, which she has ferociously promoted this week with a series of magazine covers - all of which reveal her to be, appropriately enough, delicious and rough.

Recently on the fronts of Interview, Marie Claire and Vanity Fair, she is at the moment famous for looking her age, yet moistly so, thanks in part to oxygen facials, a beauty secret she has revealed on her website and in numerous interviews. *Yup, plus a bit of Photoshop work and botox injections.

Oxygen? Until a few days ago, all I knew about oxygen was that it is what we breathe and that, according to seventies glam-rock band Sweet, it is like love: "You get too much, you get too high, not enough and you're gonna die."

Wait, scratch that. I have felt the oxygen cult growing: First came the bars ("Gimme a double O{+2}, easy on the degenerate molecular orbitals"), then the portable blast cans (a friend sent me one; it frightened me) and finally the whole save the Earth/organics/nature thing that has forced me to recycle cat excrement on a weekly basis.

And now, there is no denying that Madonna, a long-time proponent of alternative exercise and nutrition practices, looks exceedingly tended to - and without that fat-face filler look so many celebrities are wearing.

She looks, in truth, better than she has in a long time.

So I decided to put the oxygen facial to the test.

I visited the Bay Dermatology Centre, presided over by Dr. Sandy Skotnicki-Grant, and was clearly not the first of a conga line of Madonna fans and beauty editors anxious to make a hot confession on the dance floor.

The facials are technically called "rejuvenation oxygen infusions" and were developed by Intraceuticals in Australia as a means of treating skin cancers caused by prolonged sun exposure.

The process is difficult to describe. In a nutshell, and according to Intraceuticals' press release: "The application of oxygen under hyperbaric pressure allows the epidermis to maximize its oxygen surface level concentration."

Or, in other words, a medical aesthetician named Genny Day lets you breathe oxygen from a tank, then uses a metal apparatus that simultaneously pressurizes your skin with oxygen and inserts brightening, whitening or line-erasing serums into any dimples. The procedure is completely painless and feels like a well-organized massage - what I imagine a shave without a razor would feel like. Ultimately, the process is a faster way of getting moisture into the face, Skotnicki-Grant explains, as opposed to, say, applying cream and waiting and hoping it will break through all that dermis. There are a number of critics who call the practice "snake oil" that lacks any hard medical evidence to back up the claims.

So what? For $250 - about $100 more than one of those hateful, aggressive "Your face is a foot" facials - you are left with plumped up, glowing skin that feels like a new peach and is magically devoid of whatever damage (sunspots, rosacea smudges, lines, lines, lines) you have inflicted upon it.

Okay: on second glance, not completely, but the end result is enough to start a serious "Screw the mortgage, I'm worth it!" jones. (When I went out after, I was called "glowing." Love is like oxygen after all.) I had just enough oxygen to feel high. And enough to feel as though Madonna - damn it! - is, once again, onto something big.

UK Charts 4 Minutes and Hard Candy

2008-05-04T16:10:00.000-07:00

4 Minutes remains at #1 for the third week in a row on the UK Singles chart - www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/singles

Madonna's Hard Candy entered the UK Album Chart straight in at #1 today - www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/albums giving Madonna her 10th #1 UK album.

Fans Waited 60 Hours To See Madonna: 750 Got In For Free

2008-05-04T16:07:00.000-07:00

Madonna performed with Justin Timberlake before a crowd of 2,200 at Roseland. According to the New York Times, people started lining up outside 60 hours before show time in hopes of receiving one of the 750 free admission wrist bands. Madonna gave them a shout-out during the concert by playing “Hung Up,” a song about being tired of waiting. “All you people I saw sleeping in the street last night, this song is for you,” she said. “Anybody who knows me knows how much I hate to wait.” But then she only played for 30 minutes! That's no way to reward people for sleeping outside for three days.

Source: Noelle Hancock (writer)

US Magazines Odyssey

2008-05-04T16:00:00.000-07:00

Madonna is on the cover of Odyssey magazine dated (25 April issue), the magazine features Madonna on the cover (photographed from the set of her new video Give It 2 Me by Tom Munro.)

This issue celebrates the release of Madonna's current single 4 Minutes and her new album Hard Candy. Also, there is an album review and Madonna gossip/commentary inside. The website for the magazine is www.odysseymagazine.net

Thanks to Patdabrat

The New York Times, Review of "Hard Candy"

2008-05-04T15:59:00.000-07:00

When in doubt, take Madonna at face value. Since the beginning of her career she has telegraphed her intentions and labeled herself more efficiently than any observer. She has titled albums “Music,” “Erotica” and, in 2005, “Confessions on a Dance Floor” for a collection that mingled personal and biblical reflections with club grooves. Flaunting her ever-changing image, she named one tour “Who's That Girl?,” another “Re-Invention.”

She's just as blunt on her 11th studio album, “Hard Candy,”. There's no question that this album aims to please – and it does. See which flavor you like and I'll have it for you, she promises as the album starts with “Candy Shop,” and she follows through: Come on into my store / I got candy galore.

That's a come-on, of course, but it's also a statement of purpose. “Hard Candy” is devoted to the instant gratification of a musical sweet tooth – it's candy, not tofu – and, equally important, to the continuing commercial potency of “my store.”

Madonna turns 50 this summer. The onetime club-hopping Boy Toy is now a married mother of three who's making a midlife job change. She's leaving behind her career-long major-label contract for a deal with the concert promotion giant Live Nation that will keep her on the road and making albums over the next decade.

“Hard Candy” is Madonna's last album of new material for Warner Brothers Records, which says she has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide (via the Sire label and later her own Maverick) since her career began in 1982. It doesn't burn bridges with her major label – just the opposite. It's the kind of album a record company longs for in the current embattled market: a set of catchy, easily digestible, mass-appeal songs by a star who's not taking chances.

Madonna sets aside her avant-pop and do-gooder impulses on “Hard Candy.” Instead of introducing little-known dance-world producers into the mainstream, she is working with thoroughly established hit makers. Instead of arty provocations, she's polishing the basics of verse-chorus-verse. And instead of another full-scale reinvention, she's looking back, deliberately echoing the sound of her early years, with a ProTools face-lift.

When she's not urging a listener to dance or undress me, Madonna uses “Hard Candy” to renew her brand and defy skeptics, yet again. Sometimes she gets defensive, and her best defense, as always, is a sleek dance beat. “Hard Candy,” despite some filler, has plenty of them.

Alongside whatever she has offered her audience through the years – sex, glamour, dancing, defiance, blasphemy, spirituality – Madonna has never pretended to be anything but diligent. She's disciplined, hard-working and determined to sell. For Madonna as a pop archetype, the truest pleasure isn't momentary physical ecstasy or divine rapture but success. She labeled that impulse too in an early tour: “Blonde Ambition.”

Presenting herself not only as an object of desire but as a material girl with her eye on the profits was one of the many smart moves she made from the beginning. By flaunting her control and her triumphs, Madonna gave fans a stake in her long-term prospects, something that loyalists should be able to appreciate as her sex appeal inevitably fades – although Madonna is still svelte, toned and dressing in lingerie as often as she pleases. On another of the new album's little manifestoes, “Give It 2 Me,” she insists, Don't need to catch my breath / I can go on and on and on.

Madonna's financial future is by no means precarious now that she's on her own. In a so-called “360 deal” reportedly worth as much as $120 million, Live Nation will handle her entire output, encompassing albums, ticket sales, licensing and merchandising. I'll be your one-stop candy shop / Everything that I got, she sings, appropriately.

Well, not everything. Madonna was getting mighty serious on her 21st-century albums “American Life” and “Confessions on a Dance Floor.” It's something that happens to songwriters in their 40s. Their perspective changes as they settle into home life, raise families and start worrying about the news. During last year's “Confessions” tour, Madonna melded her longtime hobby of Christianity baiting with her newer charitable cause. She sang “Live to Tell” from a crucifix with disco-ball mirrors, wearing a crown of thorns, while video images of suffering Africans were shown. Last year at the Live Earth concert she introduced a would-be environmental anthem, “Hey You,” that tried and failed to be her equivalent of John Lennon's “Imagine.” The song came and went, raising some corporate donations, but does not appear on the new album.

For “Hard Candy” Madonna is more compartmentalized. The album arrives quite separately from, although simultaneous with, a documentary Madonna worked on and narrates: “I Am Because We Are,” about orphans and AIDS in Malawi, where she adopted her son David. Meanwhile, the closest the album gets to social consciousness is “4 Minutes,” which has a clock ticking and Justin Timberlake singing, We only got four minutes to save the world! in his best Michael Jackson imitation. But the rest of the song's lyrics just make those four minutes sound like they're time for a quickie, or perhaps the length of a pop hit.

More than ever, 21st-century pop performers live by the popularity of one four-minute song at a time, to be quickly exploited as a single before listeners move on. Madonna clearly intends to stay competitive, and her talents suit an era when staccato, electronic pop makes perfect ring tones.

The lyrics on “Hard Candy” keep things simple and poppy, and the music stays almost skeletal, the better to reveal its hooks. As on “Confessions,” the sound reaches back to Madonna's early 1980s days as a New York City club regular. Now, cannily, she combines those pumping synthesizer chords with hip-hop's digital stutters and a precise, computerized veneer. Madonna wrote the songs on “Hard Candy” with Timberlake and with Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes, and the producer Timbaland adds his touches; Kanye West drops by to rap on “Beat Goes On.” They're all established hit-makers, as well as some of the most clever hook-makers alive.

Choosing those collaborators is a change of strategy for Madonna, who apparently isn't visiting clubs quite as often. In past albums, she used her cool-hunting radar to seek out lesser-known figures – Jellybean Benitez and Patrick Leonard in the 1980s, Mirwais Ahmadzai and Stuart David Price (aka Jacques Lu Cont) in the 2000s – who could ride her pop instincts into the mainstream. Williams, Timberlake and Timbaland don't need discovering. They're pop-chart regulars who have, separately, collaborated with Nelly Furtado, Ashlee Simpson and the Pussycat Dolls, all of whom owe more than a little to Madonna.

Madonna might be singing to all her wannabes through the decades in “She's Not Me,” a branding statement – She doesn't have my name – couched as a warning to a lover. It's about a girl who tries to steal a man by copying everything from the singer's perfume to her reading list. As if to remind the guy that he and the singer have a shared past, the track reaches way back to revive disco – scrubbing guitar, canned hand claps, brief touches of (synthetic) strings – while Madonna sings, She'll never have what I have / It won't be the same.

Which is true. No one since Madonna (including the Neptunes' client Britney Spears, whom Madonna once smooched as an equal) has come close to achieving the same alchemy of flirtation, pop proficiency, concert spectacle and self-guided tenacity. But she still has to watch her back.

Although choosing familiar producers is a defensive move, Madonna rarely sounds like a producer's puppet. In most of the songs the collaborators apply their timing and technology to spiff up the Madonna brand: the spirit of the bangle-wearing MTV fixture of the 1980s.

The sound of “Hard Candy” is partly the sound of an era when New York dance clubs were an experiment in improbable social interactions – gays, socialites, breakdancers, artists – that became a pipeline to pop radio. Pulling such mixed audiences onto the dance floor was a good pretest for wider pop appeal. Like Moby on his new album, “Last Night,” Madonna can't help looking back fondly on her younger days.

Yet along with the nostalgia that won't alienate older fans – and who else can afford golden-circle tickets for arena tours? – “Hard Candy” also taps into exactly the sounds that current hip-hop reclaims from the disco era: electro keyboard riffs, filtered voices and bits of Latin percussion. “Hard Candy” has echoes of songs like Rick James' “Super Freak” (in “Give It 2 Me”) and Madonna's own “Everybody” (in “Heartbeat,” where she sings, It may be old to you but to me it feels new).

The most structurally unconventional song on “Hard Candy” is “Incredible.” Madonna sings, once again, about happy memories – I wanna go back to then / gotta figure out how gotta remember when – in a production that's close to what Williams does in his other Neptunes songs: voices interrupting one another and switching in and out of double time, sudden key changes and style shifts from electro to rock to stark percussion, from declaiming to crooning to chanting as new bits of melody keep appearing. And right at the peak of the song Madonna sings the word “incredible” to the same hook as “material” in “Material Girl” – a happy memory in four indelible notes. Soon she adds, Don't want this thing to end.

And for the moment it shouldn't. “Hard Candy” is a retrenchment, but it's a typically savvy one. The dance floor – not the pulpit, not the art gallery – is Madonna's truest home, and it's a good place to shake off pretensions and excesses. Her grand statement on “Hard Candy” is nothing more than that she's still around and can still deliver neat, calculated pop songs. Madonna has had more profound moments – “Like a Prayer,” “Ray of Light” – but not every pop star is cut out for full-time profundity. This time around, concocting new ditties that will have her arena audiences singing along, she was smart to stay shallow.

Source: The New York Times

The Independent's Review of "Hard Candy"

2008-05-04T15:51:00.000-07:00

For the record, I'm neither ageist nor a prude. But when, four tracks into Madonna's 11th studio album 'Hard Candy', the 49-year-old Queen of Pop starts monotonously cooing "see my booty get down" while Pharrell Williams pants desperately over the top, my immediate reaction is sheer, hair-standing-on-end embarrassment.

It's like watching your mum trying to be a lap dancer. The track in question is "Heartbeat", which until that point, was a rather pleasing, bleepy electro-pop ode to the dancefloor – much like the rest of the album, in fact. And therein lies the problem. Whereas Madonna made her mark as a ballsy, boundary-crushing, sexually liberated pop idol, on 'Hard Candy' she takes her cue from pretty much every sexually available, pleasing pop muppet going – from hiring the Neptunes or Timbaland to produce every track on the album to the ridiculous give-it-to-me crotch shot on its cover. Indeed, on "Give it 2 Me", she chants said phrase as if all she really wants you to give her is a mug of Horlicks and a couple of valium. Even Kanye West (who guests on the actually rather brilliant "Beat Goes On") can't save her. The passion's gone.

Source: The Independent, reviewer Luiza Sauma

Gardener Directed Madonna's Documentary

2008-05-04T15:47:00.000-07:00

A new film documentary about orphans in Malawi suffering from HIV/AIDS was directed by Madonna's gardener, the pop singer said. The "Material Girl" star said during an appearance at New York's Tribeca Film Festival she hired Nathan Rissman to direct her "I Am Because We Are" documentary after he proved his worth as her gardener.

"Nathan Rissman basically did everything for me," Madonna said. "He was my gardener. He was my carpenter. He rerouted the electricity in my house. He looked after the children. And he started making home movies of my children. And they were amazing."

The 49-year-old singer's documentary follows the tragic lives of several Malawi orphans dealing with crippling diseases. Rissman told he was honored to helm the film, which also follows Madonna's controversial adoption of Malawian David Banda. "I have to pinch myself all the time," Rissman said of his involvement with the film.

On Her 11th CD, Madonna Still Has Control Issues

2008-05-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

From the looks of it, "Hard Candy," Madonna's new album, is an unambiguous riff on the superstar's favorite theme. She appears on the cover in thigh-high boots, blinged-out wrestling belt, and a long black strap stretched from her wrist to her mouth. Her legs are spread. Her eyes are slits. Her lips are parted.

But looks are deceiving. This pose isn't about sex, and it never was. Madonna is about control. Her titillating accessories - the bustiers and riding crops and soft-core coffee-table porn - aren't instruments of pleasure. They're power tools.

Even when she's working closely with established writers and producers (an artist of great vision but limited technique, Madonna is a serial collaborator) she manages to stamp the work with her own indelible mark. That's no small feat for someone whose real strengths lie beyond the realm of songcraft and singing. Madonna has remained an original in recent years, long after her glory days as a trend-setting provocateur have waned, by making smart, unobvious choices in musical partners: techno guru William Orbit, for instance, or French electronica mastermind Mirwais Ahmadzai.

How interesting, then, that on her 11th album she has handed the reins over to today's most fashionable and familiar sonic architects, Timbaland and the Neptunes, and the young star who's shaping up to be heir to her dance-pop throne: Justin Timberlake. Nowhere is the shift in the power structure more blatant than on the album's irresistible first single, "4 Minutes," where Madonna sounds like a featured guest trying to keep pace with Timbaland's colossal beats and Timberlake's nimble melody.

The song is a sure thing, a chart-topper for its sheer star power as well as instant musical allure, and on the eve of Madonna's 50th birthday - adventures and missteps and house-music meditations under her belt - "4 Minutes" feels a lot like an icon's can't-miss gift to herself. Indeed, "Hard Candy," out Tuesday, is loaded with future-forward variations of fizzy synths and ebullient grooves that scream nothing so much as early Madonna. "Give It 2 Me" thumps relentlessly, euphorically, to the rhythm of a clanking virtual cowbell and freaky bass. "Beat Goes On" features a narcotic Kanye West cameo but a richly reconstituted disco queen, while "Heartbeat" - a sweet electro valentine to dancing - pulses with a young girl's mindless bliss.

And why not? All the other kids get to reference her. So Madonna is using the milestone of her own mid-century mark to reclaim her spot smack in the center of that ever-redemptive dance floor. But it's not the shiny heartless one of 2005's "Confessions on a Dance Floor."

"Hard Candy" takes place in a grimier club, where the disco queen has more to lose than herself in the music - everything from peace of mind "Miles Away" to star power "She's Not Me". Can she have both?

That question frames the tension between dominance and submission that has been a pillar of Madonna's work since 1986's "Like a Prayer." And it plays out explicitly here - not via the familiar sin/salvation imagery but by the simple choice to hitch her wagon, for the first time in her career, to a team of hit-makers. She's giving herself away, and in so doing keeping herself on top. Thanks to the blunt force of her personality, "Hard Candy" feels perfectly concerted, without a whiff of desperation.

The album unfurls artfully - bookended by the sinuous minimalism of "Candy Shop," where Madonna hawks her still-delicious treats, and "Voices," a booming, magisterial closer that ponders the very nature of power. The artist's journey from shameless seductress to thoughtful student produces nary a ballad, but some seriously bittersweet tones linger under the surface of these effusive tunes.

"You always have the biggest heart when we're 6,000 miles apart," sings Madonna, a frequent flier by trade, on "Miles Away." On "Incredible," a chipper paean to the electrifying early days of a relationship that grows frantic by the verse, she confesses "I need to go back there/ before it's too late." The stylistic touchstones may be vintage, but the emotional landscape on "Hard Candy" - nostalgia, regret, and marital angst take their place alongside heady doses of desire - couldn't be more current.

Decoding "She's Not Me" will provide the celeb-obsessed with hours of fun figuring out which wannabe is "reading my books and stealing my looks and lingerie." Music lovers will marvel at the song's suite-like arc, crafted by the Neptunes, which morphs from old-school disco to anthemic power-pop to string-saturated space odyssey.

Singer-songwriter Joe Henry, Madonna's brother-in-law, gets a songwriting credit on "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You," a dusky shuffle that evokes Madonna's career-best slow burner, "Live to Tell." It arrives like a mood swing, dark and mysterious, laying the foundation for the roiling "Voices," where Madonna asks over and over, church bells tolling, "Who is the master and who is the slave?"

Twenty-five years ago the question wouldn't have occurred to her. Today it's the epic coda to Madonna's last album for longtime label Warner Bros. before launching a 10-year, $120 million partnership with Live Nation. In that light, "Voices" is a commanding parting shot.

Source: The Boston Globe

Tough Mama - Ring A Bell?

2008-05-04T15:27:00.000-07:00

US superstar Madonna has expressed her "tough" take on motherhood many times before, and she has done it again, this time telling the German press she doesn't let her kids watch television or eat candy.

"Children need limits, otherwise they go off the rails," she told the magazine KulturSpiegel. Ignoring television is also an authentic punk-rock attitude, she explained. But as far as music is concerned, she doesn't want to stop. Lourdes and Rocco from listening to anything, she said, adding that she had "confidence in their taste."

"I'm a tough mother," she admitted in another interview given a few days ago in Germany to the Frankfurter Rundschau. At 49, Madonna said she still considered herself a rebel and wanted to pass on that attitude to her children. "I don't think that it harms children if their parents are always questioning the society in which we live," she told KulturSpiegel. "If we are going to have to save the world, we might as well enjoy ourselves while we are doing it."

Madonna's Documentary On Malawi

2008-05-04T15:21:00.000-07:00

Madonna's harrowing new documentary on Malawi is clearly designed to draw attention to the poverty-stricken nation's plight and help to its people. But the superstar doesn't think much about enlisting aid from the U.S. government. ''I don't know what our government does period, instead of getting us in more debt and blowing up countries,'' she told the audience at the Tribeca Film Festival after premiering the film ''I am Because We Are''. The packed audience included close friend Rosie O'Donnell and Natalie Portman. Madonna produced and narrated the film on Malawi after she traveled there, where she met the toddler David Banda, whom she took home and is in the process of adopting.

The film shows the abject poverty that children face, how the AIDS crisis is claiming lives, the deplorable conditions that cause disease and other hindrances to Malawian life. However, the film urges people to volunteer and tries to offer hope. After the film, Madonna and director Nathan Rissman took questions from the audience - one of which was from a filmgoer who wondered what the federal government could do. Madonna replied that change should come from the people, not the government. ''It's our own job to change that and I think it's a fool's errand to rely on the government to change things.''

Madonna was also asked about the difficulty in adopting children from Malawi. Her adoption of David with husband Guy Ritchie has yet to be approved, though the boy has been living with the family since the fall of 2006. ''It's a new concept, the concept of adoption, consequently it's very very time consuming,'' she said. ''I guess if you really want to do it you have to be willing to walk through the fire.''

Madonna said she is looking for a distribution deal so the film can be seen in more theaters, and hopes to get it on DVD soon: ''Fingers crossed, that will be happening soon.''

Customized Necklace For Mo-Mommy

2008-05-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

Life & Style Weekly highlights one of Penelope Poets necklaces in its May 5th Mothers Day gift guide. Lola, David and Rocco sound familiar? Thats because the necklace was customized for Madonna with the names of her three children. The 'Cherished Engraved Necklace' made by Nashelle Jewelry Design and one of Penelope Poets best sellers is featured as a great gift for new moms. The artisan crafted, modern day charm necklace can be engraved with names, initials, and dates of special significance.

Madonna hits double on the Australian charts

2008-05-04T15:03:00.000-07:00

Madonna remains at #1 in the Australian ARIA singles chart for a second week with 4 Minutes, and debuts at #1 with Hard Candy on the album chart.

This is the third time she has had both an album and single at #1 at the same time, other times were Papa Don’t Preach / True Blue and Vogue / I’m Breathless.

Thanks to Steven

Austrian Magazines Kurier

2008-05-04T15:02:00.000-07:00

Madonna's latest look was featured in the 26 April issue of Austrian magazine Kurier - click to enlarge.

Thanks to Margit

Win tickets to Paris and the Big Weekend

2008-05-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

Fans have the chance to win a pair of tickets to the Paris and Big Weekend shows at www.viagogo.co.uk/hardcandy

In celebration of the release of Hard Candy, viagogo is giving you a chance to win 2 tickets for Madonna’s intimate club show in Paris, as well as 2 tickets to her headline appearance at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Kent.

Thanks to Frazer

German Magazines OK

2008-05-04T14:31:00.000-07:00

The new edition of German magazine OK! (30 April issue) takes a look at Madonna's appearence at the premiere of her Malawi documentary, I Am Because We Are - click to enlarge.

Thanks to Kirsten

4 Minutes continues to move back up Billboard

2008-05-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

Madonna's 4 Minutes continues to inch back up the Billboard Hot 100 - it's now #4.

4 Minutes is now a platinum single - 185159 units were sold this past week bringing the total digital sales to 1,031,730 in just under 6 weeks!

Here is how 4 Minutes is featuring in the other Billboard charts:

#1 - Billboard Canadian Hot 100

#1 - Billboard European Hot 100

#2 - Billboard Hot Digital Songs

#3 - Billboard Hot Digital Tracks

#3 - Billboard Pop 100

#3 - Billboard Hot Dance Airplay

#5 - Billboard Hot Dance Club/Play

#9 - Billboard Pop Airplay

#13 - Billboard Hot 100 Airplay

Thanks to Micheal

Israeli Magazines Pnay Plus

2008-05-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

An article on Madonna's I Am Because We Are premiere, and a review of Hard Candy were featured in this weeks edition of Israeli TV magazine Pnay Plus.

Thanks to Michal

Madonna parties with Justin

2008-05-04T10:23:00.000-07:00

Madonna has revealed she and Justin Timberlake drank tequila and vodka after her New York show.

The 4 Minutes singer - who stunned crowds at the free Manhattan concert when she welcomed Justin on stage - revealed she was feeling slightly hung-over after partying on Wednesday night.

She said: 'We had to celebrate. We decided we both work too hard and have to have fun. I had a shot of tequila. I may have had a lemon drop, too! We 'tied one on', as they say.'

The 49-year-old singer and her 27-year-old collaborator went to New York's exclusive nightclub The Box where they danced and drank with friends including Josh Duhamel, fashion designer Alexander McQueen and REM frontman Michael Stipe.

Madonna also revealed she thinks Justin is the perfect pop star, adding to US radio show host Ryan Seacrest: 'He's ambitious but not in an offensive way. He's incredibly responsible and he's good at what he does and I think he has a long future in front of him. He understands the insanity of being a pop star.'

Meanwhile, mother-of-three Madonna said despite leaving her 'brat' side behind her, she still likes displaying her 'cheeky side' in her music.

She told US TV show 'Entertainment Tonight': 'I think I'm many things. I think I'm a lady, I think I'm a brat, I think I'm a nerd, I think I'm a pimp, I think I'm a mother, I think I'm a kid. I can't be a brat forever! But that was fun, it was fun being a brat. I've still got my cheeky side.'

From news24.com

UK Press Roseland Coverage

2008-05-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

Here are the scans of the Roseland show coverage from UK newspapers the Daily Express, Daily Mirror and Daily Star - click on the articles to enlarge.

Madonna reveals tension with album team

2008-05-04T07:29:00.000-07:00

Madonna has admitted that collaborating with Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams and Timbaland on her latest album led to 'fireworks' in the studio.

The Queen of Pop teamed up with the trio for her new record Hard Candy, which was released internationally this week.

'I had to adjust to sharing diva space which was fun and sometimes there were fireworks,' she revealed in an interview with MySpace. 'Who was the biggest diva? I'm not going to tell you.'

Madonna explained that, when making initial plans for the album, she had asked herself: 'Whose music do I love right now? Who am I listening to? What records am I buying?....What am I excited by musically? - and it was those three.'

She added: 'Justin and Timbaland approached me. I think Pharrell did as well....I thought well why just do one song - let's do the whole record together.'

From Digital Spy

Watch Madonna's Z100 interview

2008-05-04T07:28:00.000-07:00

Fans can watch Madonna's interview on New York radio station Z100 that she did the morning after Roseland.

Visit www.z100.elvisduran.com/pages/news/madonna

Thanks to DJ Danny Echi

Roseland Is is possible to crush a rib cage

2008-05-02T16:54:00.000-07:00

madonnalicious reader Steve sent in his experience of Madonna at Roseland:

It is 8:15pm and my date is a totally hot football player on crutches. No, I'm not kidding. His name is on some VIP list at the front door. And they are being very nice to him. And to me, because I am with him. But they are not being very nice to anyone else. Teams of Roseland security and NYPD are making sad attempts at controlling the crowd, who stopped cooperating about an hour ago. After all, Madonna is unveiling the Next Madonna inside tonight.
Virtually every person who plans to enter Roseland (and many who will not) have filled 52nd St. and all are focused on a teeny hole that leads into the Roseland Ballroom. Fans lined up for days - only to get wristbands that allow them to get a REAL wristband to gain entry. (Once inside, I stood next to someone who was wearing three - one for the sidewalk, one for the line, one for entry).
My date, with me physically attached to his arm, and I are escorted past the front door. My wristband is cutting off my circulation (but I'm still wearing it the next day. I'll just lose some weight to let some blood back into my hand). We enter the arena - and the instant I get a glimpse of the stage, I LEAP away from my poor date and sprint towards it. (Don't worry about him - they found him a seat in the VIP area, a chair, a cocktail waitress, and cute boys - and girls - to smother him.)
I have rushed to a position a few feet from the stage. I am quickly surrounded by a very amped up crowd, quickly dismissing my thoughts of grabbing a drink or using the restroom. I pop a Listermint instead and prepare to remain there for the next two hours. A DJ wearing rhinestone headphones takes the stage and gets the crowd moving with retro hits like 'Raspberry Beret,' 'Don't You Want Me Baby' and 'Billie Jean,' alerting the crowd that the REAL Queen of Pop is in the house. You could almost breathe easily until about ten minutes before Madonna took the stage.
It is 9:59 p.m., and you know something important is about to happen when the DJ stops smiling and an assistant creep onto the stage with a chilled Poland Springs water and a towel. I see the band crawl onstage - tour veteran Monte Pittman has shaved his head but this is otherwise a new crew.
The lights went black. The room shakes. The screen, previously a gigantic banner for Hard Candy, begins to melt into black licorice and the entire stage turns into an ingenious video screen - even the floor.
Two cameras on cranes are now circling overhead, swooping into the crowd. I could have touched it at one point if I'd wanted to. I flashed it a Peace sign. I think that this is being used as the MSN webcast intro (it IS 10:01 after all) and we are all extras in Madonna's movie. We take the cue - we scream, we wave.

Candy Shop
Madonna stuck her finger in the socket at about 10:02 p.m. The DJ booth rotates around and there she is: sitting on a throne, wearing a black tuxedo with rhinestone Adidas stripes, holding a cane, wearing black fingerless gloves.
This moment is like a terror ride at Disneyland gone wrong. I am only catching glimpses of her through the waving arms, pogo-ing fans, and cellphone cameras. I myself thank my trainer and do a few demanding jumps just to get a good look at her.
She descends the stairs, tosses her cane, and gives us a taste of her new candy - 'Candy Shop.' This moment is saturated with love for those of us who are WELL aware that Her Eternal Hotness has left New York. There is nothing like makeup sex, right? The number zips by in an instant.

Miles Away
Madonna wastes no time losing her jacket and grabbing a guitar. Now in a black, see-through top, she cries to the crowd. 'Are you ready?!' Welcome to my Candy Shop.' Madonna performs 'Miles Away,' the second song from the new album "Hard Candy." Her mike is breaking up a bit. She glances over to Rosie O'Donnell, standing nearby, and shoots her a 'Do you believe this?' look. The video is outstanding - a plane takes off and turns into a Google satellite map of the Earth.
I am wondering, 'Is is possible to crush a rib cage? If you did, how would you know it?' Well, I'll deal with it later, because I'm looking at something truly important at the moment: the single bead of sweat that is forming at Madonna's brow. Her hair is golden glamour, with a hint of her trademark roots. Her no-makeup look almost looks like wax - flawless cream skin, pencil-thin eyebrows, charcoal eyes, peach lips, rose lip liner. She is wearing nothing but an amazing manicure and a Kaballah string.

4 Minutes
The room goes really, REALLY black. Blacker than ever. Suddenly, the opening shots of Timbaland in '4 Minutes' is on the stage video. Justin Timberlake appears out of nowhere. My feet elevate off the floor and my body moves forward another two feet. I think this is when I went deaf in one ear - the crowd easily drowned out the music. Decked out in a white jacket with black scarf, JT seems sort of overwhelmed, passes on this opportunity bask in the spotlight. Sort of dazed and clearly nervous, he grabs his crotch for the shrieking front rows, but backs off. He is NOT gay for pay, unfortunately.
Madonna strips off her blouse, now revealing a black leotard top. The two of them mount giant pillars that look like speakers, and they do a very clever dance routine atop them that does a great job of recreating the video. But JT's mike is having problems, and Madonna smiles at him. 'Deal with it, baby.' This is no CGI effect - these two mega-talents lock eyes and present their duet for the first and possibly only time live.

Hung Up
Gulping about half a bottle of champagne and stepping up to the mike, Madonna thanks Justin and says, 'I've made what seems like 100 records. And every time I do, it feels like the first time. And the best time. I was so lucky to work with Justin, Timbaland, Pharrell. The best.'
Now in a rhinestone Cannabis guitar strap, she bangs out the opening chords of 'Satisfaction' - just as Britney Spears did on the MTV Awards! 'Is this a Rolling Stones concert? Fuck that. I live in the present. But wait, [dramatic pause]....this is for you guys who slept on the sidewalk. I want you to sing along.' Then comes one of the single most bizarre performances ever - heavy metal 'Hung Up.'
It's close to working, but Madonna seems to be struggling and at one point, they all lose it. Madonna turns and looks at the keyboard and drummer, and they virtually have to go 'one, two, three' just to get the song started again. No worries, the front row is a lump of the devoted, hands in the air, shouting 'Every little thing that you say or do....' She turns, ascends the stairs, and lands on her derriere. She laughs, gives the finger to the crowd, and yells FUCK OFF!

Give it 2 Me
Madonna has not appeared in New York since she adopted her child or worked for Malawi. At the brink of becoming a political figure herself, she is here tonight to dance. Now sporting a black hoodie with HARD on the front and CANDY on the back, Madonna performs 'Give it 2 Me,' the next video and the fourth and final track from the album, with the help of some old faces (Jason, her dance partner since the Reinvention Tour) and the guys from 4 Minutes. She dances like mad - she no doubt works harder every morning.

Music
Grabbing her water and mike, Madonna twirls to the edge of the stage and squats down, inches from the rabid crowd. My right arm is permanently fixed above my head, and my right leg has been swallowed by the surrounding mob. Madonna wraps up the night with a dense, thuddy street-wise 'Music' with her troupe of dancers. Now that she basically hasn't lived in New York for over ten years, her vision of it is sort of in a bubble.
It was very Keith Haring World, right down to the music the DJ played in the pre-show. Madonna ascends the stairs, where her troupe is waiting, strikes a pose, and slowly closes the show in her trademark fade-out.

Those of us who have been smashed together separate ourselves from one another, our clothing virtually attached by sweat. While many of the crowd choose to remain in the Ballroom and schmooze with the likes of Rosie, Fran Drescher, Dolce & Gabanna, and the Heatherette designers, those of us who preferred some oxygen left the room only to be assaulted by the awaiting media. 'Did you see the show?' People who seemed to be sweating were yanked aside for commentary.
At the Verizon bus, my date was waiting for me, reclining in the recording bus where the Verizon livecast was being mixed, and we watched a video of Timbaland's birthday party. After grabbing a poster, I gave my football player hero a huge hug and shoved him into a cab. Some H20 took priority. And now the burning question: When should I remove my wristband?

UK Press Metro

2008-05-02T16:53:00.000-07:00

Today's edition of UK city newspaper the Metro featured this article on Madonna's night with Justin at Roseland - click to enlarge and check back tomorrow for more coverage from the UK press.

Crowd is crazy for Madonna

2008-05-02T16:23:00.000-07:00

Passerby watching police control the crowd on West 52d Street Wednesday night must have thought President Bush was inside Roseland Ballroom instead of Madonna. Her one-night-only performance, broadcast over Verizon, had fans - some of whom slept outside for three days just to get a wristband - so obsessed, they were crying and trying to sneak past the barriers.

At one point, the crowd of about 3,000 got so crazy that a cop pulled his gun and ran after a nutty fan who tried to slip in a side door. Other officers repeatedly yelled, 'Get off the sidewalk!' - but only managed to push fans into honking traffic.

Following her short set that rocked the house, Madonna and Justin Timberlake hit The Box, along with Michael Stipe, Alexander McQueen, Josh Duhamel, Ingrid Sischy, Alex Rodriguez and Donna Karan, who brought her kabbalah teacher.

From New York Post - Pagesix.com

Roseland Fan Pictures - Part 2

2008-05-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

madonnalicious reader Josh sent in these great pictures he took at the Roseland concert.

Madonna confirms World Tour

2008-05-02T15:40:00.000-07:00

It is the news fans have been waiting for - Madonna has confirmed a world tour starting in the Fall this year.

Speaking on Ryan Seacrest's radio show today she confirmed the news and said that dates and venues would be announced soon!

The interview is available for streaming from KiisFM's website. Just visit www.kiisfm.com

Thanks to Pedro