Madonna’s latest world tour, dubbed the Sticky & Sweet Tour after her hot-selling album “Hard Candy,” starts hip-hopping around the globe on August 23 in Cardiff, Wales. The tour, her first world tour in two years, will be the first under her landmark 10-year, $120 million deal with Live Nation.
The contract includes four tours, three albums, merchandise and other revenue sources, and makes Madonna the founding artist in Live Nation’s new Artist Nation division. “Hard Candy” was the 11th and last under her expiring deal with Warner Bros., and her next album will be under the Live Nation banner.
For the upcoming tour, Madonna plans to stick to the European concerts trail through September then cross the Atlantic and start a North American leg on October 3 in E. Rutherford, NJ. Dates are booked into late November with Mexican and South American shows expected before the end of the year.
Only nine European and 18 American concerts are announced for the Sticky & Sweet Tour for 2008 so far. The tour is going to many arenas and stadiums where Madonna has not performed in the past 15 years. A much more comprehensive trek is expected for 2009.
There is little doubt that even 25 years into her career, Madonna remains a fan favorite. “Hard Candy” debuted at number 1 in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, The Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, Austria,Chile, Spain, Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore, Slovenia, Portugal, Belgium, Brazil, Switzerland, Israel and United Arab Emirates. The album is the number one most downloaded digital album in the U.S. and many other countries. Madonna’s previous studio album “Confessions on a Dance Floor” sold more than 8.5 million copies.
Live Nation was the producer of her last three world tours, and the last one, 2006’s Confessions Tour, played in 25 countries including Russia, reached a collective audience of more than 1.3 million fans, and was the highest grossing concert tour of all time by a female artist.
In late April and early May, Madonna scheduled a few club dates to promote the new album as she has done for previous album releases.
Tickets for Sticky & Sweet Tour will go on sale beginning May 16 in London, Paris, Cardiff and Nice; May 17 in Amsterdam, Boston and Chicago; May 19 in E. Rutherford and New York. Tickets will range from $55- $350 ($375 in Las Vegas), and there will be a 4-ticket limit per person at the arena performances and a 6-ticket per person limit for stadium events.
For more information, visit Icon, Madonna’s official fan club. StubHub is the tour’s official fan-to-fan ticket marketplace in the U.S. and Canada, and viagogo is the official premium ticketing partner for the European leg in 2008, except in Germany and Italy.
Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet Tour itinerary:
23-Aug Cardiff Millennium Stadium
26-Aug Nice Stade Charles Ehrmann
28-Aug Berlin Olympic Stadium
2-Sept Amsterdam Arena
4-Sept Dusseldorf LTU Arena
6-Sept Rome Olympic Stadium
9-Sept Frankfurt Commerzbank Arena
11-Sept London Wembley Stadium
20-Sept Paris Stade de France
03-Oct E. Rutherford Izod Center
06-Oct New York City Madison Square Garden
07-Oct New York City Madison Square Garden
15-Oct Boston TD BankNorth Garden
18-Oct Toronto Air Canada Centre
22-Oct Montreal Bell Centre
26-Oct Chicago United Center
30-Oct Vancouver BC Place Stadium
1-Nov Oakland Oracle Arena
4-Nov San Diego Petco Park
6-Nov Los Angeles Dodger Stadium
8-Nov Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena
11-Nov Denver Pepsi Center
16-Nov Houston Minute Maid Park
19-Nov Philadelphia Wachovia Center
22-Nov Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall
24-Nov Atlanta Philips Arena
26-Nov Miami Dolphin Stadium
