Madonna tour starts, South American dates on the books

As Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour opened on August 23 at the Cardiff's Millennium Stadium in Wales, UK, her South American shows are coming into focus. The first four of eight dates have been issued with two shows in Brazil and one each in Chile and Argentina on the books.

The first South American date so far is December 6 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with the last on December 18 in San Paulo, Brazil. Two more shows will be added in Brazil, and one each in Argentina and Chile. No sales dates have been issued yet.

Madonna's latest tour is, of course, theatrical and political.

The Associated Press reported that "she took a none-too subtle swipe at the presumptive Republican nominee for U.S. president" in a video montage that carried "images of destruction, global warming, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, Zimbabwe's authoritarian President Robert Mugabe, and U.S. Senator John McCain." Another sequence, shown later, pictured John Lennon, followed by climate activist Al Gore, Mahatma Gandhi and, finally, McCain's Democratic rival Barack Obama.

The visual pairing of McCain with Hitler infuriated the world press, as could be expected.

The Sticky & Sweet show is a two-hour, four-act production allowing Madge some time to recuperate between songs and clothing changes for her and her dancers There are 3,500 items of clothing from 36 designers, created specifically for the tour. The concert reportedly took 600 hours of rehearsals for the immaculate perfectionist.

This marks the first of four proposed tours with Live Nation and first of a Live Nation Artist.

Madonna's South America itinerary:
(Dates subject to change.)