On September 3 2009, Madonna’s Sticky And Sweet world tour was named the highest-grossing for a solo artist ever.
The tour, which finished in Tel Aviv on September 2 2009, made $408 million (£250m), according to promoters Live Nation. During the tour, Madonna played 85 shows, drawing in more than 3.5 million fans from 32 countries.
The Sticky And Sweet tour broke Madonna’s previous record for the most successful outing by a solo artist with her 2006 Confessions Tour, which grossed $194 million.
On September 1 2009, the final Sticky & Sweet Tour date took place in Tel Aviv, Israel.
This is the official press release for the final show:
For Immediate Release:
Madonna’s triumphant and record shattering Sticky & Sweet Tour will be making its last and final stop September 1st in Tel Aviv, Israel at the Yehoshua Gardens (HaYarkon Park). Tickets will go on sale this Wednesday, June 3rd – complete details below.
“I’m very excited about returning to Israel for my last and final show. I know it will be unforgettable” commented Madonna who last performed in Israel in 1993.
The Sticky & Sweet Tour – a stunning extravaganza gives fans a breathtaking never before seen or heard once-in-a-lifetime experience. One of the top selling touring acts of all time, Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet tour played 58 cities last summer to wild critical acclaim and before over two and a half million adoring fans including sold out performances in Paris (80,000 tickets sold), Zurich (72,000 tickets sold), London (74,000 ticket sold), Vancouver (50,000 tickets sold), South America (650,000 tickets sold) and three sold out Madison Square Garden Shows in New York City.
“In the premiere league of song-and-dance spectaculars, the queen of pop remains unrivalled and undefeated” raved the London Times of Madonna’s show in England. Sticky & Sweet is scheduled to start up again in London’s 02 Arena on July 4th with additional dates in France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Russia, Sweden and many other countries before finishing on September 1st in Tel Aviv. Madonna joined creative forces with director Jamie King to create Sticky & Sweet which includes a troupe of l7 dancers, a specially built stage, hundreds of costumes and cutting edge visual technology. A multi million platinum selling recording artist, world class entertainer, singer, producer, songwriter, visual revolutionary, children’s book author, film director, documentarian, cultural icon and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Madonna’s career continues to inspire her many fans around the world. She continues her unparalleled career which thankfully for her legion of fans shows no signs of slowing down.
On July 31 2009, the title track from Madonna’s Celebration (greatest hits album) was made available for download on iTunes.
On July 4 2009, the Sticky & Sweet Tour‘s 2009 extension began with the first of two sold out dates at London’s O2 Arena.
In January 2009, following the completion of European, North American and South American legs of the massively successful 2008 Sticky & Sweet Tour, it was confirmed that Madonna would extend the tour during the Summer of 2009 with a second European leg before concluding with two dates in Israel in September. The itinerary for the extension consisted largely of markets where Madonna either hadn’t previously performed or hadn’t visited in many years.
In a January 2009 interview with Billboard.com, Live Nation chairman Arthur Fogel commented on the extended run of the tour:
“It absolutely has not happened in the four tours I’ve been involved with, […] There has been talk [of extending] during each one, but it has never come to be. But with this one, she loves the show, she’s had a great time and she’s excited about playing new markets. […] We went to quite a few markets she has never played or hasn’t been to in 15-plus years. This [extension] is really a continuation of that in the sense of playing new and different markets. [The six-month break] is a long hiatus, but everybody was excited to continue. […] So we basically worked out the arrangements for all the performers, crew and equipment and we’ll be ready to go.”
The extension’s opening night and all subsequent dates featured three song changes to the original setlist: Holiday replaced Heartbeat, a guitar-heavy version of Dress You Up took the place of Borderline, and the non fan-favorite “rock version” of Hung Up was dropped in favour of a much more pleasing, club-ready mash-up of Frozen with I’m Not Alone by Calvin Harris (which also threw in snippets of Open Your Heart).
Madonna also included a special tribute to Michael Jackson during Holiday, as well as a quote attributed to him at the end of Frozen (the lyrics quoted from his song Man In The Mirror were in fact written by Madonna’s occasional backing singer, Siedah Garrett, if you want to get technical). At the time of his passing Jackson had been scheduled to begin a run of comeback concerts at the O2 Arena, beginning the week after Madonna’s shows at the venue.
(Thanks to Michael aka MykillICON for the video footage and pictures!)
On October 17 2009, Madonna’s Celebration collection debuted at #7 on the Billboard Top 200 with sales of 72,000 in USA.
Eric Henderson of Slant Magazine gave the compilation four out of five stars and commented that “functionally, what Madonna and fans are really celebrating with the release of Celebration is the hard proof that Madonna’s back catalogue is now so immense and so varied that she can release a behemoth, two-disc greatest hits package that shoehorns in 36 songs and still manages to significantly short-change the singer’s legacy.”
Are there songs that are missing from this collection? Are there songs that do not belong on Celebration? Share your thoughts..
On October 14 2009, Madonna appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, with a classic shot by Herb Ritts.
Inside the magazine, Madonna was asked about how she felt when she first heard Material Girl and Like A Virgin:
I liked them both because they were ironic and provocative at the same time but also unlike me. I am not a materialistic person and I certainly wasn’t a virgin, and, by the way, how can you be like a virgin? I liked the play on words, I thought they were clever. They’re so geeky, they’re cool.
When asked if she could predict whether a song would be a hit or not:
I’ve never been a good judge of what things are going to be huge or not. The songs that I think are the most retarded songs I’ve written, like Cherish and Sorry, a pretty big hit off my last album, end up being the biggest hits. Into The Groove is another song I feel retarded singing, but everybody seems to like it.
On October 12 2009, Madonna’s Celebration: The Video Collection debuted at the top of the Billboard Top Music Videos, replacing Beyoncé’s live release I Am… Yours: An Intimate Performance at Wynn Las Vegas. It remained on the top of the music video chart for five weeks.
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