Today in Madonna History: April 10, 1985

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On April 10 1985, Madonna’s Virgin Tour opened with 3 sold-out concerts at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington.

During a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone, interviewer Austin Scaggs asked Madonna regarding her feelings and emotions during the tour, since it was the first time she was playing in arenas. Madonna replied saying, “That whole tour was crazy, because I went from playing CBGB and the Mudd Club to playing sporting arenas,” she told the magazine. “I played a small theater in Seattle, and the girls had flap skirts on and the tights cut off below their knees and lace gloves and rosaries and bows in their hair and big hoop earrings. I was like, ‘This is insane!’ After Seattle, all of the shows were moved to arenas.”

Madonna had three shows in Seattle – April 10, 12 and 13 – and all three were sellouts by the time she took the stage that first night. The Beastie Boys opened for Madonna and they weren’t well received by the pro-Madonna crowd. The show was a year before “Licensed to Ill” was released.

Their 30-minute set got off to a bad start when one of the Beastie Boys declared himself King of the Paramount, and generally made the pro-Madonna audience feel like a swarm of hillbillies, P-I pop music critic Gene Stout wrote in his review.

“Dressed in what looked like a Boy George outfit, she looked reluctant, almost scared, and kept her eyes on the ground as she and her small entourage swept past a modest gathering of fans,” Stout wrote.

Madonna started the show with Dress You Up, followed with Holiday, and performed Borderline for the first time live as her seventh song. Madonna ended by debuting Material Girl as her encore.

Today in Madonna History: April 9, 1995

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On April 9 1995, Madonna’s Bedtime Story single peaked at number five in Australia, where it stayed in that position for three weeks. It fell out of the top ten in the fifth week, and eventually exited the charts after a total run of nine weeks, falling to 44 on its last week in the charts. Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine praised the song, claiming that the song had unfulfilled potential and that it “could have been the next Vogue“.

Today in Madonna History: April 8, 2006

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On April 8 2006, tickets for Madonna’s UK Confessions Tour shows sold out in 10 minutes!

Fans snapped up every ticket for the first two Wembley Arena gigs as soon as the box office opened at 9am. A further four Wembley dates were swiftly added – and all had sold out by lunchtime. Finally, a seventh gig was added for August 15, and also sold out!

Today in Madonna History: April 7, 2005

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On April 7 2005, a new Versace campaign featuring Madonna appeared in Belgian Marie Claire.

Donatella Versace describes the campaign:

“When thinking of Madonna, you won’t picture an average business woman. But that’s exactly how she was photographed by Mario Testino for the latest campaign. Talking on the phone in her fancy office, Madonna shows off the summer collection.

She’s an icon, a chameleon, a trendsetter, and she’s the best in her profession. It doesn’t matter how old you are, everybody wants to identify himself with Madonna.”

Today in Madonna History: April 6, 1996

On April 6 1996, Larry Flick’s review of the single release of Madonna’s Love Don’t Live Here Anymore was featured in Billboard magazine.

Today in Madonna History: April 5, 2017

On April 5 2017, Madonna’s manager, Guy Oseary, Tweeted the following message to Pharrell Williams:

Happy Birthday @pharrell … need to get you back in the studio with the blonde in the photo.. have a great one.

What do you think? Should Madonna and Pharrell work together again? What is your favourite collaboration from them? 

Today in Madonna History: April 4, 2005

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On April 4 2005, Madonna was crowned the most searched celebrity on the Google search engine for the month of March 2005.

Madonna beat out other popular celebrities on Google including Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Ozzy Osbourne, George Michael and Angelina Jolie.