Madonna is taking her Celebration tour to 15 different countries (Picture: SplashNews.com)
Madonna powered through a glitch on the opening night of her Celebration tour as she returned to performing for the first time since her health scare.
The Material Girl, 65, who was hospitalised with a serious bacteria infection earlier this year, began the first of 78 shows across 15 countries at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday (October 14).
While the Like A Virgin singer was on top form, the gig nearly descended into chaos when there were technical issues with the sound after the song Burning Up.
But Madonna being Madonna, handled the situation like a pro and calmly paused the show to explain her crew had needed to ‘press the reset button’ and regaled the audience with tales of her youth.
The pop legend confessed: ‘This is exactly what you don’t want to happen on your opening night, so this wasn’t planned, I’m sorry.’
To fill the time, the La Isla Bonita superstar recalled how difficult things were when she was in her first band when she was ‘broke and hungry and making zero cash’ – but she could ‘see the future.’
The first night of her world tour was at London’s O2 Arena (Picture: SplashNews.com)
There was a brief moment when Madonna had to pause the set due to a technical issues (Picture: SplashNews.com)
Speaking to the thousands in the crowd, she asked them: ‘Am I imagining this? Oh my God, it is so good to be back London.’
She admitted she would ‘date men who had showers and bathtubs’ as she had no way to wash at the time, recalling asking men she thought were ‘cute’ if they lived alone and had a shower before asking them to get dinner.
After the tech issues were resolved, Madonna made up for the wait by launching into lively versions of Open Your Heart and Holiday.
The Material Girl handled the sound glitch like a pro (Picture: SplashNews.com)
Madonna also revealed her children were in the audience supporting her (Picture: SplashNews.com)
Madonna, who previously thanked her fans for their ‘love’ after she was treated in intensive care for a serious bacterial infection, also addressed her health.
Speaking to the thousands in the crowd, she asked them: ‘Am I imagining this? Oh my God, it is so good to be back London.’
The Holiday singer added: ‘I’m pretty damned surprised that I made it this far and I mean that on so many levels… How did I make it this far? Because of you. I’m going to take a bit of credit too.’
Madonna also addressed her health struggle during the gig (Picture: Getty)
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Ahead of the gig, Madonna touched down in Manchester to practice for her blockbuster dates, which will also take her across Europe and then back to the US for the North American leg of the Celebration.
Never one to do things by halves, Madonna chose to rent out the entire Stock Exchange Hotel – owned by footballer Gary Neville – as she prepares for the tour.
The five-star hotel is set in the very heart of central Manchester, with 40 rooms costing up to £500 per night – and for the time being, it’s all Madonna’s.
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Well, she is pop royalty with The O2 even creating a Madonna-themed flag much like the Royal Standard flag to mark the occasion.
This is Madonna’s first tour since her Madame X shows, which ended in 2020.
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Madonna handled it like a pro.