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Canadian City Bends The Rules For Madonna To Perform On Historic Battleground

Posted 3/15/12 12:17 pm EST by in Madonna, Tour Dates

Madonna, Facebook

By Zachary Swickey

Haven’t you always wanted to see Madonna perform on the same field that British Soldiers defeated the French in 1759? Well, now’s your chance as officials for Quebec City’s historic Plains of Abraham have announced the Queen of Pop will be performing on the park grounds late this summer.

The Canadian city is bending its own rules to accommodate Her Madgesty. The venue has a strict policy forbidding for-profit concerts on the grounds, which was declared the very first historic site in Canada back in 1908.

Concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment will be presenting the concert on September 1 and a staggering 70,000 tickets have already been sold. Madonna is clearly working hard to put together a show that will delight her fans, and she's been keeping us all in the loop by posting pictures from rehearsals (including the injuries she's sustained) for the massive, largely sold-out world tour on her Facebook (one of which is above).

Typically, the park has been used for the Quebec Winter Carnival, but since 2008, concerts have taken place there with appearances from Sir Paul McCartney, Metallica, Elton John and Van Halen. However, none of those artists charged anything for tickets.

Talking to the Canadian Press, local promoter Sylvain Parent-Bedard explained that charging admission will allow them to limit capacity to the event to avoid an uncomfortably large crowd (200,000 people showed up to McCartney’s gig).

“(Madonna) really wants to have a big dance party. It’s a big party for fans – she wanted a big party for fans,” he said.

Joanne Laurin, spokesperson for the National Battlefields Commission, told the wire service, “Generally, we don't accept any commercial activity, but in this case it's really exceptional. But people shouldn't presume anything regarding future requests we might get." (Basically, it sounds like we should only expect Madonna to get special treatment.)

She explained her reasoning to the Globe and Mail newspaper, "We accepted it because we presume there will be major economic benefits for Quebec City."

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Madonna Shows Off Tour Rehearsal Injuries (Photos)

Posted 3/12/12 7:48 am EST by in Madonna

Madonna is workin' hard for the money.

The pop queen, whose new album MDNA we are totally loving (especially the dance-pop gem "Turn Up The Radio") is in rehearsals for her sell-out world tour and she's giving it her all … and has the bruises to prove it.

M posted three pictures to her official Facebook of her battle scars, which include a bruised leg and backside and a split lip.

"Cut my lip from rehearsing Girl Gone Wild," Madge captioned an image of a pretty sore looking lower lip (below).

Madonna, Facebook

She's also got a small heart-shaped black-and-blue on her bum, but it's nothing compared to the large bruise on her leg. That thing looks brutal. Check both out after the jump. Read More...

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'Turn Up The Radio' Needs to Be Madonna's Next MDNA Single

Posted 3/9/12 1:36 pm EST by in Madonna

Madonna

Yesterday I was lucky enough to get an advance listen to Madonna's much-anticipated new album MDNA, and I'm thrilled to tell you that it's exactly the return to form fans have been hoping for from the Queen of Pop. A nice mix of dark, heavy club jams, mid-tempo electronic and some truly lovely ballads, MDNA has something for every sort of Madonna fan.

While we're only now getting a snippet of the video for the album's second single, "Girl Gone Wild," listening to the album already has me thinking ahead to her next single. That's how loaded with hits this thing is. Frankly, I can name three songs that I'd have gone with as the lead single over "Give Me All Your Lovin," and I'm on the record as liking that song just fine!

But the real winner is as obvious as the nose on my face and I can't believe Madonna didn't lead with it. The song is "Turn Up The Radio" … and it's the best thing she's done since "Hung Up."

Perhaps she's just knowingly waiting until early May to drop the track as an official single because she knows it's a perfect summer song. It's a big, anthemic dance-pop wonder with glittery synths and fun lyrics like "I don't know how I got to this stage / Let me out of my cage cause I'm dying / Turn up the radio, turn up the radio / Don't ask me where I wanna go, we gotta turn up the radio."

She needs freed because she's ready to have a good time, you see! There's a propulsive energy here that feels authentic and alive. The calculated perfectionism of some of Madonna's club jams can leave you feeling a little chilly but that's not the case here. In my notes I scribbled the words "effervescent" and "happy."

"You feel the wind on your face and your skin and it's here that I begin," Madonna sings as the music cues up. It's almost like she knows this is a song designed to be listened to at full volume with the windows down. Read More...

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Madonna's World Tour Sells Out U.S. Stadiums, Adds Shows

Posted 2/15/12 8:53 am EST by in Madonna, Music, Tour Dates

Madonna

Adele isn't the only one proving that a little good exposure goes a long way.

On the heels of Madonna's much-watched, well-received Super Bowl XLVI halftime show, the Queen of pop's summer upcoming world tour is unsurprisingly selling out arenas and stadiums across the U.S. and has even added multiple dates to accommodate demand. Now, a Madge sellout is a pretty common thing – her 2008-09 "Sticky & Sweet Tour" is the highest grossing ever for a solo artist – but the pop superstar appeared to have adopted a "go big or go home" attitude with this tour, booking massive venues like London's Hyde Park and New York's Yankee Stadium, and it seems to have paid off. Her Sept. 6 concert at Yankee Stadium sold out in hours, forcing a second date, on Sept. 8, to be added.

All told, Madonna has already added five shows – two in Europe and three in the U.S. – to what was already her largest tour itinerary, 90 planned dates that would take Madonna to five continents, including M's first trek through Australia in over 20 years. So far, the added shows include NYC's Yankee Stadium on September 8, Washington DC’s Verizon Center on September 24 and Seattle on October 3 as well as Europeans dates in Berlin June 30 and in Amsterdam July 8. Tickets for the additional shows in the U.S. go on sale February 21.

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Madonna's Halftime Show Was Slightly More Popular Than The Actual Super Bowl

Posted 2/6/12 12:03 pm EST by in Madonna, Super Bowl

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In the lead-up to Super Bowl XLVI, many worried that Madonna wasn't the ideal candidate to perform at halftime. After all, her audience, which is dominated by women and gay men, differs wildly from that of the NFL and some wondered if that would mean less eye balls would tune in for the Queen of Pop's 12-minute halftime spectacle.

Well, it appears to have had the opposite effect, actually, pulling in viewers who might not otherwise have watched the game and averaging a higher rating than the Super Bowl itself. According to SB Nation, the game averaged an impressive 47.8 rating in the U.S. while Madonna's halftime performance nabbed a 48.3. The game fell only slightly behind last year's record setter, which generated a 47.9 rating, translating to about 111 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Super Bowl in history.

Madonna's performance proved a bigger draw than the Black Eyed Peas last year, pulling ahead of BEP by a full percent in the ratings and even bested Bruce Springsteen's halftime show by a whopping 20 percent (the Boss earned a 40.2 rating).

Though this year's game was slightly off the all-time mark, the Washington Post notes that "around the time M.I.A. was flipping off America during Madonna’s halftime show, about 48 percent of the country’s TV homes were tuned in."

As an unabashed Madonna fan, I'm pleased that so many people gave the Queen of Pop a chance. Despite digs that she may have been lip-synching – which, yeah, there was a bit of that, but I think it was part of a backing track balancing act to compensate during moments of complicated choreography and elaborate production, as "Like a Prayer" seemed as live as could be – reviews of the performance have alternated from positive to all-out raves. Read More...

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Madonna's Super Bowl Performance: Hot Or Not? (Poll)

Posted 2/6/12 8:00 am EST by in Madonna, Newsroom Poll, Super Bowl

Madonna

Last night's Super Bowl was, as usual, one of the most-viewed televised events of the year, with football fans from coast to coast tuning in to see the New York Giants and the New England Patriots go head-to-head for the NFL championship. (The Giants won the game 21-17. Go, New York!)

But here in the MTV Newsroom, we've been obsessing for the last week about the half-time show. From the rumored setlist and the stage to the whispers about who would appear and Madonna's love it-or-hate-it new song, we waited with bated breath to see if the Queen of Pop would pull of what was, arguably, the biggest show of her career?

We've already voiced our opinion, so now it's your turn! Vote in our poll below and let us know if you loved or hated Madonna's Super Bowl half-time performance.

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Are You Luvin' Madonna's New Single? (Poll)

Posted 2/3/12 2:28 pm EST by in Madonna, Music, Newsroom Poll

Madonna

If you've been living under a rock all day, you might not know that Madonna's new single, "Give Me All Your Luvin" featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A., hit the ground running today.

"Luvin" is a bouncy dance-pop track reminiscent of the pop queen's Grammy-winning "Beautiful Stranger." Driven by glittery synths, marching band drums and claps, the song features guest raps from Minaj and M.I.A. and a deep nostalgia streak. With its simple, impossibly catchy chorus and "dance our lives away" message, the song, which was written and produced by Madonna and dance music master Martin Solveig, feels like classic Madonna re-imagined by the production dynamic that brought her widespread acclaim beginning with her 1998 electro-dance album Ray of Light.

We're luvin' M's new single, but are you? Check it out after the jump and vote in our poll! Read More...

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Madonna's Super Bowl Setlist: A Live Performance Roundup

Posted 2/1/12 11:03 am EST by in Madonna, Music

The nearer Queen of Pop Madonna's Super Bowl halftime show gets, the more excited we become. After getting an early look at her stage (above), (reported!) setlist and confirmation that M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj will appear alongside the pop icon, we're sure this is going to be one of the best halftime shows ever!

So, as we prepare for the big day, we thought it might be fun to take a walk down memory lane with a look at some of the best live performances of the tunes she will bring to life for the biggest televised event of the year.

While the setlist has not been officially revealed, it leaked in December and if photos of her stage are any indication, the leak looks solid and she'll almost certainly be striking a pose on Sunday, so let's start there.

"Vogue" from her 2008-09 "Sticky and Sweet Tour":


Vogue - Official DVD Sticky & Sweet Tour 2008 by kent240

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Madonna's Super Bowl Stage Is Awesome

Posted 1/31/12 4:42 pm EST by in Madonna

Check it out!

As preparations continue for Madonna's hotly anticipated performance at Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN, we're starting to get more details about what her performance will entail, who will be there and, now, (allegedly) what her stage will look like … and if you ask us, it's pretty incredible! Look:

How they are going to set this thing up in eight minutes and tear it down in seven is beyond us, but we can't wait to see the show!

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Madonna's Charity Set to Break Ground On 10 Schools In Malawi

Posted 1/30/12 11:23 am EST by in Charity, Madonna

Madonna

Raising Malawi, the charity co-founded by Madonna, has announced it will begin construction, in collaboration with non-governmental organization buildOn, on 10 schools in the impoverished African nation of Malawi. The schools will not be managed by Madonna's charity, however, and will be run by the individual communities they serve.

"This remains a very big priority in my life and I am excited that with the help of buildOn we can maintain our ongoing commitment to move forward efficiently," Madonna said in a statement provided to The Associated Press (via Billboard).

Despite its good intentions, Raising Malawi has faced a variety of problems in the last several years. An audit by the Global Philanthropy Group in 2010 led to questions over salaries and benefits of officials running the organization, leading to the charity's executive director's resignation in October of that year. In January 2011, it was announced that Raising Malawi's flagship project, an all-girls school built and managed by the organization, was being abandoned. Two months later, the board of directors was removed and the charity was sued by former employees of the planned school for wrongful termination. The move to team with buildOn and leave control of the schools to the communities they serve appears to be the charity's first step in reorganizing and pushing through the turmoil to continue work toward the organization's mission to serve the nearly one million orphans in Malawi.

The newly announced plan calls for simple, more practical schools that will better serve their communities, according to Trevor Neilson, who is helping to direct the project alongside Global Philanthropy Group. In her statement, Madonna said the new approach will allow the program to serve twice as many children as before. Read More...

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