It’s sweet relief to cover Madonna’s actual tour instead of the back-and-forth between Madge and Guy Ritchie in their ongoing custody dispute. Madonna’s Rebel Heart Tour began September 2015, and she toured up until December 20, taking off for the holidays and then starting the tour back up on January 6th. She’s in North America now, and earlier this week, she did a show in Louisville, Kentucky. It did NOT go well. The Rebel Heart Tour has actually been plagued with malfunctions, mishaps and controversy, and there have been multiple occasions where fans accused Madonna of showing up hours late. That happened again in Louisville:
Madonna charmed some in Louisville and pissed off others at her Rebel Heart Tour … and a little liquor may have been involved. Some fans were irate that the show started late … VERY late according to some — 3 hours late. One fan says, “Madonna was very drunk” … another says only “a lil drunk but funny.”
And one woman went off, saying “Madonna was an awesome performer but man she was a bitch! … trashed talked Kentuckians and spoke in a fake hillbilly accent.”
Apparently a lot of fans screamed obscenities at her during the show, but in the end, the consensus seems to be that a good time was had by most.
Gossip Cop compiled more of the social media complaints here. Madonna heard about the complaining and she posted an screed on Instagram, because she’s 15 years old! Here’s what she wrote:
Working on my stand up laying down. Good practice!!! 👍🏻Thanks Louisville! 😂 the tears of a clown soon to follow the ❤️#rebelheartour and for those people who like to believe all they read i never drink and perform!!! My show is 2 hours and 15 minutes of non stop singing and dancing. In Louisville I made a joke about doing a stand comedy act dressed as a clown and being able to drink alcohol. Its so very interesting how society continues to not only treat me in a totally sexist way (if i a were a man no one would have said a thing) and also continue to take everything i say literally!Thats what happens when people don’t read books and get all information from TMZ.
I’m all for calling out sexism, but I think if a male performer came to his concert three hours late and spent the next two hours cursing, slurring and making fun of hillbillies, the reaction would be pretty much the same. It might even be harsher, because Madonna has crazy fanatics who will defend her every action even when she’s being obviously rude.
And if all that wasn’t enough, Madonna was reportedly two and a half hours late to her Nashville concert on Monday night. Reba McEntire was in the audience, giving live updates on her social media. The concert was apparently supposed to start at 8 pm and Madonna came on at 10:31 pm., according to Reba. I don’t know, you guys… I believe Reba. While I kind of doubt that a hyper-controlled and hyper-controlling narcissist like Madonna would get drunk before a performance, I do think that something is going on. And it’s not good.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I think of Madonna as being hyper-professional and disciplined, so I’m very surprised by this. Maybe a mess because of the custody issues?
Maybe a chicken vs egg thing? If she’s been hitting the sauce, maybe that’s at the root of her problems with her older son. People change so much when they’re drunk.
I’ve been to a show from her previous tour and she was almost two hours late, which cost her to cut two songs from the original setlist and they blamed the fact it was a week day and they were waiting for the stadium to be full. Anyway, is super disrespectful, cause you pay high money to watch the concert and she is known to be a professional.
what a bullshit excuse
a) they scheduled it for a weekday
b) you go on to do your full set as planned regardless of doing a bloody headcount first. If people are late that’s their problem
@LIndy79, just a small difference, but if they were waiting for the stadium to be full is different than waiting just because people were late. I think with her ego she doesn’t play to anything less than a full venue and would wait until it was full. That’s HER problem. But I agree, you start the concert and the people who are late that’s their problem
@Lindy79 @swak I don’t know if it was about her ego, but as soon as the stadium filled and it was a sold out, the show started.
From reading the other posts here, apparently her fans know she’s going to show up about two hours late anyways and thus don’t show up until then.
So it seems ironic that her excuse is that she’s waiting for a full stadium to show up when her fans know not to show up until two hours after the advertised starting time, so now there’s two parties showing up late waiting for each other. And even then, the late-arriving attendees are saying she still showed up late.
If I paid money to see a performer and they showed up late, that would be the last time I saw them. If someone does it routinely, as some of these posts imply, I wouldn’t walk across the street to see them. I value my time. In any case I can’t stand Madonna and her ego.
She was two hours late starting the Sticky n Sweet concert years ago in Vancouver. Latest start to a concert I’ve ever personally experienced. Left a bad taste (to continue the Hard Candy theme). All evidence suggests she’s a narcissist though so can’t say I’m surprised I guess.
Why does she keep crying sexism over things that have NOTHING to do with it? A concert starts 2+ hours late, people have every right to complain, and it has nothing to do with the performer’s gender.
She blames everything on sexism. People remark that she looks silly wearing a grill on her teeth – sexist. Don’t like her latest release? You’re sexist. Enjoy a ham sandwich? Sexist. She’s such an ass. I know, I’m sexist.
This.
How about Madonna deary ,you donate 1 dollar every time you cry sexism? Or would you be left broke?
I spit tea at that one! I fed my toddler ham & crusts for breakfast, I think he’s sexist…
Because people often get away with it and it really doesn’t help. I also hate the completely unjustified leap people often make from sexist to misogynist. Some words are important and they should be applied with care if we are not going to become fatigued.
Because “you’re sexist” is a great excuse when you don’t want to take responsibility for your own actions. Been done with this petulant, selfish, whack-job woman-child for a long time.
Because she thinks that shuts it down. Let’s flip it as she asks: Justin Bieber shows up 3 hours late to a concert and half in the bag and spends a lot of his “bantering time” making fun of the audience. Yeah….everyone would be all over him too. I had a good friend who went to this show in Louisville and he said that it was kind of like watching an aging idol who really just needs to stop. He said he is glad he saw her in concert (a lifelong dream) but would not go again.
My friend at the Louisville show said he was going to tear-up his “Gay Card”, he was so disappointed in her performance.
MsGoblin, maybe we have the same friend! LOL!
+1000. Yes, now that it sounds like it’s a regular thing, shame on her and her inauthentic sexism claim.
This is not the first time Madonna has done this. Her last tour she was notorious for being hours late and saying inappropriate things.
I grew up with Madonna and loved her. Having said that , Ms. Ciccione, please pull yourself together and remember when you didn’t feel entitled.
“remember when you didn’t feel entitled”
This!!!
Umm.. was there ever a time? I’d be surprised.
That said, I will never bother to go and see her live if this is what I’m in for. People travel cities to see you, making a huge effort and paying for the travel, accom, tickets e.t.c.. if you are SO up your own arse that you’d leave people waiting for hours wondering what is going on, putting their own lives on hold you are a f-cking asshole.
I was at one of those shows. It SUCKED, because, let’s face it, her demographic is now middle aged people like me who grew up with her, and we don’t want to still be at a Madonna concert at 1.30am on a Wednesday. That said, when she came on, she was terrific.
I hate that she pulled out the “if I were a man” line. There are SO MANY instances where it is absolutely true and a valid complaint. However this is nowhere near sexism – this is customers angry that they paid to wait for hours for a sub par performance. Has nothing to do with gender and she shouldn’t be pulling that immature sh*t, it diminishes the true instances of sexism.
She’s just such a loser anymore. It makes me sad and mad.
Exactly. There are loads of examples of men pulling this crap and being called out on it.
Don’t expect anything less from her when she used the “single mother gets attacked” excuse in the whole Rocco argument
I saw her a couple of years ago on her last tour, and she was two and a bit hours late taking the stage. I was with a bunch of super fans, and they didn’t care a bit. I guess it’s her thing now? I didn’t care enough to complain, and the show was pretty decent, but I’d never go to another one knowing what I know now.
She was late for some of the UK shows and blamed technical issues at the time, not sure about any of the European shows. She couldn’t do the full encore and people have to leave who were getting trains etc. Bad form if you ask me, as it’s clearly something she does often reading these comments.
I wish people had done what happened to Axel Rose on stage in Dublin a few years ago when his GnR-lite was 2 hours late, he got booed and had stuff thrown at him when he came out. After a few songs, he stopped the show, “one more bottle, we go home”….well you can imagine what happened…..
This is surprising. I have always been under the impression she is very professional and generous with her shows. I hope she gets it together. AND let her 15 year old son decide for himself who he wants to live with.
I went to a Madonna concert last year, and it was supposed to start at 8pm. She did not come on stage until almost 10pm. No opening act just a DJ playing club/house music. I went online while waiting and noticed her last few shows were the same(late starts)
Enjoyed the show but after awhile even diehard fans like myself get fed up
I saw her in ’08 and she was 2+ hours late. I was young and I knew it was my one time to see Madonna, so I stayed. But it was really annoying. She is known for being late.
I wonder if it’s a control/power trip kind of thing, like she enjoys knowing people will stand there and wait for her for hours.
That was my thought at the time. Luckily her fan base is really fun, so we had a great time pre show even waiting around. But she was kind of mean to the audience at times as well. Great show though- see I feed into her power trip by validating her behavior!
For a narcissist like her, I’d say you are probably right. It’s all about control and all about fans “proving” they worship her by waiting for hours to see her.
But it won’t last forever.
It may very well be a power play, but she lost me and my friends as fans years ago by being over three hours late to a show. Once inside the venue, most places won’t let you leave and return, so either you suck it up and wait, or forfeit that big chunk of cash you forked over for the ticket. Ever since then, I have warned people NOT to attend a Madonna concert.
Clearly, I will never go to see her.. not supporting this out of control ego, waste of time.
For someone so desperate to stay relevant, she’s messing it up.
Exactly what I thought. I guess any attention will do at this point. It’s very sad to watch.
You would think since she wants to stay relevant, her behavior in terms of how she treats her audiences and fans, would be different.
I was at the Coachella she performed at 10 years ago and she was several hours late then. I held out for an hour and then gave up, and if I recall correctly she came on so late she could only perform 6 songs (typically a headliner goes 1 hour +).
This makes me glad I didn’t get tickets for her tour. I’d have to drive 3 hours one way to see her at my nearest city (Miami) so if I’d done that AND she came on late I would have been livid.
I’m sort of thinking that she’s late so often because that’s how long it takes to get an assistant to yank the skin on her face back before she stumbles out in front of the audience.
We need a like button!
Bwahaha! I can totally envision this!
If Madonna had to wait on someone for 2+ hours, like at a doctor’s appointment, or ANY appointment, would she consider that person (be it a man or a woman) to be professional? Wouldn’t she be mad? I’ve lost a ton of respect for her.
Why she would consider them sexist of course!
She wasn’t three hours. The support act comes on at eight. She comes out at nine. But that still puts her as being very late, an hour and a half, which is still bad,, just not the three hours being thrown out there.
I have several friends who were at the concert in Nashville. There was no opening act, just a DJ who played house music. She didn’t come on stage until almost 10:45 and the show didn’t end until after 1:00. I have some other friends who went to the show in Atlanta last night. I’m curious to see what their experience was.
I noticed a bunch of my Nashville friends posted pics before the concert of the stage and how excited they were but none posted anything afterwards or during.
It was 10:41 by my watch, and the fake hillbilly accent pissed me off. She’ll never get a dime of my money again. She was late and she was rude.
I was there for the 80s songs which I heard very little of, but a nice guitar only version of true blue.
I just find the hole thing sad. Nuns on a stripper pole and she calls everyone a b***h and tells them they can f**k off after prompting them with an answer.
Sad and pathetic and her vocals weren’t all that. Tucking that piece of my childhood away.
Dancinnancy,
NUNS ON A STRIPPER POLE?!
I saw a Madonna show w/a pal and thankfully she had looked online to confirm that the show was routinely late so we planned our evening accordingly it was a week Nite so we showed up 2 hrs late and still ended up waiting 45 minutes. I was a super fan but after the gaudy display of guns decided to cut the concert short and left before she left the stage. I won’t be going to anymore appearances.
That happened with me a few years ago. It was not Madonna, it was NERD ( Parrell Williams group). There was a local DJ, who performed his 30 minute set. Then, nothing. The stage was set up and just sittinf there, no one came out to explain what was going on. They finally graced us with their presence and was on stage for 45 minutes. I washed my hands of them after that because the whole vibe was they felt they were doing us a favor by performing in our city ( St Louis). We waited around longer the entire set of both acts and the excuses I was hearing from my fellow attendees was amazing and not in a good way.
The Black Keys. Were running 30 minutes behind, someone came out to let the audience know. Not ideal, but did not write them off.
While things happen and you run late, it is more rude to have people wait then letting them know that you will be.
Considering the price of her concert tickets the least she can do is give people the full show they paid for but saying that she always had a rep for being the professional. Thou her last couple of tours have been dogged with her bad behaviour and lateness.
I once shared a cab to the venue with a bunch of Madonna die hards and they told me she is always, at minimum, two hours late.
I had a friend who was always late. We would tell her an event started two hours before it actually did just so she would show up on time – but that didn’t work b/c once she learned we were doing that, she adjusted her time to be late.
My point? People who cannot manage their time don’t give a eff about your time. And what bothers me the most about ppl like this are the excuses they barf up to justify their repeated actions. This type of behaviour is disrespectful and selfish. A great way to lose friends, and fans.
You are exactly right about others who are continuously late are only considering themselves! Spot on. And if you were to reverse it and be late for something they planned, you would then be in the wrong (been there).
I had a friend like that and I put up with so much because I loved her to bits. It had to stop though, she would literally show up at diner for a lunch appointment. Sometimes it was more like a social experiment waiting to see what time she would get there and what she would say about being late. Honestly, I found her quirkiness fascinating but that’s cause I likes the odd balls.
It isn’t quirkiness though is it? It is saying “your time and convenience is not important” The height of bad manners, sorry.
Yes, it really is and that’s why I had to call her out on it. But it still fascinates me that she could be that inconsiderate and be so oblivious. Probably because I could just never fathom behaving this way.
I had a friend who did that all the time. A group of us would meet to carpool to something, and she’d be an hour late, AND would stop for coffee on the way. She’d make us late meeting other friends, or would say she’d show up and then never would. Needless to say, we don’t hang out anymore.
I had a friend like that too. Turns out, after I told her I was done waiting for her, she was deliberately being late so she could be the center of attention. Didn’t matter that it was bad attention, she reveled in it.
Dear Madonna, you’ve been huge in the 80’s. It’s 2016, give it a rest.
She was huge in the 90s too. She didn’t do too bad in the 2000s either.
We saw here a few years ago in Miami … her Alex Rodrigues phase. This was the night before Thanksgiving. She came on around 10-10:30. The sound was horrendous. Alex was on camera mooning all over her. It was so disrespectful of the fans that have made her a very wealthy woman. All of us were completely pissed off. Some of us had to cook dinner & host family the next day. I left my 80 something year old Mom by herself. Everyone we were with stopped buying anything associated with her.
Her face looks like it’s getting bigger. Face or head, or maybe her body is shrinking. Anyway, something unusual is happening to her.
Aside from that I have no respect for people who cry wolf because it diminishes its power for when society really needs it. I really wish she would take it down a notch, she’s exhausting.
I was at the show on Saturday- she came on about 10:30pm- apparently she has said she will never go on stage before 10:30, so it’s clearly a planned tardiness.
I do NOT believe she was drunk – she is just very awkward when she attempts to interact with the audience. (She really didn’t try to interact during her MDMA tour, and I think she was advised to be “warmer” this tour.)
Her sense of humor kind of falls short, but woman wasn’t drunk. She hit her choreography marks, sounded good and put on a really decent show. Madonna simply seems weird when she tries to talk to “the peasants”.
I was glad to see her, but won’t ever spend 200$ for mediocre tickets to see her again.
And it certainly diminishes her professionalism to show up habitually late for shows.
Being late is nothing new for Madonna. Saw her in KC (MDNA Tour), and she was 2 hours late coming on. It was pretty annoying but I think it is the norm.
It is. When I went to a show a few years back, I had met a bunch of die hards who had gone to multiple shows, and they told me that she is always two hours late.
Madonna or not – she wouldn’t have kept me waiting 3 hours, without a very good excuse I would have been long gone and wanting my money back.
This is no news at all! My mom went to her concert a few years ago – she was over an hour late and her show was cut short because of her lateness. So, SO disrespectful, because those tickets were expensive as hell.
She should stop throwing the sexism card every fucking time. You are late. You are unprofessional. We call you out on it. There’s no reason to go easier on you ’cause you’re a woman.
I have no patience for this. If people are paying big bucks to go to a concert on a school night, you need to start on time. Normals have to go to work in the a.m. and this kind of stuff doesn’t help.
She’s always screaming sexism or ageism at anyone who challenges her rude and inappropriate behaviour. It’s so insulting to people who genuinely experience discrimination and/or abuse for their sex or age, it minimises their experiences to have this over privileged, spoilt woman faking victimhood.
You know how I know it’s not sexism or ageism that’s got me complaining about her? Debbie Harry. She’s 70. I saw Blondie in concert last year and it was great! No big choreography (obviously, but that was never a thing with Blondie anyway) but none of this prima donna nonsense either (perhaps because Blondie is pre-Madonna? 🙂 ) and a warm connection with the audience.
If it is known she is always 2 hours or more late then WHY or WHY would anyone buy tickets to her show. Don’t care how good she is. If enough people would walk out and demand their money back or not even buy tickets at all, a message would be sent.
Totally agree. You treat your customers with disdain and eventually you don’t have any.
Hmmm….the blinds are already all over this. They say she has a drinking problem, pill-popping, and coke. Frankly, I beleive it. These people live in a different world than we do. I can see her doing anything and everything to get energized and then be able to go to sleep. I’m feeling Michael Jackson vibes.
i read that too.. seems she is going the route of Elvis.. she needs to just take time and enjoy her wealthy life and her children. what else does she have to prove?
Oh a blind that comes out after a clip at a show ONE night. How convenient as usual.
She experimented years ago when she was young but not much compared to other stars. She is too regimented and doesn’t like the feeling of loss of control. On tour, she rarely drinks. She treats her shows like being an athlete and needing to be able to sustain her energy for the whole 2 hours and 20 minutes or whatever it is.
Madonna can be rude and inconsiderate and narcissistic. But a person with a pill, booze and coke problem? No way. No one who has followed her career or this tour would even believe that for a second. She may not be professional in how late she is, but she is the consummate professional on stage and giving it her all for that period of time and taking care of herself in between shows, and it’s probably why fans put up with her. But Madonna is obsessive with certain things, and her controlling personality doesn’t like the feeling of loss of control and it’s why she’s lasted. She’s never gone the route of all the other rock stars or pop stars, addicted to substances. If anything, she was addicted to things like exercising.
All I can say is, RUNNNNNNNNNN, Rocco, RUNNNN!! She better watch it if she’s messing about with drugs on tour, she might catch the business end of another cape.
“If I were a man no one would have said a thing”
That is such a BS excuse to deflect criticism of her unprofessional behavour. Axl Rose’s solo tour a few years back was constantly (and rightly) called out for starting hours late.
And even IF it was true the solution wouldn’t be to not call her out on her rude behaviour but to start calling men out as well.
This reminds me of a funny story my brother-in-law told me. He’s a stagehand, and works often at this one big arena. Axl was scheduled to perform there some years ago. He was just smoking weed and playing games backstage. No interest in his own concert, and the clock was ticking. The stagehands and other crew members realized they had to act. Well, Axl is known to be crazy about arcade games, especially pinball-machines. There’s a bar next door to this arena. The guys borrowed several fine machines from it, then used them to make a line from the backstage area to the edge of the stage. Axl, intrigued, played his way down to the end of the line – and was promptly spotlighted. He looked just like a deer caught in headlights, but faced with a cheering audience he chose to perform.
Artists can be very difficult!
I honestly can’t think of one artist I would wait 3+ hrs for. Seriously, if the Stones can pull off those huge arena shows like clock-work, what’s her excuse? Not too long ago saw Hall and Oates- on at appointed time, played a great first set, break, second set and done. All us working folks appreciated it!
“Start saving your pennies, I’m worth it” -Madonna to her fans.
WTF would anyone shell out $300 or more to have to wait around on this embattled old corpse to be hours late and then proceed to curse at you during the show, AFTER having reminded you that you are a penny-saving peasant who should throw your hard earned chump change at her to be allowed to be in her miserable presence for a few moments? THIS BISH WILL NEVER GET MY MONEY!
Sorry, there isn’t one artist I would wait two plus hours for. Period. If I am paying a good price to come and see your show, have the decency to be thankful that fans want to see you and be on time. If major stars, bigger than Madonna, can be on time then get with the program and check yourself, and your ego. If it happened once and it was some kind of equipment malfunction, fine. But to keep happening is just rude. Your time is no more valuable than anyone elses.
Pills.
Punctuality is the politeness of kings.
Madge, you like to be seen as Queen of Pop, but you don’t live up to that.
It seems she is becoming a total mess lately.