Madonna is canceling concerts due to undisclosed injuries


In November, I wrote that Madonna was being sued by a fan who would be unable to see her December 17th Madame X concert in Miami after the start time was pushed back two hours. He lost over $1,000 on his tickets. In response, Madonna said, “The queen is never late.” The lawsuit stated that Madonna often pushed back the start time of her shows. More recently, Madonna has had to completely cancel concerts due to injuries that she is being treated for.

On Saturday, she posted on Instagram about needing to cancel the concert scheduled for Monday in London on the advice of her doctors. They have told her to rest while dealing with undisclosed injuries that she said “have plagued [her] since the beginning of the tour.” She said that her London show on Wednesday would go on as scheduled. In the accompanying picture, she is resting her hands on the handle of a cane. That’s above and here’s what she wrote in the caption:

I am deeply sorry that I have to cancel my concert scheduled for Monday January 27th in London. Under doctors guidance I have been told to rest for a few days.
As you all know, I have injuries that have plagued me since the beginning of the tour but I must always listen to my body and put my health first.
The last thing I want to do is disappoint my fans or compromise the integrity of my show.
So I will keep going until I cannot.
As always- anyone who purchased a ticket will be refunded for tickets purchased that evening.
The show on Wednesday January 29th will go as scheduled.
Again I am deeply sorry to disappoint anyone and please know that it hurts me more than you can imagine to have to cancel any shows.
Thank you again for your understanding. 🙏🏼.

[From Instagram]

Just over a week ago, she had to cancel a show in Lisbon:

People mentioned in its coverage of the latest cancellation that Madonna also had to cancel her final North American show in Miami in December, and had to cancel three concerts in Boston in November. While writing this, I realized that I completely somehow missed that the concert Nate was suing Madonna over hadn’t actually taken place yet.

Madonna can be rude, arrogant, and obnoxious, and pushing back the start time of concerts or canceling them for no good reason is awful. Chronic illness and pain are no joke, however, and pushing yourself when you are already injured/feeling terrible makes things even worse. I am wondering now whether her injuries are the reason for the delayed starts that everyone was (understandably) upset about. Madonna is used to people coming after her (rightly or wrongly), so perhaps there’s more to the delays and cancellations than she has told anyone. She’s probably reached a point in her life and career where she doesn’t care about the negative reactions as much and doesn’t have the energy to go into great detail about her health (which is, of course no one’s business). Whatever is going on, I hope she’s able to rest and recover.

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24 Responses to “Madonna is canceling concerts due to undisclosed injuries”

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  1. Lala11_7 says:

    I watched “Desperately Seeking Susan” this weekend…which I do at least 4-5 times a year…because I JUST LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THAT MOVIE…SO DAMN MUCH!!!!!!!!!!! I hope that she is able to get better…she is one of the FEW…I wouldn’t care if she was late as hell or not…because when she DOES get on stage…

    She does NOT play….

    • Char says:

      It must be very hard for Madonna to cancel due injuries because she is extrmely rigid with the quality of her shows. Like Madonna or not, she knows how to put a show, she’s been on great tours after tours and unfortunately, her body may not recover as fast anymore. As a fan, I hope she recovers soon enough to return to the stage and shine.

  2. Athyrmose says:

    Madge is that you? *squints*

    But seriously, hope she’s okay.

  3. L4frimaire says:

    The woman is 61 years old. The fact that this is only
    happening now is remarkable. She’s amazing.

    • BellaBella says:

      Her hands show her age.

      • Hoot says:

        Truly… and that is WITH photoshop. Sigh. It’s hard growing old in a business that is too ready to discard you in a blink if you don’t keep up. Wishing her the best in healing and accepting the fact that 60-year-old cartilage does not discriminate, no matter how strong a person keeps their muscles and feeds their bone mass.

  4. Snappyfish says:

    & poor ticket sales

  5. a reader says:

    She’s cancelling concerts because her body is finally beginning to break down after a very athletic life.

    I watched an Insta video she posted close to the time when she announced the Lisbon cancellation. It showed her in rehearsal moving very slowly. What I noticed immediately is that she has no muscle tone in her legs anymore. She’s got old lady legs now and that’s not a criticism; her legs look nothing like they do in the photos in this post. She’s clearly beginning to have issues retaining structural bodily integrity and I think it’s time she lowered her expectations about what her 61 year old body can accomplish.

  6. Whatnow says:

    Call me cranky but if a performer finds themselves injury/illness prone (for whatever reason/not age only) then call it a day or have a much smaller tour.

    Some people take off work, travel expense, hotel expense etc.

    • lucy2 says:

      I agree – she needs to adapt. Unfortunately her work has never been about her actual singing, so she has always relied on the dancing and stuff, so I’m not sure what she could do. But sooner or later you have to accept that you can’t physically do what you did 20, 30 years ago anymore.

  7. Lightpurple says:

    All three Boston shows were canceled a week ahead of time due to these “injuries.” However, the shows were not selling well. Months after tickets went on sale, it was announced that the shows, scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend, had been pushed back from a start-time of 8 to 10:30, doors opening at 10, which didn’t guarantee she would take the stage at 10:30. Those who had bought tickets weren’t happy, especially as public transit here gets scarce after midnight, the venue’s staff, who would have to work well past midnight weren’t happy – most of them have regular daytime jobs too, and the venue’s management was not happy – shows that go beyond midnight require overtime pay for ushers and security so it would cost them more to host later shows. When she canceled, she asked for a new set of dates to reschedule and the venue said: NO.

  8. Andrea says:

    She needs to scale back her shows if she is suffering. I heard she refuses pain medication and thus, sometimes the pain becomes unbearable. She needs to be kinder to her body and scale back majorly.

  9. Jaded says:

    Well at 61 after a lifetime of strenuous, obsessive working out and dancing she’s probably got some hip and or knee issues that may eventually require replacement surgery. Jane Fonda’s had a hip and a knee replaced and blames it on too much high impact workouts.

    I’m no Madonna fan but if this is what she’s going through, the pain is unbelievably bad and I wish her well.

    • Hoot says:

      The feet can suffer immeasurably, too. I am finding this out now, after decades of pushing my body at the gym, training others, and keeping up with my kids. (It was great while it lasted.)

      The hell of surgery on any type of joint, especially for someone like Madonna who eschews pain meds (I can relate) brings your physical life to a crawl. Everything takes longer to accomplish. Lol. The “golden years” can be filled with rust. She must accept it happens to all of us one day. You can fight it, but you can’t deny it. Time to slow down and smell the flowers. Write another book or something. But can she??

  10. HiHat says:

    From what I’ve heard, these “undisclosed injuries” were blows to Madamma’s immense ego, as ticket sales have supposedly been softer than soft on this tour…

  11. Aimee says:

    If she took off that eye patch she might see that she looks like an idiot.

    (Nothing against Madonna but she’s too old to dress like that, sorry)

  12. Sarah I the first sarah says:

    i think this is really bad ticket sales.

  13. Janet says:

    I think she probably needs a knee or hip replacement. It can be excruciating when you try and soldier on. I am 59 – same age more or less as Madonna – and most of my peers especially those who were athletes, dancers, or the like…are finding they need hip or knee surgery.