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News October 27, 2015

Madonna to tour Australia in early 2016

Madonna to tour Australia in early 2016

Madonna will be touring Australia in early 2016, with promoter Live Nation expected to announce the dates by the end of this month.

The tour, her first here in 23 years, will be on a smaller scale than her previous visits.

Live Nation’s Global Touring division Chairman Arthur Fogel confirmed to Billboard that her Rebel Heart world tour would see her back in Australia and New Zealand after a North America / Europe run in the second half of 2015.

“She has never played in Southeast Asia, and she hasn't been in Australia or New Zealand in probably 25 years," Fogel said. "It's kind of bizarre when you think about it, that a superstar like that hasn't been to a pretty regular touring area for 25 years."

The star’s last visit here was in 1993 with The Girlie Show where she sold 360,000 tickets locally over five mostly outdoor concerts. The November 19 Sydney Cricket Grounds show was filmed for a TV special The Girlie Show: Live Down Under screened in America and Germany. It later came out as a long-form video/ DVD, was nominated for a Grammy and sold 3x Platinum in this country.

Australia was by-passed on later global treks in 2006, 2009 and 2012. The last one, the MDNA tour, was in fact confirmed but she then pulled out. In an “I’m sorry Australia” video that was widely derided for its lameness, she revealed she felt she felt the need to be with her children and she’d be a “bad mother” if she stayed on the road. Globally, the MDNA tour took the biggest gross of the year, making $305 million after drawing 2.2 million to 88 shows.

According to Billboard figures, Sticky & Sweet in 2008-2009 is her most successful tour, bringing in a $408 million gross with 3.5 million tickets sold. She also proved herself as a drawing card with Confessions in 2006 ($194 million gross, 1.2 million tickets sold to 60 shows) and Re-Invention in 2004 ($125 million gross, 900,748 attendance).

The new Rebel Heart show is expected to be the same matador-themed production which she unveiled at the Brits awards last month.

The Rebel Heart tour kicks off in Miami on August 29 and does 21 shows through North America until October 27. On November 4, it heads to Europe. It starts in Germany and finishes off 14 shows later on December 20 in the UK where she just set a new record by notching up her 71st Top 40 single with Living For Love.

The ticket prices in the US range from $300-$350 to $35. A DJ will likely open the shows.

This is Madonna’s fifth tour with Fogel, a relationship which, since it began in 2001, produced over $1 billion in grosses and 7.8 million tickets over 289 shows. This makes her the top female touring artist in the world.

According to Live Nation, each ticket purchased online will include a digital download of Rebel Heart's Super Deluxe version, which includes four previously unreleased studio tracks. The idea is to juice up her record sales, which lag behind her concert ticket sales.

"Really, the key is to get the new music to as many people as possible," Fogel explained, "and [bundling] is a pretty obvious way to do that."

Madonna has sold 300 million albums worldwide. Australia was one of the first markets to break her. Her first hit Holiday peaked at #4 and her first album Madonna entered the Top 10. All her albums have been hits, with chart toppers including True Blue, Erotica, Bedtime Stories (where Australia was the only major music market where it went to #1), Ray Of Light, Confessions On A Dance Floor, Hard Candy and MDNA. The Breathless soundtrack and the compilations The Immaculate Collection and Something To Remember also topped the Australian charts.

The 56-year-old maintains her stand as a cultural icon because she continues to control every aspect of her recording and touring schedules. She told Rolling Stone, "I really want to see everything. If it's around me and it's part of my show, I need to be a part of all of it. From the creation of the music, to the surface of the floor, to everyone's hairstyle, to the details with the buttons and the bows and the snaps and the zippers. All of those things! I don't know where it started, but I think it's just gotten worse!"

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