Madonna on Track for Year's Top-Grossing Tour

By Ray Waddell

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - It takes a lot to shock a Madonna (news - web sites) fan. Apparently, they have not been shocked by ticket prices that climb above $300 for the artist's new Re-invention tour. Nor has the show itself proved as shocking as early reports portrayed.

So, it should come as no surprise that the Re-Invention tour is an unqualified blockbuster, even if the second show was scrapped because of the star's stomach flu and tentative dates in Israel have been dropped.

Despite the early snafus, the tour, which began May 24 at the Forum in Los Angeles, is destined to be the top-grossing tour of 2004, with a gross in the $120 million range and attendance of about 920,000.

Almost every show put on sale sold out quickly, and numerous dates were added to the route.

The tour, which is promoted worldwide by Clear Channel Entertainment under the direction of CCE touring president Arthur Fogel, seems to have benefitted from Madonna's assertion that the set list would be a career retrospective rather than focus on newer material, a promise on which she delivers.

Veteran tour production pro Chris Lamb (Eagles, Paul McCartney (news)) is production manager for the Re-Invention tour. He says opening night was the culmination of six months of preparation and came off perfectly.

"That's Madonna -- she's a perfectionist," Lamb says. "This is a show, not a concert. This is more theater than rock 'n' roll."

Unique production elements include a center-stage turntable 42 feet in diameter that rises to 10 feet in height and can spin up to 15 miles per hour, as well as a series of conveyor belts at the front of the stage.

"This is an amazing show technically, very precise," Lamb tells Billboard. "The movement of the show is very unique; it goes back and forth in the front and rotates on the stage. Nobody has seen anything like this."

Opening night was well received critically. USA Today entertainment writer Edna Gundersen proclaimed the concert "a rigorous, fast-paced escapade with bold sets, brazen choreography and sexy but age-appropriate costumes, plus a bagpiper, a skateboarder, a fire handler and acrobats on swings."

The show is configured at 270 degrees, with no seats sold behind the stage. All seats are reserved, but two pits inside the stage area accommodate about 50 contest winners in each market.

Lighting director Ray Bennett oversees moving lights and three moving LED video screens. There are four major set changes, swapped out through the turntable. There is no encore.

"The entire set design starts with Madonna," Lamb says. "She says, 'This is what I'm thinking. Tell me what you can do."'

Fogel and his team learned the afternoon of May 25 that the night's performance would be postponed. "We got the word out pretty well, because only a few people showed up at the venue," he says. The makeup concert took place May 26.

Though a trio of shows in Israel for late September was once considered, they will not be booked because of security concerns.

The tour comprises 55 shows in 19 markets -- 39 concerts in North America and 16 in Europe.

The trek boasts some impressive multiples in major markets, including five shows in L.A., four in Boston, four in Chicago, three in Toronto and eight in the New York/New Jersey region, including six at Madison Square Garden.

Madonna's 2001 tour, also produced by CCE, grossed $75 million from 47 sellouts, according to Billboard Boxscore.

but enough about my date last week, how was madonna's show?

Anxiety said:

It's damn shame the old schoolers have to show this untalented younger fucks how to do the damn thing....

Is all that fluff(huge theater production with a bagpiper, a skateboarder, a fire handler and acrobats on swings) needed for an old school performer? After seeing P it will be hard to see another tour with all that extra crap. So much for the music. Plus I couldnt afford a Madonna ticket anyway.

sounds cool but its too expensive...and she doesnt need the money at all

whoop727 said:

After seeing P on Friday, I have to agree with you. However, if someone got me a ticket, I'd go with no hesitation.

With $300+ floor tickets, she'd better be a top-grossing tour.

whoop727 said:

The thing is,almost EVERY legendary artist charges a fortune to see them (Sting,Simon and Garfunkel,The Rolling Stones,Barbra Streisand,etc).At least with Madonna,you know you're gonna see a lavish,expensive production.She wants her shows to be more than just a simple concert.So it makes sense that her tickets would be priced really high.Some artists and bands don't use all those special effects,and they STILL charge an arm and a leg to see them,lol.

LightOfArt said:

Trust me,if you really want to go this concert without spending a fortune,just show up at the venue on the night of the show.You will see alot of desperate scalpers trying to get rid of their tickets.My friend and his wife are gonna do this,because they didn't wanna pay the high price for tickets.Because Maddy scheduled so many multiple dates and saturated the market,it wasn't that difficult to get tickets this time around.So the greedy scalpers are screwed,lol.

After reading last week's tour reports,and hearing that there is a catwalk that extends out to the first twenty rows,I'm gonna sell the nosebleed seats that I have for the second night,and buy one of the floor seats.I wanna have GREAT seats for all three shows that I'm going to.

estelle1981 said:

Yeah but she isn't touring that much so...

it easy to make top dollar when you're robbing peopl blind!!! $300 is a floor seat?

that's just bullshit!! and the drowned world tour was much cooler imo.

vegas had tickets for $750!

DavidEye said:

yup

tickets for the shows in LA were going for 35 bucks the night of the show! and i am not talking about 90 dollar seats...the 300 dollar seats were being sold for 35!!!! go to the venue the night of and get some decent seats from desperate scalpers!

wavesofbliss said:

I admit,I was shocked to learn that on this tour,even some of the upper level seats are $300! I can understand paying that much money for a floor seat in the first twenty rows or so,but $300 to be in the upper level?! With all the money I've spent on these tickets,Madonna better KICK ASS next week when I see her.

I had read Madonna on Crack for Year´s Top-Grossing Tour instead

SassyBritches said:

But, you have to worry about if those tickets are real half the time. If I can't get my tickets from a reliable internet source, the venue itself, or Ticketmaster.com, then I try my luck on Ebay. If I can't get them there, then I just won't be going. I don't trust scalpers....I heard that they were selling fake tickets at one point at some artist's show. Just me though.

estelle1981 said:

yeah, that's true, it does definitely happen. with the madonna show, though, there are so many people trying to sell tickets that the chances of someone selling a fake are really high. if you check out a ticket broker online and look at just how many tickets they will all be stuck with...man, they're gonna be desperate!