The list of people that can pull of stadium shows or a stadium tour is a very small list, that list is even smaller when we talk about females that can pull of a stadium show/tour.
This thread serves as an appreciation to the queen of pop, Madonna and her unprecedented ability to perform in stadiums across the globe.
Madonna has been slaying stadiums for her entire 30 year career.
The "Who's that girl tour" opened June 14th 1987 in Japan with shows in Osaka Stadium and Korakuen Stadium and played to a massive 154,000 people.
The show went on to hit the US and played in stadiums across the country.
- Veterans Stadium (78,300 people)
- Anaheim Stadium (62,986 people)
- Texas Stadium (40,601 people)
- Giants Stadium (51,000 people)
- Soldier field (46,923 people)
- Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium (56,000 people )
- CNE Stadium (50,013 people)
Madonna's dates in Europe were just as impressive.
Special mention needs to go to her ONE date in Paris at the Parc de Sceaux. Madonna STILL holds the attendance record for this one date, playing to 131,000 people in a single show.
After the "who's that girl tour" the Queen of stadium shows went on to her next big world tour. A tour that would revolutionise the touring game. The Blond ambition world tour.
Madonna's touring domination saw so signs of slowing down with the majority of the tour playing in stadiums.
Madonna opened the shows again in Japan with stadium dates at
- 3 x shows at Chiba Marine Stadium (30,000 people per show)
- 3 x shows at Hankyu Nishinomiya Stadium (35,000 people per show)
- 3 x shows at Yokohama Stadium (70,000 people per show)
Madonna then took this tour to the US embarking on a further 17 stadium dates.
3 years later The girlie show was born. Opening in Wembley stadium with two shows and a total attendance 144,000 people. Again, Madonna's touring dominance showed no signs of slowing down.
Following London The next stadium shows appeared in:
Special mention for the girlie show goes to South America.
Playing to a total of 326,000 people in just 4 shows.
Then came 3 shows at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez playing to 45,744 people per show.
Then came the unprecedented. Madonna played 9 stadium dates in Australia. Playing to a whopping 405,741 people. - The only other females to perform stadium dates in Australia are 1.Taylor swift in 6 shows to 148, 921 people and 2. Mariah Carey (sadly she didn't disclose her attendance)
You can watch the insane demand for tickets in Australia in these news stories from Brisbane and Melb:
Madonna's next tour happened in 2001. 8 years after her last tour.
Madonna went right back to performing to stadium dates 8 years after, her last tour.
- 36,000 people in Spain
- 68,000 people in Paris
- 107,415 in London
Next up for this unprecedented touring force was the "Re-invention tour" a tour that was not a world tour and had limited dates. Again, we see some incredible stadium shows. For technical reasons it was difficult to set up the Reinvention tour in stadiums so Madonna was forced to do several arena show in many North American cities to cater for demand. in NYC for example she played to almost 90,000 people over several shows n the same venue but this thread is about stadium shows and the Notable shows for this your are:
The confessions tour again saw some amazing stadium shows. Notable are shows like
- Millennium Stadium (55,795 people)
- Stadio Olimpico (63, 054 people)
- Forum Horsens (85, 232 people)
- 2x shows at Tokyo Dome (71,231 people)
Next, 25 years into Madonna's career came the biggest tour of her professional life. The sticky and Sweet tour.
The following are single shows unless otherwise stated.
- Millennium Stadium (33,460 people)
- Stade Charles-Ehrmann (41,483 people)
- Olympiastadion (47,368 people)
- Dübendorf Military Airfield (70,314 people)
- Stadio Olimpico (57,690 people)
- Wembley Stadium (73,349 people)
- Parque da Bela Vista ((75,000 people)
- Estadio Olímpico de Sevilla (47,712 people)
- Circuito Ricardo Tormo Cheste (50,143 people)
- 2 x shows at Stade de France (138, 163 people)
- Danube Island (57,002 people)
- Jaz Beach (47,524 people)
- Olympic Stadium (75,637 people)
- BC Place Stadium (52,712 people)
- Dodger Stadium (43,919 people)
- Dolphin Stadium - (47,998 people)
- 2 x shows at Foro Sol (104,270 people)
- 4 x shows at River Plate Stadium (263,693 people)
- Estadio Nacional de Chile (146,242 people)
- 2x shows at Estádio do Maracană (107,000 people)
- 3 x shows at Estádio do Morumbi (196,656 people)
- Werchter Festival Park (68,434 people)
- San Siro (55,383) people
- Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys (44,811 people)
- Tallinn Song Festival Grounds (72,067 people)
- Jätkäsaari (85,354 people)
- 2x shows at Ullevi Stadium (119,709 people)
- Parken Stadium (48,064 people)
- Olympic Stadium (35, 127 people)
- 2x shows at Hayarkon Park (99,647 people)
As we all know In 2012 the MDNA tour kicked off in Tel aviv with, you guessed it - Stadium shows:
- Ramat Gan Stadium (33,457 people)
- Stadio Olimpico (36,658 people)
- Parken Stadium (29,416 people)
- Stade Roi Baudouin (36,778 people)
- Stade de France (62,195 people)
- Hyde Park (54,140 people)
- Murrayfield Stadium (52,160 people)
- Aviva Stadium (33,953 people)
- National Stadium (38,699 people)
- Oympic stadium (31,022 people)
- Helsinki Olympic Stadium (42,760 people)
- 2x shows at Yankee Stadium (79,775 people)
- 2 x shows at Estadio Atanasio Girardot (90,018 people
- 2x shows at Estádio do Morumbi (85,255 people)
- Estádio Olímpico Monumental (45,524 people)
- 2 x shows at River Plate Stadium (89,226 people)
- Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes (48,133 people)
Thanks to MadOnHer: Madonna's Her 10 most attended singles shows:
August 29, 1987 Paris France Parc de Sceaux 131,100
November 6, 1993 Rio de Janeiro Estádio do Maracană 120,000
November 3, 1993 Săo Paulo Brazil Estádio do Morumbi 86,000
August 6, 2009 Helsinki Finland Jätkäsaari 85,354
August 24, 2006 Horsens Denmark Forum Horsens 85,232
October 4, 1993 Tel Aviv Israel Hayarkon Park 80,000
August 15, 2009 Warsaw Poland Bemowo Airport 79,343
July 11, 1987 Philadelphia Veterans Stadium 78,300
September 27, 2008 Athens Greece Olympic Stadium 75,637
September 14, 2008 Lisbon Portugal Parque da Bela Vista 75,000
Madonna's dominance over touring is not something that can ever be understated. You can like Madonna, love her or hate her but there is one thing that is undeniable, the queen of pop is a phenomena.
It was literally mind blowing for me learning about this. I feel like im pretty educated onthe topic of Madonna but there are still things i learn whenever I feel like making a thread.
And to think just the other day people were trying to diminish her touring power by saying her shows in the late 80's/early 90's were not huge
It's very importat noticing that back then, Madonna had other priorities for her career. She was focusing A LOT more in albums, videos, MOVIES, soundtracks, etc , hence , why her tours used to be shorter : NOT because she didn't have demand for her shows.
Just as a short example, we can mention the tour in support for Bedtime Stories, that had to be scrapped due to her preparation for the lead role in Evita.
Besides, Madonna has always said that doing the same thing night after night for too long "bores her" and that artists who manage to carry on a tour for 12 or 18 months 'amaze' her, because she could never do that herself since it becomes extremelly boring and she needs to move on to do something new and exciting.
It's also very important noticing how phenomenal The Girlie Show grosses and attendances were since she was coming off the biggest backlash a single female artist ever went through (Erotica)
In any case her stats are impressive and will remain untouched probably forever, regarding female artists
Special mention needs to go to her ONE date in Paris at the Parc de Sceaux. Madonna STILL holds the attendance record for this one date, playing to 131,000 people in a single show.
So Madonna was pulling these impressive attendance figures with only 3 albums.
Comes to show how there simply is no comparison between Madonna and the likes of Gaga & Katy, we can see with these numbers that Madonna was a phenomenon already with her third album, while contemporary popgirls are not able today to pull these numbers after 2, 3 and even 4 albums.
It also invalidates the '-Insert contemporary popgirl name- is the new Queen of Pop' argument.
And to think just the other day people were trying to diminish her touring power by saying her shows in the late 80's/early 90's were not huge
It's very importat noticing that back then, Madonna had other priorities for her career. She was focusing A LOT more in albums, videos, MOVIES, soundtracks, etc , hence , why her tours used to be shorter : NOT because she didn't have demand for her shows.
Just as a short example, we can mention the tour in support for Bedtime Stories, that had to be scrapped due to her preparation for the lead role in Evita.
Besides, Madonna has always said that doing the same thing night after night for too long "bores her" and that artists who manage to carry on a tour for 12 or 18 months 'amaze' her, because she could never do that herself since it becomes extremelly boring and she needs to move on to do something new and exciting.
It's also very important noticing how phenomenal The Girlie Show grosses and attendances were since she was coming off the biggest backlash a single female artist ever went through (Erotica)
In any case her stats are impressive and will remain untouched probably forever, regarding female artists
Anyone that says that about her tours in the 80's and 90's are just mis informed. Despite doing less shows than their fave (whoever it may be) - she played to more people per show and grossed more per show (with inflation to today) their argument is invalid.
The girlie show was amazing, you're right.
Quote:
Originally posted by THEBEASTWITHIN
One thing that every Madonna fan needs to learn is that people will always find an excuse for her success : ALWAYS !
Yep.
Quote:
Originally posted by Swag
So Madonna was pulling these impressive attendance figures with only 3 albums.
Comes to show how there simply is no comparison between Madonna and the likes of Gaga & Katy, we can see with these numbers that Madonna was a phenomenon still after her third album, while contemporary popgirls are not able today to pull these numbers after 2, 3 and even 4 albums.
It also invalidates the '-Insert contemporary popgirl name- is the new Queen of Pop' argument.
our faves could never
