all about Madonna

Madonna may be forced to change the venue of her Moscow concert because of fears students at the nearby university could fall from the windows while craning to watch her, officials said on Tuesday.
“The question of where the Madonna concert will eventually take place has still not been resolved,” said the head of Moscow’s security department, Nikolai Koulikov.
“More than 250,000 tickets have already been sold and we fear the students of the (Lomossov) university … could fall from the windows,” he told a press conference.
Koulikov said the authorities were considering moving the venue from a hill overlooking the capital and facing the university, to the more spacious Tushino airfield in northwest Moscow.
But he said they had no plans to cancel the concert despite a bomb attack on a Moscow market that killed 10 people on Monday.
“Life must go on despite these explosions,” he said.
The US pop star will make her first appearance in Moscow on September 11 as part of her “Confessions” world tour.
Organisers say she plans to bring 200 tonnes of equipment on 57 lorries.
Tickets for the performance sold out at the beginning of August, despite an appeal by the Russian Orthodox Church for a boycott on the grounds that the singer “exploits Christian symbols” in the concert.
Madonna, 47, has offended religious authorities in several European countries with her infamous crucifixion routine, in which she sings wearing a crown of thorns and hitched to a wooden cross. – AFP/fa
source : channel news asia

7 Pictures – Madonna performs in Hannover during “Confessions” World Tour (Niedersachsen, Hannover, August 22 2006) – are added to the gallery.

British singer Robbie Williams is afraid he will remain single forever, because no girl can ever live up to his ideal woman – Madonna. The Feel singer admits he is jealous of the Material Girl’s film-maker husband Guy Ritchie. He says, “I’ve been in bed with somebody that I’m having a very romantic mini-break with, a couple of weeks relationship with, and then I watch the late shows in America and there will be a girl on there I’d rather be with. “Madonna is the ultimate in our day and age of the grass being greenest. Guy Ritchie is a lucky man. “I do happen to fancy Madonna. She rehearses her a**e off. Goes to the gym every day. She does all that stuff to get it spot-on and then she delivers. I’m in awe of her drive.”
source : contact music

The venue for Madonna’s Sept. 11 concert in Moscow has not been finalized, Nikolai Kulikov, City Hall’s chief security liaison, told Interfax on Tuesday.
Concert organizers have announced the show will take place on Vorobyovy Gory, but Kulikov said the city had security concerns about the site.
He added that the city could not meet organizers’ demands to guarantee that students at nearby Moscow State University would not open their windows and enjoy the show for free.
Kulikov said the city had proposed holding the concert in Tushino, an outlying district of northwest Moscow.
Madonna’s local PR manager, Anton Atrashkin, told Interfax on Tuesday that he had heard nothing about a possible change of venue. On Monday, the show’s organizers said they had requested that Madonna give a second show in Moscow.
source : the moscow times

The Russian organizers of Madonna’s Moscow concert have sent a request for a second show to the pop star’s management team, Interfax reported Monday.
“The ball is in their court now,” said Anton Atrashkin, PR manager for Madonna’s Russian show, adding that the request had no deadline.
Madonna will bring her “Confessions” tour to Moscow’s Vorobyovy Gory on Sept. 11. Tickets for the show sold out in just four days.
Atrashkin also responded to reports of a threat to Madonna’s safety in Moscow that appeared in the Western media.
The Sun, a British tabloid, reported Saturday that Russian gangsters had threatened to kidnap Madonna and her two children, son Rocco and daughter Lourdes.
Atrashkin said that, while he could not provide details of the security measures that would be taken to protect Madonna in Moscow, the gangsters mentioned in the Sun’s article would have “no chance of causing the singer any trouble.”
Also on Monday, German prosecutors said they had decided against opening an investigation into Madonna after the pop diva performed a controversial mock crucifixion scene at a weekend concert, The Associated Press reported.
A crowd of about 45,000 packed D?sseldorf’s LTU Arena Sunday night to watch the first of two German concerts on the “Confessions” tour. The crucifixion scene recently drew criticism in Italy, and D?sseldorf prosecutors said last week that they would monitor reports about the concert. They did not, however, send observers.
Madonna was scheduled to perform in Hannover, Germany on Tuesday.
source : the moscow times

28 Pictures – Madonna performs in Duesseldorf during “Confessions” World Tour (LTU Arena, Duesseldorf, August 20 2006) – are added to the gallery.
Update : 21 more pictures added

Madonna has gone ahead with a concert in Dusseldorf despite warnings that German prosecutors were considering legal action over the show’s content.
Prosecutors said they were to monitor the performance after receiving a complaint that the US pop star’s act breached German laws against blasphemy.
In one scene Madonna is seen in a mock crucifixion, wearing a crown of thorns.
A German Lutheran bishop has called for concert-goers to boycott all dates on the German leg of Madonna’s tour.
Madonna says the performance is part of an appeal for Aids charities.
The segment where she appears on a cross has provoked controversy in several countries and been criticised by the Vatican and Russian Orthodox Church.
But the German prosecutors admitted they would rely on media reports of the concert rather than send their own observers to decide whether further action should be taken.
Protestant Bishop Margot Kaesmann told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that concert-goers should boycott the show.
“I thought Madonna was better than this because she claims to be a religious person,” she said. “But maybe the only way an aging superstar can attract attention is to offend people’s religious sentiments.”
“I advise people to ignore Madonna. Stars come and go, but the Christian faith endures,” Bishop Kaesmann added.
Madonna’s New York-based spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, denied that the star’s show was insulting.
“The context of Madonna’s performance on the crucifix is not negative nor disrespectful toward the church,” she said.
source : bbc

Singles :
– (29) Madonna – Get Together
Albums :
28 (24) Madonna – Confessions On A Dance Floor

12 Pictures – Madonna performs in Duesseldorf during “Confessions” World Tour (LTU Arena, Duesseldorf, August 20 2006) – are added to the gallery.
Update : 6 more pictures added

For most women within touching distance of their 50th birthday, one of London’s trendiest nightspots would be an unlikely venue to host a party.
Not so for Madonna. She chose the ultra-hip Lounge Lover bar in Shoreditch to celebrate her 48th birthday and the end of the UK leg of her Confessions world tour.
It was a clear sign that the singer is not yet ready to surrender her status as pop’s queen of cool.
It would have been difficult for the Material Girl to have picked a more stylish venue. A short walk from Brick Lane, the private function room is filled with Swedish and French furniture from the 18th and 19th centuries, while surreal artwork adorns the walls.
She arrived at the party with husband Guy Ritchie following her show at Wembley Arena.
The 12,000 fans – most of whom had paid an eye-watering L160 for their seats – sang Happy Birthday to her while she was on stage.
The singer then thanked them before making a well-thought out birthday request – world peace. She added: “I cannot think of a better way to spend my birthday than with you.”
It was a shame then, that she had to rush off for her bash where guests included Gwyneth Paltrow, Jamie Oliver and wife Jools, former England rugby captain Lawrence Dallaglio, artist Tracey Emin and actor Kevin Spacey.
Madonna jets off to Germany for the next leg of her tour, but may find herself falling foul of the authorities.
A scene during her show where she is hoisted up on a crucifix has sparked outrage among religious leaders. Madonna’s representatives insist it is not disrespectful to the Church.
Source : This Is London