all about Madonna

It’s official – the stage is going up in Tel Aviv. Facebook

It doesn’t get much bigger than Madonna picking up your cause.

A Swedish film company will use a photo of Brandon Bitner in a video it’s producing for Madonna’s upcoming world tour, and will donate $5,000 to the Susquehanna University scholarship in Brandon’s name.

Katie Goodling, Brandon’s cousin, confirmed Saturday a deal with Adamsky Film Production of Stockholm to use Brandon’s photo, one of seven portraits of bullying victims to run in the video.

Each will display with an RIP sign and the person’s name for about three seconds.

Goodling also administers BrandonBitner.com, a website dedicated to bullying prevention and Brandon’s memory. He committed suicide in November 2010, citing incessant bullying at Midd-West High School in the note he left.

Daily Item

by Guy Oseary

Madonna has sold 653,000 tickets to the 43 North American dates on her upcoming concert tour, an executive with concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment Inc. said, putting it on track to be one of the top-grossing outings on record.

About 30,000 tickets remain available for the tour’s 36 U.S. shows, Live Nation head of global touring Arthur Fogel said, adding most of those are either single tickets or seats that are set aside for disabled concertgoers.

“We are inches from sellout everywhere,” Mr. Fogel said in a telephone interview Thursday. Tickets for U.S. dates went on sale in mid-February and range in price from around $45 to more than $350. Some premium-priced ticket packages run $600 per person.

The North American leg of the tour is slated to begin Aug. 28 at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center arena and end Nov. 20 with two dates at Miami’s American Airlines Arena. Other stops include Yankee Stadium, Staples Center in Los Angeles and Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

Mr. Fogel said that around 30% of ticket buyers had signed up for a free copy of the singer’s most recent album, “MDNA”—an offer that was available only to customers in the U.S. He said that acceptance rate was on the high end for such offers.

Of the tickets sold in North America, Mr. Fogel said, 500,000 were in the U.S. Those free-album offers fueled a healthy first week for “MDNA,” according to Nielsen SoundScan, which reported 359,000 copies sold in the U.S. In subsequent weeks, the album’s sales have slowed considerably, and it has now sold a total 456,000 copies in six weeks.

Mr. Fogel said that between 200,000 and 250,000 of those sales represented albums given away with concert tickets.

“MDNA” has not generated a significant hit on pop radio and was No. 65 on the album-sales chart released Wednesday by SoundScan. It has fared better on Billboard’s dance and electronic music char, where it was No. 2 last week. Two songs from the album, “Gang Bang” and “Girl Gone Wild,” have charted on the magazine’s electronic-music chart.

Madonna and Live Nation have an unusual 10-year contract that they struck in 2007, under which the promoter guaranteed the pop star $120 million in exchange for rights to a wide range of her business, including promoting her concert tours and releasing her albums. The company contracted out the distribution and promotion of “MDNA” to Universal Music Group’s Interscope records.

The world tour is to kick off May 31 in Tel Aviv, followed by stops in Abu Dhabi, Istanbul and various European cities. It is scheduled to wrap up with a handful of dates in Latin America late November and December.

WSJ

Argentina! We are happy to announce that Madonna’s MDNA Tour is to stop at Buenos Aires’ River Plate Stadium on December 13 and at Cordoba’s Estadio Kempes on December 22! A devoted fan club pre-sale for both shows will start at 10am local time for Legacy members (11am for Live Pass members) on May 7th.

Public on-sale will start May 12 at 12:01AM local time for Internet sales and at 10AM local time for Phones, Outlets and Box Office.

Come join the party!

Madonna.com

Madonna has landed.
The Material Girl arrived at Nassau Coliseum this week to start rehearsals for her “MDNA Tour” using the elaborate stage set that will travel around the world with her and is expected to spend plenty of time in Uniondale before the tour launches in Tel Aviv on May 31.
Judging from photos of the closed rehearsals released on her website, the massive, triangle-shaped set includes two walkways for Madonna to wade into the crowd and an enclosed area where fans can get close to the stage. There will also be a huge, three-part video screen that promoters have called the largest in the world.

NewsDay

via facebook.com/madonnna

Madonna’s November concert in Medellin sold out in less than a week, Radio Caracol reported Friday.

Colombians clamoured to see the Queen of Pop on her first tour date in Colombia and the last 2,000 tickets sold out in less than half an hour.

The spokesman for Ocesa Colombia, the event company putting on the concert, said it was a dream come true for Colombians to bring Madonna to their country and credited Medellin’s mayor Anibal Gaviria for making the event possible.

The concert has promised to bring a large influx of tourists to the city with hotels in Medellin already 80% booked for the night of the concert.

Although most (55%) of ticket buyers were in Medellin, many out-of-towners bought tickets for the pop star’s only stop in Colombia on her six-city tour of Latin America.

34% of ticket buyers were in Bogata and Cundinamarca, another 4% were in the Valle del Cauca department, and the remaining 7% were from elsewhere in Colombia and neighboring countries.

http://colombiareports.com

The highly anticipated opening of Madonna’s MDNA Tour is now planned for Thursday, May 31st at Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv, two days later than previously scheduled due to production delays. The change in the opening date was announced today by promoters Live Nation and Shuki Weiss. All tickets dated May 29th will be honored at the rescheduled May 31st event.

The Material Girl has already announced 76 concert dates in arenas, stadiums and special outdoor sites throughout Europe and North America with confirmed sales of over 1.4 million tickets to date. The MDNA tour which has already sold out in Berlin (2 shows sold out), Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Istanbul (45,000 tickets sold) as well as Philadelphia, Boston, Montreal, Quebec City (70,000 tickets), New York’s Yankee Stadium (73,000 tickets over 2 shows), Washington DC and the Staples Center in LA has recently announced additional concert dates in Mexico and South America which will be followed by a visit to Australia where Madonna has not performed in 20 years.

Along with state of the art technical components including the largest video screens ever created, Madonna, her band and her dancers are expected to reach above and beyond her Super Bowl performance where she performed to an audience of over 112 million people around the world, the highest number of viewers in Super Bowl history.

Madonna’s latest studio recording “MDNA” debuted on iTunes at the #1 spot in over 40 countries. Her newest single “Girl Gone Wild” is #1 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs Chart – her 42nd time in the top slot. She remains the artist with the most #1 songs in the chart’s 35-year history. MDNA has received glowing reviews including USA Today which commented, “Madonna’s MDNA is rocking and revelatory… her most personal effort to date.

“The woman is pop’s most durable alpha female, coolly courting fascination and controversy on her own terms.” Added The Sun in the UK, “The album should be the spine of an incredible live show – just what her army of followers will want to hear.”

The MDNA Tour is produced by Live Nation Global Touring and presented locally in association with Shuki Weiss.

Madonna.com

The queen must be loving that throne right now!!
Sources tell PerezHilton.com EXCLUSIVELY that Madonna’s upcoming tour has sold over $250 million in ADVANCE ticket sales!!! Wowza!!
And get ready, Madgestic Kingdom, because sources also tell us there are MANY new dates in the works!!!!
If you live in South America, she’s gonna be spending a lot more time with you than you think!! And if you’re an Aussie lad or lass, keep your fingers crossed all of these negotiations go well, because she could be giving you some extra’ luv too!!
Hmm… we bet those VIP packages are really helping boost the sales! This tour is EASILY going to be beat her Sticky & Sweet tour. Easily.
We know we can’t wait to see this MADGIC!!! It’s going to be EPIC!!!

PerezHilton

Get ready, South America, Madonna’s 2012 MDNA World Tour is heading your way! Madonna’s party will visit Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Colombia later this year. We are excited to announce that devoted Icon ticket pre-sales begin Tuesday, April 17, @ 10am local times for Legacy members / 11am local times for Live Pass members*. Lifetime Legacy members have their passcodes for pre-sale access. If you’d like to participate in our exclusive Icon pre-sales, register for your Icon Live Pass now. Week #11 pre-sale codes begin with “MCK.” Week #1-8 passes are now expired (codes that begin with MCB, MCC, MCD, MCE, MCF, MCG, MCH, MCJ). Please read the details below before you register for an Icon Live Pass.
If you are not an Icon Legacy member, order the Icon Live Pass to access pre-sales for these Madonna concerts. Icon pre-sales offer members the choice of preferred tickets or special Early Entry ticket package offers.

Please note that Live Pass registrations for pre-sales offered in week #11 will close at 3pm local times on April 19 or April 20 (see below); so make sure to register for your Live Pass now!

Passcodes for VIP Packages will be displayed on the tour page. Legacy and Live Pass members, you must be logged in to the site in order to see the passcode information.

*ICON PRE-SALE SCHEDULE:
10:00AM local time = Lifetime Legacy Members (Mexico City & Medellin @ 11am)
11:00AM local time = Icon Live Pass Access begins (Mexico City & Medellin @ 12noon)

PRE-SALES FOR APR 18 – 20, 2012

SHOW DATE / CITY / VENUE / START (local time) / END (local time)
NOV 24 / Mexico City, MX / Foro Sol / APR 18 @ 11AM / APR 20 @ 3PM
NOV 28 / Medellin, CO / Estadio Atanasio Girardot / APR 17 @ 11AM / APR 19 @ 3PM
DEC 04 / Sao Paulo, BR / Estadio Do Morumbi / APR 18 @ 10AM / APR 19 @ 3PM
DEC 09 / Porto Alegre, BR / Estadio Olimpico / APR 18 @ 10AM / APR 19 @ 3PM

PRE-SALES FOR APR 25 – 27, 2012
Pre-sales for the following dates will begin Wed., April 25.
Live Pass registrations will begin on Mon., April 23. Stay tuned for announcements.

DEC 01 / Rio De Janeiro, BR / Parque Dos Atletas / Live Pass Registrations begin April 23
DEC 19 / Santiago, CL / Estadio Nacional / Live Pass Registrations begin April 23

THE ICON LIVE PASS
REMINDER: Week #11 passcodes begin with “MCK.” The following codes are now expired:
MCB, MCC, MCD, MCE, MCF, MCG, MCH, MCJ.

Simply register for a free Icon member account and purchase the Icon Live Pass, where you’ll receive these special benefits:
Access to Icon ticket pre-sales (4-ticket limit).
Access to the “2012 Tour” forum of the Icon boards to share thoughts, news and pics with other fan club members. Access is available for the whole tour.
Official Tour gift. Live Pass members may choose one of the following gift options: an exclusive 24″ X 36″ tour poster, a laminated commemorative tour pass, or a $5 coupon for use in the Madonna Online Store (poster and laminate will ship in Spring 2012).
When you register, your order confirmation email will contain your unique pre-sale passcode.
More »

Madonna fans! We are happy to share the current list of European Support Acts for Madonna’s 2012 World Tour!

Stay tuned as more are to be announced!

29-May – Tel Aviv – Martin Solveig / Offer Nissim
12-Jun – Rome – Martin Solveig
14-Jun – Milan – Martin Solveig
16-Jun – Florence – Martin Solveig
20-Jun – Barcelona – Martin Solveig
21-Jun – Barcelona – Martin Solveig
24-Jun – Coimbra – Martin Solveig
28-Jun – Berlin – Martin Solveig
30-Jun – Berlin – Martin Solveig
2-Jul – Copenhagen – Martin Solveig
4-Jul – Gothenburg – Martin Solveig
7-Jul – Amsterdam – Martin Solveig
8-Jul – Amsterdam – Martin Solveig
10-Jul – Koln – Martin Solveig
12-Jul – Brussels – Martin Solveig
14-Jul – Paris – Martin Solveig
17-Jul – London – Hyde Park – LMFAO / Martin Solveig
29-Jul – Vienna – Martin Solveig
12-Aug – Helsinki – Martin Solveig
18-Aug – Zurich – Martin Solveig
21-Aug- Nice – LMFAO

Madonna.com