Michael Hann

Dazzling and nonsensical in equal measure: Madonna at the London Palladium reviewed

Half-baked politics and seaside bawdiness sat side by side

issue 08 February 2020

You might have thought Madonna was not a singer but a professional footballer judging by the talk before she took to the stage at the Palladium last Wednesday night. She’d missed ten out of 93 appearances, and she’d been picking up the kind of niggling injuries — would her knees stand up to the strains of a long, hard season? How’s her hip? — associated with hard-running midfielders. Just as in the Premier League, there were gripes about ticket prices — go on Ticketmaster and they range from £69 to £511.50 (yes, there are tickets available throughout the run; you’ve got until 16 February to see her). The only thing missing was burly blokes in the crowd showering those around them with spittle as they bellowed, ‘Second ball, Madonna! Win the bloody second ball!’

In the event, she missed her London debut on the last Monday of January, and so what was meant to be the second night became the first.

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