Madonna threatened to cancel a gig in Chile after she spotted fans smoking at the venue – scroll down to the bottom of the page and click to watch her rant.

The singer, who was scheduled to perform at an open-air theatre in Santiago, admonished crowd members after she witnessed them lighting up and accused them of treating her “like a stupid fucking idiot”.

In the video clip, which was obtained by TMZ, she says: “There are people smoking right now. No smoking! If you’re going to smoke cigarettes, I’m not doing a show.” As the fans reportedly continued to smoke regardless, she added: “You don’t care about me? I don’t care about you. All right? Are we going to play that game? I’m not kidding. I can’t sing if you smoke… Entiendes?”

She then added: You’re looking right at me and smoking cigarettes, like I’m a stupid fucking idiot.

Her rant is just one of a number of controversial incidents to take place on her ‘MDNA’ tour. Other standout moments include her being booed by disgruntled French fans for delivering a short set, brandishing a gun onstage in Denver shortly after the Colorado shootings in July of this year, and angering Russian fans by handing out pink anti-homophobia wristbands – a stunt that saw charges brought against her in a Russian court, although they were later dismissed.

More recently, meanwhile, she also expressed her support for the victims of Superstorm Sandy last month (November 11) by baring her bum onstage and telling the crowd: “Get over my naked ass and give me some money”.

Despite the controversies, however, Madonna’s ‘MDNA’ tour was recently revealed as the highest-grossing tour of 2012, with the singer making an estimated $228 million (£141 million) through live shows in the past 12 months. She made more revenue from performing live than the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay and Lady Gaga.

http://www.nme.com/

New statistics show Queen of Pop is a bigger hit in South America

Madonna concerts in South America outsell rival Lady Gaga by three to one, according to latest statistics.

The statistic is even more embarrassing to Gaga as Madonna’s ‘MDNA’ tour tickets are also three times more expensive than briefs for her ‘Born This Way’ world tour.

The Examiner reports that Lady Gaga’s management used under-hand tactics, such as issuing buy-one-get-one-free deals to fans, in order to boost crowd numbers. The singer played in front of a crowd of 50,000 in Peru but only 17,000 tickets were sold.

However, Madonna played in the same venues on the South American leg of her worldwide ‘MDNA’ tour and managed to sell-out the stadiums without having to resort to issuing incentives to raise numbers.

The feuding pair have been at each others throats ever since Madonna claimed that Gaga’s track ‘Born This Way’ sounded “familiar” to her 1989 hit ‘Express Yourself’. Throughout this year’s ‘MDNA’ tour, Madonna has mocked the similarities between the two songs by performing a mash-up of ‘Express Yourself’ and ‘Born This Way’ followed by a pointed snippet of a track called ‘She’s Not Me’.

During a show in Atlantic City in September, Madonna dedicated her song ‘Masterpiece’ to Gaga, before saying: “I love her. I love her. I do love her. Imitation is the highest form of flattery.”

Last month, Madonna’s famous conical bra was sold for $51,971 (£32,450) at auction. The iconic garment – which was made famous by the Queen of Pop during her 1990 Blonde Ambition tour – fetched twice its estimated price when it went under the hammer at a music memorabilia auction at Christie’s.

http://www.nme.com/news/madonna/67632

Madonna claims the No. 1 ranking on the weekly tally of Hot Tours for the fifth time since the launch of her blockbuster MDNA Tour that has been playing concert venues in Europe and North America since the end of May. Ticket revenue reported during the past week surpasses the $60 million mark from performances that occurred during October and November in 18 U.S. cities. With two-show runs at venues in Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Houston, St. Paul and New York City, the overall attendance count from six weeks of concerts totals 336,386.
With $233 million already logged from 74 shows and a string of stadium performances scheduled in South American cities through December 22, the MDNA Tour is on track to potentially rank among the 10 top-grossing tours of all time. Madonna¹s top-grossing tour so far is Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008-2009) that generated more than $407 million in ticket sales and ranks fourth all-time on the Boxscore tally.

Barclays Center, the new 19,000-seat arena in Brooklyn, New York has reported concert gross and attendance counts from its first two months of operation including a mammoth $9.3 million gross from Barbra Streisand¹s Back to Brooklyn Tour that played to sellout crowds on October 11 and 13. The legendary entertainer and Brooklyn-native earns this week¹s No. 2 Hot Tours ranking with revenue totals reported from the two-show stint in her hometown.

Also ranking among this week¹s top 10 tours at No. 3 is Jay-Z, another Brooklyn-born superstar, who played the inaugural concert in the new facility on September 28. He performed a total of eight sold out shows in Barclays Center through October 6, grossing $7.3 million from 121,058 sold tickets. Additional artists to play the new venue include gospel music¹s Kirk Franklin, Marvin Sapp, Donnie McClurkin and Israel Houghton with the King¹s Men Tour on October 14, veteran rock band Rush with a concert on October 22, a two-night dance music event dubbed Sensation on October 26-27 and a sold out show on November 12 with teen superstar Justin Bieber.

Rank
Artist/Event
Total Gross
Show Dates
Show Venue/City (Shows/Sellouts)
Total Attendance (Capacity)

MADONNA
$60,590,435
Oct. 2-Nov. 17
KeyArena, Seattle (2/2)
HP Pavilion, San Jose (2/2)
Staples Center, Los Angeles (2/2)
MGM Grand Garden, Las Vegas (2/2)
U.S. Airways Center, Phoenix (1/1)
Pepsi Center, Denver (1/1)
American Airlines Center, Dallas (1/1)
Toyota Center, Houston (2/2)
New Orleans Arena, New Orleans (1/1)
Sprint Center, Kansas City (1/1)
Scottrade Center, St. Louis (1/1)
Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul (2/2)
CONSOL Energy Center, Pittsburgh (1/1)
Joe Louis Arena, Detroit (1/1)
Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland (1/1)
Madison Square Garden, New York (2/2)
Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte (1/1)
Philips Arena, Atlanta (1/1)
336,386 (336,386)

http://www.billboard.com/

Love-her-or-hate-her singer and rapper Nicki Minaj said it best via video Saturday night of another polarizing figure in pop music: “There’s only one queen, and that’s Madonna. B*tch!”

Queen of Pop Madonna brought her 2012 MDNA Tour to MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night, the first of two sold-out shows (the second was tonight), and, from her setlist (religious, thematic and stunning), staging (gothic cathedrals, chanting monks turned Chippendales dancers), singing (a lot of backing tracks and music, but she definitely sang most of the evening) and choreography (at age 54, Madonna has never looked better and was still dancing two hours later), she proved two things: Madonna is queen, and her reign is far from over.

It’s been six years since I’ve seen Madonna in concert. I missed the Sticky & Sweet Tour in 2008. I had tickets to her Sept. 11, 2001, Drowned World Tour show at Staples Center in L.A.; she rescheduled that same week, and it became the last show of her tour. I waited more than two hours before she hit the stage, and there was no opening act.

In 2004, it was the Reinvention World Tour at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, Calif. And two years later, the Forum again for the Confessions Tour, where I reviewed her concert for the first time for work. I nearly knocked over Nicole Richie walking back to my seat, and I admitted to being a Madonnaholic.

It would be a mistake to ever miss her concert again.

Saturday night’s highlights (and there were many): not one but five choreographed contortionists during “Best Friend/Heartbeat,” and there were audible gasps of shock and amazement from the arena crowd; the choreography and drum major costumes for “Express Yourself” and “Give Me All Your Luvin’, ” with Madonna twirling a baton and drummers suspended high above the stage; and her “forgiveness” of a gay Republican fan at the foot of the stage (“I love everybody so much that I am going to forgive you!”).

Also: her messages of acceptance, being united as one and fighting discrimination without being preachy, long-winded or condescending; a very sexy, slowed-down, sultry, cabaret-style “Like a Virgin” with only accompaniment from a piano; and an uplifting and cathartic “Like a Prayer” with a full choir (I nearly cried).

Two negatives in a euphoric and nearly perfect five-hour night: The increasingly impatient crowd started booing at 10:25 p.m., about 40 minutes after the opening act had ended (see below). People: This is what Madonna does. Get over it. Secondly, I disliked “Gang Bang,” in which she repeatedly shoots and kills her male dancers, and there are depictions of blood and brains on the larger-than-life LED screens. Over the top, ahem, overkill, and counter to what Madonna is all about in her music and life.

Nonetheless, Madonna’s MDNA is uh-MAH-zing, an artist and performer who is still at the top of her game. Nick, a fan sitting in front of me from L.A., saw the show earlier in the week and said the MGM show blew the L.A. show out of the water. “It was amazing here. The crowd and Madonna were really into it. The energy was perfect.”

L-U-V, Madonna, Y-O-U, you wanna? The answer is yes. Always.

MADONNA’S SETLIST

“Girl Gone Wild,” “Revolver,” “Gang Bang,” “Papa Don’t Preach,” “Hung Up” (in which she impressively walks a tightrope), “I Don’t Give A (with Minaj), “Best Friend/Heartbeat” (interlude), “Express Yourself/Born This Way,” “Give Me All Your Luvin’, ” the audience sing-along “Turn Up the Radio,” “Open Your Heart,” “Masterpiece,” “Justify My Love” (interlude), “Vogue,” “Candy Shop,” “Erotica/Human Nature,” “Like a Virgin,” a striking video of mashed-up faces and images to “Nobody Knows Me” (interlude), “I’m Addicted,” “I’m a Sinner,” “Like a Prayer” and “Celebration.”

OPENING ACT MARTIN SOLVEIG

French electronic music DJ and producer Martin Solveig, in a black leather jacket and his signature headband, served as the opening act and spun and sang from 8:45 to 9:45 p.m., a surprisingly substantial kickoff set. He was fun, if a little pedestrian (I’ve had the fortune of seeing Swedish House Mafia — my favorites right now, Calvin Harris and Deadmau5 spin in the past month, and Solveig was tame in comparison).

His setlist included “Music,” “Ready 2 Go,” “Into the Groove,” “Titanium,” “Rolling in the Deep,” “Beautiful Killer,” “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” “Like I Love You,” “Pumped Up Kicks,” “Funky Town,” “Nigg*s in Paris,” “Feel So Close” after an audience chant of “L-U-V, Madonna, Y-O-U, you wanna?”; “Love Spent,” “In My Mind,” his new song “The Night Out,” “We Are Young” and his club anthem favorite “Hello.”

Thanks to Las Vegas Sun photographer Sam Morris and contributing photographers Tom Donoghue and Erik Kabik for their fabulous photo galleries.

Don Chareunsy is editor of VegasDeLuxe.com and senior editor, arts and entertainment, of LasVegasSun.com.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/