Madonna postpones Celebration Tour last minute due to "serious infection"

Madonna has postponed the start of her upcoming Celebration Tour after being hospitalised with a "serious bacterial infection".

The 84-date tour of Europe and North America was due to begin in Vancouver, Canada on July 15, but is now on "pause" while she continues her recovery. 

The Queen of Pop's manager, Guy Oseary, wrote in an Instagram post shared on Wednesday night: "On Saturday, June 24, Madonna developed a serious bacterial infection which led to a several-day stay in the ICU. Her health is improving, however she is still under medical care. A full recovery is expected.

He added: "At this time we will need to pause all commitments, which includes the tour. We will share more details with you soon as we have them, including a new start date for the tour and for rescheduled shows."

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Guy Oseary (@guyoseary)

MORE: Madonna's enviable UK Official Chart history in full

Announced in January, the Celebration Tour is billed as a career-spanning show in which Madonna will highlight "her unmatched catalogue of music from the past 40 plus years". It was due to arrive in London in October for four shows at The O2, followed by another two shows at The O2 in December.

"Unmatched" is no exaggeration from Madonna, who by any metric ranks as the most successful female artist on the Official Charts. She still holds the record for the most Number 1 singles by a female solo act, with 13. She is also the female solo act with the most UK Number 1 albums, with 12 in total.

Earlier this month, Madge collaborated with The Weeknd and Playboi Carti on Popular, taken from the soundtrack of The Weeknd's HBO drama The Idol. The biggest breakout hit from the OST so far, Popular became Madonna's 72nd UK Top 40 single, so far peaking at Number 21, her highest-charting single in the UK since 2009's Celebration, the last track from her to peak in the Top 10 (so far).

Back in May, Madonna set all the pop gays' hearts racing when she revealed she was in the recording studio with Max Martin, the Swedish super-producer who contributed to huge hits by Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Britney Spears (most recently, Max co-wrote and produced Ed Sheeran's last Number 1 single, Eyes Closed).

Madonna remains the female solo artist with the most Number 1 singles in the history of the Official Chart (13 in total) and the female solo artist with the most Number 1 albums ever too. We're wishing the Queen of Pop the speediest of recoveries, and look forward to celebrating her legacy with her very, very soon. 

Article by Nick Levine