Rebel Heart Tour

Background

To promote her twelfth studio album, MDNA, Madonna embarked on The MDNA Tour, which visited the Americas, Europe and the Middle East, but did not go to Australia or eastern Asia. The tour was a commercial success with a total gross was $305.2 million ($318.38 million in 2017 dollars) from 88 sold-out shows, becoming the tenth highest-grossing tour of all time. After the MDNA era, Madonna worked on her thirteenth studio album, Rebel Heart, throughout 2014. However, after hackers released demo versions of her recording sessions to the internet, Madonna responded by releasing the album for pre-order. Numerous news outlets started reporting about the supporting concert tour for Rebel Heart. Italian newspaper Torino Today reported Madonna planning on returning to Turin on November 20 and 21, 2015, with the tour. Canadian newspapers, La Presse and Le Journal de Montréal reported that Madonna's tour dates in Quebec City and Montreal had been decided, with the latter shows happening at the Bell Centre.

The tour was formally announced on March 1, 2015 on Madonna's official website. Titled Rebel Heart Tour, it was initially scheduled to begin on August 29, 2015, from Miami and continue throughout Europe and end on December 20, 2015, in Glasgow, Scotland. Rebel Heart Tour is led by Live Nation Entertainment's Global Touring Division, helmed by Arthur Fogel. It is Madonna's fifth collaboration with Live Nation, with more than $1 billion ($1.04 billion in 2017 dollars) in Boxscore grosses, and 7.8 million tickets sold for 289 shows from her previous ventures with the company. Fogel commented that the leak had helped in bring more attention to Madonna's music and it was a positive scenario for the world tour. "It's kind of strange how it all came about, but it certainly hasn't been a negative in terms of getting people engaged with the new music. Anything that helps put it out there is good, even if it happens in a weird way", he concluded.

On May 21, 2015, Madonna rescheduled the first five dates of the tour and moved them to January 20, 23, 24, 27 and 28 in 2016. The singer confirmed that the delay was due to arrangement logistics being incomplete within the time given. She released a statement saying, "As my fans already know, the show has to be perfect. Assembling all the elements will require more time than we realized. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause my fans." According to Billboard, Rebel Heart is an all-arena tour, and would visit cities where Madonna has not performed before. They assumed a total of 25–30 shows in North America and 20–25 shows in Europe, with additional dates being revealed later on. The tour visited Australia and New Zealand in early 2016, and was the singer's first visit to Australia in more than 20 years, having last toured there with The Girlie Show World Tour in 1993, and her first time in New Zealand. Philippines was added to the tour itinerary, for two performances at SM Mall of Asia in February 2016.

After the tour started, Madonna revealed another 16 dates in Asia and North America. The new dates added to the 64-city world tour included first ever concerts in Taipei, Bangkok, Louisville, San Antonio, Tulsa and Nashville as well as her first concerts in Tokyo in a decade and additional dates in Mexico City and Houston. Singapore was added to the itinerary for February 28, 2016, however the concert was rated as "adults only" by the Media Development Authority (MDA) of the country. Before arriving in Australia, Madonna announced an extra show on March 10, 2016, at Melbourne's Forum Theatre. The show was billed as an intimate gig, and was described by the singer as a fusion of music, art and comedy. It was titled as the "Tears of a Clown" show and was created for Madonna's Australian fans, who had waited for the singer to perform there for many years.

Conception and rehearsals

Madonna told Rolling Stone that while composing Rebel Heart, the singer would get "fleeting moments of ideas" of what she would like to perform on the tour. But it was not until the promotional performances supporting the album, that Madonna had a concrete imagery about the themes she would like to incorporate. Madonna explained in March 2015 that she "like[d] to create personas and then the persona changes and grows into other things... I'm at the beginning of that process right now, in terms of thinking of my tour and stuff." Rehearsals for the tour lasted for 10 to 12 hours per day. Her rigorous schedule resulted in the singer having an aide looking after her food and nutritions. She also added: "When I go on tour, I like the rehearsal. I like the creation of everything. I like being able to wear my rehearsal clothes and be sweaty and not having to worry about how I look and just get into what it is I'm trying to say and do." Unlike The MDNA Tour, Madonna confirmed that her son Rocco would not perform onstage, but would instead work behind the scenes of Rebel Heart Tour.

By July 2015, Madonna was still working on the set list with her team of creative directors, producers, designers and choreographers. She described the tour as "characteristically theatrical spectacle" and would include songs from her whole career. However, picking the set list was hard since the singer wanted to perform the Rebel Heart songs as well as her old discography too, in order to satisfy all her fans. She found the task challenging since "thematically the songs—the old and the new—they have to go together; sonically they have to go together." The party as well as romantic theme of the show was associated with the name, Rebel Heart, consisting of a journey with her personal statements and opinions of "Being a rebel heart. Living for love. They're all kind of intertwined, you know — rising above, believing in your dreams, overcoming heartbreak, things like that... You know, the simple things in life." Love and romance were listed as the central theme of the show, with Madonna wanting the audience to feel inspired once they watch it. Along with it, she juxtaposed opposite ideas of sexuality and religion, saying that "I'm very immersed in [how they are] not supposed to go together, but in my world it goes together". With The Oakland Press Madonna explained:

I tackle pretty complex themes in my work. It's in my DNA to take ideas and conventions and to challenge the norms, to question things, to turn them inside out and say, 'But what if ...?' It's not because I don't respect people's ideas and beliefs. I have ultimate respect for people's ideas and beliefs. But people need to have their ideas and beliefs challenged, if only to make them stronger about what they believe in, to make people ask questions: 'Why am I doing this? Why do I believe this? Why does this define me?' I think it's important that people ask these questions, and ask themselves as well as each other. I think that's the purpose of art, and that's what I think about when I'm putting (a show) together.

Inspirations for Rebel Heart Tour also came from shows like Cirque du Soleil and the Chinese New Year, as well as films like 300 and Grease. Jamie King acted as the creative director for the show, while Megan Lawson and Jason Young choreographed the 20 dancers through intricate acrobatic dance steps. According to Madonna, since she started out as a dancer, hence for Rebel Heart Tour she tried to find "unique and original dancers to work with" and create content and dance-forms that would inspire the audience. "It's a big goal, but that's what we have to have — big goals", she added.

Two short videos were released on the singer's Instagram account, showing the rehearsals taking place. Soundtracked to "Devil Pray" and "Iconic" from Rebel Heart, the videos showed flamenco inspired choreography, nuns dancing on poles, and an elaborate set adorned with dancers carrying giant props. The singer continued releasing images and videos related to the tour, including dance rehearsal workshops, and other dramatic images of the dancers. Madonna chose comedian Amy Schumer as her opening act for the New York shows, deviating from the usual hiring of a band and DJ to open the shows. She believed that it would be interesting since she believed Schumer was a role model for young women and Madonna wanted to try out something new with her. Diplo, one of the producers of Rebel Heart, was hired as opening act for the Montreal shows.

Stage setup

The large main stage was elevated and set up at the end of each arena, with a long catwalk extending from its middle to the center of the space. At the middle of the catwalk there was a circular stage, while the far end of the pathway ended into a heart-shaped stage. In order to facilitate Madonna and her dancers to appear anytime onstage, there were openings throughout the length of the stage, as well as causeways for disappearing beneath the structure at the end of each song. At the end of the main stage there were three large video screens in front of which the band was present, along with Madonna's two background vocalists. Stufish, who had previously developed the structures for The MDNA Tour, were enlisted for the stage on Rebel Heart also. They developed the elaborate and the main inspiration behind the shape was a hybrid between a cross, an arrow and a heart. The perpendicular structures emanating from the middle of the runway allowed Madonna and her dancers to reach more audience.

One of the main feature of the stage is a complex machine like structure which enabled the whole stage to become mobile and assume numerous shapes and sizes throughout the show. It consists of a 28 ft × 16 ft (8.5 m × 4.9 m) high video screen that was interchangeable into the main stage as flooring, as well as used for creating an elevated 8 feet (2.4 m) platform, or a vertical wall that can be tilted from zero to 90 degrees within half-a-minute, or used as an angular wall for Madonna's dancers to sway to and fro. Specially crafted bungee points were attached to the top edge of the machine, allowing performers to "flip, tumble, run and roll up and down the ramp". They were also able to hang down from the screens acting as walls, while being able to run up them also in the same position.

Costume design

Madonna had enlisted a Spanish tailoring company from Zaragoza for creating two bullfighter traje de luces costume, along with a cape and matador related costumes for her backing dancers. The tailoring company had to sign a confidentiality agreement about the costumes. They also made several adjustments to the traditional designs, like replacing the imagery of Jesus or Mary with that of a capital 'M' indicating Madonna. According to the company's manager Alfredo Roqueta, the suits were created in 12 days, and employed sewing machines to speed up the process. However, Madonna and her dancers did not go for trials, instead sent their measurements through e-mail and the dresses were created accordingly. PETA representatives condemned the outfits, criticizing the singer for "glorifying gore" and saying that she "has clearly lost her footing with outfit choices for her tour". In August 2015, Madonna revealed to Women's Wear Daily the name of the designers working on the costumes for the tour, including Jeremy Scott for Moschino, Alessandro Michele for Gucci and Alexander Wang, along with Fausto Puglisi, Prada, Miu Miu, Swarovski and the Lebanese designer Nicolas Jebran. Together with her longtime costume designer Arianne Phillips, Madonna showed snippets of the costumes on her Instagram account. Additional designers included Geoffrey Mac, Lynn Ban, and Majesty Black.

In total, Madonna had eight different looks, while being accompanied by 28 performers, with 10 costume changes for 20 dancers, six for the background singers and four for the band. Phillips had been working "on-and-off" on the Rebel Heart Tour since December 2014. She had first heard of Michele in February 2015 through British fashion critic Suzy Menkes; Michele had just finished two fashion collections, including Prada's "Iconoclast" exhibition in London. Michele himself was preparing a gift for Madonna when Phillips contacted Gucci for designing costumes for the tour. However, it was not until April 2015 that the final set list and the show's structure was finished, and the costume creation began. Phillips explained that her job consisted of being "an editor for Madonna" and yearned to include Michele's designs, whose idea was to mix chinoiserie style skirts with Spanish and Latin influences, portraying the singer as a "diva of the 1920s". Other references inferred included "an exotic, dancing Frida Kahlo with ruffles, color, and a different kind of aesthetic". Philips approved and one night Michele met Madonna while she was rehearsing at Manhattan. Trying on the prototype of the design, Madonna started dancing and checking if it suited her onstage. Taking her review comments Michele worked in his office and came up with the final designs, along with the costumes for Madonna's dancers.

For the first section, inspired by the album cover art and Joan of Arc, Phillips created a series of costumes referencing liturgical fabrics and a contemporary exhibition of samurai armor at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The Dancing nuns on stripper poles appeared during this section only. Miuccia Prada developed the costumes for the second section, based on rock-n-roll and taking influences from Tokyo. During the Latin influenced third section, Puglisi and Jebran crafted the matador inspired costumes portrayed in the music video of the album's first single, "Living for Love". They used black tulle netting on the pants and paired the dress with a transparent side-paneling and coupled it with a black and fuchsia colored jacket, which had the letter 'M' in Swarovski crystals. Michele did the designs of the same section, developing a gypsy inspired ensemble for the singer, with a shawl, flamenco hat, lace, skirts and jacquard bodysuit. Phillips was impressed with the dress saying that she was "completely blown away. I love his hand. His clothes are lyrical and feminine and they tell stories." For the final section, Madonna worked with Scott for party inspired costumes. She wanted a "Harlem-flapper-meets-Paris-in-the-Twenties" look, and Scott came up with the final dress adorned with thousands of Swarovski crystals and long fringed gloves for songs like "Material Girl".

Two weeks prior to opening night the designing team moved to the rehearsal location at Nassau Coliseum in Long Island. Wang had to make alterations to the dresses due to last minute changes in production, adding that for Madonna "the performance comes first. She has to be able to dance and move and feel comfortable in it". A week later Michele had the final fittings for the Gucci costumes. Phillips explained that until the choreography is 100% certain, Madonna does not confirm the fashion or the designs, instead employed back-and-forth conversations regarding them. Michele also noted that Madonna "doesn't just want to look beautiful – she cares more about the performance. She is obsessive about how to communicate with her audience."

Multimedia

Montreal based multimedia company Moment Factory joined the tour, this being the third collaboration with Madonna, following Super Bowl XLVI halftime show and The MDNA Tour. They worked closely with King and Madonna to develop new backdrops and content, designing and producing the videos for the show. The three large screens were used to give the theatrical effects and visual content on a large scale. The opening video was shot with boxer Mike Tyson, who is a guest vocalist on the Rebel Heart song "Iconic". He clarified that the video might be received negatively since the scenes filmed involved him as a savage character, naked in a cage, held as a hostage. The boxer added that when he had shot it "[the video] didn't seem that intense. But then you watch it and go, 'Whoa'. It was like [something out of] National Geographic... I need to be tamed, man." A clip of the video was previewed by the singer before the tour started, showing her pushing against the cage, embracing a shirtless man and a troupe of soldiers walking with insignia. The singer's official website unveiled a contest where fans submitted their online fan-arts related to her, and they were displayed as a live digital gallery, during the performance of "Rebel Heart".

Concert synopsis

The show began with a video featuring Madonna in a glamorous dress cavorting with bare-bodied males juxtaposed with Mike Tyson talking inside of a cage. Ten dancers dressed as medieval executioners in gold and black carrying large gold pikes came out onto the catwalk as Madonna descended to the stage encased in a steel cage to sing "Iconic". The show continued with "Bitch I'm Madonna" which included four female dancers dressed as geishas with male dancers engaged in mock martial arts combat while Nicki Minaj appeared on the video screens. Then Madonna donned an electric guitar to play a rock version of "Burning Up", while moving on the center stage. During "Holy Water", the female dancers dressed as nuns in hot-pants and bikini tops pole danced, before Madonna sang "Vogue" and reenacted the Last Supper. From there she began singing an acoustic version of "Devil Pray" as the backdrops showed clips of people being baptized, with Madonna appearing to subdue the male dancers before disappearing backstage.

The first video interlude featured dancers waving large white cloths in front of fans during "Messiah" as footage from the "Ghosttown" video played on the screens. The next segment started with "Body Shop", where Madonna sang the song alongside dancers dressed as mechanics in front of a 1965 Ford Falcon. Madonna then played the ukulele for an acoustic version of "True Blue" before flowing into a disco version of "Deeper and Deeper" which was sung at end of the catwalk. A spiral staircase dropped from the ceiling for a mashup of "HeartBreakCity" and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" while a male dancer followed her up and down the stairs before she pushed him off from the top. She closed the section with a remix of "Like a Virgin" performing it energetically around the stage. The second video interlude began with a mashup of "S.E.X." and "Justify My Love" with eight dancers mimicking sex positions on four beds.

The third section began with a remixed version of "Living for Love" with Madonna dressed as a bullfighter before moving into "La Isla Bonita." After a quick costume change, Madonna returned to the stage accompanied by acoustic guitars and dancers dressed in colorful Spanish outfits. An gypsy medley of her old songs, including "Dress You Up", "Into the Groove", "Everybody", and "Lucky Star" was performed, with the pace slowing down on the acoustic version of "Who's That Girl". The title track Rebel Heart closed the segment with fan art submitted to the singer shown on the back screens.

During the final video interlude "Illuminati", seven of the dancers climbed twenty foot poles and began swaying back and forth over the audience seated on the floor. The singer returned to the stage in a 1920s flapper-inspired dress to perform a mash-up of "Music" and "Candy Shop". A slowed down version of "Material Girl" found Madonna pushing her tuxedo clad dancers down an incline and played the ukulele once again during a cover of "La Vie en rose" alone on stage. During "Unapologetic Bitch", Madonna called up someone from the audience, terming the person with the titular name, and gifting a banana. The show ended with "Holiday", where Madonna came out wrapped in the flag of the country she performed in, while energetically dancing around the stage as confetti dropped from the ceiling.

Ticket sales

Rebel Heart Tour will be Madonna's third and final tour under the 10 year multi-rights deal with Live Nation, signed in 2007 for $120 million. General sales for the tour started from March 9, 2015, and the North American tickets purchased online was bundled with an exclusive digital download of the Super Deluxe version of Rebel Heart. Special access was granted to members of Madonna's official fan club known as Icon, including first access to tickets and VIP passes. Citi was listed as the official bank for the tour, with cardholders having the ability to buy tickets early. Prices were almost same as Madonna's last few tours, with the top price in $300–$350 range, and the cheapest being at $35. However, tickets for her Manila performances were above the average price and ranged from the cheapest $70 (₱3,145) to $1,300 (₱57,750).

According to Jesse Lawrence from Forbes, initial prices for the tour in the secondary markets indicated that it would become the most expensive concert tour of 2015. The average ticket for Rebel Heart Tour was valued at $452.33 in Madonna's secondary markets, a much higher total than her closest competitor, that of Taylor Swift with The 1989 World Tour, whose tickets were priced at $305.21 average. Madonna surpassed Fleetwood Mac as the artist with the most expensive tour (51.5% more) in 2015. The show of October 24 at Las Vegas became the most expensive date with average price of $949.21, while the cheapest tickets were available for $164.30 at the Edmonton date, according to Viagogo. Lawrence also noted that the secondary market prices were much higher than The MDNA Tour, indicating a competitive scenario favorable for Madonna.

Once available, tickets started selling out fast, and shows in Edmonton, Paris and Turin sold out within minutes after going on sale, resulting in the addition of additional shows in all cities. Additional shows were also added in a number of cities in North America. Live Nation partnered with gay geosocial networking app Grindr, and posted advertisements there for the tour, resulting in more ticket sales. For the Australian dates, the Telstra presale resulted in all the cheaper tickets being sold, with only the VIP packages and the extra expensive ones being left for sale. Madonna's fan club members had first access to the Australian tickets, then a Citibank presale for card holders, followed by the Telstra presale till July 2, another presale for Live Nation members, and finally general public tickets on sale from July 6. Tickets for the singer's first ever concert in Taiwan sold out in 15 minutes prompting a second date to be added. In Hong Kong, tickets sold out within 10 minutes of being available, setting up a record for the fastest concert to sell out there. This resulted in a second date being added there on February 18 at the same venue.

Boxscore

A news report in the New York Post claimed that the tour was failing to sell like The MDNA Tour, with venues like those in New York still having tickets available after the first day. Fogel dismissed the claims saying that "A tour with a budget like [Madonna's] counts on adding on second and third nights in markets... That's why it's scheduled with lots of empty dates in major markets." The New York Post article was also negatively received in media, with The Inquisitr explaining that it "not only used false statistics to proclaim the tour a flop, but seemed like a definite hit-piece, especially since it was written only a couple days after tickets went on sale." Lawrence further criticized such news, saying that "Madonna is posting some of the most expensive ticket prices on the secondary market this year... And though media will continue to speculate that Madonna is nearing the end of her renowned career, her box office numbers have shown that she is still among the upper echelon of pop music's elite."

In October 2015, Billboard revealed the first boxscores for the tour, reporting the first 10 dates. Total gross was at $20 million with 132,769 tickets sold. The opening shows in Montreal were considered a highlight with total gross of $3.4 million. Highest gross came from the New York shows raking in $5.2 million from a total audience of 28,371. Second set of boxscores were published in November 2015, and it grossed another $25.4 million in total. The first leg of the tour had attendance of over 300,000 earning a total of about $46 million. Among the arenas that hosted the tour for just one performance, the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas produced the top sales total with $3.5 million on October 24. Brooklyn's Barclays Center logged the largest crowd among the single-show dates with 14,258 present on September 19.

With the European leg starting, Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported that the concert at Stockholm's Tele 2 Arena drew a total of 40,557 audience, making it a new record for the venue. In December 2015, the fourth boxscore figures were reported with a total gross of $22.6 million from eight markets and a total of 194,827 tickets sold. Billboard also clarified the actual tickets sold in Sweden to be 39,338. Another $7.5 million was reported from the shows in Zurich, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow. At the end of 2015, the tour placed at number 11 on Pollstar's "2015 Year-End Top 100 Worldwide Tours" list, grossing $88.4 million from 49 shows with a total attendance of 693,061.

The North American boxscores for the 2016 shows were published on March 2016, with total 819,792 tickets sold and gross of $107.3 million. After the tour ended, Billboard announced the total gross as $169.8 million with total of 1,045,479 tickets sold. In Pollstar's 2016 Mid Year Special Features, the tour ranked at number four, grossing $85.5 million from 33 shows with a total attendance of 395,815. According to them, the tour grossed $173.9 million in total with 1,088,876 tickets sold between 2015 and 2016. With the completion of the Rebel Heart Tour, Madonna extended her record as the highest grossing solo touring artist, with over $1.31 billion in concert gross, starting from the Blond Ambition World Tour in 1990. Overall, Madonna ranks third on all-time top-grossing Billboard Boxscore list, with just The Rolling Stones ($1.84 billion) and U2 ($1.67 billion) ahead of her.

North America

Writing for the New York Daily News, Jim Farber noted that the most shocking aspect of the tour was not the provocative imagery and performances, rather the fact that Madonna appeared in a light mood and was smiling all throughout. Similar thoughts were echoed by Jordan Zivitz of Montreal Gazette who observed that after the first section, Rebel Heart Tour's tone became more carefree since Madonna seemed to be "enjoying herself". She complimented the performance of "La Vie en rose" and ended the review saying that "the show shared a sense of self-confidence and a sense of play... a minor revelation from an artist whose discipline and perfectionism haven't compromised a love of serious fun." Chris Kelly from The Washington Post reviewed the show at Verizon Center, saying that Madonna remained "as provocative as ever... The moment [her] show started... those questions and more ['After three decades in the spotlight, does Madonna still have it?'] went out the window, a defenestration the Catholicism-obsessed queen of pop would appreciate."

Alex Needham from The Guardian gave a 5-star review of the Madison Square Garden concert, complimenting the performance of the old songs and describing the concert as "an affirmation that there is simply no other performer like her. Tonight, Madonna kills it." In her positive review for The Village Voice, Hillary Hughes called Madonna "the pop's patron saint of revolution in action". Another positive review came from Rob Sheffield from Rolling Stone who complimented Madonna's camaraderie during the show saying, "She hasn't reached so far onstage, musically or emotionally, since her 2001 Drowned World extravaganza." Joe Gottlieb from The Boston Herald theorized that "Madonna's visions have a smart, thought-out feel her imitators can’t replicate".

Billboard's Joe Lynch rated the concert 4 stars out of 5, observing that "Madonna's restless creative spirit is on full display on the Rebel Heart Tour". He praised Schumer's opening act and the performances of "Music", the "Dress You Up" medley, and "Body Shop". Jon Pareles reviewed the tour for The New York Times, declaring that "[t]hrough the decades, Madonna's tours have delivered spectacles that push hot buttons galore". But on Rebel Heart Tour, the singer chose to share her prerogatives instead, with Pareles complimenting the remix of her old hits. Ashley Lee from The Hollywood Reporter gave the same feedback, saying that the singer, "[showcased] her years of creative vision and onstage expertise to deliver an arena show packed with visual variety, thematic theatrics and inventive instrumentation to refresh even her earliest hits". Giving the concert a rating of B+, Melissa Maerz from Entertainment Weekly was surprised by Madonna's "playful" mood during the show, since she felt that the opening sequence was reminiscent of dark intones in The MDNA Tour. Maerz added: "[Madonna] was having fun. And, clearly, having fun was a whole lot of work." In the New York magazine review, Lindsay Zolatz commended the show and dancers on the tour, especially during "Illuminati", but criticized the excess inclusion of Rebel Heart songs in the set list.

Europe

German newspaper Volksstimme reviewed the show in Cologne and described it as a "Madonna-show in miniature" but noted that the "classic" hits got the greatest acclaim from the audience. Anders Nunstedt from Swedish newspaper Expressen attended the show at Stockholm and declared it as better than The MDNA Tour. Nunstedt complimented how the audience was gradually made interactive and the show became conversational. He also commended the singer's speech regarding the November 2015 Paris attacks and singing "Like a Prayer" as a tribute to the victims and survivors. Andrea Annaratone from Italian Vanity Fair reviewed the shows in Turin and criticized Madonna for starting the concert late. However, he complimented the show and Madonna's camaraderie with the audience. Peter Vantyghem from Belgium's De Standaard reviewed the show at Antwerp. He criticized the music assimilation during the Latin section, but was complimentary about the ending of the show, and the messages surrounding love and positivism. Hester Carvalho from the NRC Handelsblad rated the Amsterdam show 4 stars out of 5, noting that the show gradually became more streamlined but had less synchronized dance moves unlike The MDNA Tour. Carvalho was also impressed by the stage setting and the long catwalk.

Will Hodgkinson from The Times reviewed the shows at London's The O₂, and gave it a 5 on 5 star rating. He commented that "Madonna goes in and out of fashion but one constant remains: her tenacity... [She] returned to the O₂ for a concert that proved that there's nothing like a near-death experience to reinvigorate the Queen of Pop." Another 5 star rating came from Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph who noticed that the loudest cheer for the concert came when Madonna successfully unraveled herself of her cape during "Living for Love", referring to her falling down at the Brit Awards earlier the year. McCormick described the concert as "a dazzling hi-tech, multimedia melange of light and sound, with eye and mind boggling set pieces featuring fantasy medieval executioners, martial art fighting geishas, pole dancing nuns, simulated sex shows." Peter Robinson from The Guardian rated it 4 on 5 stars complimenting "Iconic" as the "perfect opening number". He observed that most "signature hits appear in an updated style... but when Madonna delivers a refreshingly faithful version of 'Deeper and Deeper', it's the night's highlight." Kitty Empire from the same newspaper also rated it 5 on 5 stars, commending the performances during "Illuminati", "True Blue" and the impromptu performance of "Like a Prayer", calling it "the most charismatic song of the night". Nick Levine from NME believed that "too much" of singing the songs from Rebel Heart "could have felt try-hard from [Madonna]", but "on stage she still works harder and delivers more thrills than her younger rivals. Nobody fucks with the queen? It's hard to disagree". Reviewing the show for BBC, Mark Savage commented that Madonna was "charismatic enough to command the entire arena on her own and the show's strongest moments come when she's solo on stage".

Asia and Oceania

Lauren James from the South China Morning Post called the show "tightly choreographed" adding that "Hong Kong finally got to bask in Madonna's glow, but it was far too much fun to be a one-night stand." Reviewing the concert in Bangkok, Manta Klangboonkrong from AsiaOne commented that "Showing little sign of her age, Madonna gave us what was clearly one of the most sensational concerts that's ever graced Bangkok. She did a great job as a dancer, singer and all-round entertainer." Jojo Panaligan from the Manila Bulletin noted that Madonna's unapologetic attitude was on display at the show in Mall of Asia Arena, but the crowd reacted positively.

Controversies

The Rebel Heart tour included controversies like late start of the show, unlawful use of the country's flags as well as ticket goof-ups. Her appearance in Manchester attracted large criticism from fans, who booed at her for her late arrival. Madonna responded to the audience during the show, stating that it was due to technical difficulties. During her first concert in Hong Kong and Taipei, Madonna was two-and-a-half hours late; the former caused a small protest outside the show. Another late incident happened for the shows in Brisbane.

Madonna's Instagram post about her arrival in Taiwan caused controversy, when it was noted that the singer had used an old badge of the Taiwanese political party, the Kuomintang (associated with the White Terror incidents), instead of the actual national emblem of the state. During the performance, Madonna wore the current flag of Taiwan before confessing her love for both Taiwan and China. At Philippines, Madonna wore the country's flag as part of the encore segment. However, the use of the Philippines flag as a "costume or uniform" was banned in 1998 by federal law. Madonna faced threats by the government of Philippines for "disrespecting" the flag, and a possible ban from the country. However, they overturned their opinion because it "was based on a wrong interpretation".

During Madonna's performances on March 5 and 6 at New Zealand, many of the public were refused entry to the shows because their tickets were rendered invalid. Approximately 20 people, who purchased their tickets through the Queen of Tickets website, were turned away from entering the concert, while others were required to generate another printed ticket at customer service queues. According to Stuff.co.nz, head ticketing seller Ticketmaster had changed the seating plan of the venues without contacting Queen of Tickets website, as a result they had to refund the people who had brought a ticket from them. At the end of Madonna's second show in Brisbane, the singer exposed the breast of a 17-year-old woman, Josephine Georgiou, on stage by pulling down her top. The singer had jokingly responded "Oh sorry, sexual harassment", however it caused controversy when the general public took to social media to label the incident as a sexual assault. Georgiou defended the singer by stating it was "the best time of my life".

Recording and broadcast

In March 2016, Madonna announced that the Sydney, Australia shows of March 19 and 20, 2016 would be filmed for release as her tour DVD. Danny B. Tull and Nathan Rissman, who have both worked on Madonna's previous movies and tour movies, will be directing the concert film. In September 2016, Madonna announced on her Instagram that she had finished watched a "rough assembly" of the tour's film, and it would be out in the next two months. Entertainment Weekly announced that the concert film would premier on December 9, 2016 on American cable channel Showtime. Titled as Madonna: Rebel Heart Tour, it will also feature behind the scenes footage from the Australian performances of the tour. Billboard showcased an exclusive behind-the-scenes look for the tour on December 2.

Set list

This setlist was obtained from the concert of December 1, 2015 held at The O₂ Arena in London. It does not represent all shows throughout the tour.

Personnel

Adapted from the Rebel Heart Tour Book.

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