Two new tours worthy of note ...
Madonna's newly announced itinerary includes Houston on Nov. 16, the closest to Dallas the tour will get. The American Idol tour, featuring the show's top finalists, will swing through American Airlines Center on Aug. 25 (tickets for that show go on sale May 17), and it'll be in Houston the day before.
My favorite part: the names. Madonna's is "The Sticky and Sweet Tour" in support of her new release, Hard Candy. I can't decide if that's clever or disgusting. And the American Idol tour is sponsored by get this Pop Tarts. HAHAHA! I think the pastry folks hitched onto last year's tour, too, but the affiliation still makes my day. Click below to get a lil more info on both tours.
Click here for more info on the American Idol 2008 tour.
Read here for more on Madonna's tour:
By RAY WADDELL
Billboard.com
NASHVILLE Madonna's upcoming tour will begin Aug. 23 in Cardiff, Wales, and will include between 50-60 shows total. Details of the tour, produced globally by Live Nation, will be announced May 8.
Billed as the Sticky and Sweet tour, Madonna's tour in support of her current chart-topping Warner Bros. release "Hard Candy" -- which debuted atop the Billboard 200 March 7 -- will play stadiums in the U.K. and Europe until the end of September, arenas and a "handful" of stadiums in 16 markets in North America in October and November, and then stadiums in Mexico and South America in late November-December.
"I'm thrilled to be involved in another worldwide Madonna extravaganza," says Arthur Fogel, chairman of global music for Live Nation. Fogel has helmed Madonna's last three world tours, which grossed almost $400 million combined. Her 2006 Confessions tour is, at $194 million, the top-grossing tour ever by a female artist.
The upcoming tour is the first major manifestation of the multi-faceted 10-year deal between Madonna and Live Nation, valued in published reports at $120 million.
"The reality is she's delivered her last album to Warner Bros. and it's a smash, which is great for everybody," Fogel says. "We now have a tremendous opportunity with a tremendous artist to do all kinds of new and innovative things on many different levels, and this tour will be the start of that rollout."
The tour follows a familiar Madonna touring blueprint in that it visits a limited number of markets in a four-month timeframe, with multi-night stands in major cities. Ticket on-sale details will be announced March 8, along with a presale through Live Nation's corporate sponsorship partner Citi. Fogel says ticket prices will be "basically the same as they've been the past two tours," which means primarily in the $55-$350 range.