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The Drowned World Tour was the fifth concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna, launched in support of her seventh and eighth studio albums Ray of Light (1998) and Music (2000), respectively. At the time, it was her first tour in eight years, since The Girlie Show in 1993. The Drowned World tour was originally intended to commence in 1999, but was postponed until 2001 as Madonna gave birth to a son, Rocco, and was engaged and married to his father, Guy Ritchie. She was also busy recording her album Music and filming The Next Best Thing (1999).
Background[]
After the success of her seventh studio album, Ray of Light, Madonna said in a live interview with Larry King in January 1999: "I will make a film in April, The Next Best Thing, and then rehearse for a new tour and, probably, I will make up the new millennium concerts, New Year's Eve." The tour was later rescheduled for 2001 as Madonna, in her own words, had been "distracted" by the idea of having children and making a movie. In 1999, she began a serious relationship with British film director Guy Ritchie. In 2000, she became pregnant with their son, Rocco, and released her eighth album Music. When Madonna finally decided to schedule a tour, time was short, and she had to prepare a show in three months.
The tour was then scheduled to start in 2001 at the Kölnarena in Cologne, Germany, but this was cancelled due to technical difficulties, resulting in 35,000 tickets being refunded. Her scheduled show on August 3 at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, also had to be cancelled as the singer suffered a slight illness. Therefore, the tour was reduced from 50 to 47 dates, with the debut taking place in Barcelona, Spain, with a massive presence of international media. The high demand and sale of tickets for the first concert was so successful (18,000 tickets sold in just 5 minutes) that the singer decided to offer a second concert in that city the next day.
The Drowned World was thus limited to only cities in Europe and the United States. This decision caused some controversy among international fans. The same itinerary was repeated again in 2004, on the Re-Invention Tour.
Madonna-fever arrived in London on April 25, where her tickets for Earls Court Arena sold-out in record time - six shows sold in six hours. Madonna made history by selling the most tickets for an artist at the venue, at the time, with 97,000 tickets sold. All tickets for the first show were sold-out in just 15 minutes, and the online site offering ticket sales received a million hits in the first ten minutes. Telephone lines to the venue received 30 million calls to purchase tickets. The same effect happened in the other locations for the rest of the tour, as all tour dates were sold-out in minutes after tickets were on sale.
On Billboard magazine's list of the 25 most successful tour locations by artist, Madonna occupied six places:
- 03. - New York, United States.
- 04. - London, England.
- 05. - Los Angeles, United States.
- 08. - Las Vegas, United States.
- 22. - Paris, France.
Setlist:[]
Act 1: Neo-Punk (Water)
1. Drowned World / Substitute for Love (contains elements of "Don't Tell Me", "Frozen", "Music", "Human Nature", "Ray of Light" and "Impressive Instant")
2. Impressive Instant
3. Candy Perfume Girl
4. Beautiful Stranger (contains elements of "Soul Bossa Nova (Dim's Space-A-Nova)")
5. Ray of Light (contains elements of "Drowned World / Substitute for Love")
Act 2: Geisha-Anime (Wind)
6. Intermediate Dancers Video: Paradise (Not for Me)
7. Frozen
8. Intermediate band: Open Your Heart (Instrumental Chords)
9. Nobody's Perfect (contains elements of Open Your Heart)
10. Mer Girl / Sky Fits Heaven / Mer Girl (Reprise) (Medley)
11. Intermediate Video: What It Feels Like for a Girl (Remix)
Act 3: Country-Western (Earth)
12. I Deserve It
13. Don't Tell Me
14. Human Nature
15. The Funny Song (Oh Dear Daddy)
16. Secret
17. Gone
18. "You'll See"
Act 4 (Final): Ghetto / Urban (Fire)
19. Intermediate dancers: Don't Cry for Me Argentina (Instrumental)
20. "Lo Que Siente La Mujer" (Spanish version of "What It Feels Like for a Girl" (Calderone & Quayle Dark Side Mix))
21. "La Isla Bonita"
22. "Holiday" (contains elements of "Music Sounds Better with You")
23. "Music" (contains elements of "Station to Station" and "Metal on Metal")
Shows[]
| Date | City | Country | Venue | Attendance | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | |||||
| June 9, 2001 | Barcelona | Spain | Palau Sant Jordi | 36,136 / 36,136 | $2,039,112 |
| June 10, 2001 | |||||
| June 13, 2001 | Milan | Italy | FilaForum | 36,100 / 36,100 | $3,926,815 |
| June 14, 2001 | |||||
| June 15, 2001 | |||||
| June 19, 2001 | Berlin | Germany | Max-Schmeling-Halle | 43,455 / 43,455 | $2,864,786 |
| June 20, 2001 | |||||
| June 22, 2001 | |||||
| June 23, 2001 | |||||
| June 26, 2001 | Paris | France | Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy | 68,000 / 68,000 | $4,443,155 |
| June 27, 2001 | |||||
| June 29, 2001 | |||||
| June 30, 2001 | |||||
| July 4, 2001 | London | England | Earls Court | 107,415 / 107,415 | $8,734,149 |
| July 6, 2001 | |||||
| July 7, 2001 | |||||
| July 9, 2001 | |||||
| July 10, 2001 | |||||
| July 12, 2001 | |||||
| North America | |||||
| July 21, 2001 | Philadelphia | United States | First Union Center | 31,128 / 31,128 | $3,382,485 |
| July 22, 2001 | |||||
| July 25, 2001 | New York City | Madison Square Garden | 79,401 / 79,401 | $9,297,105 | |
| July 26, 2001 | |||||
| July 28, 2001 | |||||
| July 30, 2001 | |||||
| July 31, 2001 | |||||
| August 2, 2001 | East Rutherford | Continental Airlines Arena | 16,457 / 16,457 | $1,842,155 | |
| August 7, 2001[a] | Boston | Fleet Center | 29,886 / 29,886 | $3,503,520 | |
| August 8, 2001 | |||||
| August 10, 2001 | Washington, D.C. | MCI Center | 32,061 / 32,061 | $3,472,148 | |
| August 11, 2001 | |||||
| August 14, 2001 | Sunrise | National Car Rental Center | 31,572 / 31,572 | $3,603,573 | |
| August 15, 2001 | |||||
| August 19, 2001 | Atlanta | Philips Arena | 29,617 / 29,617 | $3,553,444 | |
| August 20, 2001 | |||||
| August 25, 2001 | Auburn Hills | The Palace of Auburn Hills | 34,407 / 34,407 | $4,127,533 | |
| August 26, 2001 | |||||
| August 28, 2001 | Chicago | United Center | 33,725 / 33,725 | $3,743,830 | |
| August 29, 2001 | |||||
| September 1, 2001 | Las Vegas | MGM Grand Garden Arena | 29,587 / 29,587 | $6,503,950 | |
| September 2, 2001 | |||||
| September 5, 2001 | Oakland | Oakland Arena | 31,195 / 31,195 | $3,351,320 | |
| September 6, 2001 | |||||
| September 9, 2001 | Los Angeles | Staples Center | 61,464 / 61,464 | $8,303,165 | |
| September 13, 2001 | |||||
| September 14, 2001 | |||||
| September 15, 2001[b] | |||||
| Total | 731,606 / 731,606 | $76,792,245
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Trivia[]
- Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the concert on September 11 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California was postponed until September 15, postponing the final show of the tour. Several million dollars from the profits of the last three shows in Los Angeles, were donated to the children and families of victims of the attacks.
- The second recital in Barcelona June 10 at the Palau Sant Jordi was recorded professionally, but has not yet seen the light in its entirety. fragments could be seen in the HBO special issue put before the concert. That second night brought some problems to Madonna, because there were problems with the screens and had to be false eyebrows during the geisha hand.
- Several changes were made to the final show: Madonna wore a kilt of the American flag during the opening segment of the show as a demonstration of patriotism, the closing of "Mer Girl" (part II) was changed to remove the shooting of a character (Madonna, however, left the weapon, hugged and left the stage together), and cannibalistic theme "The Funny Song" was removed.
- Also as a surprise to Madonna, on the date of the final concert, her husband, Guy Ritchie, appeared as the lost coach at the end of the song "Beautiful Stranger" the Samurai during "Sky Fits Heaven" wore a Lakers jersey, all the dancers participated in the section of the end of "Holiday", and later comically refused to join Madonna at the end of "Music".
- The show used 100 tons of equipment, two Boeing 747 (to fly the team), eight trucks (to carry the team place to place), and 88 people on the tour production.
- Madonna took guitar lessons, so she could play guitar live during the show..
- The song "You'll See" was not performed in Detroit and other cities like Miami and Philadelphia.