Fans sue Madonna over late start time for 'Celebration Tour'

Are celebrities even still relevant if they aren’t getting sued?

Madonna, of course, will always be famous, and she’s got a new lawsuit to prove it. Two fans who attended her recent concerts in Brooklyn are coming after the singer for starting her shows over two hours late.

While the “Celebration Tour” was meant to see Madonna go on stage by 8:30pm, the lawsuit claims that all three performances failed to start until after 10:30pm, meaning that concertgoers didn’t leave the venue until around 1am. For folks dealing with public transportation or ride-sharing, this allegedly caused issues, and the delay was also slammed for causing problems for people who had to go to work the next day.

"Defendants failed to provide any notice to the ticketholders that the concerts would start much later than the start time printed on the ticket and as advertised, which resulted in the ticketholders waiting for hours,” the complaint reads.

It also alleges that plaintiffs “never would have agreed to purchase the tickets” if they had known the show wouldn't start until 10:30pm, and cites previous examples of Madonna’s shows starting later than planned, such as the 2016 Rebel Heart Tour and the 2019-2020 Madame X Tour, as proof that Live Nation and Barclays Center (also named in the lawsuit) should have known the Celebration Tour shows would not begin on time.

Similar lawsuits were brought about over the Madame X tour, although neither went to trial.

Response from the general public has been split so far. On the one hand, concerts can be unpredictable and Americans can be a little too eager to sue. On the other, a lot of people agree that a two hour delay—and one that happens regularly—is ridiculous, and something needs to change for artists who think that’s okay.