Fans fume as Madonna abruptly cuts short second night of tour

Fans were left scratching their heads when Madonna suddenly bailed on the second night of her greatest hits world tour.

Madonna performs on the first night of her 'Celebration Tour' at London's O2 Arena. Picture by: SplashNews.com

Madonna fans have been left fuming after the Queen of Pop abruptly cut short the second concert of her Celebration greatest hits tour in London today.

Madonna was performing the second in a string of four dates at London’s O2 Arena when the show ended suddenly after she performed her hit 90s ballad Rain.

Fans who’d attended the previous night’s show knew there were still a few songs left in the set, among them Like A Virgin and show closer Celebration.

The second show of Madonna’s tour was cut short. Picture: Splash News/Media Mode

Many speculated on social media that Madonna had cut the show short in order to comply with the venue’s curfew: The O2’s own website states that shows can finish “no later than 11pm from Monday to Saturday, and 10:30pm on a Sunday.”

Madonna performs on the first night of her 'Celebration Tour' at London's O2 Arena. Picture: Splash News/Media Mode

Fans missed a chunk of her setlist. Picture: Splash News/Media Mode

Madonna’s first concert at the venue finished at 11:05pm on Saturday night, taking her five minutes past curfew, while the second finished at 11pm sharp. Given it was a Sunday show, this meant she was a full half-hour after curfew.

Artists who do flout venue curfews are often liable to pay massive fines – in 2012, the Rolling Stones were hit with a 200,000-pound fine for running overtime at the same venue.

Fans who’d paid hundreds of pounds for tickets took to social media to complain about receiving a shorter show, with many voicing the obvious: Could Madonna not start her show a little earlier in the evening to avoid this problem?

Where is Madonna?? Supposed 1030 curfew at O2 and it’s 846 😞 #madonnacelebrationtour#O2

— Lulu (@lulujohno79) October 15, 2023

@Madonna get on stage on time, especially in London with the curfew. You can not be charging 1000s for tickets then doing part of the show. @guyoseary get this under control.

— Craig Hepworth (@VertigoTheatreP) October 15, 2023

@Madonna@guyoseary@EveningStandard@BBCNews absolutely disgraceful!! The money we pay for our tickets, you go on late and cut the show short because of venue curfew 👎👎👎

— Marcus (@snowboi10) October 15, 2023

Night 2 of #TheCelebrationTour has ended abruptly due to the strict curfew of TheO2 Arena 😢

The last song on tonights setlist was Rain#MichaelJackson#Madonna

— Michael Jackson Club (@mjjsource1) October 15, 2023

Madonna is actually brilliant live. HOWEVER she's literally just said bye London and the lights came on and now she owes the o2 30 grand for going over curfew 😭

— Jess (@Jelly_Baby93) October 15, 2023

It must be bc of the curfew, she ended 11pm exact

But tbh this is bad, I'm sorry Madonna you are the queen of pop and I love you

But people are paying over 1000,- to see you, you can't end like this. Just start on time your fans deserve the full show https://t.co/rLm4GDUZ2j

— Δημήτρης (@akaDimie) October 15, 2023

I've seen @Madonna live twice on 2 different tours.
Both times she started so late the show got cut off before the finish.
Typical.
Other than that, I enjoyed it. We even got a bit of 'Don't cry for me Argentina'. pic.twitter.com/8Pzo3l01Nx

— All That Dazzles (@ATDazzles) October 15, 2023

Complaints about late start times will be all too familiar to Madonna’s Australian fans, who endured hours-long waits past the advertised start times during her 2016 Rebel Heart tour.

Punters in Sydney and Brisbane eager to see the star in her first Australian tour since 1993 were left fuming when she didn’t take to the stage until around 11:30pm. Her late arrivals even forced public transport operators to put on late trains into the early morning to get concertgoers home.

And the lateness continued with Madonna’s most recent tour, 2019’s Madame X, with one fan going so far as to file a class-action lawsuit against her. She started one Las Vegas concert at 12:30am, telling fans when she finally arrived on stage: “A queen is never late.”

And during her shows in London for that tour, the venue operators even cut Madonna’s lights and microphone as she attempted to keep performing past curfew.

Madonna has 76 more dates scheduled for the Celebration tour, running through to April of next year. There is no word about whether the show will reach Australia.

Originally published as Fans fume as Madonna abruptly cuts short second night of tour