The hidden financial cost of Madonna’s massively late running shows

IT’S not just her fans waiting for the star to get on stage — there’s venue staff, trains and a whole lot more. And everyone is paying for “Madonnatime”.

Madonna

SHE didn’t come on stage until three hours after the original start time in Brisbane. Her fans stood in the rain for even longer in Melbourne. Who knows what the wait will be this weekend in Sydney.

But Madonna’s tardiness could be costing more than just dry clothes and the frustrations of a few thousand fans. Madge’s renowned ego is having a real economic impact.

And even people who have no interest in seeing Ms Ciccone sing are forced to cough up to pay for her unreliability.

From increased babysitting costs to fines for venues and even the price of extra public transport laying idle for hours, Madonna’s lack of any sort of hustle could be costing tens of thousands of dollars.

There are even calls for Madonna herself to shoulder the cost with Labor saying “taxpayers shouldn’t be left to foot the bill”.

But the star has form, costing venues hundreds of thousands of dollars as she finishes shows agonisingly late.

Fans waited for four hours in the rain to see Madonna in Melbourne. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

DON'T F**K WITH THE QUEEN

Doors were billed to open at 8.30pm, but even some diehard fans gave up the wait when there was still no sign of Madonna until way after midnight at Melbourne’s Forum Theatre last week.

In Brisbane, fans reportedly queued for refunds when the Material Girl failed to materialise up to two hours after she was due on stage.

It’s not her fault though. “I’m hardly ever late. It’s you people that get here early that’s the problem,” she told the crowd in Brisbane when she finally came on, two and a half hours after the billed start time.

“Stay home, do your hair and makeup, have a tequila. Just come late and I won’t have to come early.”

Madonna is due to leave the stage at Sydney’s Allphones Arena at 11.30pm this Saturday and Sunday night. But Sydney Trains confirmed it will have trains available to get people out of the wilderness of Olympic Park until almost dawn, just in case her tardy timekeeping continues.

When they do make it home, those who left the kids with a babysitter can expect a hefty bill.

With the Allphones Arena having a capacity of 21,000 people, and the going rate for a babysitter $17 per hour, if just one in 10 people at Saturday’s concert has booked someone to look after the little ones and arrive home two and a half hours late that’s a collective bill of $89,250.

In Brisbane, no extra public transport was provided with the last scheduled train leaving the nearest station to the Entertainment Centre just after midnight, not even halfway through her performance. That’s an awful lot of UberX fares, at around $45 a pop to the CBD, to get the crowds out of the arena.

It’s not just the fans who are left smarting. Australian venues could cop a hefty fine if Madonna’s show busts through strict curfews. It’s certainly something she’s done before

In December, sound engineers at a venue in Glasgow cut the power as Madonna ran over time because, you guessed it, she was late on stage.

She was forced to complete the gig in the dark and with no microphone. Later that evening (or more strictly early that morning) she took to Twitter to lambaste the venue saying “We don’t stop till it’s over Glasgow! Don’t f**k with the Queen”.

Ignoring a curfew can have serious financial consequences. In 2010 Lady Gaga was fined $750 a minute for breaking an 11pm time limit at London’s O2 Arena — her 25 minute overrun costing a cool $19,000. Rapper Drake was stung just over $9000 in 2012 for the same misdemeanour at a Denver venue but it was, quelle surprise, Madonna herself who tops them. In 2008, she was reportedly fined the equivalent of more than $250,000 by Wembley Stadium in London for breaking their 10.30pm curfew by 40 minutes.

Last week, it was reported that Madonna’s intimate show at Melbourne’s Forum Theatre finished between 2.50am and 3.15am. When exactly it ended is crucial. With the venue’s curfew at 3am on a weekday, one minute past and they could end up fined thousands of dollars.

Tricycle is one option for getting home if you miss the last train from a late-running Madonna concert. Picture: Instagram.

FOOT THE BILL

But there are some costs that even people, who when presented with a picture of Madonna might go “who’s that girl”, have to bear.

On the weekend, Sydney Trains will run services every 10 minutes until after 1am to get people home from Madonna’s two shows.

Radio, Tram and Bus Union Lead Organiser, Bob Newham, said while special event trains were common they weren’t going to hang around forever and the last train would leave once the shift was over. “There is no provision for train services to wait for an event to end outside of rostering and timetable requirements. Once a service is timetabled to move on, it moves on,” he told news.com.au.

Presumably conscious of this, a spokeswoman for Sydney Trains confirmed the trains — and their crews — would remain on standby until 4am, if needed, giving the star enough leeway to go about four hours over.

While major events, such as the Easter Show, cover the cost of these extra trains, that wasn't the case with this weekend’s gigs.

“The Madonna concerts are not integrated and customers are required to pay for their journey,” the spokeswoman said. However, as only one third of the cost of providing Sydney’s trains is covered by fares, the taxpayer will likely pick up the rest of the tab.

That isn’t going down too well with Shadow Minister for Transport Jodi McKay.

“As a global city we want to encourage major artists to perform here, but taxpayers shouldn’t be left to foot the bill for late running public transport just because superstars like Madonna run behind schedule,” she told news.com.au.

“Sending the bill for late running public transport to the performer is one way to ensure they hit the stage on time and taxpayers aren’t left to cover the costs.”

But even faced with these costs, for Madonna it might be a case of “Papa, Don’t Preach”. After all, her 2012 tour is estimated to have raked in more the $300 million and Forbes estimates her net worth at $520 million.

She can probably afford to spend a few thousand dollars on trains and cabs for all and still have change left over.

News.com.au contacted Madonna’s tour promoters, Live Nation, for comment.