page_title: Sticky & Sweet Tour
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Sticky & Sweet Tour / Development
caption_attribution_description: English: Madonna at Madison Square Garden
context_page_description: The Sticky & Sweet Tour was the eighth concert tour by American singer Madonna. Staged to promote her eleventh studio album, Hard Candy, it began in August 2008 and was her first tour under a new recording and business deal with Live Nation. The tour was announced in February 2008, with dates for European and North American venues revealed. Though initially planned, the tour did not visit Australia due to financial problems and the financial recession. Costume designer Arianne Phillips designed the costumes, supported by a number of famous designers and brands. The stage for the main show was planned similarly to that of her previous 2006 Confessions Tour. After the tour concluded in 2008, Madonna announced plans of playing a second European leg in 2009 to play in territories she either had never been to or had not played for a long time.
  The tour was described as a "rock driven dancetastic journey".
context_section_description: Costume designer Arianne Phillips designed the main costumes for the tour. According to her, Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci contributed two outfits, Tom Ford made bespoke suit for the band, Miu Miu created the shoes, Stella McCartney provided the thigh-high boots and Moschino made the sunglasses. Other designers involved in creating the clothes included Yves Saint Laurent, Roberto Cavalli, and Jeremy Scott. Givenchy's creations were selected for the first and third acts of the tour, while Scott's designs were selected for the second act. Philips commented on the different sections, saying,
  "[First section] It's a theme that runs throughout her career. [...] She's not afraid of being hard. [Second section] He [Keith Harring] and Madonna were friends. If he were alive, it would be his 50th birthday as well. So I thought, 'What if we revisited that?' Riccardo's a new young talent. If you look at Madonna's history with fashion, that makes him an obvious choice. [Madonna] always wants to push the envelope. There are no vanity considerations based on her age."
  NME reported that the tour would comprise 250 travelling workers, 69 guitars, 12 trampolines and 100 pairs of kneepads. The stage's layout was similar to the Confessions Tour stage. It had two giant textile panels that defined the proscenium arch, supporting two giant M-shaped structures, lit from within. The lighting beams and structures were rigged from the ceiling. There were four different clusters of loudspeakers in the back of the stage, providing sound to the rear tiers. The main stage was accompanied by a catwalk which was shorter than the Confessions Tour one, and a satellite stage at the end of the runway. There was a set of screens on the main stage – which moved and changed shape and layout, from the shape of a cube at the beginning of the show. Also present were two semi-transparent, cylinder-shaped screens, above the satellite stage. Other structures included a number of smaller platforms, ramps, and conveyor belts, which usually were kept beneath the main stage, but were brought out during some of the performances. The catwalks were shaped as a ramp at the very beginning but was transformed into a flat runway eventually. The tour was the first to use a pair of DiGiCo SD7 digital mixing consoles at the sound production's core audio. Tim Colvard, who previously presided as the sound consultant of the 2006 Confessions Tour, decided to use the SD7 technology after researching it. Madonna and her background vocalists used Sennheiser SKM 5200 wireless microphones with the highly directional ME 5005 super-cardioid heads, and Sennheiser in-ear monitors. Monitor engineer Matt Napier commented that he chose "the Evolution systems for backline, as their RF is rock-solid, the transmitter units are small and reliable and they are very competitively priced. [...] And I couldn't imagine giving Madonna another monitor system, she has become so accustomed and comfortable with the IEM G2."
caption: Madonna and her dancers opening the show with "Candy Shop"
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