List of Madonna tours

Concert tours
 Year  Title  Duration  Number of shows  Album(s) used  1985  The Virgin Tour  April 10, 1985 – June 11, 1985 (North America) 40  Madonna and Like a Virgin "The Virgin Tour" was Madonna's first concert tour. It promoted her first two albums, Madonna and Like a Virgin. According to her, she was inspired by Michael Jackson's and Prince's live shows for the tour. Although Madonna gained an international audience, the tour only visited North America. Tickets for the show at New York City's "Radio City Music Hall" were completely sold out in a record-breaking 34 minutes. In the end several more US dates were added and the tour moved to larger concert venues due to strong ticket sales. Critics panned the tour, calling it atrocious and deducing that Madonna "will be out of business in six months". The Virgin Tour was a success and collected a total of more than US $5 million. 1987  Who's That Girl World Tour  June 14, 1987 – June 22, 1987 (Asia)June 27, 1987 – August 9, 1987 (North America)August 15, 1987 – September 6, 1987 (Europe)  37 True Blue and Who's That Girl The 37 concert dates of the Who's That Girl World Tour played to 2.5 million fans. It was Madonna's first world tour, reaching Asia, North America and Europe. The tour supported her third studio album, True Blue as well as the soundtrack Who's That Girl. Denoted as a "theatrical multi-media spectacular", the tour had everything – from sex, sensation and religious uproar for projecting the Pope's image during one performance. Critically appreciated as a technically and fashionably superior and unprecedented tour, Who's That Girl was a commercial success, earning almost US $25 million and playing to a record breaking 130,000 audience in Paris. 1990  Blond Ambition World Tour  April 13, 1990 – April 27, 1990 (Asia)May 4, 1990 – June 25, 1990 (North America)June 30, 1990 – August 5, 1990 (Europe) 57  Like a Prayer and I'm Breathless The Blond Ambition World Tour was the third concert tour by Madonna. It supported her fourth studio album, Like a Prayer, and the soundtrack, I'm Breathless. The tour reached Japan, North America, and Europe. Inspired by the 1972 film Cabaret, it was a widely publicized and reported in the media, mainly for its juxtaposition of Catholic imagery and sexual content. Rolling Stone called it an "elaborately choreographed, sexually provocative extravaganza" and proclaimed it "the best tour of 1990." In 1991, the documentary Truth or Dare (also known as In Bed with Madonna), was released chronicling the tour. The tour received the "Most Creative Stage Production" at the Pollstar Concert Industry Awards. 1993  The Girlie Show World Tour  September 25 - October 1, 1993; October 7, 1993 (Europe) October 5, 1993; December 7, 1993 – December 19, 1993 (Asia) October 11, 1993 – October 26, 1993; November 10, 1993 – November 13, 1993 (North America) October 30, 1993 – November 6, 1993 (South America)  November 19, 1993 – December 4, 1993 (Australia) 39  Erotica The Girlie Show World Tour was the fourth concert tour by Madonna, in support of her fifth studio album, Erotica. The tour visited the North and South America, Europe, Australia and Japan. Madonna's inspiration for the name of the tour was a painting called "Girlie Show" by Edward Hopper. The tour was estimated to have grossed over US $70 million. Fans and critics noted it as Madonna's best tour, reaffirming that "as a singer and stage performer, Madonna could still please her audience." 2001  Drowned World Tour  June 9, 2001 – July 12, 2001 (Europe) July 21, 2001 – September 15, 2001 (North America) 47  Ray of Light and Music "The Drowned World Tour" was the fifth concert tour by Madonna in support of her seventh and eight studio albums, Ray of Light and Music. The tour was only in Europe and North America, and was critically appreciated from contemporary critics who complimented her ability to re-invent continuously. It was a commercial success and went on to become the fourth-most successful and highest-grossing concert tours of 2001. She grossed more than US $75 million with summer sold-out shows and eventually played in front of 730,000 people throughout North America and Europe. 2004  Re-Invention World Tour  May 24, 2004 – August 2, 2004 (North America) August 14, 2004 – September 14, 2004 (Europe) 56  American Life Playing at dates in North America and Europe again, the Re-Invention World Tour was the sixth concert tour by Madonna, promoting her ninth studio album American Life. Critically revered, Re-Invention was named as the highest grossing tour of 2004, earning US $125 million from 56 shows and 900,000 audience. It won the Top Tour award as part of the 2004 Billboard Touring Awards. The tour was chronicled in the documentary I'm Going to Tell You a Secret. 2006  Confessions Tour  May 21, 2006 – July 23, 2006 (North America) July 30, 2006 – September 12, 2006 (Europe) September 16, 2006 – September 21, 2006 (Asia) 60  Confessions on a Dance Floor Madonna's seventh concert tour Confessions supported her tenth studio album Confessions on a Dance Floor. The tour garnered positive appreciation from critics and achieved commercial success. Tickets were completely sold as soon as dates and venues for the concert were announced, prompting the organizers to add more dates. It was the highest earning tour ever for a female artist, grossing over US $194.7 million from 60 shows and 1.2 million audience. The tour also received the "Most Creative Stage Production" at the Pollstar Concert Industry Awards as well as "Top Boxscore" from the Billboard Touring Awards. Madonna's performance of the song "Live to Tell", while hanging on a giant mirrored cross wearing a crown of thorns, was met with strong negative reaction from religious groups. 2008/09  Sticky & Sweet Tour  August 23, 2008 – September 27, 2008 (Europe) October 4, 2008 – November 30, 2008 (North America) December 4, 2008 – December 21, 2008 (South America)July 4, 2009 – August 29, 2009 (Europe) September 1, 2009 – September 2, 2009 (Asia)  85   Hard Candy The Sticky & Sweet Tour was the eighth worldwide concert tour by Madonna and promoted her eleventh studio album, Hard Candy. It began in August 2008 and was Madonna's first concert tour from her new recording and business deal with Live Nation. The tour was extended in 2009, by adding previously unventured European dates. The Sticky & Sweet Tour broke many records in terms of its ticket sales, commercial gross and audience attendance. After the first leg, it became the highest grossing tour by a solo artist, earning $282 million, breaking the previous record Madonna herself held with the Confessions Tour. Overall, Madonna performed to over 3.5 million fans in 32 countries, grossing a total of US$408 million, making it also the second highest grossing tour of all time and the highest grossing tour by a solo artist.

Promotional tours
 Year  Title  Duration  Number of shows  Album used 2000  Don't Tell Me Promo Tour  November 5, 2000 (North America) November 29, 2000 (Europe) 2  MusicThe Don't Tell Me Promo Tour was a group of several, brief concert-like performances by Madonna promoting her then-most recent album Music, and the up-coming Drowned World Tour in 2001. Madonna's performance at London's Brixton Academy was shown via the internet to an estimated nine million viewers across the world which became a world record. She performed in front of an audience, which included Mick Jagger, Kylie Minogue, Sting and Melanie C. The songs included in the setlist were "Impressive Instant", "Runaway Lover", "Don't Tell Me", "What It Feels Like for a Girl", "Holiday" and "Music". 2003  American Life Promo Tour  April 22, 2003 – April 23, 2003 (North America) April 30, 2003 – May 15, 2003 (Europe) 9  American Life The American Life Promo Tour are 
several brief concert-like performances by Madonna. It took place in 2003, between the months of April and May. The American Life Promo Tour promoted Madonna's ninth studio album American Life, and preceded the 2004 Re-Invention World Tour. The songs performed were "American Life", "Hollywood", "Nothing Fails", "X-Static Process", "Like a Prayer", "Mother and Father", "Music", "Don't Tell Me" and "Like a Virgin" 2005  Hung Up Promo Tour  October 22, 2005 (North America) November 3, 2005 – November 19, 2005 (Europe) December 7, 2005 – December 13, 2005 (Asia) 10  Confessions on a Dance Floor For promoting her tenth studio album, Confessions on a Dance Floor, Madonna played a number of songs from the album at London's Koko Club and G-A-Y as well as in United States, Japan, Germany and France, as part of the Hung Up Promo Tour. During the performances, Madonna emerged from a giant disco ball, wearing a purple jacket, velvet pedal pushers and knee-high boots. Songs performed included "Hung Up," "Get Together," "Sorry," "I Love New York," "Ray of Light, "Let It Will Be" and "Everybody." 2008  Hard Candy Promo Tour  April 30, 2008 (North America) May 6, 2008 – May 10, 2008 (Europe) 3  Hard Candy Madonna's promotional tour for her album, Hard Candy, was the first part of her new contract with concert promoters, Live Nation, with media content provided by "Frank the Plumber LLC". The show consisted of a 40 minute list, with 6 songs – "Candy Shop", "Miles Away", "4 Minutes", "Hung Up", "Give It 2 Me" and "Music" – with dates in New York City, Paris and Maidstone.

References

Other websites
Madonna Tour Archives 

Tours
Category:Concert tours
Category:Music-related lists