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Background
Madonna's previous Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008–2009) had become the highest grossing tour by a solo artist grossing a total of US $408 million, and remains the highest-grossing tour by a female artist and the seventh highest-grossing tour of all time. In October 2011, fansite DrownedMadonna released a proposed tour itinerary from Live Nation which was deemed fake by the singer's publicist Liz Rosenberg. A month later Madonna partnered with Smirnoff to produce a global dance contest called the "Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project". Along with her choreographers and manager Guy Oseary, the singer judged dancers at New York's Roseland Ballroom to pick one of them for her then-unnamed tour. The winner of the contest was Charles Riley, known as Lil Buck professionally, who won from among the eleven finalists.

In the meantime, Madonna confirmed that she would release her twelfth studio album MDNA in spring 2012 with the first single to be released by February. News outlets started reporting about venues being booked by the singer for the upcoming tour, with dates in Tel Aviv, London's Hyde Park as well as Abu Dhabi. The MDNA Tour was officially announced on February 7, 2012, following the singer's performance at the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show. It was scheduled to begin on May 29, 2012 from Tel Aviv, Israel. The itinerary consisted of performances in arenas, stadiums, as well as exterior locations like the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City. Both the album and the tour being under Live Nation was beneficial as it led to cross-promotional opportunities and the ability to sell the tickets and album together. Live Nation's Global Touring division CEO Arthur Fogel commented that "It's as great a set-up as you could have... [The tour] will be big and can get bigger". The MDNA Tour had almost same number of dates like Sticky & Sweet Tour. Madonna first played at 26 European markets, followed by North America and then Latin America.

In April 2012, it was announced by Live Nation that the tour was postponed by two days to May 31, due to logistics. Since her 2006 Confessions Tour the singer had tried to take her tours to Australia. Live Nation had announced plans of visiting Australia with The MDNA Tour; it and would have been Madonna's first concert to reach the country since the 1993 Girlie Show World Tour. Stadium dates in Sydney and Melbourne were planned and ready to be announced by July 2012, but was ultimately cancelled. Madonna released an audio video on YouTube in August 2012, explaining that she could not visit the country due to her children's needs, and promised to visit later.

Conception and rehearsals
The MDNA Tour was Madonna's fifth tour with Live Nation and planning began when the singer was available before MDNA's release. The preparation time taken was called as an "established window" by Fogel, where logistically all the aspects of the show would be fit. Noting that right from her 2001 Drowned World Tour, Madonna's tour endeavors have been deemed as "cultural touch point", generating both fan adulation as well as media coverage. During a Facebook chat with Jimmy Fallon, the singer confirmed that she would not repeat any of the performance from the Super Bowl since she "did it already". Explaining the need to have a particular theme and storyline for the tour, Madonna confirmed the name of the first section of the concert as "Transgression". Tour rehearsals began in February 2012 in New York City and by May 1, 2012, they moved to the real stage at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Describing the rehearsals as "brutal" and "violent", Madonna posted pictures of herself covered in bruises on Facebook. In another video, she was shown celebrating MDNA debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200 charts.

As rehearsals moved to location in Ramat Gan Stadium, more pictures were released online from the concert as well as behind the scenes. Video footage confirmed performances of songs like "Celebration" (2009) and "Express Yourself" (1989), which was remixed with singer Lady Gaga's 2011 track, "Born This Way". A number of fake set lists for the tour were circulated in the internet, with MTV finally revealing the confirmed set list from the rehearsals at Tel Aviv.

Stage setup
The triangle-shaped stage of the tour consists of two walkways for Madonna to wade into the crowd and an enclosed area where fans can get close to the stage. There was also a huge, three-part video screen that promoters have called the largest in the world.


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Costumes and fashion
Madonna reunited with her long-time designer Jean Paul Gaultier to create the costumes for the tour. She stated, "[Gaultier is] kind of godfathering the costumes for a section of my show, with all my dancers. I'm really happy he's doing it, because he's such a genius." Madonna also works with designers Arianne Phillips and Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci. Phillips commented,

"This show is epic and bigger than anything she's done before. There are many more costume changes. We're taking 700 shoes on the road. Madonna changes outfits seven or eight times and the dancers change 10 to 15 times, depending on the dancer. They have been generous for so many years. Her relationship with them is really special. Everything is specially made and they made some incredible high-heeled boots for the boys."

Multimedia
Madonna recruited the services of Canadian multimedia team Moment Factory to design the stage designs scenography. The team previously worked with Madonna for the Super Bowl XLVI Halftime Show at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. They were given four months to come with the ideas for the show. After receiving the 12 songs which they were to work with, they set ideas with the show director Michel Laprise, with Madonna herself approving each stage. Each song carries with it a different emotion that Moment Factory had to extract and visually present on stage. They were allowed creative control while also having to coordinate with the rest of the stage team, the lighting and set designers. Madonna would give a hint, some intuition of what she wanted, and then they would all bring their ideas. These ideas were materialized using LEDs—from a 10 mm LED backdrop to LED cubes, which gave the team scope to work with. These cubes allowed the performers and the video content to be dynamic and diverse, as the team was able to create different sequences. The videos could be programmed according to Madonna's movements and content.

Commercial reception
The concert tickets range in price from around $45 to more than $350. Some premium-priced ticket packages run $600 per person. Receiving complaints that her live shows are too expensive, Madonna told Newsweek: "Start saving your pennies now. People spend $300 on crazy things all the time, things like handbags. So work all year, scrape the money together and come to my show. I'm worth it."