Material Girl: Don’t call curtains on me
Madonna blasts ‘censorship’ after show is cut off when she breaches 11pm curfew
Star concludes her Palladium set in front of the drapes
MADONNA accused the London Palladium of “censorship” after it brought down the curtain when she broke its curfew.
The pop star, 61, said the venue “decided to censor us by pulling down the metal fire curtain that weighs nine tons” after she overran. She said: “Fortunately they stopped it halfway and no one was hurt.”
The theatre insisted no metal curtain was lowered. Footage from Wednesday night showed her shouting: “F*** you! Censorship! I’m here to disturb the peace!”
The red drapes fell after the singer had performed her penulti
She raises fist with dancers and fans mate song, Like A Prayer. She burst through them to continue her set after the house lights came up.
She sang I Rise with her backing dancers and members of the audience who climbed on stage waving rainbow flags.
The show, part of her Madame X tour, began at roughly 9pm, 30 minutes after its scheduled start time, and lasted two hours. It ended at around 11.15pm with the star belting out her finale from the stalls.
She raged yesterday: “It was five minutes past our 11pm curfew. Many thanks to the entire audience who didn’t move and never left us. Power to The People!!”
Andrew Lloyd Webber, who owns the theatre, had been in the audience and she added Don’t Cry For Me Argentina from Evita for him. It is thought he left before the curfew kerfuffle.
A spokeswoman for LW Theatres, which owns the Palladium, said: “At no point did staff pull down, or attempt to pull down, the iron fire curtain.”
One gig-goer joked the curfew was a result of her lateness, saying: “Classic Madge. All her own fault.”
VENUE OWNER Lloyd Webber
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