Madonna review – queen of pop dazzles with her greatest hits

The O2, London
The audience cheers every choreographed dance step as Madonna runs through her ‘broke, starving and homeless’ origin story and enthusiastically snogs a topless dancer

The first time Madonna addresses the audience at the O2 Arena – three songs into the opening date of her Celebration tour – it’s to express astonishment. “I’m pretty damn surprised I made it this far,” she offers. “And I mean that on many levels.”

Well, quite: it’s a statement you could take in a number of ways. It might refer to the life-threatening health scare that necessitated the postponement of her current tour, and which seems to have affected the audience’s reaction to tonight’s performance: they cheer every choreographed dance step she undertakes as if it’s a victory against the odds. It might refer to the improbability of Madonna becoming the biggest-selling female recording artist of all time, given her humble beginnings.