Madonna has released a statement about a disastrous recent stop during her Rebel Heart Tour where the fans booed her after she arrived about an hour late. Madonna was due to perform at the Manchester Arena this past Monday night (December 14) and blamed technical difficulties for her tardiness.
Considering that Madonna has been on tour most of the year, it might be reasonable that fans would cut her a little slack, but fans were anything but reasonable in this case. Multiple angry concertgoers unleashed a string of angry tweets about her lateness and Billboard reported that she tried to first reason with fans in a video that has since been deleted. When that didn't work she referred to them as "b*tches."
Over 50mins late at Manchester Arena and no announcements. Not acceptable. People have jobs to go to @Madonna
— Tim Morton Davies (@TimMestizoCub) December 14, 2015
In a statement posted to Facebook, Madonna said, "FACTS: It's good to have them before you jump to conclusions! The entire video for my show crashed as I arrived for sound check. The back-up file was corrupt. We had no choice but to reboot and pray for a good outcome. The video lights 75% of my show. We can't play in the dark. We were rebooted and ready 9:30 even though we planned to go on earlier."
She further wrote, "We can't play in the dark. We were rebooted and ready by 9:30 even though we planned to go on earlier. I had to make cuts in show before the show started. 'Dress You Up' was one of them and my third guitar song. This still brought us past the 11:00 curfew! But we went on and the venue was kind enough to extend till 11:39! It was their choice not mine to end the show!"
While there was some obvious snipe to her statement, she also remembered to thank the fans who did not boo her and referred to it as an "amazing show." Also according to the post, Madonna and her team were required to pay a fine over the technical debacle.
The statement can be read in full on her official artist Facebook page.
