LONDON () - Madonna kicks off her "Sticky & Sweet" world duty tour at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Saturday, the latest test of her enduring appeal that comes a week afterward her 50th birthday.
The "queen of pop" will be hoping to eclipse her last trot across the globe in 2006. "Confessions" became the top-grossing duty tour ever by a distaff artist with ticket gross revenue of $195 million.
"Sticky & Sweet," featuring hits that span nearly 30 days in pop music including her latest album "Hard Candy," includes 49 dates and is due to wrap up in Sao Paulo on December 18.
As of Thursday, roughly half the tour venues had yet to sell out including Cardiff, although Live Nation proclaimed in June that the tour was on object to porcine more than $250 one thousand thousand.
"Sticky & Sweet" is too a major test for Live Nation, the tour company that signed Madonna to a 10-year contract in 2007 reported to be worth a add up of $120 million.
Record label executives, smarting as some top acts of the Apostles jump ship to sign new deals with the likes of Live Nation and coffee berry chain Starbucks that shine changes in the music industry, wonderment if companies are remunerative too much to attract household names.
Madonna reinforced her reputation as a astute businesswoman by switching from long-term label Warner Brothers at a time when the pop world accepted that live performing was generally more lucrative than selling records.
Illegal downloads and competition from other forms of amusement like tV games induce eroded music sales, and rising legal digital gross revenue have failed to make up the shortfall.�
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