Madonna 'vigorously' defends late concert start lawsuit brought by fans

Madonna will "vigorously defend" legal action brought by fans after she was more than two hours late for a show, her representatives have said.

The singer is being sued by two fans who attended her concert last month in New York.

The case says the pair "would not have paid for tickets" had they know it would finish so late.

The US singer's representatives and promoter Live Nation said a technical issue caused the delay.

The joint statement read: "The shows opened in North America at Barclays in Brooklyn as planned, with the exception of a technical issue December 13th during soundcheck.

"This caused a delay that was well documented in press reports at the time. We intend to defend this case vigorously."

The statement added the tour's recent European leg had "received rave reviews".

The case, brought by Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden, states that "many ticketholders who attended concerts on a weeknight had to get up early to go to work and/or take care of their family responsibilities the next day".

They are suing Live Nation and the Barclays Center for "false advertising, negligent misrepresentation, and unfair and deceptive trade practices".

The Barclays Center is yet to respond to the lawsuit.

Mr Fellows and Mr Hadden attended the show on Wednesday 13 December 2023 and said it was meant to start at 20:30 EST but it did not begin until after 22:30, ending around 01:00.

The lawsuit claims that other nights at the same venue, on 14 and 16 December, also reportedly started more than two hours late.

"Defendants failed to provide any notice to the ticketholders that the concerts would start much later than the start time printed on the ticket and as advertised, which resulted in the ticketholders waiting for hours," the document state.

The court papers also claim Madonna "has a long history of arriving and starting her concerts late, sometimes several hours late", citing examples including "her 2016 Rebel Heart Tour, her 2019-2020 Madame X Tour, and prior tours, where Madonna continuously started her concerts over two hours late".

The plaintiffs are suing for unspecified damages.

This is not the first time fans have objected to the singer being late for her shows, and in 2019, a fan sued over a delay for a US show, but he voluntarily dismissed the case a month later, according to ABC News.

In the same year, Madonna had shared a post of her live on stage, in which she told fans: "There's something that you all need to understand. And that is, that a queen is never late."

Madonna's sold-out Celebration tour was a greatest hits show including more than 40 songs from her career, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of her breakout single, Holiday, playing venues including the US, Canada and Europe.

The singer had a health scare last summer, after she was found unconscious in her New York apartment in June and rushed to hospital, where she received treatment for a serious bacterial infection.

She later said she was "lucky to be alive", and postponed the start of the tour from July to October last year.