Pop icon Madonna has run into some trouble as two fans who attended the December 13 date of her Brooklyn “Celebration Tour,” have decided to sue the musician for starting her show over two hours late, causing it to end at around 1 a.m.
As reported in the BBC, 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.” Due to the start time changing from the previously scheduled 8:30 p.m. to a near 10:30, making the pair leave the show at around 1 a.m. they were “left stranded in the middle of the night” and “confronted with limited public transportation, limited ride-sharing, and/or increased public and private transportation costs.”
The defendants only attended the December 13 concert, but the suit claims that the December 14 and 16 concerts also had a delayed start time. Fellows and Hadden are accusing Madonna, Barclays Center, and tour promoter Live Nation of “unconscionable, unfair, and/or deceptive trade practices” for the delayed start time, citing it as an exercise of false advertising. Had they known this would have occurred, they said they would have not purchased tickets.
The court papers also say Madonna “has a long history of arriving and starting her concerts late, sometimes several hours late.” In 2019, during her “Madame X” theater tour, Madonna was similarly sued for starting her show at 10:30 p.m. and was also called out at her 2016 Rebel Heart Tour for being late.
Madonna’s “Celebration Tour” was a greatest hits show including more than 40 songs from her career. The Barclays Center shows were originally supposed to happen in July 2023 but were rescheduled following her hospitalization in June for a serious bacterial infection. The tour continues until its last stop in Mexico in April.
