Madonna: Tears of a Clown
| Concert by Madonna | |
Promotional banner for the concert
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| Start date | March 10, 2016 |
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| No. of shows | 2 |
| Attendance | 2,000 |
| Madonna concert chronology | |
Madonna: Tears of a Clown are ongoing shows by American singer Madonna. The first show was held at the Forum Theatre in Melbourne, Australia on March 10, 2016. The singer had not included Australia during her previous five concert tours, until the Rebel Heart Tour (2015–2016), so she created the show for her Australian fans since they had waited so long for her to perform there. Madonna explained that the idea behind Tears of a Clown was to combine music and storytelling, being influenced by clowns. Tickets for the first show were made available to Madonna's official fan club, Icon members and were non-transferable, with the person's name printed on them.
The first show of Tears of a Clown started four hours late, with the delay being caused by Madonna rehearsing. It consisted of Madonna singing acoustic versions of her songs while dressed as a clown, interspersed with the singer telling jokes and anecdotes. Tears of a Clown received positive reviews from critics who appreciated the stripped down, confessional nature of the singer's performance and the choice of the songs and the comedy. Madonna refuted reports of her being drunk on stage, calling them false and sexist. She revived the show on December 2, 2016, performing at Miami's Faena Forum as a benefit gala, to auction memorabilia and raise money for her Raising Malawi charitable foundation. Tickets were expensive, and the auctioned items included Madonna's tour dress, owned paintings as well as wedding photographs.
Madonna had last toured in Australia in 1993 with The Girlie Show World Tour, her fourth concert tour. The country was skipped for the next five tours until the singer released her thirteenth studio album, Rebel Heart (2015). To promote the album, Madonna announced the Rebel Heart Tour, and confirmed that she would be coming to Australia with the concert, as well as visit New Zealand for the first time. Before arriving in Australia, Madonna announced an extra show on March 10, 2016, at Melbourne's Forum Theatre. The show was billed as an intimate gig, and was described by the singer as a fusion of music, art and comedy. It was titled as Madonna: Tears of a Clown show and was created for the singer's Australian fans, who had waited for her to perform there for the last 23 years. During her promotional appearance at The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in April 2015, Madonna confessed that she is a "kind of closet comedian" and did a skit on the show; she added, "I always do extravaganzas, they always cost a billion dollars to make ... nobody makes any money ... and sometimes I dream about simplicity." During the show, the singer explained her decision to do Tears of a Clown:
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