Madonna gets Sticky & Sweet
2008-08-24 18:25
London - Madonna kicked off her Sticky And Sweet world tour in Britain late on Saturday with a two-hour extravaganza of hits and high fashion showing why she is still the queen of pop despite recently turning 50.
The US star played hits including Like A Prayer, Into The Groove and Hung Up at the giant Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales on the first night of the 49-date tour.
The show, promoting her latest album Hard Candy which has hit number one in 27 countries, was watched by her British film director husband Guy Ritchie and three children.
To screams from fans, Madonna took the stage in a one-piece black sequinned outfit by French fashion house Givenchy for the first section, known as "pimp" - a homage to gangster chic from the 1920s to now.
During the song Get Stupid, she appeared to take a swipe at US Republican presidential contender John McCain whose picture flashed up alongside images of destruction and global warming as well as Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe.
Towards the end of the song, pictures of Beatles star John Lennon, former US vice-president Al Gore, Indian independence icon Mahatma Gandhi and McCain's Democrat rival Barack Obama appeared.
The show featured eight costume changes, 16 dancers, a 12-piece band and £1 million's worth of Swarovski crystals.
The tour continues in Nice, southern France on August 26 before heading to the rest of Europe, the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil. It wraps up in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on December 18.
The star, who spends much of her time in Britain, kept her 50th birthday celbration low-key on August 16.