Madonna sued over late concert by fans ‘who had to get up early for work’

Concertgoers say delay left them unable to handle ‘family responsibilities’ the next day

Two Madonna fans in New York are suing the singer for starting her concert late because they had to “get up early” the next morning.

Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden claim the delayed concert, which reportedly began two hours later than planned, also impacted their ability to “take care of their family responsibilities” the following day.

According to paperwork reportedly filed at a Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday (17 January), Fellows and Hadden state they attended a show at the Barclays Center on 13 December, as part of the 65-year-old pop star’s Celebration Tour.

They are also suing the concert promoter Live Nation and the Barclays Center for “false advertising, negligent misrepresentation, and unfair and deceptive trade practices”.

The Independent has contacted all three defendants, including Madonna, for comment.

The concert was supposed to start at 8.30pm but Madonna’s performance did not begin until after 10.30pm, the filing reads.

The duo further claim they were “left stranded in the middle of the night” with “limited public transportation, limited ride-sharing, and/or increased” transport costs after the show ended at 1am.

The documents highlight that Madonna “has a long history of arriving and starting her concerts late, sometimes several hours late”, 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”.

This is not the first lawsuit against the “Cherish” singer for failing to start her shows on time; in 2019, a Florida-based fan argued that the delayed Madame X shows constituted a breach of contract.

Madonna performs during the opening night of The Celebration Tour at London’s O2 Arena in October (Reuters)

In February 2020, two New Yorkers also sued Madonna for keeping concertgoers waiting for over two hours at scheduled stops in Brooklyn on the Madame X tour.

Both lawsuits were later voluntarily dismissed.

Madonna appeared to address fan complaints about failing to start her shows on time in a video shared on X, formerly Twitter, in November 2019.

In the short clip from a live show, the multiple Grammy award winner can be heard telling fans: “There’s something that you all need to understand. And that is, that a queen is never late.”

Madonna was forced to postpone her Celebration Tour last year, after she was admitted to the hospital with a “serious” bacterial infection in June 2023.

In a subsequent update about her health, Madonna thanked fans for their outpouring of love and support, while revealing her “first thought” after waking up in the ICU was “my children”.

“My second thought was that I did not want to disappoint anyone who bought tickets for my tour.”

Madonna finally kicked off her greatest hits tour in October 2023, instead of July as planned.

Madonna has six children – Lourdes Leon, 26, Rocco Ritchie, 22, 17-year-old David Banda, whom she adopted in 2006, 17-year-old Chifundo “Mercy” James, whom she adopted in 2009, and 10-year-old twins Stella and Estere, whom she adopted in 2017.