Madonna Europe, N America tour dates announced

LONDON (AFP) — Pop superstar Madonna announced dates Thursday for a tour of Europe and North America starting in Britain on August 23, a week after she turns 50.

The American will take her "Sticky and Sweet" tour, showcasing tracks from her latest album "Hard Candy," to nine European cities including Nice, Berlin, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Rome, her management company said in a statement. She will then cross the Atlantic for 18 dates in the United States and Canada, it added.

Tickets for the tour's opening concert at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff will be priced between 55 pounds and 150 pounds (70 euros/105 dollars and 190 euros/295 dollars) and will go on sale on May 16.

Madonna, who was recently inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the United States, will start the US leg of the tour in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on October 3.

Dates for planned concerts in Mexico and South America are to be announced at a later date, the statement added.

"Hard Candy," featuring collaborations with Justin Timberlake and Kanye West, has topped the album charts in 27 countries.

Madonna's last tour in 2006 was seen by more than 1.3 million fans and was the most profitable tour by a female artist in history, taking 260 million dollars.

She currently divides her time between New York, Los Angeles and London, where her British film director husband Guy Ritchie is based.

Source : AFP