Madonna shut down Times Square, New York with a surprise performance this morning that was streamed live worldwide on YouTube.
The singer is on the publicity trail for her upcoming studio album Confessions on a Dance Floor II, which will be released in four weeks. Fans only got a day’s notice that Madonna had a live performance planned for Times Square, but flocked in their thousands to watch the show.
Eventually, a Times Square video screen opened to show Madonna, 67, flanked by backup dancers and DJ / producer Stuart Price as they ran through a six-song set of songs both from the new album and its 2005 predecessor, Confessions on a Dance Floor.
At one point in the set, Madonna – who flashed fans on Instagram earlier this week as she wished them a happy Pride month – straddled a speaker as she lay on a rotating stage.
Other moments from the show saw her grinding her crotch against female dancers and, in one slightly nerve-racking moment, hanging one leg over the clear safety barricade that was her only protection from falling on to the street many metres below:
“The way I screamed “madonna no don’t!!!!” when she was hanging over the barricade!” one fan tweeted.
“My heart dropped,” commented another fan, while another said they were “scared to death” – all still clearly remember the infamous moment at the 2016 Brit Awards when Madonna was yanked backwards down a flight of stairs by her cape mid-performance.
The live concert coincided with the release of the latest song from the new album, Love Sensation.
Madonna performed that song as well as the two other tracks so far released from Confessions II, before taking it back to 2005 with three songs in a row from the first Confessions album: Get Together, I Love New York and the global number one smash Hung Up.
It’s been an unusual release strategy so far for Madonna, six years on from the release of her lowest-selling album Madame X.
Three songs in, no music video has yet been released for the project – but Madonna will debut a 10-minute ‘short film’ set to several songs from the album at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival this weekend.
Madonna live at Times Square setlist
1. I Feel So Free
2. Bring Your Love
3. Love Sensation
4. Get Together
5. I Love New York
6. Hung Up