Into the (tour) groove
“People were thinking, predicting that I might not make it,” singer said of battling bacterial infection during Belgium show
Madonna is a week into her resurrected Celebration tour, which was postponed for three months following her battling a bacterial infection. During her tour stop on Saturday in Antwerp, Belgium, she reflected on her hospitalization and return to the road.
“Less than four months ago, I was in a hospital and I was unconscious, and people were thinking, predicting that I might not make it,” she told fans in attendance at the Sportpaleis arena, via fan-shot video footage from the concert. “So, it’s a fucking miracle that I’m here right now. My mother, God bless her, she must be watching over me — she said, ‘Girl, it’s not your time to go.’”
Madonna’s mother died of breast cancer when she was five years old.
During her emotional speech, the singer added: “I had this strange thought. I suddenly had sympathy and empathy for my mother, not about the dying part, but how lonely she must have felt laying in hospital, knowing that she wasn’t going to live, and I was given another chance. So I’m very grateful for that.” She added: “I must tell you, I don’t feel really well right now, but I can’t complain ‘cause I’m alive. Thank God for my children and all of you for your love and support, I really appreciate it.”
Madonna kicked off her Celebration tour earlier this month at London at O2 Arena, where she performed a six-show run that featured a career-spanning set.
The U.K. and European leg of Madonna’s Celebration tour will run through the early fall, with the North American leg launching on Dec. 13 in Brooklyn. Additional dates are scheduled through spring 2024.