The Rebel Heart Tour was the tenth concert tour by American singer Madonna, staged in support of her thirteenth studio album, Rebel Heart (2015). Comprising 82 shows, the tour visited North America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. It began on September 9, 2015, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada, and concluded on March 20, 2016, at the Allphones Arena in Sydney, Australia. The tour was officially announced on March 1, 2015, through Madonna's website and was led by Live Nation Entertainment's Global Touring Division, helmed by Arthur Fogel; this was the fifth collaboration between Madonna and Live Nation as well as her third tour to be promoted by the company. Additionally, the tour marked the singer's first visits to Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Macau, Philippines, Singapore, and New Zealand, and was her first to visit Australia and Puerto Rico since the Girlie Show (1993).
Rehearsals for the tour commenced following its announcement and lasted 10–12 hours per day, with involvement from Madonna's team of creative directors, producers, designers and choreographers. It was inspired by shows like Cirque du Soleil and Chinese New Year, as well as the films 300 (2006) and Grease (1978). Madonna enlisted Jamie King as the creative director, and Megan Lawson and Jason Yong as choreographers. The tour featured costumes from Moschino, Prada, Miu Miu, Gucci and Swarovski jewelry, and an elevated stage with a cross-shaped runway ending in a heart-shaped B-stage. Multimedia was created by Moment Factory, while sound and light were produced by Clay Paky and DiGiCo, respectively. The central theme of the concert was love and romance and, like past tours by the singer, was divided into different thematic segments: Joan of Arc/Samurai, Rockabilly Meets Tokyo, Latin/Gypsy, and Party/Flapper. The set list had more than 20 songs picked from Madonna's career along with material from Rebel Heart.
Despite a number of controversies, critics gave the tour generally positive reviews, with praise going to Madonna's stage presence, vocals and the imagery presented; it was also commercially successful, with all shows sold out, and an audience of over 1.05 million. Rebel Heart grossed $169.8 million, extending Madonna's record as the highest-grossing solo touring artist with total gross of $1.31 billion, beginning with 1990's Blond Ambition World Tour. This ranked her in third place on the all-time top-grossing Billboard Boxscore list, only behind the Rolling Stones and U2. The shows of March 19–20, 2016, performed at the Allphones Arena, were filmed by Danny Tull and Nathan Rissman for the film Madonna: Rebel Heart Tour. It premiered on December 9, 2016, on American cable channel Showtime while a live CD/DVD and Blu-ray was released on September 15, 2017.
Background
In March 2015, Madonna released her 13th studio album, Rebel Heart; the release was plagued by internet hackers leaking its content previously. Numerous news outlets started reporting about the supporting concert tour for the album, which was formally announced on March 1, 2015, on Madonna's official website. Titled Rebel Heart Tour, it was initially scheduled to begin on August 29, 2015, from Miami and continue throughout Europe, and end on December 20, 2015, in Glasgow, Scotland.
Rebel Heart was led by Live Nation Entertainment's Global Touring Division, helmed by Arthur Fogel. It was Madonna's fifth collaboration with Live Nation. Fogel commented that the leak had helped in bring more attention to Madonna's music and it was a positive scenario for the world tour. "It's kind of strange how it all came about, but it certainly hasn't been a negative in terms of getting people engaged with the new music. Anything that helps put it out there is good, even if it happens in a weird way", he concluded.
On May 21, 2015, Madonna rescheduled the first five dates of the tour and moved them to January 2016. The singer confirmed that arrangement logistics was the cause of the postponement and announced that the first date was changed to September 9, 2015, at Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. Billboard reported Rebel Heart as an all-arena tour, and would visit cities where Madonna had not performed before. The tour visited Australia and New Zealand in early 2016, and was the singer's first visit to Australia in more than 20 years, having last toured there with the Girlie Show in 1993, and her first time in New Zealand. Philippines was added to the tour itinerary, for two performances at SM Mall of Asia in February 2016.
After the tour started, Madonna revealed another 16 dates in Asia and North America. They included first ever concerts in Taipei, Bangkok, Louisville, San Antonio, Tulsa and Nashville as well as her first concerts in Tokyo in a decade and additional dates in Mexico City and Houston. Singapore was added to the itinerary for February 28, 2016; the concert was rated as "adults only" by the Media Development Authority (MDA) of the country. Before arriving in Australia, Madonna announced an extra show on March 10, 2016, at Melbourne's Forum Theatre. The show was billed as an intimate gig, and was described by the singer as a fusion of music, art and comedy. Titled Madonna: Tears of a Clown, it was created specifically for Australian fans.
Development Conception and rehearsals
While composing material for Rebel Heart, Madonna would get "fleeting moments of ideas" of what she would like to perform on the tour. After the promotional performances supporting the album, she had a concrete imagery about the themes she would like to incorporate. In March 2015 she clarified: "I like to create personas and then the persona changes and grows into other things... I'm at the beginning of that process right now, in terms of thinking of my tour and stuff". Rehearsals for the tour occurred for 10–12 hours per day. Madonna admitted liking the tour's rehearsals and creative process, noting her complete involvement in its development. Unlike the MDNA Tour (2012), Madonna confirmed that her son Rocco would not perform onstage, but would instead work behind the scenes of the tour.
By July 2015, Madonna was working on the set list with her team of creative directors, producers, designers and choreographers. She described the tour as "characteristically theatrical spectacle" included songs from her whole career. Madonna saw a challenge in alternating between material from Rebel Heart and her previous works, since "thematically the songs—the old and the new—they have to go together; sonically they have to go together". The concert was divided into four thematic segments, a custom for the singer: Joan of Arc/Samurai, Rockabilly Meets Tokyo, Latin/Gypsy and Party/Flapper. Its main theme was derived from the title Rebel Heart, and showcased the singer's personal statements and opinions, represented in the form of a journey. Love and romance were listed as the central themes of the show, with Madonna wanting the audience to feel inspired watching it. She juxtaposed opposite ideas of sexuality and religion, saying that "I'm very immersed in [how they are] not supposed to go together, but in my world it goes together". Inspirations for the Rebel Heart Tour came from shows like Cirque du Soleil and the Chinese New Year, as well as from films like 300 (2006) and Grease (1978). Jamie King was signed as the creative director for the show, while Megan Lawson and Jason Young choreographed the 20 dancers through intricate acrobatic dance steps. Since Madonna had started out as a dancer, she tried to find "unique and original dancers to work with" and create content and dance routines that would appeal to the audience.
French choreographer Sébastian Ramirez was hired from the auditions to select backup dancers for the show, which saw over 5,000 applicants in Paris, New York and Los Angeles. Madonna admired Ramirez's work and enlisted him to choreograph two songs for the show. Ramirez was surprised by the fast pace in which Madonna and her team generated and swapped ideas for the tour. Taking charge of the whole show, Madonna would explain an emotion behind a song and then entrust Ramirez and the other choreographers to come up with a routine.
Two short videos were released on the singer's Instagram account, showing the rehearsals taking place. As "Devil Pray" and "Iconic" from the album played, the videos showed flamenco-inspired choreography, nuns dancing on poles, and an elaborate set adorned with dancers carrying giant props. The singer continued releasing images and videos related to the tour, including dance rehearsal workshops. Madonna chose comedian Amy Schumer as the opening act for the New York shows, deviating from her usual hiring of a band or a disc jockey to open the shows. The singer thought of the idea since she believed Schumer was a role model for young women. Diplo, one of the producers of Rebel Heart, was hired as the opening act for the Montreal shows.
Stage and venue setup
For the stage setup, creative and logistical design group Stufish were hired. They started brainstorming with Madonna and King in January 2015, after a 25-song set list has been created. The central theme of Rebel Heart was reproduced in the runway resembling an arrow or a cross, with the heart at its tip. Stufish, who had previously developed the structures for The MDNA Tour, were enlisted for Rebel Heart. The perpendicular structures emanating from the middle of the runway allowed Madonna and her dancers to reach more audience. Joking that the stage looked like a penis, Stufish architect Ric Lipson recalled Madonna saying: "hearts and penises are clearly very linked and this is God's way of setting [my] life in motion".
The large main stage was elevated and set up at the end of the arenas, with a long catwalk extending from its middle. The middle of the catwalk had a circular stage, while the pathway ended into a heart-shaped B-stage. In order to facilitate the entrance and exit of Madonna and her dancers, openings were created throughout the length of the stage, as well as causeways underneath it. Behind the main stage, three large video screens were placed, with the band and Madonna's two background vocalists in front of it. A number of barriers and encasing were supplied by Mojo Barriers to separate the stage from the audience and the production areas upfront. All barriers were supplied in black aluminium.
A complex machine structure enabled the whole stage to become mobile and assume numerous shapes and sizes throughout the show. The structure had a video screen that could change into the main stage floor. The same screen converted into an elevated platform of varying degrees within half-a-minute, or an angular wall for Madonna's dancers to sway from. Specially crafted bungee points were attached to the top edge of the machine, allowing performers to "flip, tumble, run and roll up and down the ramp". The screens showed the visuals created by Moment Factory and Veneno Inc. Another prop was a steel spiral staircase which was hidden from the audience initially. Lipson explained that it was created out of a single block of steel. Although it was not recommended to use the steel because of its heavy weight and enormity, Madonna wanted it since she had found the sturdiness useful during rehearsals. Simpler props designed by Stufish included a table used during the performance of "Vogue", which was long and had flickering tall candelabras at each end. A set of crosses for the dancing nuns were designed to support both Madonna and a dancer on it. They were finalized from 17 different prototypes, and were fastened with links, allowing the dancers to know which way they would swivel.