It’s been 25 years since Madonna debuted “Like A Prayer” and first sang the illusory lyrics “life is a mystery.” And time seems to have proven that the greatest mystery of all for Her Madgesty is how to start her own concerts on time. I guess she just can’t get into the groove! Her clock is on holiday! The stage manager says “We only got four minutes” but Madge doesn’t listen! Oh, I crack myself up. Madonna was sued in January by two concertgoers for starting her Dec. 13 Brooklyn show more than two hours late. Now three attendees of her Dec. 18 show in DC have filed another suit over Madonna’s tardiness. The kicker with this one is that Madame X started out the DC concert by rescinding an apology for the two hour delay. Your honor, Exhibit A: “It’s who I am… I’m always late.”
Seeing red: Three formerly true-blue Madonna fans are now seeing red. They have filed a federal class-action lawsuit in Washington, D.C. against the singer and Live Nation complaining that she was allegedly late getting onstage. The fans, Elizabeth Halper-Asefi, Mary Conoboy, and Nestor Monte, Jr., claim that their tickets said the Celebration Tour would begin at 8:30 p.m. but that Madge didn’t make an appearance until 10:30 p.m. on each of her D.C. dates in December.
‘A consumer’s worst nightmare’: In the filing, obtained by Rolling Stone, the D.C. three say they feel “deceived.” They also claim that they “had to leave the concerts early prior to the concerts’ conclusion, therefore depriving each of them of the benefit of seeing the complete concert.” The lawsuit further alleges that Madonna “maintained[ed] a hot and uncomfortable temperature in the venue during her performance” and that she “lip sync[ed] much of her performance.” These alleged actions, they claim, represent “Madonna’s arrogant and total disrespect” for ticketholders. “In essence, Madonna and Live Nation are a consumer’s worst nightmare,” the lawsuit claims.
Sorry, not sorry: When Madonna got onstage at the Dec. 18 D.C. show that the fans were at, the suit claims she told the crowd: “I am sorry I am late… no, I am not sorry, it’s who I am… I’m always late.” One of the plaintiffs, Halper-Asefi, spent $992.76 on tickets from StubHub, while the others purchased theirs from Ticketmaster. Conoboy spent $537.70 on two tickets while Monte shelled out $252.44 for two. “Defendants failed to provide any notice to the ticketholders that the Concerts would start much later than the start time printed on the ticket and as advertised, which resulted in the ticketholders waiting for hours for the Concerts to begin at the venue,” the lawsuit claims.
A pattern of behavior: Interestingly, the suit cites several examples of past Madonna tours where she did not get onstage promptly, including her 2016 Rebel Heart tour and Madame X concerts in Brooklyn, suggesting Madonna’s alleged tardiness is well known. “There have been myriad articles in the media and the internet over the years of fans complaining about Madonna not taking the stage for several hours after the advertised start time of her concerts,” the complaint reads. “Unfortunately, not all people who rely on advertising for the concerts know this. Further, even if some ticket purchasers know of Madonna’s unfortunate history of starting her concerts late, they do not know how late she will show-up [sic] on stage at any particular concert, so ticket purchasers arrived at the start time as advertised.”
Read the footnote: A lawyer for the plaintiffs directed Rolling Stone to a footnote from the filing that states, “This Complaint is not about unhappy fans who don’t want to stay up late, but instead, reasonable, responsible people who had commitments to babysitters, work, getting their vehicles out of parking lots that closed at 12:00 midnight, and realizing that public transportation would no longer be operating.”
Most of the arguments here are the same as with the other lawsuit. With that first one, I was going back and forth on whether it’s effective for the plaintiffs to harp on Madonna’s history of starting shows late. My concern was that they were making themselves vulnerable to the counter-argument that if she’s notorious for being late, shouldn’t the concertgoers have anticipated that possibility? But I’ve come around now, especially with seeing the ticket prices included in the filing. People have a right to expect the show to start at the time it says on the ticket, so that they can make all other logistical arrangements AND get to see the whole show. I can’t wait to see fake Celebration Tour merch pop up on Etsy with the tagline, Madonna + Live Nation: a consumer’s worst nightmare.
Lastly, I have to bring up again — because it cannot be forgotten amid these lawsuits — that Madonna used to charge her backup dancers $100 a minute for being late to rehearsals. Karma is a slick mistress with patience, a sense of poetry, and a long memory.
Photos credit: Backgrid and via Instagram