Madonna says suffering in Israel-Hamas war ‘heartbreaking’ as delayed tour opens in London
Madonna has spoken of her heartbreak at the suffering in the Middle East as she kicked off her latest tour in London, which had been postponed following a life-threatening illness.
The US superstar urged fans at the O2 Arena on Saturday night to unite in “light and love” to help bring peace against the backdrop of the current Israel-Hamas war.
The conflict, which was sparked by the militant group launching a deadly assault from Gaza on Israel, has claimed thousands of lives on both sides.
Pausing her show, the 65-year-old singer told the audience: “We all come from love and it’s important to know that right now because there’s a lot of really crazy things happening in the world that are so painful to witness.
“All of us are suffering watching what’s happening in Israel and Palestine.
“It breaks my heart to see children suffering, teenagers suffering, elderly people suffering. All of it is heartbreaking.”
She added: “Even though our hearts are broken, our spirits cannot be broken…
“We are all together very powerful people. We can unite in the dark and evil or we can unite in a place of light and love.
“And if we all had that collective consciousness, we could change the world and we can bring peace – not only to the Middle East but all over the world.”
Madonna also praised her children for supporting her while she was ill earlier this year with a “serious bacterial infection” which saw her admitted to intensive care for several days and forced her to postpone the tour, which had been due to begin in Canada in July.
The singer said: “It was a crazy year for me as well and I didn’t think I was going to make it, neither did my doctors.
“I forgot five days of my life, or my death, I don’t really know where I was.
“But the angels were protecting me and my children were there, and my children always save me every time.”
Madonna is the most successful female artist in UK chart history
She added that her secret to surviving was thinking “I’ve got to be there for my children” before she struck up the chords to I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor.
During the show, the Queen of Pop treated the enthusiastic audience to an array of classic songs from her four-decade career, a host of extravagant outfits and a variety of theatrical stage set-ups.
She also ensured the first show of her new tour would be a family affair as a number of her six children took to the stage throughout the nearly two-and-a-half-hour performance.
Read more on Sky News:
Couple’s desperate messages before Hamas massacre
British parents ‘trapped’ at Gaza-Egypt border ‘like caged hens’
After opening with powerful renditions of Nothing Really Matters and Into The Groove, she asked the crowd: “Am I imagining this? Oh my God, it is so good to be back London.”
Madonna lived in London for several years while dating and married to film director Guy Ritchie.
She added: “I’m pretty damned surprised that I made it this far and I mean that on so many levels… How did I make it this far? Because of you. I’m going to take a bit of credit too.”
It is her first tour since her Madame X shows, which ended in 2020. Pic: AP
Madonna had to stop the performance briefly as she explained there was a problem with the sound and they had to “press the reset button”.
The singer apologised for the delay and admitted “this is exactly what you don’t want to happen on your opening night” but kept the crowd entertained by recalling anecdotes from her days in her first band when she was “broke and hungry and making zero cash”, confessing she would “date men who had showers and bathtubs” as she had no way to wash at the time.
After the sound issues were resolved, the singer made up for the wait by launching into lively versions of Open Your Heart and Holiday.
She also performed a rendition of Don’t Cry For Me Argentina draped in a Ukraine flag.
Madonna will perform three more sold-out dates in London before moving on to her European and North American legs.
It is her first tour since her Madame X shows, which ended in 2020.
Some of these performances were called off due to knee and hip injuries.
Madonna is the most successful female artist in UK chart history with 13 number-one hits.
Billie Eilish has announced a new tour and will be coming to the UK next summer.
The 22-year year old‘s show is named after her latest album – Hit Me Hard And Soft – and will kick off in North America in September.
It will then head to Australia in February 2025, before travelling across Europe and arriving in the UK on 7 July when she will perform for two nights in Glasgow, at OVO Hydro.
Eilish will then play six nights at the O2 in London, and four nights at the new Co-Op Live arena in Manchester – a venue that has been beset with problems as it prepares to open to the public.
The singer will then play two gigs in Dublin, Ireland, at the 3Arena.
A vocal environmentalist, fans are being encouraged to take “sustainable transport” during the tour, which will also feature “eco-villages” and encourage plant-based food options.
The tour will partner with the plant-based food organisation Support + Feed – an initiative founded by Eilish’s mother Maggie Baird – and environmental non-profit organisation REVERB.
The concerts will also aim to reduce “greenhouse gas pollution, decreasing single-use plastic waste, supporting climate action”, the promoters Live Nation said.
Eilish’s third studio album comes out on 17 May, a month after Taylor Swift‘s much lauded album The Tortured Poets Department.
Like Swift, Eilish is encouraging fans to listen to the collection as a whole, saying on her website that the new body of work should be listened to chronologically as it “hits you hard and soft both lyrically and sonically, while bending genres and defying trends along the way”.
She’s not released any singles in advance, encouraging fans to listen “in one go”.
The album cover features Eilish on her back under dark water with a white door open above her.
Eilish and Finneas accept their second Oscar. Pic: AP /Chris Pizzello
Eilish’s last album was 2021’s Happier Than Ever, and her debut record When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? was released in 2019.
The youngest person ever to have won two Oscars, she took home the award for best original song Oscar gong for Barbie’s What Was I Made For? in March, and won the same prize for James Bond’s No Time To Die in 2022.
Tickets for Hit Me Hard And Soft go on general sale on Friday.
Billie Eilish’s UK tour dates:
Mon 7 July, 2025 – Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
Tue 8 July, 2025 – Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
Thu 10 July, 2025 – London, UK – The O2
Fri 11 July, 2025 -London, UK – The O2
Sun 13 July, 2025 – London, UK – The O2
Mon 14 July, 2025 – London, UK – The O2
Wed 16 July, 2025 – London, UK – The O2
Thu 17 July, 2025 – London, UK – The O2
Sat 19 July, 2025 – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live
Sun 20 July, 2025 – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live
Tue 22 July, 2025 – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live
Wed 23 July, 2025 – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live
Entertainment
Googlebox star George Gilbey’s mum reveals his last words to her before he fell to his death
The mother of Gogglebox star George Gilbey has revealed his last words to her were “I love you”.
Gilbey died after falling through a plastic skylight while fixing a warehouse roof in Essex in March.
The 40-year-old appeared alongside his mum, Linda McGarry, and stepdad on the hit Channel 4 show.
The family first appeared on the second series of Gogglebox in 2013 but were dropped the following year when Gilbey signed up for the 14th series of Celebrity Big Brother in 2014, reaching the final.
Mrs McGarry said she spoke to him on the phone hours before his death.
Gilbey appeared alongside his mum Linda and stepdad Pete on Gogglebox. Pic: PA
She told The Sun: “He phoned me at 9.30 in the morning and said he was working – and asked me for his ‘breakfast money’.
“I put £30 in his account so he could get food, and he seemed fine.
“He had a drink the night before, and liked a bottle of white wine or two, but was happy that he was working. He ended the phone call by saying, ‘I love you’ like he usually did. I treasure those words.”
She added: “It was an honour for him to have been my son. We had a blast for 40 years.”
Mrs McGarry said her son had struggled with the death of his dad, stepfather and her own Parkinson’s diagnosis.
At the time of his death, he was working to save money to move closer to his seven-year-old daughter, Amelie, in southwest London.
“He wanted to be with Amelie, who he adored,” she told The Sun.
“They were on the third day of a job that was going to last a month, and he was going to get money together from that.
“When they were together, George and Amelie were always laughing. She is going to miss him terribly, like we all will.”
Read more from Sky News:
Social media influencer shot dead by motorbike gunman
TV doctor struck off for exchanging Botox for sex at his clinic
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Gilbey suffered traumatic injuries to his head and torso and died at the scene in Shoeburyness.
An inquest was opened last week but suspended after a request from police pending a criminal investigation.
A man in his 40s from the Witham area of Essex was previously arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter
He was later released under investigation.
Entertainment
Bestselling author CJ Sansom dies days before Disney adaption of his Shardlake series airs
Author CJ Sansom, who created the character of Matthew Shardlake, has died at the age of 71, his publisher has announced.
Sansom first introduced readers to Shardlake – a lawyer who solves crimes while navigating the religious reforms and political intrigue of Tudor England – in the 2003 book Dissolution.
The Scottish writer released six further novels featuring Shardlake, as well as two standalone historical novels, Winter In Madrid and Dominion.
His works have just been adapted into the series Shardlake, which features The Innocents star Arthur Hughes as the main character and Game Of Thrones actor Sean Bean as Thomas Cromwell.
The first season of the Tudor murder mystery series is set to be released by Disney+ on Wednesday.
Sansom was described as one of Britain’s best historical novelists. Pic: Pan Macmillian/PA
Announcing his death on Monday, publishers Pan Macmillan wrote in a statement: “It is with immense sadness that Pan Macmillan announces the death of CJ Sansom.”
“‘It is an extraordinarily strange coincidence that Chris has died only a handful of days before a new generation of fans will meet Matthew Shardlake, Barak and Guy and co for the first time through,” his agent, Antony Topping, said.
“This is also a moment for which Chris’s established fans have been waiting a long time.
“Chris was so proud of all the work and determination that went into bringing the novels to our television screens, which I hope will bring an entirely new audience to the books and which will maybe also inspire some old fans to return to their favourite CJ Sansom novels.”
Sansom’s long-time editor and publisher, Maria Rejt, added that he was working on a new Shardlake book but his “worsening health made progress painfully slow”.
Arthur Hughes as protagonist Matthew Shardlake. Pic: Disney+ UK
She described the author as an “intensely private person” who took immense pleasure in the public’s enthusiastic response to his novels.
“I shall miss him hugely, not only as a wonderfully talented writer who gave joy to millions, but as a dear friend of enormous compassion and integrity,” Ms Rejt said.
Shardlake featured as the protagonist in a total of seven of Sansom’s novels. Dissolution was dramatised once before by BBC Radio 4 in 2012.
Read more on Sky News:
Googlebox star’s mum last words to son
Harvey Weinstein taken to hospital
ITV newsreader becomes unwell live on air
Sean Bean stars in the new series based off Sansom’s debut novel. Pic: Disney+ UK
With more than three million copies of his novels in print, Sansom was awarded the Crime Writers’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger Award in 2022 for his outstanding contribution to the genre.
Born in Edinburgh in 1952, Sansom attended Birmingham University where he studied an undergraduate degree and PhD in history.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
He worked as a solicitor before becoming a full-time writer where he was able to combine his passion for history and law securing him as one of Britain’s bestselling historical novelists.
Sansom was also a signatory to an 2014 open letter advocating that Scotland should remain in the UK.
The author also donated £161,000 to the Better Together campaign, according to published accounts.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Environment11 months agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports6 months agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Technology3 years ago
Game consoles were once banned in China. Now Chinese developers want a slice of the $49 billion pie
-
Politics2 years ago
Have the last few wobbly weeks seen a turning point for Johnson as PM?