Bay City · New York · London · Rio
Three spotlights, three tours. Below them, a crowd dressed as her.
Every era a new look. Try them on: the page changes clothes, and the place she wore it opens.
Eight looks · eight places
In the order she wore them. Choose one and everything on this page changes into it: colour, type, texture. Then go and stand where she wore it.
Nothing on yet. Showing the first look, The bride.
Radio City Music Hall · 1260 Avenue of the Americas, New York
She opens the first VMAs out of a wedding cake and loses a shoe.
The first MTV Video Music Awards were held here on 14 September 1984.
She came out of a towering wedding cake in a costume designed by her stylist, Maripol.
A working theatre. The Stage Door Tour runs seven days a week and lasts about an hour.
Michigan · 1958–1978
16.08.1958
Madonna was born at Mercy Hospital in Bay City on 16 August 1958; her mother went into labour while visiting family. Her mother grew up in Bay City; the family lived near Pontiac, and Madonna grew up in Pontiac and Rochester.
A 2020 mural on the former City Market building, displays at the Historical Museum of Bay County and a small sign near the old hospital site mark her now. Downtown Bay City is free to walk. The Historical Museum of Bay County, on Washington Avenue, has displays about her.
1976–78
She went to the University of Michigan on a dance scholarship, from 1976 to 1978.
The central campus and the Diag are open to walk at any time.
1978
Off the plane from Michigan, with a dancer’s training and no plan. Where does the cab go?
Radio City Music Hall · 14 September 1984
The first MTV Video Music Awards were held here on 14 September 1984. She came out of a towering wedding cake in a costume designed by her stylist, Maripol.
On top of the cake.
She sang “Like a Virgin” in a wedding dress; it became her first number one single.
A working theatre. The Stage Door Tour runs seven days a week and lasts about an hour.
Midtown Manhattan · About 60 minutes · seven days a week
About an hour inside the hall where the first VMAs opened with a wedding cake.
See the tourBurbank · 10–11 February 1990
The “Vogue” video was filmed at Burbank Studios on 10–11 February 1990, in black and white.
David Fincher directed it; rehearsals for the Blond Ambition tour left only about 16 hours to shoot.
Six frames. The light is on.
The lot was called The Burbank Studios from 1972 to 1990, when Warner Bros. shared it with Columbia Pictures.
A working studio. The Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood, at 3400 Warner Boulevard, takes visitors on to the lot; tours from $79.
Burbank · Studio Tour from $79 · Deluxe from $330
Three hours on the lot where “Vogue” was filmed, when it was still The Burbank Studios. Longer tours go further.
Daily 8.30am–3.30pm · closed 3–5 and 26 November
Book a tourContact sheet: Vogue on the Blond Ambition Tour, 1990, photographed by a fan, Hans Schaft (CC BY-SA 3.0). The video itself is not shown.
Wembley · 20 July 1990 · live on Radio One
Delay unit · Radio One
Press a key for each one.
BBC Radio One broadcast the London show live and asked her not to swear. She swore 14 times in a minute.
She played the Blond Ambition tour at Wembley Stadium on 20 July 1990. The tour’s cone-bra corset was by Jean Paul Gaultier.
A working stadium for football and concerts; stadium tours are sold on its website.
28.11.2000
It was webcast live; Guinness counts 9 million live viewers and 2 million more on demand, the largest internet pop concert.
On 28 November 2000 she played a six-song, 29-minute show here, her first concert in Britain in seven years, to about 2,800 fans. She wore a T-shirt with her son Rocco’s name on the front.
The cowboy look of the Music era came from her stylist Arianne Phillips with Dsquared2: an outsider’s take on Americana.
A working concert hall: check the listings before you go.
14.10.2023
The Celebration Tour opened here on 14 October 2023, four months late after a bacterial infection put her in hospital. It was the first of four shows at the O2, with a set of 33 songs.
A working arena, open for concerts and events.
Buenos Aires · Lisbon · Chelsea
For Evita (1996) she played Eva Perón; filming the balcony scene here took persuasion, and she appealed to Argentina’s president herself.
Permission came at the last minute. She was fitted for more than 80 costumes for the film.
See the balcony from the Plaza de Mayo. The Museo Casa Rosada, at Paseo Colón 100, runs free guided visits on some weekends.
She moved to Lisbon in 2017, when her son David joined the Benfica football academy. Fado and the city’s bars fed the album Madame X; she settled in the Palácio Ramalhete, now a hotel.
The Madame X tour set four sold-out nights here in January 2020, then added two more.
A working concert hall in the Baixa.
Lapa, Lisbon
The Lisbon palace she settled in after 2017, now a hotel of 18 rooms and suites at Rua das Janelas Verdes 92, with a pool and patios. Pictured: the Coliseu.
Check rooms
She performed at the Roxy in 1983, gave a late-night show there in 1998 for Ray of Light, and came back in 2005 for Confessions on a Dance Floor.
Danceteria, at 30 West 21st Street, is where she gave her demo to the DJ Mark Kamins; a dance scene in Desperately Seeking Susan was filmed there.
The club is gone: see the address from West 18th Street.
Copacabana · 4 May 2024 · free
130,000 at the Parc des Sceaux, her old record · one dot is 10,000 people
On 4 May 2024 she closed the Celebration Tour here with a free show; Riotur, the city’s tourism agency, put the crowd at 1.6 million.
Anitta and Pabllo Vittar joined her; Vittar helped turn “Music” into a samba. Her previous record was 130,000 at the Parc des Sceaux, Paris, in 1987.
A public beach, free at any hour. The stage stood on the sand in front of the Copacabana Palace.
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro
Avenida Atlântica 1702, on the beach. She stayed here in May 2024, and the stage was built on the sand in front. Pictured: Copacabana.
Check rooms12 places you can visit. Ashcombe House is a private estate and is not on the map.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Downtown Bay City is free to walk. The Historical Museum of Bay County, on Washington Avenue, has displays about her.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The central campus and the Diag are open to walk at any time.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public plaza, free and open around the clock.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working theatre. The Stage Door Tour runs seven days a week and lasts about an hour.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The club is gone: see the address from West 18th Street.
321 Washington Avenue, Bay City, Michigan
Madonna was born at Mercy Hospital in Bay City on 16 August 1958; her mother went into labour while visiting family.
Downtown Bay City is free to walk. The Historical Museum of Bay County, on Washington Avenue, has displays about her.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
She went to the University of Michigan on a dance scholarship, from 1976 to 1978.
The central campus and the Diag are open to walk at any time.
Midtown Manhattan, New York
When she arrived in New York in 1978, a cab driver dropped her off here.
A public plaza, free and open around the clock.
1260 Avenue of the Americas, New York
The first MTV Video Music Awards were held here on 14 September 1984.
A working theatre. The Stage Door Tour runs seven days a week and lasts about an hour.
515 West 18th Street, Chelsea, New York
She performed at the Roxy in 1983, gave a late-night show there in 1998 for Ray of Light, and came back in 2005 for Confessions on a Dance Floor.
The club is gone: see the address from West 18th Street.
Stay
The beach hotel she walked out of to the Copacabana stage, and the Lisbon palace she lived in.
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro
Avenida Atlântica 1702, on the beach. She stayed here in May 2024, and the stage was built on the sand in front. Pictured: Copacabana.
Check roomsLapa, Lisbon
The Lisbon palace she settled in after 2017, now a hotel of 18 rooms and suites at Rua das Janelas Verdes 92, with a pool and patios. Pictured: the Coliseu.
Check roomsGo there
The Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Radio City’s stage door, and New York music tours on the open market.
Burbank · Studio Tour from $79 · Deluxe from $330
Three hours on the lot where “Vogue” was filmed, when it was still The Burbank Studios. Longer tours go further.
Daily 8.30am–3.30pm · closed 3–5 and 26 November
Book a tourMidtown Manhattan · About 60 minutes · seven days a week
About an hour inside the hall where the first VMAs opened with a wedding cake.
See the tourNew York
Live marketplace results for New York music and pop history tours. Check each itinerary.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
Confessions II is out, but no tour dates have been announced. We will add them when they are.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
Take it home
An original Evita one-sheet and a Blond Ambition tour poster from our store, Mary Gabriel’s biography and three LPs.
The original 27 × 40 in one-sheet for Alan Parker’s film, 1996.
In stock
View posterA 1990 tour poster, 23 × 35 in, from the tour of the cone corset.
Sold out · archive reference
View posterMary Gabriel
The long biography, from Bay City to the stadiums.
Find the bookMadonna · LP, Sire, 1984
The album with the song she sang on the cake at Radio City.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyMadonna · 2LP, Maverick, 1998
The record she played late at the Roxy.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyMadonna · 2LP, Maverick, 2000
The cowboy-hat record, launched at Brixton.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
13 of 13 places · 15 of 15 Moments
321 Washington Avenue, Bay City, Michigan
Born at Mercy Hospital while her mother was visiting family.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
She studies dance at the University of Michigan.
Midtown Manhattan, New York
A cab leaves her in Times Square.
1260 Avenue of the Americas, New York
She opens the first VMAs out of a wedding cake and loses a shoe.
515 West 18th Street, Chelsea, New York
At Danceteria she hands her demo to Mark Kamins.
A late-night show at the Roxy for Ray of Light.
4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California
Sixteen hours, black and white, David Fincher.
Wembley, north-west London
Gaultier’s cone corset, live on BBC radio.
211 Stockwell Road, Brixton, London
Twenty-nine minutes, nine million watching live.
Americana from the outside, for Music.
Greenwich Peninsula, London
Forty years, opened in London.
Near Tollard Royal, on the Wiltshire–Dorset border
A Wiltshire estate, in the press as hers.
Plaza de Mayo, Buenos Aires
Eva Perón on the real balcony.
Rua das Portas de Santo Antão, Lisbon
Six nights in the city that made the record.
Avenida Atlântica, Rio de Janeiro
The tour ends free on the sand.
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