Madonna Fans Who 'Had To Get Up Early To Go To Work' Sue Over Late Concert Starting Time

Madonna has been sued after allegedly starting three of her concerts at Barclays Centre in Brooklyn over two hours late, with ticket buyers claiming legal harm as they “had to get up early to go to work”.

According to the lawsuit cited by Billboard, ticket buyers Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden lodged a complaint in a Brooklyn federal court on 17 January, where they claimed the Like A Prayer singer had breached her contract with fans and violated New York state laws by allegedly starting their concert over two hours late – the show was scheduled to begin at 8:30 pm and started after 10:30 pm, not ending until after 1 am.

Due to the late finishing times, Fellows and Hadden claimed that they and other concertgoers were “stranded” and “confronted with limited public transportation” options, with rideshare vehicle drivers charging surged prices at that time of night.

The concert the complaint surrounds (13 December 2023) was also a Wednesday night, so the lawsuit notes that they “had to get up early to go to work and/or take care of their family responsibilities the next day.”

Live Nation and Barclays Centre are also named as defendants in the lawsuit, as well as a claim of so-called negligent misrepresentation.

Fellows and Hadden wrote that Barclays Centre organisers “knew or should have known” that Madonna would come on stage late, citing previous incidents of the performer allegedly starting concerts late, namely the 2016 Rebel Heart Tour and 2019-2020 Madame X Tour.

Fellows and Hadden also argued that they “would not have paid for their tickets had they known that the concerts would start after 10:30 pm.”

During Madonna’s last tour of Australia in March 2016, The Music reviewer Liz Giuffre noted that one of her concerts at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena started “an hour or so late”, while in Brisbane, she appeared on stage over two hours late.

For fans who attended Madonna’s one-off, exclusive show at Melbourne’s Forum Theatre, they were reportedly left waiting for five hours in the rain. The doors then opened at midnight, with Madonna taking the stage at 1 am and the show finishing after 3 am.