Madonna Kicks Off Celebration World Tour in London

There’s no doubt about it — Madonna is still the reigning Queen of Pop.

On Saturday night the Material Girl kicked off her long-awaited Celebration Tour at London’s O2 Arena with an electrifying two-hour set that had the audience of 20,000 up on their feet for the duration of the show.

The superstar, 65, opened with “Nothing Really Matters,” followed by “Everybody” and “Into the Groove,” before hitting a technical snag.

She handled the malfunction in stride, sharing stories of her youth with the crowd during the unexpected 10-minute interlude. “I was in my first band … I was broke, and I was hungry and I still was making zero cash — but I did see the future, thank God,” she recalled, adding that she had “no way to take a bath” at the time.

“I actually dated men who had showers and bathtubs,” she continued, eliciting cheers and laughter from fans. “I’d surreptitiously sneak into the conversation, ‘So… do you live alone?’ And they would say yes usually … And I said, ‘Do you have a bathroom or a shower?’ And they’d also nod and look at me like I was a crazy person and I’d say, ‘Let’s get some dinner!'”

After getting back on track, Madonna kept the crowd dancing to 40-plus of her greatest hits, including “Like a Prayer,” “Crazy for You,” “Justify My Love” and “Ray of Light.”

In a sweet moment, the star paid tribute to her daughter Lourdes — who turned 27 on Saturday — by leading the audience in a singalong of her song “Little Star.”

She also addressed the conflict between Israel and Palestine, saying, “There’s a lot of really crazy things happening in the world that are so, so painful to witness.”

“It breaks my heart to see children suffering, teenagers suffering, elderly people suffering. All of it is heartbreaking, okay? I’m sure you agree. But even though our hearts are broken, our spirits cannot be broken. Are you with me? A lot of people say, well, what can I do? I’m just one person. You feel hopeless. You feel helpless, right? What can we do? There’s a lot we can do,” she continued. “First and foremost, we can say, ‘I can make a difference because I individually can bring light to the world with my actions, with my words each and every day. I’m sorry, this isn’t about lecturing you, but we are all together very powerful people … we can unite in a place of light and love.”

Madonna also reflected on her “crazy year,” which included a scary hospitalization over the summer for a serious bacterial infection.

“I didn’t think I was gonna make it. Neither did my doctors. That’s why I woke up with all of my children sitting around me. I forgot five years 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,” she said of Lourdes, Rocco, 23, David, 18, Mercy, 17, and Stella and Estere, 11. “If you want to know my secret and you want to know how I pulled through and survived, I thought, I have to be there for my children. I have to survive for them.”

It was even more meaningful, then, that Madonna’s kids joined her onstage throughout the night: Mercy played piano for “Bad Girl,” Estere deejayed and danced with her mom to “Vogue,” Stella appeared onstage during “Don’t Tell Me” and David played guitar on “Mother and Father.”

Still, the show had its moments of raunch and spectacle, including topless dancers, multiple costume changes, aerial stunts and more. In another section, Madonna honored those who have died from AIDS, including Freddie Mercury, while singing “Live to Tell.”

The pop star’s sold-out London performance is the first stop in a world tour of 78 shows that will take her from Europe to North America through April 2024, before closing where she first launched into stardom: New York City.

“I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for,” she said in a press release when the Celebration Tour was initially announced in January.