Madonna's upcoming "Madame X" tour is not getting out of the starting gate like many expected, and, according to a report, there's a swath of tickets still available at many of her upcoming intimate shows.
The lack of booming ticket sales is somewhat inconceivable, given that her 2015-2016 "Rebel Heart Tour" grossed $170 million and typically drew 30,000 to a single show.
Page Six noted on Tuesday that hundreds of tickets are still available for Madge's upcoming Brooklyn, New York concerts, despite the fact that tickets went on sale more than a month ago. In fact, on her 17th and final show in Brooklyn on Oct. 7, more than half the mezzanine seats are reportedly available. Several prime seats at the 2,100-seat BAM Howard Gilman Opera House are available for that same show, and ticket broker Stubhub is selling seats at below face value, Page Six said.
Live Nation told the New York Post's gossip column more seats are available for the tour because it "increased the number of shows exponentially due to overwhelming demand."
"We added 10 shows in New York alone (a total of 17) to accommodate Madonna's vast fanbase," the concert promoter told The Post. "We removed suspicious requests throughout the campaign to ensure as many real fans as possible were able to access tickets. With the first round of tickets completely fulfilled and delivered to verified registered fans, Live Nation released a limited amount of additional tickets yesterday (Monday)."
The unique tour has Madonna performing at small venues on multiple nights throughout the country. The tour will see extended stops in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia and Miami.
"It's very telling these shows didn't sell out as quickly as 'Springsteen on Broadway' did a couple of years ago," an insider told the Post, citing Bruce Springsteen's hugely-successful Broadway run. "This clearly isn't the home run Team Madonna was hoping for."
In fairness, Madonna's "Madame X" album is due out this week, so that should help spur concert sales. However, of the five songs Madonna has already released from the album, none of them debuted on the Billboard Hot 100.