Two concertgoers are suing Madonna and Live Nation for starting her show two hours late, citing breach of contract.
Madonna has long encouraged people to express themselves, and two New York City concertgoers are doing just that by suing her for starting her show two hours late.
Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden purchased tickets to Madonna’s Celebration Tour concert at Barclays Center on December 13 at 8:30 p.m. Madonna did not take the stage until after 10:45 p.m., according to the lawsuit.
“Confronted with limited public transportation, limited ride-sharing, and/or increased public and private transportation costs” at the time when the event ended at 1 a.m., and Hadden, on the other hand, “had to get up early to go to work and/or take care of their family responsibilities the next day.”
The two men are suing Madonna, Live Nation, and the Barclays Center for “unconscionable, unfair, and/or deceptive trade practices,” claiming breach of contract for assuring the public that the event would begin at 8:30 p.m. when they knew it would not.READ MORE: Madonna Is ‘On The Mend’ After Being Hospitalized
“Madonna had demonstrated flippant difficulty in ensuring a timely or complete performance, and Defendants were aware that any statement as to a start time for a show constituted, at best, optimistic speculation,” write attorneys for Fellows and Hadden, noting that Madonna’s concerts on December 14 and 16 (which the men did not attend) at the same venue reportedly began two hours late.
“Based on the years-long history of Madonna arriving several hours late to prior concerts (and which conduct continued at concerts in other cities after the concerts at the Barclays Center, including concerts in Washington, DC, and Boston), Plaintiffs knew or should have known that the concerts would not start at 8:30 PM, and that Madonna would not take the stage until several hours after the start time, causing Plaintiffs and all Class Members to have to wait several hours.”
The nature of the case may seem strange, but it is not the first of its sort, even for Madonna. Throughout her Madame X tour in 2019, she was sued several times for starting concerts late.
Nate Hollander, a Florida man, sued Madonna and Live Nation in November of that year, alleging that they had rescheduled a show two hours later than planned, making it too late to attend. Only a month later, Hollander voluntarily dismissed the claim.
During the same tour, two New York concertgoers, Andrew Panos and Antonio Velotta, filed a lawsuit similar to the one filed by Fellows and Hadden earlier this week. In February 2020, the pair filed a lawsuit against Madonna, Live Nation, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, alleging that the event began more than two hours late. They negotiated an undetermined deal in July 2020, and the lawsuit was voluntarily terminated.
The lawsuit was filed this week and demands unspecified damages.
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