PEOPLE has reported the tragic news that a portion of Madonna's "Sticky and Sweet" stage set collapsed Thursday in Marseille, France, according to French police.
At least one person is dead and six injured.
The fatal accident occured in Nice's Stade Velodrome at 5:15 p.m. local time (11:15 a.m. EST) during preparations for her next show. Police and fire officials have closed down the stadium while trying to rescue those still trapped under the set. The concert, planned for Sunday, July 19th, has been cancelled.
Madonna's phenomenally successful 'Sticky & Sweet Tour', already the #1 Biggest Grossing Tour in history for a solo artist, embarked on another series of shows beginning July 4th in London. Stops will include appearances in never before played markets such as Werchter Belgium, Marseille France, Hamburg Germany, Oslo Norway, Helsinki Finland, Tallinn Estonia, Ljubljana Slovenia as well as stops in Romania, Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria it was confirmed today by Live Nation. Additional appearances by Madonna will include return visits after more than 15 years to Madrid, Gothenburg and Munich.
In 2008, the 'Sticky & Sweet Tour was seen by 2,350,285 fans in 58 cities. With record breaking ticket sales everywhere, including 650,000 tickets sold in her series of South American dates, 72,000 tickets at Zurich's Dubendorf Airfield - the largest audience ever assembled for a show in Switzerland, 75,000 tickets in London and four sell outs in New York's Madison Square Garden (60,364 tickets).
Special Guest for Sticky & Sweet 2009, Paul Oakenfold has long been one of the most important--if not the most important--name in modern club culture. He has remixed The Rolling Stones U2, Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Snoop Dog, Muse New Order, The Cure, Massive Attack and even Elvis Presley and produced The Happy Mondays. The two time Grammy nominee is in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the biggest DJ in the world. His new artist album, 'Pop Killer' is due out later this year.
Madonna's multi-Grammy-nominated CD 'Hard Candy' debuted at Number One in over 37 countries.
For further Madonna news, visit www.madonna.com
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