Cardiff kick-off for Madonna tour

The two-hour show includes eight costume changes by Madonna

Thousands of Madonna fans are in Cardiff for the launch of her 27-date world tour at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

Her Sticky and Sweet tour takes in 16 European venues, including Wembley Stadium London, before moving to North and South America.

The 40,000-seat first date was all but sold out.

Madonna's last tour was in 2006 and it became the highest-grossing by a female artist at the time.

The new tour has 16 dancers, a 12-piece band and an array of designer costume changes for the star, who celebrated her 50th birthday last week.

STICKY AND SWEET TOUR BY NUMBERS Two stages £lm of jewellery 3,500 individual wardrobe elements 100 pairs of fishnet stockings 69 guitars 100 pairs of kneepads 12 seamstresses have been working in Cardiff to finish costumes for opening night 120 powder puffs Large freezers to carry ice packs for Madonna and her dancers Travelling on tour are a chiropractor, a personal trainer and a masseuse 12 trampolines for training by Madonna and dancers

Madonna and band have spent more than 650 hours rehearsing for the two-hour show which is broken into four sections.

The Pimp section is described as a "mashed-up homage" to 1920s deco and modern day gangsta pimp, in which Madonna will make an entrance dressed by Givenchy.

The Old School show section will see Madonna return to her early 80s downtown New York City dance roots and the birth of rap.

There will then be a Romanian folk music and dance-influenced Gypsy section, before the Rave element, which promises far eastern influences, emerging "all sparkly and sporty".

The show will bring its usual glamour, with a team of 36 different designers contributing to the stage costumes.

'Horrendous weather'

There are three racks of clothing for Madonna's stage wardrobe alone, with five assistants helping with the star's eight major costume changes.

It is the first time the venue has been picked to start a world tour and stadium manager Gerry Toms said it showed the venue had the confidence of the industry.

He said: "There's lot of work involved in a new tour. A new stage configuration and lighting has been be going on for the past couple of weeks.

"The benefit for us that we have a retractable roof, so we've been unhindered by the horrendous weather we've been having.

"They could have gone to anywhere in Europe buy they've got the confidence in Cardiff, not just the stadium, but Cardiff as a whole to deliver, we should take some strength from that."

The Millennium Stadium's stage was flanked by the giant letter M on both sides, with the roof shut as rain fell.

But despite being the first date of the tour, tickets were still available shortly before the event.

A Cardiff council spokeswoman said most of the city's hotels were full although this was not entirely due to the concert but also because it is a bank holiday weekend.