I admire Madonna – but she needs to show her fans some more respect

In Queen Madge’s world, she’s boss. It’s Madonna’s way or the wrong way. So you can imagine her fury when the management of the Palladium stuck to the pre-arranged 11pm curfew and cut the lights and sound in the theatre last Wednesday during her Madame X Tour.

The Queen of Pop unleashed a tirade of sweary abuse and then finished the show with a microphone-free version of “I Rise” at the front of the stage. So what went wrong? The theatre says they did not lower the fire curtain as the singer claimed – and critics have said if she could manage to start her shows on time, they wouldn’t overrun.

For die-hard fans, it must have been a moment to boast about and treasure, but for the rest of us, Madonna’s complaint that she was “censored” seems a trifle overblown. The singer says she is in constant pain, receiving six hours of treatment a day – cancelling dates and struggling with her fitness. Fans complain that starting shows two to three hours late, as she has done in New York, Miami and Las Vegas, means they miss transport home and can’t resell their tickets for the full value – a number are taking legal action to recoup their outlay.

While I admire Madonna for her determination to continue performing at the highest level, showing such disrespect to fans by starting so late is just arrogant and unworthy of a great artist.