Madonna: Tears of a Clown

Tears of a Clown

Promotional concert by Madonna
Promotional banner for the concert
Location	Oceania North America
Start date	March 10, 2016 (2016-03-10)
No. of shows	1 in Australia 1 in North America 2 Total
Attendance	2,000
Madonna concert chronology
Rebel Heart Tour (2015–2016) Tears of a Clown (2016) Madame X Tour (2019–2020)

Tears of a Clown^[1] was a show by American singer Madonna, first held at the Forum Theatre in Melbourne, Australia on March 10, 2016. The singer had not included Australia during her previous five concert tours, until the Rebel Heart Tour (2015–2016), so she created the show for her Australian fans since they had waited so long for her to perform there. Madonna explained that the idea behind Tears of a Clown was to combine music and storytelling, being influenced by clowns. Tickets for the first show were made available to members of Madonna's official fan club, Icon, and were non-transferable, with the person's name printed on them.

The first show of Tears of a Clown started four hours late, with the delay being caused by Madonna rehearsing. It consisted of Madonna singing acoustic versions of her songs while dressed as a clown, interspersed with the singer telling jokes and anecdotes. Tears of a Clown received positive reviews from critics who appreciated the stripped down, confessional nature of the singer's performance and the choice of the songs and the comedy. Madonna denied reports of her being drunk on stage, calling them false and sexist. She revived the show on December 2, 2016, performing at Miami's Faena Forum as a benefit gala, to auction memorabilia and raise money for her Raising Malawi charitable foundation. Tickets were expensive, and the auctioned items included Madonna's tour dress and wedding photographs, as well as paintings that she owned.