The Virgin Tour

The Virgin Tour

Tour by Madonna
Start date	April 10 1985
End date	June 11 1985
Legs	1
No. of shows	40
Madonna concert chronology

Madonna's first concert tour, The Virgin Tour 1985, included visits to major United States and Canadian cities. All 17,162 tickets for her three shows at New York City's Radio City Music Hall sold out in a record-breaking 34 minutes. All other concert dates all sold out, many within hours of first sales.

The Beastie Boys were Madonna's supporting act.

The tour grossed U$17,8 million.

Set list

• "Dress You Up"
• "Holiday"
• "Into the Groove"
• "Everybody"
• "Angel"
• "Gambler"
• "Borderline"
• "Lucky Star"
• "Crazy for You"
• "Over and Over"
• "Burning Up"
• "Like a Virgin" (with a few lines of "Billie Jean")
• "Material Girl"

Tour reviews

Music critics were not enthused:

• Robert Palmer, The New York Times — "Madonna... simply didn't sing very well. Her intonation was atrocious; she sang sharp and she sang flat, and the combination of her unsure pitch and thin, quavery vocal timbre made the held notes at the end of her phrases sound like they were crawling off somewhere to die."
• Paul Grein, Billboard — "Cyndi Lauper will be around for a long time. Madonna will be out of business in six months. Her image has completely overshadowed her music."
• Paul Evans, Record — "Perhaps every generation needs reminding that rock and sex are sometimes indisinguishable. At the moment, Madonna's the apostle of the body gospel, and, as her show makes apparent, it's hard to recall a more fetching zealot."

In response, Madonna said: "I ignored the critics because I knew deep down in my heart that it was good and ... I always will meet up with a certain amount of controversy, a certain amount of opposition to what I'm doing."

Broadcasts and recordings

The 1985 Live - The Virgin Tour VHS documents a Detroit, Michigan stop on the tour. "Angel", "Borderline" and "Burning Up" were part of the tour set list but were not included on the VHS release.

Unlike her tours since The Virgin Tour, this one was strictly a tour of the US and Canada, never crossing over to Europe.

Tour dates

Date	City	State/Province	Venue
April 10 1985	Seattle	Washington	Paramount Theatre
April 12 1985	Seattle	Washington	Paramount Theatre
April 13 1985	Seattle	Washington	Paramount Theatre
April 15 1985	Portland	Oregon	Schnitzer Concert Hall
April 16 1985	Portland	Oregon	Schnitzer Concert Hall
April 19 1985	San Diego	California	Open Air Theater
April 20 1985	San Diego	California	Open Air Theater
April 21 1985	Costa Mesa	California	Pacific Amphitheater
April 23 1985	San Francisco	California	Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
April 26 1985	Los Angeles	California	Universal Amphitheater
April 27 1985	Los Angeles	California	Universal Amphitheater
April 28 1985	Los Angeles	California	Universal Amphitheater
April 30 1985	Tempe	Arizona	ASU Activity Center
May 3 1985	Dallas	Texas	Dallas Convention Center
May 4 1985	Houston	Texas	Hofheinz Pavilion
May 5 1985	Austin	Texas	Frank Erwin Center
May 7 1985	New Orleans	Louisiana	Lakefront Arena
May 9 1985	Tampa	Florida	USF Sun Dome
May 10 1985	Orlando	Florida	Orange County Civic Center
May 11 1985	Miami	Florida	Hollywood Sportatorium
May 14 1985	Atlanta	Georgia	The Omni
May 16 1985	Cleveland	Ohio	Public Hall
May 17 1985	Cincinnati	Ohio	Cincinnati Gardens
May 18 1985	Chicago	Illinois	UIC Pavilion
May 20 1985	Chicago	Illinois	UIC Pavilion
May 21 1985	St. Paul	Minnesota	Civic Center
May 23 1985	Toronto	Ontario	Maple Leaf Gardens
May 25 1985	Detroit	Michigan	Cobo Hall
May 26 1985	Detroit	Michigan	Cobo Hall
May 28 1985	Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania	Civic Center
May 29 1985	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	The Spectrum
May 30 1985	Hampton	Virginia	Hampton Coliseum
June 1 1985	Columbia	Maryland	Merriweather Post
June 2 1985	Worcester	Massachusetts	The Centrum
June 3 1985	New Haven	Connecticut	The Coliseum
June 6 1985	New York	New York	Radio City Music Hall
June 7 1985	New York	New York	Radio City Music Hall
June 8 1985	New York	New York	Radio City Music Hall
June 10 1985	New York	New York	Madison Square Garden
June 11 1985	New York	New York	Madison Square Garden

Personnel

• Vocals: Madonna
• Set Designer: Ian Knight
• Choreographed / Staged by: Brad Jeffries
• Keyboards: Patrick Leonard and Billy Meyers
• Drums: Jonathan P. Moffet
• Bass: Bill Lanphier
• Guitars: James Harrah and Paul Pesco
• Dancers: Michael Perea and Lyndon B. Johnson
• Personal Management: Freddy DeMann for Weisner-DeMann Entertainment
• Show Mix: Dave Kob
• Music Produced by: Madonna and Patrick Leonard