Madonna has hit out at the London Palladium for abruptly cutting short her live “Madame X” show after she ran over an 11 p.m. curfew on Wednesday.
The singer was performing when the Palladium dropped the stage curtain and switched off the sound when she went past the deadline.
Madonna took to Instagram to vent her fury at the Palladium, accusing the venue of trying to “censor” her “Madame X” show.
In a post titled, “Artists are here to disturb the peace, she wrote: “It was 5 minutes past our 11:00 curfew, we had one more song to do and The Palladium decided to censor us by pulling down the metal fire curtain that weighs nine tonnes.”
“Fortunately they stopped it half way and no one was hurt. Many thanks to the entire audience who did not move and never left us. Power to the people!!”
The star also shared a video on Instagram, which showed her swearing from behind the curtain, the crowd chanting for more, and then Madonna emerging with her backing dancers to sing her final song, “I Rise,” with the house lights turned up and her microphone switched off.
Last week she told the audience at the Palladium that she had been warned by the local Westminster council that an “iron curtain” would fall over the production if she ran late.
Previous shows in the U.S. have run considerably later than the London dates, with fans often kept waiting for several hours.
Madonna has previously cancelled 10 of the 93 dates on the “Madame X” tour due to injury.