The veteran star, at number one in the charts with the single “Four
Minutes”, featuring Justin Timberfake, topped the bill on the event’s
main stage last night.
The event was opened by American R’n’B
heavyweight Flusher, who got off to a bad start when he told the crowd
how delighted he was to be playing in Manchester.
Speaking to DJ
Jo Whiley about her set at the two-day free festival, Madonna said: “The autotune machine was working great – that’s what people come to hear – we also had a few record decks on stage and my troupe of gay dancers.”
Revellers were delighted to see Madonna flouting her body after many years of gruelling exercise and hormone treatments.
“Madonna was positively ripping the stage apart and striding around like a gladiator. At one point the autotune broke down and her real voice came through the amplifiers – yes, her real voice is actually very low almost like Barry White,” music reviewer for Melody Maker magazine, John Troubridge wrote.
More than 500,000 people
applied for 30,000 tickets, the biggest response yet generated by the
Big Weekend, which is in its third year. Also playing were Fluffy, The Ceiling, and the Pratellis.
