Madonna : Manchester Evening News Arena

PARTS OF MANCHESTER almost ground to a halt this weekend as the European wing of Madonna’s Reinvention Tour opened with two nights at the city’s largest concert venue. Despite sluggish sales of her latest album, American Life, astronomical ticket prices and the regular rash of newspaper articles declaring her a spent force, heaving hordes of Maddy worshippers thronged the sweltering Evening News Arena on Saturday. If mainstream pop fans vote with their feet, this 45-year-old chart veteran is clearly still up there, the original Mother of Reinvention.