Queen of Pop leaves it a little late

Abu Dhabi has been abuzz with talk of Madonna and her concerts this week on Yas Island.

In bars, restaurants and along the corniche, chat was of the long delays before the shows - she was more than 90 minutes late on both Saturday and Sunday in the stifling du Arena.

Brit Chris Howells was as incensed as everyone else by the delays for the first concert. “I saw two people faint in front of the VIP area in the middle of the arena,” he said. “One woman swung around and just went down.”

Like many, Howells was stunned by Madonna’s performance once she did appear: “The dancers were amazing. Some of them looked double-jointed - it was incredible. It should have been better organised but she still has it, the whole drama of the show was really good.”

Hussain Sima fainted in the heat while waiting for the show to start.

He said: “Brilliant concert but so badly organised. I fainted, very embarrassing. Where were the fans and wind machines organisers spoke of? Granted she was amazing but we literally paid blood, sweat and tears to watch.”

Technical difficulties cited as cause

Flash Entertainment, which hosted the show, put out a statement that read:

“Unfortunately, over the course of the weekend, a series of unforeseen technical issues resulted in slight delays to rehearsals and performance times.

“We hope that concert goers can appreciate that with events of this scale, occasionally, unexpected circumstances can impact plans.”