Madonna shines in ‘Celebration’ tour after near-fatal illness

Madonna kicked off her “Celebration” tour in London on Saturday, with a performance that proved her energy, charisma and appetite for controversy were little dimmed after four decades of pop super-stardom and a brush with death earlier this year.
The 65-year-old’s greatest hits show was pushed back from its original July start date after she was hospitalized in intensive care for a serious bacterial infection.
“I’m really damn surprised I made it this far. And I mean that on so many levels,” she told fans at the O2 arena.
Wearing the corset and chains that defined her breakthrough, she sang “Into The Groove”.
Madonna addressed the situation in the Middle East. “There’s a lot of really crazy things happening in the world that are so, so painful to witness,” she said. “But even though our hearts are broken, our spirits cannot be broken.”