Madonna at the O2, London

Madonna has hit the road again, this time to promote her 'Rebel Heart' record, and last week she arrived at the O2 Arena in London, a venue she's played several times before.

I learned many years ago that it's worth seeing Madonna play live when you can - it's a relatively rare event and she gives good gig, with fab dancing, great lighting and sound and, of course, some fab songs. With Madonna it's easy to think of her as a 'personality' rather than as a musician but she's written some great songs over the years and she knows how to put them across. They're her songs and she can interpret them however she wants but always in a way to please the crowd. And she knows her audience.

M was on top form and actually talked to the audience far more than any other time I've seen her, which was nice. Chatting and joking and giving a heart-felt speech about it being World AIDS Day was very touching, when she almost went tearful.

She played lots of songs, old and new, and I loved the way she includes parts of old songs while performing the new ones - this worked really well throughout the set. She'd also built the runway to at least half way back in the auditorium so more people got to see her up close. She's also a consummate professional, with her dancers trained to perfection and all performing as part of  a family. They were an astonishing bunch, all over the stage but so together and always re-focusing again on Madonna.

Favourite songs were 'Burning Up', 'Devil Pray', 'True Blue', 'Like a Virgin' (obvs) and 'Who's That Girl'. She did a stonking version of 'Music' and a lovely version of 'Material Girl' with a solo, acoustic version of 'La Vie En Rose' which got an enormous applause. I must single out the lovely version of 'Rebel Heart' from the last album, one of my favourite M songs and so her.  I also loved the exerpts of 'Love Don't Live Here Anymore' and 'Justify My Love' included in other songs and, of course, 'Holiday' was the mandatory finale.

Love her or hate her, Madonna works hard and produces some amazing set pieces on stage and she's got an amazing back catalogue of 30 years to choose from for her stage sets. And, of course, she can fly - backwards. Hail Madonna and thank you for a great show!