Madonna tickets not in vogue

As Madonna begins her latest British tour, her fans, who last time offered four-figure sums for a pair of seats, are proving less enthusiastic.

The pop diva kicked off her previous British tour at the peak of her powers, but years on, she seems to have lost some of her sparkle.

Tickets were failing to meet even their face value as sellers cut their losses to take what they could as they traded on the online auction site eBay.

A pair of seats for her London shows on the Reinvention Tour later this month, which had originally cost more than £300 ($831), raised just £140 at the close of bidding, and some tickets for the show failed to attract a single bid.

Some sellers had posted messages on the website to say they were resigned to making a loss on someone who was once one of the world's biggest box-office draws.

Tickets were still available at the box office for some of her shows. However, a spokeswoman for Madonna said that was due to extra capacity becoming available as the venues finalised their staging requirements.

Sales for the pop queen's shows got off to a good start, although it is thought many buyers simply may have been snapping up tickets for re-sale following the clamour to see her Drowned World tour in 2001 for which tickets were changing hands for £600 each.

The shows - like all Madonna performances, more of a visual spectacular than a gig - were her first major dates for eight years and followed two acclaimed albums, Ray of Light and Music, which once again made her one of the coolest stars on the planet. Her latest dates are on the back of a flop, the critically panned American Life album.

Shows outside Manchester and London were expected to get far less than the actual cost of £75 to £160 for seats.

Radio 2 presenter Paul Gambaccini believed the poor reception for last year's album was the root cause of the lack of interest.

"In popular music no one is as dead as someone who is recently dead, and Madonna has just had her first stiff album. It might have had a high chart entry but it disappeared quickly.

"There will come a time when she will sell out quickly again but that is because people will be viewing her in the context of her historic career achievements. They are currently viewing her in the light of the album's failure.

"I'm not bothering to see her. I saw her on the Vogue tour. I know I've seen her at her peak so why see her flogging a dead horse?"

- INDEPENDENT