MADONNA spurned the throng of celebrities present at her LONDON BRIXTON ACADEMY gig last night (November 29) to go to a local pub after the show, NME.COM can reveal.
Madonna and boyfriend Guy Ritchie went for a quick pint at the nearby Brixtonian following her 30-minute set, reportedly leaving the likes of Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow to party by themselves.
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Click here for our previous report of last night’s Madonna gig, filed minutes after the Queen Of Pop left the stage.
The most famous gig-goers of the evening had been ushered into the South London venue via a secret VIP entrance round the back, while the likes of Jarvis Cocker, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Donna Air, Mel C, Natalie Imbruglia, All Saints sisters Natalie and Nicole Appleton, Prodigy, Kylie Minogue and Chris Evans were forced to brave the paparazzi and hundreds of star spotters who were held back by a police cordon outside the red carpeted, white canopied VIP entrance to The Academy at the front of the building.
A huge illuminated Madonna sign hung outside the venue, just a tiny part of fashion designers Dolce And Gabbana £1 million decorations for the building, which were mostly in a kitsch wild west style and included hundreds of sparkling white lights, hay bales and wagon wheels, glittering, illuminated horseshoes and ‘M’s, plus, somewhat incongruously, lots of union jack flags draped over bars.
Those possessing an orange wrist band were ushered upstairs to the balcony at the venue, where free drinks were served. Slightly more important guests were furnished with a bright greeny-yellow band, which lead them through a red-velvet draped corridor and allowed them up the next level. There, Natalie smooched all night with her boyfriend, The Prodigy’s Liam Howlett , as did her sister Nicole and her bloke Liam Gallagher. Noel Gallagher was also there, along with Oasis drummer Alan White, probably giving a wide berth to estranged wife Meg Mathews and her business partner Fran Cutler, who were also at the gig.
But the real action was going on in the VVIPs own private room, the inner inner sanctum, where the likes of the aforementioned Paltrow and Pitt sat with Sting, Mick Jagger, George Michael, Stella McCartney, Ewan McGregor and Kate Moss.
However, that was strictly out of bounds to most of the other stars wandering around the main ‘celebrity’ area, who included (deep breath) ‘EastEnders’ stars new and old – Barbara Windsor and Ross Kemp – , former Frankie Goes To Hollywood star Holly Johnson , Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes, James Lavelle, Darren Emerson, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Paul Oakenfold, Stereophonics frontman Kelly Jones, Rick Astley, Cast man John Power, Gabrielle, hypnotist Paul McKenna, comedian Frank Skinner, Jamie Theakston, ‘Big Brother”s Craig Phillips, S Club 7, fashion designers Julien McDonald and Alexander McQueen, The Rest Of Texas, superstar DJ and Ali G lookalike Roger Sanchez and legendary producer – and Madonna’s former housemate in the early ’80s – Arthur Baker. Baker was later seen with Sanchez at The Met Bar , the destination for many post-Madonna gig celebs who had to make do without an audience with the great woman.
Parties were also held by Madonna’s label Warner Music at Red Cube in Leicester Square and by webcaster Microsoft at Atlantis Gallery in Brick Lane, though both events were largely celeb free.
Earlier, Madonna thrilled a 3,500-strong audience of celebrities, competition winners, journalists and music industry types with a 30 minute, six-song set, her first European gig for seven years, which saw tickets changing hands for up to £2,500 each just before the show. It’s estimated that nine million people logged onto [url=]www.msn.com in an attempt to watch the webcast of the event after Microsoft spent a reported £30 million setting it up and broadcasting it. If the figures are verified, it will make it the biggest web event in the history of the medium. Reports of how much Madonna got paid range from £6 million to absolutely nothing.
However, the hysteria surrounding the gig doesn’t seemed to have helped Madonna in her bid to top the UK charts this week – her current single Don’t Tell Me is currently at Number Five in the midweeks.