The iconic pop singer Madonna has officially kicked off her Celebration Tour with a stop in New York. The New York show on December 16th featured a special tribute along with the first performance of ” I Love New York” in 15 years. The special tribute per NME was dedicated to the singer’s friend who “saved her life” earlier this year.

Madonna got everyone’s attention when she told her fans at the Barclays Center that “a very important woman” was in attendance and that her friend helped her when she was ill over the summer. The singer mentioning being ill over the summer referring to her serious bacterial infection that led to her being admitted to the ICU and postponing her U.S. shows. “I don’t even remember; I passed out on my bathroom floor and woke up in the ICU” Madonna told the crowd. She would later give a shout-out to her friend Shavawn, who is featured in a post shared by a fan account.

Madonna spoke about her near death experience, and said Shavawn saved her life 😮
Shavawn is the nanny! pic.twitter.com/9rxkTUGB46

— SAGARRAJO (@sagarrajo) December 17, 2023

Throughout the show, Madonna shared more details about her hospital stay which included being put in an induced coma for two days and hearing only the voice of her Kabbalah teacher. She said that being able to come out of the situation was “a fucking miracle” on top of joking about how she had to “almost die” to get all six of her children together. The Celebration tour kicked off with a run of UK and European dates, which included multiple sold-out stops at The O2 in London.