The Celebration Tour, Madonna's tour to commemorate her 40-year career, has stopped in Barcelona. The reviews have been unbeatable and show that at 65 years old she is still the undisputed queen of pop. Even more so after the serious health problem that she suffered last June, which led her to have to be urgently hospitalized in the ICU due to a bacterial infection.
In addition, on this tour, Madonna has given prominence to her children. It started on October 14 in London, the day that Lourdes León, her eldest daughter, turned 27, who went on stage with her along with the twins Estere and Stella (11), who danced and Mercy James (17) and David Banda (18), who played the piano and guitar respectively. Yesterday in Barcelona, the four children also repeated, with the exception of Lourdes. It is not the first time that Madonna has performed with her children. Rocco Ritchie (23) is now a visual artist under the name Rhed, but in 2012 and 2013 he was part of the corps de ballet on the MDNA Tour.
Although Madonna is a unique artist, she is not the only one to invite her children to the stage, for example, on October 12 in El Paso (Texas), Alejandro Sanz shared the stage with Alexander (20). As the singer published on his Instagram, his second son played the electric guitar while he sang and looked at him full of pride.
Beyoncé, on the triumphant Renaissance Tour, which took place this summer, has had her daughter Blue Ivy as a dance partner in several concerts, taking advantage of the school holidays.
There are many artists who, given their media impact, have wanted to share the stage with their children to give them their first opportunity. That was the case of Jennifer López, who at the 2020 Super Bowl, watched by 103 million viewers, sang with her daughter Emme. Her partner in that show, Shakira, has not yet performed on stage with her two children, Milan and Sasha, but she sings Acrostic with them in the official video for the song.
Bruce Springsteen has shared the stage with his wife, Patti Scialfa, since the mid-80s. She is part of the E-Street Band, which accompanies the Boss on all his tours, also on the one he will perform in 2024 and which will stop in Madrid (June 12 and 14) and Barcelona (June 20). In 2007-2008 on the Magic Tour, the couple invited to some concerts, such as the one they offered in the Catalan capital to their son Evan (33), who today is a composer and music producer.
Victor Manuel and Ana Belén, another couple on stage, perform accompanied by their son David San José (46), who is usually in a discreet background playing the keyboards. In her last active years, Rocío Dúrcal also took her little daughter Shaila on tour, so she could sing in the choirs. The soprano Montserrat Caballé, when she retired from opera, gave recitals with her daughter Montserrat Martí, also a soprano and who continues to sing.
Lola Flores, for many years, toured Spain and South America singing with her sister Carmen Flores and her daughter Lolita. And exceptionally, her other two children, Antonio and Rosario Flores, joined the family group.
Vicente Fernández with his son Alejandro, Andrea Bocelli with Matteo, Dyango with his son Marcos Llunas and his grandson Axel have also performed together on special occasions. As special ones, there have been some songs that are in everyone's memory, Say papa, sung by José Guardiola and his daughter Rosa Mary, Something stupid with Frank Sinatra and Nancy or Unforgettable, where technology allowed Natalie Cole to sing with her father Nat King Cole, almost 30 years after he died.
But there are two images of performances by parents and children that are especially emotional and are history: that of Isabel Pantoja with her son Kiko, in 1985, singing My Little Boy of the Soul, in her first concert after being widowed by Paquirri. And that of Pau Donés in his latest video clip Eso que tú me gives, who, already very weakened by cancer, sings this happy song that his daughter Sara dances to.
