The final preparations are being made for the start of Madonna's world tour which kicks of at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium tomorrow.

The pop icon's Sticky and Sweet tour takes in 16 European venues, including London's Wembley Stadium, before moving to North and South America.

The 60,000-seat first date is all but sold out with a 250-strong crew putting the finishing touches to the event. Stadium manager Gerry Toms said: "They have been here for some time now." Madonna's last Confessions tour was in 2006 and it became the highest-grossing by a female artist at the time. The new tour promises 16 dancers, a 12 piece band and an array of designer costume changes for the star, who celebrated her 50th birthday last week.

Madonna and band have spent more than 650 hours rehearsing for the two-hour show which is broken into four sections. The show will bring its usual glamour, with a team of 36 different designers contributing to the stage costumes. It is the first time the venue has been picked to start a world tour and Mr Toms said it showed the venue had the confidence of the industry. He said: "There's lot of work involved in a new tour. A new stage configuration and lighting has been be going on for the past couple of weeks. The benefit for us that we have a retractable roof, so we've been unhindered by the horrendous weather we've been having.

They could have gone to anywhere in Europe buy they've got the confidence in Cardiff, not just the stadium, but Cardiff as a whole to deliver, we should take some strength from that."

Source: BBC News (found on MadonnaTribe)