Madonna Performs At The Stonewall Inn On New Year’s Eve [VIDEO]

At the end of 2018, the Stonewall Inn announced that Madonna would be an ambassador for the 50th annivesry celebration of the Stonewall Inn Riots. Those riots would kick off the modern LGBTQ movement in 1969. Yet, it was still a suprise when the “Material Girl” singer appeared at the bar.

Dressed in all black, Madonna took to the stage to give a speech and perform two songs. She started off by saying, “I just wanna say I’ve never performed on a stage this small!” The crowd erupted and obscurred some of her words. “You survived 2018? Are you happy to say ‘Goodbye b—h’?,” she laughed before saying, “I do have some serious things to say.” The 60-year old singer joked about her age and her new pair of horn-rimmed glasses. “2019 is the year I start wearing glasses,” she joked. Then, things got serious.

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“I stand here proudly at the place where pride began, the legendary Stonewall Inn, on the birth of a new year. We come together tonight to celebrate 50 years of revolution.”

“If you can’t imagine how happy I am to return home to New York City, where dreams are born and forged out of fire and brought to life, where I am proud to say that my journey as an artist began, and my commitment to equality for all people took root,” she added.

“If we truly took the time to get to know one another we would find that we all bleed the same color and we all need to love and be loved,” she said. “Let’s remember who and what we are fighting for — ourselves, for each other, but truly and most importantly, what are we fighting for?” she asked rhetorically. “Let’s take a minute to reflect on how we can bring more love and peace into 2019, let’s look at how we can bring random acts of kindness. Maybe we can find an opening to bring the light in. Are you ready to do that?”

Then, she kicked off into an accoustic version of her hit song “Like a Virgin.” Her 13-year old son David Banda played the guitar for backing music. The crowd errupted and Madonna’s voice was almost completly drown out by fans singing along. The singer joked a bit more and then led the crowd in another singalong, this time to Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love.”