Comprising 88 shows, the tour began on May 31, 2012, at the Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv District, Israel, and concluded on December 22 of the same year at the Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes in Córdoba, Argentina.

[2] On October, fansite DrownedMadonna released a supposed 2012 tour itinerary from Live Nation, with dates in Auckland, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, China, South Korea, Japan, Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv.

[9] During a Facebook chat with Jimmy Fallon, Madonna confirmed that she would not repeat any performance from the Super Bowl on tour, which she described as, "[the] journey of a soul from darkness to light [...] part cinematic musical theatre.

[43] Additional articles of clothing included lingerie provided by Truth or Dare, bandolier vests and rams head masks created by Fausto Puglisi, and custom-made jeans by J Brand.

The team had four months to develop concepts, create designs and produce multimedia content for 12 songs, including "Papa Don't Preach", "Express Yourself", "Vogue", "I'm a Sinner", "Like a Prayer" and "Celebration".

[46] Tom Munro and Johan Söderberg created a video that morphed Madonna's face with a number of famous figures, including then-Chinese President Hu Jintao, US Republican former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Pope Benedict XVI.

The final numbers were "Like a Prayer" and "Celebration"; the former found the singer and dancers dressed in robes as images of churches and Hebrew writings flashed onscreen, while the latter had the troupe wearing Beats by Dre and mimicking DJ moves, with colored 3D cubes in the backdrops and laser lights illuminating the stage.

[57] Neil McCormick from The Daily Telegraph classified the MDNA Tour as "a typically sensationalist and schizophrenic Madonna production, mixing sex, ultra violence, religion, kitsch and politics to bizarre but entertaining effect".

[63] On his review of the London concert, the Evening Standard's John Aizlewood criticized the lack of Madonna's classic songs; "disappointingly, she dipped into one of popular music's great back catalogues occasionally and begrudgingly", the author wrote.

[64] Vogue Italia's Giulia Blasi qualified the show as "huge, spectacular, often slightly tacky, obviously expensive" and blamed "the poor quality of the sound for anyone not standing directly in front of the stage", noting "suspiciously pristine vocals in the middle of very choreography-heavy songs".

[65] Simon Price writing for The Independent, said that, "for a woman who sings – or mimes – about sex, she's always made it seem like cold, hard work, all Pilates and no passion", concluding that, "[MDNA] goes off with a whimper, not a bang".

[69] Rolling Stone's Colleen Nika deemed the concert "ambitious" and applauded Madonna for having "moved on from parading as a rock star", concluding that, "no one does provocative pop better, and no one, even now, looks cooler doing it".

[70] Jon Pareles from The New York Times felt MDNA was a "display of energy and nutty inventiveness", adding that it's "less a story than an excellent excuse for extravagant, perpetually surprising production numbers [...] while it turns some of Madonna’s past hits inside out".

[71] Glenn Gamboa from Newsday wrote that, "[Madonna's] latest reinvention might be her most revealing yet", because "her wild, nearly two-hour show is closest to reflecting her current state of mind, while building yet another artistic, well-choreographed slacklining spectacle".

[72] Writing for The Seattle Times, Sharon Pian Chan wrote that, "there is only one word to say after Madonna's extravaganza, spectacle and concert Tuesday night: Respect"; from the same publication, Andrew Matson described the show as "two hours of hits from a remarkable career, with high-budget sets and intricate choreography".

[91] Madonna's first ever show in Abu Dhabi had fans lined up in front of the Virgin Megastore since 7 a.m. (GST), according to local newspaper The National;[92] all 22,000 tickets were sold out within hours of their launch, prompting organizers to add a second date.

[112] The video interlude of the song "Nobody Knows Me" received strong criticism from the French far right, as it showed politician Marine Le Pen with a swastika superimposed on her forehead, before her face morphed into that of Adolf Hitler.

Florian Philippot, then-Vice President of the National Front, considered it a "very serious insult", accusing Madonna of "trying to get more people to her concerts", while Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, from the Socialist Party, found the incident "regrettable".

[118] In Louisiana (a state with substantial populations of both liberals and conservatives), Madonna was simultaneously cheered and booed by the audience for expressing her support for Obama; she tried to rectify the situation by saying: "I don't care who you vote for.

[119] In her Los Angeles show, Madonna dedicated the song "Human Nature" to Malala Yousafzai, the then-14-year-old Pakistani girl who was shot by members of the Taliban for speaking-out on her right to have an education, explaining "this made me cry.

[121] The use of weaponry did not go unnoticed in the Denver concert; Mile High Sports personality Peter Burns said he was "taken aback" by the use of guns; "you could see people kinda looking at each other [...] I heard the word 'Colorado' you know, 'Aurora', 'Shooting' [...] [it was] a little bit unsettling.

[125] Andy Cohen said the singer's bare breasts were "old news";[126] writing for India Today, Deepti Jakhar felt Madonna came across "a bit desperate to regain her controversial stage presence", and compared the antic to Janet Jackson's 2004 Super Bowl incident.

[125] BuzzFeed's Amy Odell defended the singer in an article titled "Leave Madonna's 53-year-old breast alone"; "apparently now when that inevitable thing called aging happens, [women] have to worry about covering up enough so that we don't look 'desperate' [...] Heavens!

[130] Songs performed on this date included a mashup of Madonna's 2002 single "Die Another Day" and MDNA album track "Beautiful Killer", as well as a cover of Serge Gainsbourg's "Je t'aime... moi non plus" (1969).

[132][133] After the show was over and the singer left the stage, people started booing and yelling insults like salope, the French word for "slut";[132] a crowd then gathered in the streets in front of the venue demanding a refund.

[134] Following the backlash, publicist Liz Rosenberg issued a statement saying that, "[the show] was not billed as her full MDNA concert and tremendous effort was made to keep the ticket prices reasonable [...] [it] cost Madonna close to a million dollars to produce.

[144] The second date in Saint Petersburg was consequently met with terrorist threats, prompting the U.S. Embassy to issue a warning to those in attendance; Madonna's spokesperson Liz Rosenberg responded that the concert would go on as scheduled and that Russian authorities would step up security.

[147] During the show, the singer delivered a speech between the performances of "Open Your Heart" and "Masterpiece"; she praised democracy, love, and freedom and compared the LGBT community's struggles to Martin Luther King Jr.'s fights for equality.

So we will speak in the language of money"; another one felt that "after Madonna's concert maybe some boy becomes gay, some girl becomes lesbian, fewer children are born as a result and this big country cannot defend its borders".

[152] On May 25, the Algemeiner Journal reported that Conan O'Brien would fly to Israel to host his late-night talk show as part of an exclusive deal to broadcast a special covering the tour's opening night.