Sometimes “the show must go on” means that they have to run it, even if the technical difficulties are horrendous. Perhaps the promoter meant it when they said that? The audience would be pretty pissed off if all the effects didn’t fire and the sound was shit. They are hyper-critical and expect perfection.
As an aside having talked to musicians who toured with her, so is Madonna. She’d flog the band in practice to exhaustion and then go next door to do it to the dancers! They were in awe of her.
No, it’s a federal court in the US. Major shows are advertised for early starts here and, in general, start bang on time. The performers face fines if they go overtime so they finish bang on time also. I go to smaller gigs but I haven’t been to a show that started two hours late in decades (that was LCD Soundsystem on their first European tour and I think they figured out that the concert venue was also/really a nightclub and that room wasn’t being used so they could start at a more appropriate time for their music. I couldn’t have been happier and it was a banging show.)
