Sir Elton John has praised Madonna for her concert tribute to AIDS victims, apparently finally putting their long-running feud to bed.
Sir Elton, 76, praised the Queen of Pop, 65, for paying tribute to AIDS victims with her emotional rendition of Live to Tell during her Celebration Tour.
Madonna performed the track during her early dates of the Celebration Tour while showing a moving slideshow of images. Madonna's friend Martin Burgoyne, Queen superstar Freddie Mercury, and Cookie Mueller were among those displayed in the tribute.
Sir Elton wrote on his Instagram page: “We're deeply moved by the heartfelt tribute from @madonna during her Celebration Tour performance of “Live to Tell", honouring the 40.4 million people we've lost to AIDS.
“Thank you, Madonna, for your advocacy and compassion, and for raising important awareness of the ongoing mission to end AIDS.
“With 39 million people living with HIV today, 9.4 million of whom are not currently on life-saving treatment, we must keep using our voices and platforms to ensure everyone has the opportunity to live full and healthy lives.”
The pop pair have been at loggerheads for a number of years, with the feud reportedly starting in 2002 when Sir Elton called her Bond track Die Another Day the worst theme tune from the spy series that had ever been produced.
Two years later at the Q Awards things got heated again, after Sir Elton won the Classic Songwriter Award while Madonna was just nominated for Best Live Act.
On stage, Sir Elton said: “Madonna, best live act? F*** off. Since when has lip-syncing been live? Sorry about that, but I think everyone who lip-syncs on stage in public when you pay like 75 quid to see them should be shot. Thank you very much. That’s me off her Christmas card list, but do I give a toss? No.”
At the time, Madonna’s reps denied she lip syncs.
Sir Elton later called his Q Awards comments “unfair” adding: “She's been to my house for dinner. It was something I said in the heat of the moment, and probably should not have said.”
But the swipe clearly hurt Madonna’s feelings, as she refused to perform at his private stag do before he married David Furnish.
The pair were also reportedly bickering at the 2012 Golden Globes when they were both nominated for best original song. That same year, Sir Elton also took another swipe at Madonna after she was reported to have said Lady Gaga, a friend of the Rocket Man singer, was “derivative.”
But finally, in 2016, Sir Elton said the pair had put their bickering to one side after sharing a spontaneous dinner together.
It comes after Madonna said she was feeling unwell just days into her 78-date world tour.
The pop legend, 65, told fans in Antwerp, Belgium, earlier this week that she wasn’t feeling her best just months after she was forced to postpone the Celebration Tour due to ill health.
In June, Madonna delayed the original start date of her tour after a “serious bacterial infection” led to a several-day stay in intensive care.
Madonna kicked off her tour with four dates at the O2 in London. The set included 40 songs from her four-decade career.
She is one of a number of stars rumoured to be headlining Glastonbury in 2024.
