As cities and states across the country move to reopen in the aftermath of the pandemic, Madonna made it known that New York is back. Madge headlined the Boom X Pride party at The Standard Hotel in New York City Thursday night. She took the stage at 1:30 a.m. and played to a celebrity-packed room.
Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen allegedly had to wait outside as security scrambled to shuttle the crowd into LeBain, another bar inside of The Standard. Meanwhile, a virtual who's who of "RuPaul's Drag Race" winners and contestants made it inside. On that guest list: Violet Chachki, Symone, Gottmik, Gigi Goode, Vanessa Vanjie Mateo and Kandy Muse. Symone, for her part, brought the whole House of Avalon with her. Other celebs in attendance included singer Adam Lambert, designer Christian Siriano and models Leyna Bloom, Dara Allen and Valentina Sampaio.
Before Madonna, who grew up in Michigan's Rochester Hills neighborhood before moving to NYC in 1978, took the stage, Honey Dijon, Misshapes, Kaytranada and Eli Escobar all deejayed. In the background a video installation — a collaboration between Madonna, Ricardo Gomes and Sasha Kasiuha — played on screens.
When she finally performed, Madonna performed "Hung Up" and "I Don't Search I Find."
"To not celebrate Pride without people would have been a tragedy for me," she told the crowd. "Take nothing for granted because you never known what's waiting for all of us around the corner."
By the end of the night, the party had raised $100,000 for two New York-based LGBTQ+ youth advocacy groups, the Ali Forney Center and Haus of US.