Madonna to Open North American Tour in Philadelphia

Roses die. Chocolates are fattening. A perfect alternative Valentine’s Day present for the one you love (or the one you’d really like to sleep with, anyway)? Tickets to Madonna. Fresh from her Super Bowl performance–many are saying the best halftime show ever (and I have to agree with Sasha Frere-Jones on the whole M.I.A. middle-finger apology)–Madge has announced that she will launch her 2012 North American tour right here in Philadelphia.

After a series of dates in London, Paris, Milan and Berlin, Madonna will land at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday, August 28th. Tickets for this spectacle will go on sale to the general public on Monday (as in the day before Valentine’s Day). The first of a few special pre-sales kick off this morning at 10 a.m., with packages starting out at $250 and going up to $1,250 (that’s per person) for the front-row, all-in experience. (Rent a limo.) No word yet on regular-guy prices or an opening act, though with the whole Van Halen/Kool & the Gang pairing on March 5th at Wells Fargo, might I suggest something similarly unexpected and perfectly genius: a reunion with gypsy punk ensemble Gogol Bordello. But, as Comcast-Spectacor public relations executive Ike Richman just told me, “I don’t have all the information yet. But in all of the times I have seen Madonna, there has never been an opening act. No one opens for Madonna.”