Madonna plays her first UK show of the year

Pop superstar Madonna made a glorious return to the stage as she played her first UK show of the year, closing the opening night of the Big Weekend music festival.

Dressed all in black, the 49-year-old singer performed a 40 minute set at Mote Park in Maidstone, Kent, Southeast England, pleasing fans with her number one smash 4 Minutes.

She also played a number of songs from her recent studio album Hard Candy, including Candy Shop and Miles Away.

Speaking before her performance, Madonna explained why she wanted to play the songs she picked.

She said: "Obviously, I want to do new stuff because I’m very excited about it.

"I feel that’s what people come to hear but I also want to do a few of my oldies but goodies.

"I chose Hung Up because that was the biggest hit from my last record and I chose Music because it’s a crowd pleaser, it’s anthemic and it brings people together."

As Madonna finished her performance, the Material Girl left the crowd pleased with what they had seen.

31 year old Gerard Sutton told the BBC: "It was great! She looked like she loved being here and everyone loved it."

And Georgina Finch, 19, added: "She was good but she should have sung some older stuff and should have been on for longer. She was awesome though."

Meanwhile, Madonna earlier this week announced the dates for her 2008 Sticky & Sweet world tour.

According to the official press release, she will "play arenas and stadiums throughout Europe and North America including a number of cities where Madonna has not performed in the past fifteen years."

The dates and venues for the tour are as follows:

23-Aug - Cardiff Millennium Stadium
26-Aug - Nice Stade Charles Ehrmann
28-Aug - Berlin Olympic Stadium
02-Sept - Amsterdam Arena
04-Sept - Dusseldorf LTU Arena
06-Sept - Rome Olympic Stadium
09-Sept - Frankfurt Commerzbank Arena
11-Sept - London Wembley Stadium
20-Sept - Paris Stade de France
03-Oct - E. Rutherford Izod Center
06-Oct - New York City Madison Square Garden
07-Oct - New York City Madison Square Garden
15-Oct - Boston TD BankNorth Garden
18-Oct - Toronto Air Canada Center
22-Oct - Montreal Bell Center
26-Oct - Chicago United Center
30-Oct - Vancouver BC Place Stadium
01-Nov - Oakland Oracle Arena
04-Nov - San Diego Petco Park
06-Nov - Los Angeles Dodger Stadium
08-Nov - Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena
11-Nov - Denver Pepsi Center
16-Nov - Houston Minute Maid Park
19-Nov - Philadelphia Wachovia Center
22-Nov - Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall
24-Nov - Atlanta Philips Arena
26-Nov - Miami Dolphin Stadium

The tickets will go on sale beginning Friday, May 16th. For more info, check Madonna.com.