Idris Elba Reveals How He Got His Madonna Gig, And What It Was Like Sharing The Stage With The Pop Legend

Idris Elba Describes His Special Moment With Madonna

Idris Elba has described the moment he shared the stage with "beautiful person" Madonna, after he'd performed supporting artist duties for her in Berlin, during the German leg of her Rebel Heart tour.

Following his stint on stage, Madonna thanked him warmly while Idris tagged her a "legend" in a picture he shared with all his fans on social media, and now he's remembering his surprising but extraordinary night with the pop diva.

Idris is as in demand for his music skills as for his acting talents, and revealed yesterday that he'd got the gig out of the blue via email.

"I am a DJ for hire, and she wanted a great one," he joked in London, during his promotional duties for the fourth series of 'Luther'.

"I was excited, I had a great time. Madonna is a legend."

Of his evening in Berlin, where he performed ahead of Madonna's well-received gig, Idris reflects: "I got there, I met a beautiful person that has been working for ever and ever, amen, and is still going.

"She did an incredible show. I was standing by the curtain before I went on and I made the mistake of peeking to see who was there, thinking maybe they’re not here yet, and then I saw there were actually 17,000 people looking back… and then I ended up going out there to entertain them. [But] they weren’t there to see me."

Madonna only announced that it would be Idris opening for her in Berlin the day before the gig, but it wasn't Idris's biggest gig this year. Back in the summer, he made his debut at Glastonbury Festival.

He's a busy man, with the return of his TV detective Luther the next project off the blocks, but a whole catalogue of highly-awaited events, including the release of the revamped 'The Jungle Book', 'Finding Dory' and 'Star Trek Beyond' also coming soon on the big screen.

Idris wasn't the first big name to share the stage with Madonna on this tour. During the US leg, it was comedian Amy Schumer on warm-up duties.

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