Hung Up - Live Performances

Live Performances

Madonna opened the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards and the 2006 Grammy Awards with "Hung Up". She also performed the track at the French TV Show Star Academy, along with "Get Together". Madonna performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, and it was the finale for her Confessions Tour. She ended the London leg of Live Earth concert with "Hung Up". A rock version of the song was included in her 2008 world tour, the Sticky & Sweet Tour in the closing segment, at the end of which she would include a rendition of the main riff of Pantera's "A New Level" from their album A Vulgar Display of Power.

In the MTV Europe Awards, Madonna emerged from a glitterball to perform "Hung Up" while wearing a purple leotard and matching leather boots. For the Grammy Awards, Madonna performed the song by pairing up with the fictional animated band Gorillaz. The band appeared on the stage via a three dimensional technique which projected their holograms on the stage. They performed their song "Feel Good Inc." while rappers De La Soul made a guest appearance. Madonna then appeared on the stage and started performing the song while interchanging places with the hologram figures of the band. She was later joined by her own group of dancers and the performance was finished on the main stage rather than the virtual screen.

The song was played by Madonna as a part of the promotional campaigns for the Confessions on a Dance Floor album, in London's night clubs like the Koko Club and G-A-Y. The performance again saw Madonna emerge from a glitter ball while wearing a purple jacket, velvet pedal pushers and knee-high boots. The song was performed as the last song of her 2006 Confessions Tour. It was performed at the last "disco fever" segment of the tour. During the performance, her dancers displayed the routine parkour all over the stadium as the familiar ABBA sample played. Madonna changed her aerobics costume for a purple leotard. As the music progressed, she and her dancers appeared on the center stage and she started singing. During the second verse, she left her sunglasses and jacket and proceeded towards the front of the stage. A boombox appeared in the center with Madonna playing with it. The song starts again as balloons fall on the crowd from the top. The finale had Madonna engaging the audience to sing-along with her to the song while making a contest as to which side of the stadium can sing the loudest. Madonna then uttering the line "I'm tired of waiting for you" while the backdrop showed the phrase "Have You Confessed?". The New York Times compared this performance with that of Ethel Merman. Slant Magazine commented that the performance reminded Madonna's ability to encapsulate the audience as a part of her performance.

The song was also added to the six song set list of the Hard Candy Promo Tour in 2008. Madonna wore a shiny black outfit with black tails, Adidas track pants and high-heeled, lace-up boots. "Hung Up" was the fourth song of the set list. It was re-invented as a heavy-metal version. As the performance of "4 Minutes" ended, Madonna picked up an electric guitar and played the first few chords of The Rolling Stones single "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". She then asked the crowd whether they thought they had come to a Rolling Stones concert. When they crowd responded negatively, she started "Hung Up", while dedicating it to all the people who had waited outside in the queue to watch the show. She declared that the noisy, metallic guitar breakdown of the song symbolised what waiting sounded like in the brain of all those who had waited. The song was performed in the futuristic rave with Japanese influences segment of the Sticky & Sweet Tour. Madonna wore a futuristic robotic dress designed by Heatherette, with plates on her shoulder and a wig with long curled hair. The similar heavy-metal version of "Hung Up" was performed but it later gave way to the ABBA music. Before starting the performance, she played a capella versions of her older hit songs on audience demand, mostly "Express Yourself" and "Like a Virgin". However after that, the electric guitar was played to make noises, which Madonna dedicated to Republican vice-presidential nominee for the 2008 election, Sarah Palin. She said, "I'd like to express myself to Sarah Palin right now. This is the sound of Sarah Palin thinking. Sarah Palin can't come to my party. Sarah Palin can't come to my show. It's nothing personal." The performance ended with Madonna imitating the smoking of a cigarette while leaning nonchalantly against a speaker and the music of the final single "Give It 2 Me" starting.