IN 2009, The Antlers’ Peter Silberman wrote a concept album about a woman dying in hospital. Her malady was a metaphor: the LP was really about the breakup of a relationship (the particulars of which Silberman would rather not divulge). But he chose to call the record Hospice and critics assumed the story it told was true. That’s where things got complicated.

Madonna’s first stage performance for 13 years received mixed reviews from fans who queued in the rain to see the pop superstar.