Madonna performs at the premiere of her Sticky and Sweet tour at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium in Wales on Saturday night. (Joel Ryan/Associated Press)

Pop star Madonna kicked off her international "Sticky and Sweet" tour in typical fashion, courting controversy with a none-too-subtle jab at U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

The 50-year-old star featured video images at her show in Cardiff, Wales. One slate of pictures showed destruction, global warming, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and McCain as another more positive sequence featured the late Beatle John Lennon, Al Gore, Mahatma Gandhi and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Outside of the political references, the show was replete with plenty of costumes and glitter.

Dancers graced the stage in top hats and tail coats as the singer breakdanced and did some pole dancing, too.

Forty thousand fans, many dressed in pink cowboy hats and boas, were treated to a flamenco-inspired version of La Isla Bonita and a heavy-metal rendition of Borderline.

The show traversed the gamut of Madonna's fashions over the past three decades with homages to the rave and dance scene, gangster styles and her earlier gypsy-like outfits.

Always self-referential, dancers were clothed in Madonna's previous incarnations including Material Girl and Blonde Ambition.

The performer finished off the concert with Give it 2 Me from her new urban-inspired album Hard Candy.

The tour hits Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver in October and will end in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Dec. 18.

With files from the Associated Press