Ahead of an upcoming tour of Australia, Marea Stamper, also known as DJ extraordinaire The Blessed Madonna, is packing her stuff into well-worn luggage.
No stress exists. She has performed thousands of times before, from the Coachella Festival, where she was the main act in 2022 at the Mojave stage, to Berlin’s renowned nightclub Berghain.
In spite of a recent hospital trip, Stamper remains cheerful and fighting fit while sipping iced coffee (“if I could have this intravenously, I would”).
She says, “I had some outpatient surgery last week because they finally decided to figure out why I’ve been struggling with persistent anemia for some time.”
“They truly helped me get better. If not, I would have perished on the upcoming trip.
The statement that that would have been a significant loss is not hyperbole.
Stamper is one of the most well-known DJs of her generation, shattering glass ceilings with her inspiring festival sets and promoting dance music (she was the first female DJ of the year in 2016 according to Mixmag).
She fulfilled a promise during her Australian tour. Covid-19 ended her last tour to Australia.
She recalls both her last-minute fear and the surprise of finding a deeply reduced first class ticket on an empty airline. “I sprinted out of a hotel room to get onto a flight and come home,” she adds.
