The second song in the singer`s current `MDNA` set list, `Revolver`, sees her brandish a replica firearm, but the act was not welcomed when she performed in Denver, less than 15 miles from the site of a massacre in June this year.

Concert-goer Aaron Fransua, 25, said: "We`re dancing and all of a sudden people started realising what the song was.

"We all just stood there. Everybody who was around me all had shock on their face. I heard a lot of `wows`."
Twelve people, including a six-year-old girl, were killed and a further 58 injured in the massacre, when loan gunman James Holmes opened fire on a crowd waiting outside a cinema. The community is still reeling from the incident, but Madonna remains firms.

A representative said the scene is an integral part of the show, adding to remove it would be `like taking out the third act of [Shakespeare`s play] Hamlet."

Madonna has previously defended the use of guns in her stage show, saying they are metaphorical.
She explained: "It`s true there is a lot of violence in the beginning of the show and sometimes the use of fake guns - but they are used as metaphors.

"I do not condone violence or the use of guns. Rather they are symbols of wanting to appear strong and wanting to find a way to stop feelings that I find hurtful or damaging.

"In my case it is wanting to stop the lies and hypocrisy of the church, the intolerance of many narrow minded cultures and societies I have experienced throughout my life and in some cases the pain I have felt from having my heart broken."
sections: Celebrities