Madonna’s upcoming tour will begin Aug. 23 in Cardiff, Wales, and will include between 50-60 shows total, Billboard.biz has learned. Details of the tour, produced globally by Live Nation, will be announced later today.

Billed as the Sticky and Sweet tour, Madonna’s trek in support of her current chart-topping Warner Bros. release “Hard Candy” — which debuted atop the Billboard 200 yesterday — will play stadiums in the U.K. and Europe until the end of September, arenas and a “handful” of stadiums in 16 markets in North America in October and November, and then stadiums in Mexico and South America late November-December.

The upcoming tour is the first major manifestation of the multi-faceted 10-year deal between Madonna and Live Nation, valued in published reports at $120 million.

“The reality is she’s delivered her last album to Warner Bros., and it’s a smash, which is great for everybody,” Fogel says. “We now have a tremendous opportunity with a tremendous artist to do all kinds of new and innovative things on many different levels, and this tour will be the start of that rollout.”

The tour follows a familiar Madonna touring blueprint in that it visits a limited number of markets in a four-month time frame, with multi-night stands in major cities. Ticket on-sale details will be announced today, along with a presale through Live Nation’s corporate sponsorship partner Citi. Fogel says ticket prices will be “basically the same as they’ve been the past two tours,” which means primarily in the $55-$350 range.