A concert tour (or simply tour ) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often, concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific tour with a particular album or product. Especially in the popular music world, such tours can become large-scale enterprises that last for several months or even years, are seen by hundreds of thousands or millions of people, and bring in millions of dollars in ticket revenues. A performer who embarks on a concert tour is called a touring artist .
25-754: The Destiny World Tour (also known as The Jacksons World Tour ) was the third concert tour by the Jacksons to promote the group's Destiny album. The tour began on January 22, 1979, with their opening concert in Bremen, West Germany. They visited 2 continents and 12 countries, playing approximately 83 concerts in the United States alone. The tour concluded in Hawaii on January 13, 1980. The tour began on January 22, 1979, in Bremen , West Germany shortly after
50-463: A road manager whereas large concert tours are managed by a tour manager . The main challenge in concert tours is how to move the performance's logistics from one venue to another venue, especially for a transcontinental tour. Tour logistics should be very organized and everything has to happen on time and in the right order as planned. Autoweek magazine estimated 30 to 50 trucks were required by Taylor Swift 's The 1989 World Tour to bring all
75-772: A new form of theatrical entertainment, a fusion of song, performance art, innovative stage craft, and state-of-the-art technology. She managed to popularize the Las Vegas residency as a desirable way for top artists to essentially tour in place, letting their fans come to them. American singer Lady Gaga , who cancelled the 2018 European leg of her Joanne World Tour , signed for a Las Vegas residency to help manage her fibromyalgia illness, which can be exacerbated by touring. The 2015 study by charity Help Musicians found that over 60% of musicians suffered from depression or other psychological issues, with touring an issue for 71% of respondents. Setlist A set list , or setlist ,
100-451: A promotional campaign to support an album release. Hence, new songs from the respective album are included on its tour's setlist . Some tours are known as "greatest hits tours" or "reunion tour" without any new material or specific album release, such as Fleetwood Mac 's 2009 Unleashed tour and No Doubt 's 2009 Summer Tour . Taylor Swift 's The Eras Tour (2023–2024) is a retrospective of her career to that point, where each act of
125-476: A running setlist on one or more Internet forums devoted to the performer of the night. When internet-connected smartphones came about, fans began to post the setlists directly to these forums and websites themselves, often as part of a running play-by-play commentary of their concert experiences on social media sites such as Myspace and later Twitter . Collecting setlists has become nearly as popular for music fans as collecting ticket stubs and show posters, with
150-485: Is Taylor Swift 's Eras Tour , with $ 2.089 billion earned from 125 shows. In 2024, Coldplay 's Music of the Spheres World Tour became the second tour to gross $ 1 billion in revenue. In third place is Elton John 's Farewell Yellow Brick Road , with a total gross of $ 939 million from 2018–2023. On fourth place is Ed Sheeran 's ÷ Tour , with a gross of $ 776.2 million. On fifth place
175-400: Is U2 's 360° Tour , with $ 736.4 million. Global touring revenue reported to Billboard Boxscore exceeded $ 5.5 billion in 2016. Due to the collapse of record sales in the 21st century, concert tours have become a major source of income for recording artists. Besides the tickets, touring also generates money from the sales of merchandise and meet-and-greet packages. However,
200-439: Is a peculiar thing, it doesn't suit me particularly well. I'm a real homebody and I get so much joy in the small things." A concert residency concept is offered as an alternative to performers who just need to stay in one venue and the fans come to see them. The concept has been revitalized in the 21st century by Canadian superstar Céline Dion with the success of her A New Day... residency (2003–2007). Her residency introduced
225-404: Is done to provide a more accurate record of each individual show, which is later used to differentiate between performances during a tour, as many artists will change their setlist from one night to another. In the pre-smartphone era, devoted followers attending concerts of popular artists such as Bruce Springsteen or Led Zeppelin , which have very large fan bases spanning the globe, often took on
250-445: Is the use of technologies such as instant polling on social media and websites, where fans can choose material to be performed. Many performers also craft their playlists to highlight other elements of their shows, such as visual ambiance, choreography, or to refer to specific albums or phases of their careers. Music fans also refer to the setlist in the non-physical sense of what a performing artist chooses to play. Many artists use
275-417: Is typically a handwritten or printed document created as an ordered list of songs, jokes, stories and other elements an artist intends to present during a specific performance. A setlist can be made of nearly any material that can be written or printed on, but are most commonly paper , cardboard or cardstock . They are also often laminated , especially for outdoor venues. The setlist is usually taped onto
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#1732790183999300-461: The stage where the musicians can see it, or to equipment such as a monitor or amplifier. Artists and bands use setlists for a variety of reasons beyond the mere order of performance events. They are often used to help create the set's overall mood by establishing a memorable sense of range and variety in tone, tempo and dynamics between songs. They are also used to create sets for specific audiences and locations. An increasingly common application
325-906: The Wall , the brothers revamped their show for larger venues. For the third leg, additional songs were added to the setlist, most notably songs from Michael's new album. The opening acts in the second leg included The tour grossed an estimated 7.5 million dollars. On, November 15, 1979, Michael would end up with a kidney infection. This caused shows from November 15–21 to be cancelled from Fort Worth to Greenville . Some performances were cancelled for December for uncertainty for when Michael would get better. These shows were initially planned to be rescheduled for 1980 but ultimately got cancelled overall. The tour picked up on November 22 in Savannah . The tour ended in Honolulu on January 13, 1980. The following set list
350-460: The Wall , which would be released exactly two months later. The Jacksons kick off their world tour in Europe. Jaunting through European nightclubs and theaters throughout United Kingdom, West Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, France & Spain. Some dates compose of 2 shows being an evening and night show. The Jacksons would play arenas and auditoriums, after the release of Michael's album Off
375-413: The actual physical setlist becoming a treasured and uniquely rare souvenir for concert goers and fans of music, in general. Fans often wait around after a concert just so they can grab one off the stage after a performance or so they can try requesting one from a roadie or other event staff. Crew members also sometimes keep items like original setlists, guitar picks, drumsticks and other items used during
400-408: The concert represents one of her albums . In another case, artists embark on a concert tour to celebrate the anniversary of their past albums, such as U2 's 2017 tour to mark the 30th anniversary of The Joshua Tree (1987) and Janet Jackson 's 2019 tour to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989). A farewell tour is a concert tour intended to signal
425-486: The most common means of separating legs are dates (especially if there is a long break at some point), countries and/or continents, or different opening acts. In the largest concert tours, it has become more common for different legs to employ separate touring production crews and equipment, local to each geographical region. Concert tours are often administered on the local level by concert promoters or by performing arts presenters . Usually, small concert tours are managed by
450-529: The release of the Destiny album the previous December. The tour jolted through 2 continents, playing concerts in Europe & North America. Before taking on an approximately 80-city tour in the United States. The Jacksons took a four-month break from touring after the concert at the Greensboro Coliseum on June 10, 1979 so lead singer Michael Jackson could finish working on his solo album Off
475-406: The retirement of a singer, the disbanding of a band, or the end of a show's run. Many of the tours end up not being the last tour, with frequent regroupings, or revivals of shows. Luciano Pavarotti 's 2004 tour and Kenny Rogers 's 2015–2017 tour are examples of farewell tours which were the last to be staged before their deaths. As of October 2024, the highest-grossing concert tour of all time
500-441: The same list for every performance on a concert tour . Others prefer to vary their lists during a tour, either for the benefit of fans who attend multiple performances or to avoid a sense of monotony among the musicians. The Grateful Dead was known for never playing the same setlist twice. Some such artists have predetermined "slots" in an otherwise mostly fixed show where different songs can be inserted. Some artists even state that
525-440: The same song will not be played at two shows in a row; and still others, such as Van Morrison , use no predetermined list at all. There are websites that track and report information on such things as the venue and bands on the bill of each date, as well as which band members were in attendance, copies of the show posters and other memorabilia available, and most importantly, the actual setlist used for that particular event. This
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#1732790183999550-520: The stage, sound equipment, instruments, props, and clothes. When Beyoncé visited the United Kingdom with her 2016 The Formation World Tour , it took seven Boeing 747 air freighters and a fleet of more than 70 trucks to get her stage set and other gear to the venues. The logistics phase of that tour did not include transportation of the backstage staff, musicians, performers, and the singer herself. The majority of concert tours are part of
575-405: The task of tracking which songs were played and in what order, creating their own handwritten version of the correct setlist for the event to be shared later with other fans through fan clubs and other forums. When early cellular phones became commonplace with the general public, people began using text-messaging to report the songs played in real-time to a friend or fellow fan who would then update
600-499: The touring business suffered in the early 2020s because of the COVID-19 pandemic . Pollstar estimated the total lost revenue for the industry in 2020 at more than $ 30 billion. The mobility of concert tours requires a lot of costs, time, and energy. It is very common for musicians to not see family members for over a year during their touring. British singer Adele expressed her unhappiness of concert tours, saying "Touring
625-548: Was performed during the European leg of the tour. The following set list was performed during the North American leg of the tour. First leg Second leg The London concert on February 23 was released on VHS later in 1979. Concert tour Different segments of longer concert tours are known as "legs". The different legs of a tour are denoted in different ways, dependent on the artist and type of tour, but
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