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 .
41-546: The Diamond Dogs Tour was a concert tour by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie in North America in 1974 to promote the studio album Diamond Dogs , which was released the same year. The first leg of the tour utilized a rock opera -style stage show format with multiple sets, costume changes, and choreography. The third leg of the tour was alternatively known as The Soul Tour , which included some songs from
82-425: A mere 6 days before the show opened, which led to a variety of technical problems during the tour: a movable catwalk collapsed once during the tour with Bowie on it. The set was at least partially based on work by German artist George Grosz . In 1990, while preparing for his Sound+Vision Tour , Bowie recalled the difficulties faced by the show, saying it "was good fun and dangerous, with the equipment breaking down and
123-801: 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. Tony Visconti Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944)
164-453: A tour are denoted in different ways, dependent on the artist and type of tour, but 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
205-485: 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
246-400: 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,
287-443: Is a concert tour intended to signal 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
328-439: 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
369-437: Is a retrospective of her career to that point, where each act of 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
410-676: Is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex 's " Ride a White Swan " in 1970, the first of many hits in collaboration with Marc Bolan . Visconti's lengthiest involvement was with David Bowie : intermittently from the production and arrangement of Bowie's 1968 single "In the Heat of the Morning" / "London Bye Ta-Ta" to his final album Blackstar in 2016, Visconti produced and occasionally performed on many of Bowie's albums. Visconti's work on Blackstar
451-993: The Billboard Top Alternative Albums chart and #18 on the OCC (UK) Official Albums Chart . June–July: September: "The Soul/Philly Dogs Tour" – October–December: From David Bowie From The Man Who Sold the World From Hunky Dory From The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars From Aladdin Sane From Pin Ups From Diamond Dogs From Young Americans Other songs Concert tour Different segments of longer concert tours are known as "legs". The different legs of
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#1732791765882492-688: The Manic Street Preachers album Lifeblood . In 2005, he collaborated with Copenhagen band Kashmir , whose fifth album, No Balance Palace , featured David Bowie . He has also collaborated as co-writer and producer on an album project by Richard Barone . He worked in Rome and produced the No. 1 UK album by Morrissey Ringleader of the Tormentors . His autobiography, Bowie, Bolan and The Brooklyn Boy , co-written with Richard Havers ,
533-562: The Beatles ' Apple label. He produced the first two albums by influential progressive rock band Gentle Giant . Shortly afterwards, Visconti began to work again with Bowie and, along with guitarist Mick Ronson and drummer John Cambridge, formed and toured with the band The Hype , in which he played bass. Although the band name would be very short-lived, most of the line-up persisted and—with Woody Woodmansey replacing Cambridge—would go on to record Bowie's album and single The Man Who Sold
574-647: The World in 1970. He would further go on to work on Bowie's albums Diamond Dogs (1974), Young Americans (1975), Low (1977), "Heroes" (1977), Lodger (1979), Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) (1980), Heathen (2002), Reality (2003), The Next Day (2013), and his final album, Blackstar (2016). In late 1970 and early 1971 Visconti produced both the debut and second albums by UK Afrorock pioneers Osibisa. These were 1971’s self titled debut and its follow up Woyaya. Both albums also featured early examples of Roger Dean’s artwork. Visconti scored
615-588: The World . Since 2015 he has toured the UK, Japan , and the US with the Bowie cover band Holy Holy , playing the album in its entirety and other early Bowie classics, along with the album's original drummer Mick Woodmansey and other well-known musicians, including singer Glenn Gregory and guitarist James Stevenson . The band have followed this up with later shows in which they perform The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and
656-565: The album and performed live in concert with Barone on numerous occasions. Visconti produced the 2013 David Bowie album The Next Day and remixed and remastered both The Slider anniversary box set and Electric Warrior 40th-anniversary box set by T. Rex. In 2013, he produced Solar Secrets by Capsula . In 2014 Visconti produced and arranged several tracks on Marc Almond 's album The Dancing Marquis . Almond had wanted to work with Visconti since hearing some of Visconti's earliest production work with T-Rex and David Bowie, stating, "It
697-615: The band also included Artie Butler , later a leading arranger . In 1960 he played his first recording session and over the next few years became one of the leading guitarists in New York nightclubs . He played in lounge acts , including the Ned Harvey Band and the Speedy Garfin Band, before joining a touring version of The Crew-Cuts , where he met his future wife. As Tony and Siegrid, the pair released two singles;
738-466: The bridges falling apart on stage. I kept getting stuck out over the audience's heads, on the hydraulic cherry picker, after the finish of ' Space Oddity .'" Other props worked as expected: for the song " Big Brother ", Bowie sang while atop a multi-mirrored glass "asylum", emerging during the next song (" Time ") sitting in the palm of a giant hand covered in small light bulbs. The show in Tampa, Florida,
779-620: The concert recording went on as planned. The resulting double album, titled David Live , became Bowie's first official live album. A Portrait in Flesh , a bootleg of the 5 September 1974 show in Los Angeles was released in Australia. An official version of the 5 September 1974 show, mixed by Tony Visconti in 2016, was first released as Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles '74) , a 3-LP set, for Record Store Day on 22 April 2017. The set
820-587: The debut album of The Stone Roses member John Squire 's new band, The Seahorses , entitled Do It Yourself . He produced and played bass on a handful of tracks from The Dandy Warhols ' 2003 album, Welcome to the Monkey House . In 2003 he teamed up with the Finn Brothers (Neil and Tim of Crowded House and Split Enz ) to record and produce their second collaborative album, eventually released in 2004. That same year, he produced three songs on
861-483: The entire thing that I'm amazed I lasted with it even that one trip across America before I ditched it." The set for the theatrical Diamond Dogs tour was designed by Mark Ravitz , who later did the set for Bowie's 1987 Glass Spider Tour . The set was built to resemble a city (called "Hunger City"), weighed 6 tons and incorporated over 20,000 moving parts including a variety of props (such as streetlamps, chairs and catwalks). The props themselves weren't ready for use until
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#1732791765882902-566: The first, "Long Hair," was a regional hit in New York in 1966, but they could not maintain its success. Visconti then became in-house producer for his publisher, the Richmond Organization . Through this position, in 1968, he met British producer Denny Cordell , who asked him to assist in recordings for successful jazz vocalist Georgie Fame , prompting Visconti to move to London. One of his first production projects in England
943-411: The forthcoming album Young Americans (1975) and featured a revamped, stripped-down presentation and different backing band. Two months of rehearsals were required to get the tour ready, in part due to the elaborate set & props required for the show (reported to cost $ 275,000 per set, or about $ 1,700,000 today). Originally the tour was planned to appear in a city for five nights before moving on to
984-434: The local level by concert promoters or by performing arts presenters . Usually, small concert tours are managed by 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
1025-771: The new No. 1 album (in France) by French artist Raphael in Paris and New York. He produced and mixed the Kristeen Young album Music for Strippers, Hookers, and the Odd On-Looker , released in 2009, and arranged the Fall Out Boy album Folie à Deux . 2010 marked the release of Richard Barone 's Visconti-produced Glow album, which includes five songs co-written with Barone and a remake of T. Rex's "Girl"; he also played bass, guitar, synth, and Stylophone on
1066-708: The next city, but that plan was abandoned early on. The tour started in June 1974 in Montreal, Quebec as the "Diamond Dogs Tour" (although producer Tony DeFries demanded the tour be referred to as "The Year of the Diamond Dogs" when speaking with the press). Bowie recorded radio and television commercials for the tour, which played in advance of the tour's arrival in each city. The tour took the month of August 1974 off, during which time Bowie began recording his follow-up studio album, Young Americans . On 10 October 1974, after
1107-651: The orchestral arrangements for Paul McCartney and Wings ' 1973 album Band on the Run . He later produced two albums for the Moody Blues , The Other Side of Life (1986) and Sur La Mer (1988). In 1990 he produced several tracks on the Moody Blues' Keys of the Kingdom album (1991), Luscious Jackson 's Electric Honey , Leisure Noise by Gay Dad , Soul Caddy for Cherry Poppin' Daddies , and Dawn of Ananda for Annie Haslam . In 1997, Visconti produced
1148-474: 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 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
1189-541: The tour had resumed, Bowie abandoned the extravagant theatrical set and re-branded the tour "The Soul Tour", which would continue through the end of the North American leg in December. In 1987, Bowie recalled how difficult the tour was early on before changing it into the 'Soul Tour', saying "I was in a bad state of mind to have attempted that. It was pretty exciting, but I was so blocked [laughs], so stoned during
1230-499: 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
1271-577: 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 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)
Diamond Dogs Tour - Misplaced Pages Continue
1312-507: Was Electric Warrior (1971), the album that made T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan a superstar and cemented Visconti's producing prowess. More early production work included David Bowie's second album (1969) and for the Welsh group The Iveys (later known as Badfinger ). He produced several tracks for the Iveys' first LP, Maybe Tomorrow (1969), and Magic Christian Music (1970), released on
1353-716: Was a dream to work with Tony". From 2016 to 2023 Visconti was a jury member of the ANCHOR-Award, linked to the Reeperbahn Festival. In 2018 Visconti produced Evil Spirits for The Damned , their first album in ten years. He also produced, sang, and played recorder on Merrie Land , the second album by The Good, the Bad & the Queen (2018). In 2019 Visconti produced the song "The Dragon Cries" with Band-Maid vocalists Miku Kobato and Saiki Atsumi. The track
1394-607: Was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical and his production of Angelique Kidjo 's Djin Djin received the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album . Visconti was born in Brooklyn , New York , to parents of Italian descent . He started to play the ukulele when he was five years old and then learned guitar. He attended New Utrecht High School . Throughout his teenage years Visconti
1435-646: Was built on a city pretext. I had dancers working with me and it was choreographed and was a real fantastic musical event. I thoroughly enjoyed working like that." MainMan, Bowie's management team, planned to cull a live album from the July 1974 performances at the Tower Theater just outside Philadelphia . When the band learned of this, they demanded to be paid a standard recording fee of $ 5000 per musician in addition to their normal pay or they would refuse to perform. They were given checks hours before show time, and
1476-523: Was involved with both a classical brass band (playing tuba ) and a traditional orchestra (playing double bass ), as well as playing rock-and-roll-oriented guitar, valuable experience that served him well in later years. By the age of 15 he had focused his efforts on playing in local Brooklyn bands. After leaving school he played guitar in a band called Ricardo & the Latineers in the Catskills ;
1517-584: Was performed without any of the stage props because the truck driver driving those components ended up in a highway ditch after being stung by a bee. In 1987, while preparing for the Glass Spider Tour (which picked up theatrically where the Diamond Dogs tour left off and was also designed by Ravitz), Bowie recalled about the extraordinary nature of the set he used during this tour, saying "We had four skyscrapers on stage, with bridges that went backwards and forward and would go up and down. The whole thing
1558-800: Was published in February 2007 by HarperCollins UK . The book has been translated into French by Jérôme Soligny as Bowie, Bolan et le Gamin de Brooklyn , published by Tournon. In 2007 and 2008 Visconti was very active in the studio with Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo , producing her Grammy -winning album Djin Djin , which included guest artists Alicia Keys , Peter Gabriel , Joss Stone , Josh Groban , and Carlos Santana . He has also produced two albums at Saint Claire Recording Studio in Lexington, Kentucky : The Bright Lights of America by Pittsburgh punk band Anti-Flag and Alejandro Escovedo 's album Real Animal , released in June 2008. He produced
1599-668: Was released in CD and digital formats in June 2017. An official live album mostly recorded at the Michigan Palace, Detroit on 20 October 1974, during the last stage of the tour – known as The Soul Tour – was released for Record Store Day in August 2020. The 2-LP and 2-CD set is titled I'm Only Dancing (The Soul Tour 74) . In September 2020, the album peaked at #16 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart, #12 on
1640-680: Was released on Band-Maid's 2019 release Conqueror . Visconti served as music producer on the 2022 film Moonage Daydream , a documentary about Bowie written, produced, directed, and edited by Brett Morgen . After divorcing his first wife, Siegrid, Visconti married Welsh folk singer Mary Hopkin in 1971; they divorced in 1981. The pair have two children, musicians Jessica Lee Morgan and Morgan Visconti. In 1989 he married his third wife, May Pang ; they had two children before they divorced in 2000. Visconti currently lives with his girlfriend of 20 years, musician Kristeen Young . Visconti played bass on David Bowie's 1970 album The Man Who Sold
1681-526: Was with the British outfit Tyrannosaurus Rex (later to become T. Rex) on their debut album My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows (1968). This began a relationship with T. Rex that would last for their next eight albums and eleven UK Top Ten singles in a row, commencing with " Ride a White Swan " (1970). One of Visconti's greatest successes