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 .
22-514: The Dynasty Tour was a concert tour by the rock band Kiss . It was also the final tour with original member Peter Criss until the Alive/Worldwide Tour in 1996. The Dynasty Tour, also known as "The Return of Kiss", was the first tour to feature the famous flying stunt by Gene Simmons . This was also the first tour to feature Ace Frehley 's "lighted guitar" and his rocket-shooting guitar, where after his smoke-spewing guitar solo,
44-432: A band and I knew the anticipation for us at the shows would be huge I thought rising from inside the stage and holding a frozen pose would make us that larger than life by our presence alone setting off the crowd. In hindsight I think had we stayed in classic black and silver outfits it would have contrasted the stage and been much more powerful. The multi colored outfits made it all look a bit too Vegas for me and it took away
66-402: A band called New England. Kiss was selling a lot of behind-the-stage seats, and I wanted everyone in the audience to feel that they weren't forgotten, so I came up with a multi-level hexagon where we were free to roam and sing from many vantage points. Most of our stages have been dark overall and I thought we would stand out a lot more on a white stage. Because we had reached iconic proportions as
88-646: A headset and shooting a laser out of his left eye to mock the effect seen in Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park the year before. After several runthroughs, both Stanley and manager Bill Aucoin nixed the idea, citing the danger involved. The tour, dubbed "The Return Of Kiss", also saw a decline in audience. Additional dates at the Pontiac Silverdome were cancelled. Reviews and recordings have confirmed
110-955: 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. Performing arts presenters Performing arts presenting organizations facilitate exchanges between artists and audiences through creative, educational, and performance opportunities. The work that these artists perform
132-453: 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
154-485: 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
176-400: 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,
198-443: 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
220-439: 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
242-437: 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
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#1732779733113264-585: Is produced outside of the presenting organization. Performing arts presenters are typically found in three varieties: Many organizations also experiment with performances of a more conceptual nature or work across genres. The Association of Performing Arts Presenters , located in Washington, D.C., is the largest organizing body of performing arts presenters in the United States. The primary international organizing body of performing arts presenters
286-862: Is the International Society for the Performing Arts. [1] Performing arts presenters as a segment of the live performance market confronted particular difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic . National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) chair, Maria Rosario Jackson was quoted in the Chicago Tribune as saying, "Few areas of the U.S. economy were hit harder than the performing arts, with the value added by performing arts presenters (including festivals) to Gross Domestic Product falling by nearly 73% between 2019 and 2020." A press release from
308-500: The band had done little to its basic formula, they played a "thunderous heavy metal music" and said they were as good as they needed to be, in which there was hardly a dull moment with the usage of special effects, as well as the new addition of Gene Simmons levitating 30 feet (10 m) to the top of the lighting truss, which had impressed the audience. Encore Encore Concert tour Different segments of longer concert tours are known as "legs". The different legs of
330-437: The edge. The stage was really unique in that it almost looked like a massive monument rather that your typical one level flat rectangular stage. I loved it. Roman Kozak from Billboard opened his review, stating that there was nothing quite like a Kiss concert. He noted on the addition of audiences who were in their preteens and teens, adding that they were quite pleased by the extravagant performance. Kozak pointed out that while
352-434: 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
374-474: 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
396-408: The still-smoking guitar would float up. As it was floating upward, he would appear with another guitar, aim the neck at the floating guitar, shoot the rockets, and blow it up. John Elder Robison , who served as a technician for the band during the late 1970's, documented the lengths he went to create the elaborate effects for the tour. A trick was designed for Paul Stanley that involved his putting on
418-537: The tour was also of poor musical quality. This was the last tour with Peter Criss on drums until 1996. He would later admit he would intentionally stop playing during shows just to upset the rest of the band. This tour is also famous for being the only tour to feature songs from all four members’ solo albums. Simmons performed " Radioactive ", Criss performed " Tossin' and Turnin' ", Frehley performed " New York Groove ", and Stanley performed "Move On". Simmons' and Criss' songs were replaced with more familiar songs early in
440-425: The tour. Criss' song "Dirty Livin" was reportedly rehearsed, but never performed. Frehley stated in various interviews that Kiss was becoming a youth-oriented band. It was because kids were showing up dressed in costume and make-up for their shows along with their parents. In the tour program for the band's final tour , Stanley reflected on the tour: I designed the stage while I was in the studio in 1978 producing
462-444: 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
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#1732779733113484-577: 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)
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