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122-526: The Moonshine Jungle Tour was the third concert tour by American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars . The tour supported his second studio album, Unorthodox Jukebox (2012), from June 2013 to October 2014. After an official announcement on February 10, 2013, which coincided with Mars's performance at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards , a promotional trailer and behind-the-scenes footage of the tour were released through Mars's official YouTube channel and website. Mars and his team selected Ellie Goulding and Fitz and

244-463: 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

366-620: A terracotta seal with the American Express Eagle. In 1890–91 the company constructed a new ten-story building by Edward H. Kendall on the site of its former headquarters on Hudson Street . By 1903, the company had assets of some $ 28 million, second only to the National City Bank of New York among financial institutions in the city. To reflect this, the company purchased the Broadway buildings and site. At

488-592: A 4.61% worldwide market share by payment volume in 2022, compared to 38.73% for Visa and 24% for Mastercard. While American Express credit cards are accepted at 99% of US merchants that accept credit cards ( Costco being a notable exception), they are much less accepted in Europe and Asia. American Express offers various types of cards including travel and dining cards, everyday spending points cards, and cash back cards. Each category has several card options with different benefits and reward structures. High-profile cards like

610-672: A better solution than the letter of credit. Berry introduced the American Express Traveler's Cheque which was launched in 1891 in denominations of $ 10, $ 20, $ 50, and $ 100. Traveler's cheques established American Express as a truly international company. In 1914, at the onset of World War I , American Express in Europe was among the few companies to honor the letters of credit (issued by various banks) held by Americans in Europe, because other financial institutions refused to assist these stranded travelers. The British government appointed American Express its official agent at

732-479: A cheetah, and gold chains. As soon as Mars reached the microphone the music started. " Moonshine " opened the set with Mars and The Hooligans "executing a series of slick synchronized steps." During the performance of the first segment and its follow up, "Natalie," a "hyperkinetically catchy" "booty-shaker," a giant screen behind Mars displayed flashed images and sounds of wild animals, such as panthers, gorillas, and parrots who flapped their wings in slow motion. Taking

854-674: A concert in "end stage" mode, with 12,142 people in attendance. The record in New Zealand contributed to a successful tour in Oceania with 10 sold-out arenas and a total attendance over 130,000. Overall, the Moonshine Jungle Tour was reported to have grossed over $ 156.4 million, with Billboard Boxscore reporting a gross of $ 136 million. After the Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show , which featured Mars as

976-724: A financial services holding company and made several acquisitions, creating an investment banking arm. In mid-1981 it purchased Sanford I. Weill 's Shearson Loeb Rhoades , the second-largest securities firm in the United States to form Shearson/American Express . Shearson Loeb Rhoades itself was the culmination of several mergers in the 1970s as Weill's Hayden, Stone & Co. merged with Shearson, Hammill & Co. in 1974, to form Shearson Hayden Stone . Shearson Hayden Stone then merged with Loeb, Rhoades, Hornblower & Co. (formerly Loeb, Rhoades & Co. ) to form Shearson Loeb Rhoades in 1979. With capital totaling $ 250 million at

1098-737: A gross of $ 46,417,795 after the conclusion of the first leg in North America. In Australia the concerts were scheduled for February 2014, tickets went on sale in April 2013, and by September 80% of the shows were sold out, including two dates in Sidney and in Melbourne, in arenas of 14,000 to 15,000 capacity. The total revenue was above $ 1 million per night in ticket sales. At that time nine dates were on sale and more were added. In New Zealand, Mars broke Vector Arena 's house attendance record for

1220-534: A local bank card clearing business license in China. In a court case Ohio v. American Express Co. (2018), merchants filed a class action lawsuit against American Express and claimed that charging high fees to merchants is a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act . According to the lawsuit, American Express charges significantly higher fees than other credit card providers. In January 2017,

1342-488: A moment to invite the audience to dance and sing along with him to the Motown and soul-funk " Treasure ," a giant disco ball descended from the roof reflecting dozens of bright gold lights and multi-colored laser lights flashed. The crowd responded enthusiastically to the music. The show also included several covers of songs by other artists mashed up with Mars's tracks. A cover of Barrett Strong 's " Money (That's What I Want) "

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1464-797: 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. American Express The American Express Company or Amex

1586-512: A positive review, as he witnessed Mars's "powerful" vocals and the band's "incredible musicianship." He highlighted Mars's "swoonworthy rendition" of "When I Was Your Man," the "rock interpretation" of "Grenade," and the Pharrell duet. Jason Lipshutz, a Billboard magazine writer, felt that one of the most stunning aspects of the concert was the catalog of number-one records left off the live show while still making it impressive. He said that Mars

1708-451: 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

1830-540: A result of antitrust litigation brought by the United States Department of Justice . In January 2004, American Express reached a deal to have its cards issued by MBNA . Initially decried by Mastercard executives as nothing but an "experiment", the cards were issued beginning in October 2004. An agreement was reached regarding the acquisition of MBNA by Bank of America whereby Bank of America owned

1952-561: A second date was scheduled and immediately sold out as well. Marx said that more dates could have been sold out in L.A, since they left at least 20,000 people in a "virtual waiting room" who could have bought tickets. All in all, and according to Marx, the team at WME was pleased with having sold 30,000 tickets, and decided to stop there. Moreover, in Toronto there was a hold on the second date, but they ended up by re-launching and putting it on sale with 30,000 tickets being sold there. In Denver

2074-479: A superstar;" in contrast, he gives nothing but consistency. Serba highlighted the production, which he found outstanding and diverse. Robert Copsey from Digital Spy thought the concert had avoidably "long breakdowns and interludes." Fortunately, Mars's band added energy to those. Copsey considered it a small imperfection "in an otherwise stunning performance" from a singer who was just commencing his tours and shows. The New Zealand Herald 's Bridget Jones dubbed

2196-414: A tightly controlled, single-use card number. In March 2008, Standard Chartered Bank acquired American Express Bank Ltd, the international banking subsidiary of American Express for $ 823 million. On November 10, 2008, during the 2007–2008 financial crisis , the company received Federal Reserve System approval to convert to a bank holding company , making it eligible for government assistance under

2318-438: A year in advance. Nevertheless, not only was the album Unorthodox Jukebox released later than expected, but many tours were already scheduled in the first quarter of the year. This led to the tour being delayed until the summer in North America. According to Marx, this and the previously mentioned unusual announcements contributed to the success of the tour. Notwithstanding, Marx has run successful tours with several artists during

2440-485: 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

2562-400: 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,

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2684-668: Is one of the largest US banks , and is ranked 77th on the Fortune 500 and 28th on the list of the most valuable brands by Forbes . In 2023, it was ranked 63rd in the Forbes Global 2000 . Amex also owns a direct bank . Founded in 1850 as a freight forwarding company, Amex introduced financial and travel services during the early 1900s. It developed its first paper charge card in 1958, gold card in 1966, green card in 1969, platinum card in 1984, and Centurion Card in 1999. The "Don't Leave Home Without It" advertising campaign

2806-414: 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

2928-439: 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

3050-475: Is a pop artist with the "whole package," comparing him to "an ace Pixar movie." Lipshutz ended his review stating that Mars was one of the best live performers at the given moment. The Boston Globe ' s Sarah Rodman commented that the singer kept a high level of energy during the entire concert. She added, "much work, planning, and rehearsal went in to the show, but Mars made it look easy." Lillian Altman, writing for The AU Review , felt that "the chemistry between

3172-676: Is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment cards . It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street , also known as American Express Tower, in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan . Amex is the fourth-largest card network globally based on purchase volume, behind China UnionPay , Visa , and Mastercard . 141.2 million Amex cards were in force worldwide as of December 31, 2023, with an average annual spend per card member of US$ 24,059. That year, Amex handled over $ 1.7 trillion in purchase volume on its network. Amex

3294-538: The American Bureau of Shipping , a maritime concern (1977–86), and later J.J. Kenny, and Standard & Poor's , the latter of which renamed the building for itself. American Express extended its reach nationwide by arranging affiliations with other express companies (including Wells Fargo – the replacement for the two former companies that merged to form American Express), railroads, and steamship companies. In 1857, American Express started its expansion in

3416-553: The American Railway Express Agency formed in July 1918. The new entity took custody of all the pooled equipment and property of existing express companies (the largest share of which, 40%, came from American Express, who had owned the rights to the express business over 71,280 miles (114,710 km) of railroad lines, and had 10,000 offices, with over 30,000 employees). American Express executives discussed

3538-694: The Tribeca section of Manhattan. For years it enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the movement of express shipments (goods, securities, currency, etc.) throughout New York State. In 1874, American Express moved its headquarters to 65 Broadway in what was becoming the Financial District of Manhattan, a location it was to retain through two buildings. In 1854, the American Express Co. purchased a lot on Vesey Street in New York City as

3660-648: The Troubled Asset Relief Program . At that time, American Express had total consolidated assets of about $ 127 billion. In June 2009, $ 3.39 billion in TARP funds were repaid plus $ 74.4 million in dividend payments. In July 2009, the company ended its obligations under TARP by buying back $ 340 million in Treasury warrants. As part of the conversion, the company reduced or closed many business lines of credit. In 2009, American Express introduced

3782-478: The $ 226 million credit card portfolio of Bank of Hawaii , then a division of Pacific Century Financial Corporation In January 2006, American Express sold its Bank of Hawaii card portfolio to Bank of America ( MBNA ). Until 2004, Visa and Mastercard rules prohibited issuers of their cards from issuing American Express cards in the United States. This meant, as a practical matter, that U.S. banks could not issue American Express cards. These rules were struck down as

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3904-800: The 1980s, began accepting cards using the Visa and Mastercard payment networks. In 2011, Amex launched the Blue Cash Preferred Card credit card. In October 2012, The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) required three American Express subsidiaries to refund an estimated $ 85 million to approximately 250,000 customers for illegal card practices between 2003 and 2012. Allegations included that American Express made misleading statements regarding signup bonuses, charged unlawful late fees, discriminated against applicants due to age, and failed to report consumer complaints to regulators. Also in October 2012, American Express and Walmart announced

4026-532: The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling that American Express could block merchants that accept its cards from steering customers to other cards, like those offered by Visa and Mastercard. In June 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed the 2nd Circuit's ruling. In 2018, the Gold Card was converted to a credit card for UK residents, but remains a charge card in

4148-571: The American Express Travelers Cheque Card, a stored-value card that serves the same purposes as a traveler's cheque, but can be used in stores like a credit card. Amex discontinued the card in October 2007. On September 30, 2005, American Express completed the corporate spin-off of its American Express Financial Advisors unit, Ameriprise Financial , to its shareholders and RSM McGladrey acquired American Express Tax & Business Services (TBS). In 2006,

4270-618: The American Express network. American Express was, at the time, known for cutting its interchange fee to merchants and restaurants if they accepted only American Express and no other credit or charge cards. This prompted competitors such as Visa and Mastercard to file complaints as the tactics gave Amex exclusivity at restaurants. Capitalizing on this elitist image, American Express frequently mentioned such exclusive partnerships in its advertising. Aside from some holdouts including Neiman Marcus , which continued exclusivity until 2011,

4392-487: The Boat ", Mad Cobra 's "Flex" and Lloyd ’s "Secret Admirer". Credits adapted from several sources: The Hooligans Production Management 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 the most common means of separating legs are dates (especially if there

4514-526: The Costco card accounts was significant; in the first quarter without Costco cards, company profit dropped 10% and revenue dropped 5% compared to the previous year. On March 1, 2017, ANZ announced that it was no longer issuing American Express cards, with them phased out entirely by August 5, 2017. In October 2017, American Express established a joint venture company, LianTong ( 连通 ), in China to operate its payment card brand locally. In June 2020, it obtained

4636-460: The Fee Party's legal bills, and Discover Card was able to increase their acceptance among Boston restaurants by 375%. Kenneth Chenault , then head of Travel Related Services prior to becoming American Express CEO, cut fees to bring these restaurants back into the fold. American Express then shifted its focus from exclusivity to broadening acceptance, adding mainstream merchants like Walmart to

4758-499: The First World War, the 21-story neo-classical American Express Co. Building was constructed in 1916–17 to the design of James L. Aspinwall, of the firm of Renwick, Aspinwall & Tucker, the successor to the architectural practice of James Renwick Jr. The building consolidated the two lots of the former buildings with a single address: 65 Broadway . This building was part of the "Express Row" section of lower Broadway at

4880-575: The Green, Gold, and Platinum cards cater to frequent travelers and diners with perks tailored to these activities. In 1850, American Express was started as a freight forwarding company in Buffalo, New York . It was founded as a joint-stock corporation by the merger of the cash-in-transit companies owned by Henry Wells (Wells & Company), William G. Fargo (Livingston, Fargo & Company), and John Warren Butterfield (Wells, Butterfield & Company,

5002-551: The ICC was drawn to its strict control of the railroad express business. However, the solution did not come immediately to hand. The solution to this problem came as a coincidence to other problems during World War I. During the winter of 1917, the United States suffered a severe coal shortage and on December 26 President Woodrow Wilson commandeered the railroads on behalf of the United States government to move federal troops, their supplies, and coal. Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo

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5124-458: The Shearson family, creating Shearson Lehman/American Express. Lehman CEO and former trader Lewis Glucksman became CEO of Shearson Lehman/American Express. In 1984, Shearson/American Express acquired Investors Diversified Services (IDS), bringing with it a fleet of financial advisors and investment products. In 1988, Shearson Lehman acquired the E.F. Hutton & Co. , a brokerage firm that

5246-458: The Tantrums as the opening acts for the first North American leg, while music video director Cameron Duddy was signed as creative director for the tour in North America. In Europe and Oceania, Mayer Hawthorne and Miguel , respectively, were selected to open the shows. In 2014, Mars announced an Asian leg and a second leg in North America, which featured Pharrell Williams and Aloe Blacc as

5368-889: The UK division of American Express joined the Product Red coalition and issued a Red Card, donating with each purchase through The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to help African women and children with HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases. In late 2007, the company announced the Plum Card for small business owners. In March 2008, American Express acquired the Corporate Payment Services business of General Electric , which primarily focused on providing purchasing card solutions for large global clients, for $ 1.1 billion in cash. The transaction added V-Payment to its product portfolio. V-Payment enables

5490-604: The United Kingdom and Europe, a leg of the tour that took around two months to be completed. Concerts were also scheduled in Australia and New Zealand for early 2014, as well as at 40 stages in North America. In the end, more seats were added to venues due to overwhelmingly strong ticket sales. It was Mars's first world tour to not reach South America. The tour was first scheduled to begin in February, having been booked

5612-644: The United States, and in 2015 in Canada, Costco ended its relationship with Amex that had provided co-branded Costco membership cards since 2004. The cards issued by Costco in the United States were an extension of an exclusive deal between Costco and American Express dating from 1999. Costco was the last major US merchant that accepted American Express cards exclusively. Costco's Canadian stores ended its exclusive deal with American Express in January 2015, in favor of one with Capital One and Mastercard. Citigroup became

5734-625: The ZYNC charge card, a white card targeting young adults. The card was later discontinued. In November 2010, the UK division of American Express was cautioned by the Office of Fair Trading for the use of controversial charging orders against those in debt. The company was one of four companies who were allegedly encouraging customers to turn their unsecured credit card debts into a form of secured debt. In November 2011, Neiman Marcus , which gave general-purpose card exclusivity to American Express since

5856-416: The act "Don't it feel good, baby". Afterwards, the singer tried to get the nonexistent crowd, excited "Does it feel good on the left side? What about the right side now?" During this rehearse Mars tried to make the track "Show Me" "move seamlessly" into "Our First Time". He was not satisfied with the band's choreography, as it looked to rehearsed and is not supposed to look that way. At this point, Mars leaves

5978-575: The area of financial services by launching a money order business to compete with the United States Post Office 's money orders. Sometime between 1888 and 1890, J. C. Fargo took a trip to Europe and returned frustrated and infuriated. Despite the fact that he was president of American Express and that he carried with him traditional letters of credit , he found it difficult to obtain cash anywhere except in major cities. Fargo went to Marcellus Flemming Berry and asked him to create

6100-704: The arenas. A second date in Chicago could have been done, however they booked a date in Minneapolis, which culminated in a sold-out show. In Los Angeles, some shows coincided with the Jay Z and Justin Timberlake concerts. Furthermore, the tickets for Mars's show were only available one week after the Jay Z/Justin Timberlake tickets went on sale. Nevertheless, after the first sold out date in the city,

6222-473: The band, and the dynamic atmosphere in the arena. Colurso commented that Mars might not have the most deep and breathtaking music, "but he certainly knows how to get the party started." Chris Richards of The Washington Post said that it was a "rare, thrilling, upside-down pop concert," because Mars did not try to recreate the gleam of his most successful tracks, instead he reshaped the songbook at his will, which Richards found amazing. The reviewer also mentioned

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6344-586: The bank. Safra then opened a competing bank. In response, American Express launched an international smear campaign against Safra by inaccurately reporting to news and media outlets in that Safra was being investigated by the FBI for being involved in the Iran–Contra affair , along with drug trafficking and the mafia. All of the accusations were confirmed to be false and led to the resignation of Harry L. Freeman, public relations chief of American Express, after admitting to

6466-479: The beginning of World War I. They were to deliver letters, money, and relief parcels to British prisoners of war. Their employees went into camps to cash drafts for both British and French prisoners and arranged for them to receive money from home. By the end of the war they were delivering 150 tonnes of parcels per day to prisoners in six countries. In 1915, American Express established a travel division and soon established its first travel agency . Albert K. Dawson

6588-517: The bill died at the conference committee. The show's set list consisted of songs from Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010) and Unorthodox Jukebox and some covers; the songs were performed by Mars, who was backed by an eight-piece band, The Hooligans. The show ended with Mars performing " Locked out of Heaven " and " Gorilla " in an encore. The Moonshine Jungle Tour received a positive reception from music critics, who praised not only Mars energetic and "genre-jumping" performances, but also his abilities on

6710-571: The budding Financial District and into rented offices in two five-story brownstone commercial buildings at 63 and 65 Broadway that were owned by the Harmony family. In 1880, American Express built a new warehouse behind the Broadway Building at 46 Trinity Place. The designer is unknown, but it has a façade of brick arches that are reminiscent of pre-skyscraper New York. American Express has long been out of this building, but it still bears

6832-439: The company. In 1979, American Express acquired 50% of the cable subsidiary of Warner Communications , forming Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment , for $ 175 million in cash and short-term notes. It owned two-thirds of MTV , Nickelodeon , and The Movie Channel . The venture was unprofitable, and, in 1985, Amex sold its 50% interest to Viacom for $ 450 million. In the 1980s, American Express embarked on an effort to become

6954-494: The concert as it tried to recreate 1970s era entertainment. The reviewer compared it to some acts of that period such as The Jacksons , The Tramps , and The Bee Gees . He compared the "purity, cream and range" of Mars's voice to "mid-period Michael Jackson." Farber regarded both Mars and Jackson as "pure entertainers." He noted that "it hardly seemed to matter that the show wasn't big on risk or depth." John Serba of Booth Newspapers said that Mars lacks "the commanding presence of

7076-408: 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

7198-506: The customer loans and American Express processed the transactions. American Express dismissed Bank of America from its antitrust litigation against Visa, Mastercard, and other banks. The first card from the partnership, the Bank of America Rewards American Express card, was released on June 30, 2006. In June 2005, American Express introduced ExpressPay, a contactless payment system based on wireless RFID . In July 2005, American Express issued

7320-422: The dates were sold out in North America. This high demand led to an announcement of more dates in several cities despite having chosen 44 dates to begin with, which, according to Marx, was "ambitious," since tours that go above 24 dates can result in a drop in sales. There were three main factors involved in scheduling dates: research of the market, optimism on what they thought they could sell, and how they opened up

7442-493: The development, Creed said, "We're going into rehearsals now, so I don't have much to share, but it's going to be ... incredible ... it's hectic, but it's amazing ... It's a thrill to work with an artist so talented." After evaluating the American Express and Citibank suggestions regarding a presale, WME decided not to pursue the idea with the agreement of Mars's management, a decision which ending up further promoting

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7564-467: The drums and guitar solos, as well as the special effects. Others criticized the "long breakdowns and interludes," labeling them as unnecessary. As soon as the tour was announced, tickets were sold everywhere without pre-sale. After its end, the Moonshine Jungle Tour was reported to have grossed over $ 156.4 million, with Billboard Boxscore reporting a gross of $ 136 million. The tour was nominated for three Pollstar Awards. The Moonshine Jungle Tour

7686-468: The end of the Wells-Fargo reign in 1914, an aggressive new president, George Chadbourne Taylor (1868–1923), who had worked his way up through the company over the previous thirty years, decided to build a new headquarters. The old buildings, dubbed by The New York Times as "among the ancient landmarks" of lower Broadway, were inadequate for such a rapidly expanding concern. After some delays due to

7808-454: The end, before bursting into the "50s-era rock" dance track " Runaway Baby " as the fans "erupted" when the singer channeled The Isley Brothers ' "little-bit-softer-now/little-bit-louder-now" routine. Mars closed the track " Young Girls " with the most vehement singing of the show, which also contained a portion of " Girls Just Want to Have Fun " by Cyndi Lauper . Later on, the stage was left only to Mars and to two keyboardists; Mars introduced

7930-483: The entire scandal. In July 1989, American Express publicly apologized to Edmond Safra and donated $ 8 million to the charity of his choice. In 1990, American Express sold its Swiss banking operations to Compagnie de Banque et d'Investissements, which led to the creation of Union Bancaire Privée (UBP). In 1984, Amex launched the Platinum Card, billed as an "ultra-exclusive" credit card with a $ 250 annual fee. It

8052-536: The exclusive issuer of Costco's credit cards and Visa replaced American Express as the exclusive credit card accepted at Costco's stores in the United States. All TrueEarnings card accounts and balances held by American Express were sold to Citigroup, and new Costco Anywhere Visa cards were sent to Costco members prior to the switch date. The Costco partnership represented 8%, or $ 80 billion, of American Express' billed business and about 20%, or about $ 14 billion, of its interest-bearing credit portfolio. The impact of losing

8174-686: The first date was at Pepsi Center , though the arena was considered inadequate, therefore a second show was set at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre , which was chosen by the AEG team. Both shows were sold out in that day, with 18,000 tickets purchased. The only city where all the tickets were not sold was St. Louis at the Scottrade Center , since its capacity was increased to 16,000 and sold 14,000. However, Billboard reported 44 dates sold out of 48, totaling approximately 666,926 people and

8296-462: The first quarter of the year. "The absence of any presale was a very strong contributing factor toward the overall success of this tour." —John Marx After the tour was confirmed, Mars and his band started preparing for it. His manager at the time, Brandon Creed, said that Mars was more focused and excited than nervous. He furthered that the singer spent most of his time rehearsing, preparing, directing, and choreographing everything. Commenting on

8418-490: The game. Nevertheless, the tour became one of the most expensive of 2014 due to the latter market. Due to the huge tickets reselling activities that occurred during the week after the Super Bowl, and in order to limit that kind of profiteering, in February 2014 Hawaii Senate President Donna Mercado Kim introduced Senate Resolution 12, also known as the "Bruno Mars Act." It limits all ticket purchases within 48 hours of

8540-463: The guitar and horns audio. Brener had some onboard reverbs for snares, acoustic guitar, and horns to use in outdoor spaces. Berry used a DiGiCo SD7 mixing console for most of Mars' vocals, outputs, delay, "vocal rack" and loops. Moreover, he controlled the outputs and vocals from the loop. Shows during the first leg of North America opened either with Goulding or Fitz and the Tantrums performing their songs. The shows in Europe had Mayer Hawthorne as

8662-516: The hard work that we've done when we play and when we sing." Lighting director Dave Marcucci and lighting designer Cory FitzGerald assembled a system capable of producing the aesthetic of the show. Of particular note, FitzGerald created a backdrop wall, which could be programmed to show animations and video. The fixtures were all controlled by a large scale computerized lighting console system. Mars and his bandmates used Sennheiser microphones and wireless receivers. Mars' monitor engineer James Berry

8784-602: The headline act and the Red Hot Chili Peppers as the special guests, tickets for Mars's second North American tour were in high demand. He became the fastest entertainer to sell out three concerts at the Blaisdell Arena in Hawaii . Since the morning of February 3, 2014, many shows were sold out and only a few tickets were available on the primary market, and the average price of a ticket was around $ 500 on

8906-414: The heartbreaking piano ballad " When I Was Your Man " to the audience by saying that it was the most difficult song to write and sing. In this song Mars showed his potent vocal range as fans loudly sang along with him. A piano solo led up to " Grenade ," which began as a "superhero theme" only to be played as a dramatic "bolero" with a rock interpretation. The singer showed not only his guitar abilities during

9028-499: The high-fee Centurion Card , often referred to as the "black card," which caters to an even more affluent customer segment. The card was initially available only to select users of the Platinum card. American Express created the card line amid rumors and urban legends in the 1980s that it produced an ultra-exclusive black card for elite users who could purchase anything with it. In December 2000, American Express agreed to acquire

9150-603: The launch of Bluebird, a prepaid debit card with roadside assistance and identity theft protection that can also be used as a substitute for a traditional transactional account whereby users can have payments deposited to the account and have insurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation . In October 2013, Amex sold most of its publications: Travel + Leisure , Food & Wine , Executive Travel , Black Ink , and Departures magazines, to Time Inc. Time restructured

9272-416: The most expensive in the U.S. during the summer of 2014, ahead of One Direction and Jason Aldean shows, which had the highest prices for an American tour in the same period. Two months after the Super Bowl, 27 of the 48 dates booked for the second leg in North America were sold out on the primary market. The only tickets left for those shows were available on the secondary market for a lower price than after

9394-431: The nine performers was phenomenal," since the band enjoyed performing together and dancing and interacting with the public. Altman confessed that it was the first time she was walking home "singing and dancing in the streets" after attending a concert or festival as she listened to Mars's tracks on her iPod. The Birmingham News 's Mary Colurso complemented Mars's capacity to demonstrate "major charisma," his vocals,

9516-455: The official launch date. The card was launched with an annual fee of $ 6, $ 1 higher than Diners Club, to be seen as a premium product. The first cards were made of paper, with the account number and card member's name typed. In 1959, American Express became the first company to issue embossed plastic cards. In 1966, American Express introduced the Gold Card for "big-spending members". In 1977, James D. Robinson III became chairman and CEO of

9638-646: The on-sale to the physical box office, therefore ensuring that anyone who goes to the box office to buy tickets for a concert will get one, dissuading ticket scalping. The State Senate in Hawaii passed the law. However, the bill died at the conference committee. The set lists given below were performed in June 2013 and June 2014, respectively. The list evolved over the course of the tour, and sometimes included other numbers. These included " Count on Me ", " The Lazy Song ", "Let It Please Be You" by The Desires, Aaliyah ’s " Rock

9760-599: The opening act for Mars, while in Australia Miguel commenced the show. In January 2014, a second leg in North America was announced with Pharrell Williams or Aloe Blacc as the supporting acts. However, Williams left the tour due to scheduling conflicts after only opening two nights for Mars at the Madison Square Garden . He was replaced by Nico & Vinz . Fitz and the Tantrums and Williams were considered to be worthy performers. However, Miguel

9882-433: The opening notes and first encore of the show, " Locked Out of Heaven ," sung powerfully as golden confetti poured down on the audience. The show closer, " Gorilla ," was a "perfect, slightly naughty end to an all-ages gig where the boundaries were given a nudge," with laser lights, fireballs, confetti and fireworks blasting as Mars sung on an elevated platform. Throughout the tour various setlists were used. " The Lazy Song "

10004-472: The possibility of launching a travel charge card as early as 1946, but it was not until Diners Club launched a card in March 1950, that American Express began to seriously consider the possibility. At the end of 1957, under American Express CEO Ralph Reed the company entered the business and by the launch date of October 1, 1958, public interest had become so significant that 250,000 cards were issued prior to

10126-460: The practice largely ended in 1991. In April 1992, American Express spun off First Data in an initial public offering . In 1993, Harvey Golub became CEO of American Express. That year, American Express negotiated the sale of Shearson's retail brokerage and investment management business to Primerica . The Shearson business was merged with Primerica's Smith Barney to create Smith Barney Shearson . In June 1994, American Express completed

10248-419: The publications, which are now owned by Dotdash Meredith . In 2013, the company opened its first airport lounge, offering access to certain cardmembers. In March 2014, American Express announced the corporate spin-off its corporate travel business as American Express Global Business Travel and the sale of 50% of the business to an investor group led by Certares LP for $ 900 million. Effective in 2016 in

10370-406: 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

10492-570: The second leg of American shows. " Count On Me " was only sung once, in Jakarta. The tour received generally positive reviews from critics. Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times gave the concert a rave review, affirming that Mars's energy never ran out and praising the "seemingly effortless precision" that made the performance about itself. Wood summarized, "The harder he played, the easier it appeared to get." Mike Wass of Idolator gave

10614-406: The secondary market. Ticketmaster also struggled to keep up with demand, having to switch from their interactive seating maps for most events. The price for tickets on the primary market ranged from $ 49 to $ 100, however in bigger cities the price was between $ 70 and $ 181. On the secondary market, tickets for big venues had a wider price range of $ 150 to $ 600. At these prices, Mars's tour ranked among

10736-445: The setlist, showed "pleading doo-wop accents." In some venues it was preceded by The Desires' "Let It Please Be You." It was followed by "If I Knew," during which Mars chose a woman from the audience so that he and The Hooligans could serenade her to see who could impress the girl more. The recording could be interpolated with " It Will Rain " or " Nothin' on You ." The latter could also be played solely. "If I Knew" plunged low and slow at

10858-433: The singer a "showman," as he was not only able to write a "catchy pop song and sing it impressively," but he also gave a pageant. Nevertheless, and considering his showmanship and prestige in the industry at this point, Jones disapproved of the "comedic set pieces" that were brought from the previous tour. Every critic noticed and praised Mars's drumming and guitar solos, but also the special effects. The Moonshine Jungle Tour

10980-491: The site for its stables. The company's first New York headquarters was an 1858 marble Italianate palazzo at 55–61 Hudson Street , which had a busy freight depot on the ground story with a spur line from the Hudson River Railroad . A stable was constructed in 1867, five blocks north at 4–8 Hubert Street. The company prospered sufficiently that headquarters were moved in 1874 from the wholesale shipping district to

11102-462: The solo created for the track but also his powerful vocals once more. Mars dedicated " Just the Way You Are " to the audience. It was played as an anthem, making the crowd sing along. At this point the performers left the stage and, as the fans shouted for an encore, Mars returned to play a drum solo, as he did during the Super Bowl performance, with some of James Brown's vocals sampled that led to

11224-497: The spin-off of the remaining investment banking and institutional businesses as Lehman Brothers , ending its foray into the brokerage business. In September 1994, the Optima True Grace card was introduced. The card was unique in that it offered a grace period on all purchases whether a balance was carried on the card or not, not charging interest on new purchases immediately for cards with unpaid balances. The card

11346-420: The stage and consequently breaking records in several venues, but they did everything to assure that all seats were suitable to experience the show in the best way possible. Mars and The Hooligans rehearsed for the tour in a Hollywood rehearsal studio. During an interview with Rolling Stone , the author, Brian Hiatt got a glimpse of most of the set for the tour. He watched Mars croon with his tenor voice during

11468-454: The stage and tells The Hooligans to perform the moves as he watches from in front. He points out that the guitarist, Phred, is not doing the dance moves correctly. Mars decides not to include the choreography, due to the amount of time they are spending on it. Later, he tells the band to leave, joking "We'll change everything on Monday." Mars is aware of his yelling during rehearsals, stating "I always tell everybody that we finally get to enjoy all

11590-456: 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

11712-403: The successor earlier in 1850 of Butterfield, Wasson & Company). Wells and Fargo also started Wells Fargo & Co. in 1852 when Butterfield and other directors objected to the proposal that American Express extend its operations to California. American Express initially established its headquarters in a building at the intersection of Jay Street and Hudson Street in what was later called

11834-483: The supporting acts. However, due to schedule conflicts, Williams was replaced by Nico & Vinz . Mars's well received performance at the Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show led to a frenzy in ticket scalping in several states, especially Hawaii . As a consequence, The "Bruno Mars Act" was passed by the State Senate of Hawaii to limit all ticket purchases within 48 hours of the on-sale to the physical box office, but

11956-427: The team approached several agencies and asked for suggestions. In the end, Mars decided to pick Goulding, who was seen as someone who could assure sales. Marx was pleased with the tour development since everyone's efforts, from The Smeezingtons to the label Atlantic Records , benefited it. Despite having booked tours for acts such as Lady Gaga , Peter Gabriel , and Justin Timberlake , Marx said that booking this tour

12078-428: The tickets were cheaper and similarly priced. One aspect that received attention was the decision to sell the front seats prior to the back ones. If that did not occur, it would mean that the front seats were too expensive, but the tour did not suffer from this problem. Unlike the prior tour, where Mars performed in theaters and ballrooms, in January 2012 it was determines that the concerts would be in arenas. This decision

12200-459: The tickets were made available two and a half weeks after the cities were disclosed. A promotional trailer and behind-the-scenes footage of the tour were released on Mars's YouTube channel and website to further promote the tour. WME decided to price each market differently, with a total of four different price points. In most markets each ticket would cost US$ 62, while in bigger cities the tickets were between $ 130 and $ 140. However, in minor cities

12322-559: The time of its acquisition, Shearson Loeb Rhoades was the second-largest brokerage firm , behind Merrill Lynch . After the purchase of Shearson, Weill was given the position of president of American Express in 1983. Weill grew increasingly unhappy with responsibilities within the company and his conflicts with CEO James D. Robinson III . Weill soon realized that he was not positioned to be named CEO and resigned in August 1985. In 1984, American Express acquired Lehman Brothers and added it to

12444-431: The time. The building completed the continuous masonry wall of its block-front and assisted in transforming Broadway into the "canyon" of neo-classical masonry office towers familiar to this day. American Express sold this building in 1975, but retained travel services there. The building was also the headquarters over the years of other prominent firms, including investment bankers J.& W. Seligman & Co . (1940–74),

12566-503: The tour. The idea was received with some skepticism within the team; some believed it was a good idea but most were reluctant and thought it was an awful idea, as buyers find presale a crucial element of tours. Cameron Duddy was the music director for the first leg of the North American tour. Ellie Goulding and Fitz and the Tantrums were signed as the opening act for the first leg of tour in North American. Marx recollected that

12688-499: 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

12810-529: The use of Visa and Mastercard. The rationale was due to far lower fees as compared to American Express' fees at the time (which were about 4% for each transaction versus around 1.2% for Visa and Mastercard). The revolt, known as the "Boston Fee Party" (alluding to the Boston Tea Party ), spread to over 250 restaurants across the United States, including restaurants in other cities such as New York City , Chicago , and Los Angeles . Visa offered to pay

12932-491: The wide range of genres that Mars approached, including "Motown, new wave, late-’70s funk, and mid-’90s R&B" influenced by pop, which earned him various generations of admirers and fans. However, he criticized the singer for not claiming his own personality through all the "genre-jumping time travel" and for not adding the band name, The Hooligans, on the ticket. Jim Farber from the New York Daily News praised

13054-440: Was among the most exhilarating experiences during his 37-year career. He added that the setup was "unique and special". The stage configuration would vary according to the sales, having three different configurations available before selling seats in over 180-degrees arcs from the stage. Nevertheless, due to the success, the expectation was to go "into 240-degrees" and further; they ended up by opening and selling 270-degrees arcs from

13176-507: Was announced and in order to assure tickets were not over-priced, five cities were used as a "test." The result was promising as a minimum of 7,000 tickets sold per city. Such results could be due to the "huge success" of " Locked out of Heaven " and the Grammy performance. Despite the fact that these two factors could spike sales, in Mars's case "everything was very consistent." Eventually, most of

13298-414: Was announced on February 10, 2013, after Bruno Mars performance at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards , by William Morris Endeavor (WME). Instead of announcing everything and starting sales later in the same week, WME decided to reveal the shows in an unconventional way. Consequently, two days after the Grammy performance, the cities were unveiled. A few days later the dates and venues were announced. Finally,

13420-399: Was assigned the task of consolidating the railway lines for the war effort. All contracts between express companies and railroads were nullified and McAdoo proposed that all existing express companies be consolidated into a single company to serve the country's needs. This ended American Express's express business and removed them from the ICC's interest. The result was that a new company called

13542-411: Was based upon his successful debut tour, not only based on the amount of sold-out concerts, but also due to his "dynamic performances." John Marx, an associate and personal manager at the music division of WME, explained, regarding the previous decision, that "analytics only give you so much...it has to do with what's in your gut and what you think." Since the beginning there were plans to schedule dates in

13664-400: Was blended into Mars's "Our First Time." In the latter's medleys, Mars would sing R. Kelly 's " Ignition (Remix) " and Sister Nancy 's "Bam Bam." These covers would vary between concerts and could also include Ghost Town DJs ' " My Boo ," Aaliyah 's " Rock the Boat ," " Every Little Step " by Bobby Brown , Mad Cobra 's "Flex," and Lloyd 's "Secret Admirer." " Marry You ," the next track on

13786-554: Was discontinued a few years later. In 1998, Amex launched the Blue credit card, targeted at young adults, in the UK after testing it in other countries. The card had a smart chip and users were encouraged to pay bills and get information via the company website. It launched in the US in 1999. A television media campaign for Blue adopted the 1979 UK Synthpop hit " Cars " by Gary Numan as its theme music. In 1999, American Express introduced

13908-603: Was instrumental in expanding business operations overseas, even investing in tourist relations with the Soviet Union . During World War I, Dawson was a photographer and film correspondent with the German army. American Express was one of the monopolies that President Theodore Roosevelt had the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) investigate during his administration (1901–1909). The interest of

14030-516: Was introduced in 1975 and renewed in 2005. In the 1980s, Amex acquired and then divested a stake in Shearson . In the 1990s, it stopped reducing interchange fees for merchants who exclusively accepted Amex cards and expanded market share through targeted marketing campaigns. Amex converted to a bank holding company during the 2007–2008 financial crisis . Amex began operating airport lounges in 2013, offering access to certain cardholders. Amex had

14152-403: Was mashed up with " Billionaire " and Aloe Blacc 's " I Need a Dollar " as Mars and his band gyrated with the fans. Afterwards, the stage would be colored with red, yellow, and green lights during the "reggae jam" performance of "Show Me." He then performed a "90s R&B homage" along with "demure sexual come-ons" by covering Soul For Real 's " Candy Rain " and Ginuwine 's " Pony ." The latter

14274-475: Was merged with the investment banking business. The investment banking arm was renamed Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc. In 1983, as part of Robinson's plan to expand into international banking of wealthy clients, Amex acquired Trade Development Bank of Geneva from Edmond Safra for US$ 550 million and Safra became a member of the board of directors of Amex. TDB executives were excluded from important company decisions and Safra unsuccessfully tried to repurchase

14396-534: Was nominated for three Pollstar Awards, Most Creative Stage Production and Major Tour of the Year in 2013, and "Major Tour of the Year" again in 2014. In 2013, the tour led Mars to be nominated for Breakthrough and Eventful Fans' Choice categories at the Billboard Touring Conference and Awards . It was also nominated for Choice Summer Tour at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards . As soon as the tour

14518-564: Was offered by invitation only to American Express customers with at least two years of tenure, significant spending, and excellent payment history. In 1987, American Express introduced the Optima card, its first credit card product that did not have to be paid in full at the end of the month. In 1991, a group of restaurants in Boston , including some that were exclusive to Amex, stopped accepting American Express while accepting and encouraging

14640-402: Was one of the highlights of the tour as the crowd sung along. It also contained a comedic interlude when Mars's backup singer, Phillip Lawrence , shouted the verse of the track "OMG this is great!" At this moment, the music stopped, Mars introduced Lawrence to the fans and asked if they wanted to hear the same line again. The track was performed in some Oceania, Asian, and European concerts and on

14762-631: Was only considered a satisfactory opening act. As they finished their performance, a giant black curtain with drawings of gold palm trees was placed in front of the stage. A voice-over pronounced, "Welcome to the Moonshine Jungle" and suddenly the drape vanished. The band – consisting of Phredley Brown (guitar); Jamareo Artis (bass); Eric Hernandez (drums); Kameron Whalum, Dwayne Dugger and James King (horns); Phillip Lawrence (backup vocals); John Fossit (keyboards) – and Mars came into focus, wearing matching red blazers, shirts with

14884-534: Was the influence behind selecting Sennheiser over other industry standards such as Shure after finding Sennheiser's sonic character paired well with Mars' voice. Front of House engineer Derek Brenner tested several capsules and transmitter combinations. Brenner utilized three compressors giving Mars' vocals an appropriate tonality and level consistency, he also provided a smooth and reliable reverb on them. He used compressors for kicks, snares, toms, keyboard, and drums, making them enhance their own sound, and amplified

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