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 .
40-460: The Self Destruct Tour was a concert tour in support of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails ' album The Downward Spiral , which took place in early 1994, running until mid-1996, and was broken into eight legs. The tour was filmed for the Closure documentary that documented live performances as well as the band from 1989 to 1991. The second tape in the set – issued in late 1997 – featured
80-463: 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
120-446: A career in producing and to form Tweaker . "On a lot of that tour, I don't even remember playing the shows," Reznor sighed in 1999. "I got off the bus after two years going, 'Who am I?' That tour was really about excess… We were all drug addicts and full-on party machines, and that was one of the factors that led to me being in a very depressed state at the end." "Heresy" made its live debut at Las Vegas, on March 14. Reeling from
160-480: A follow-up Prick's debut album. Nevertheless, the label did not support his efforts for the second album, due to creative differences and McMahon's reluctance in producing a more radio-friendly effort. Prick was subsequently unsigned from Nothing Records. In 1999, McMahon was able acquire the publishing rights for his songs from Interscope. In 2002, he released Prick's second studio album, The Wreckard , independently through Lucky Pierre Music's official website. At
200-756: 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. Prick (band) Prick
240-765: A number of occasional appearances. The leg was a part of the Alternative Nation Festival . The band co-headlined with David Bowie on the North American leg on Bowie's Outside Tour in 1995. Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie: Nights of Nothing was an industry showcase organized by Reznor of his vanity label , Nothing Records ', talent roster. It ran from August 30, 1996, to September 8, 1996, and spanned three shows. The shows featured performances by his band, Meat Beat Manifesto , Marilyn Manson , Filter and other "special guests." None of us wanted to play this Nothing Records showcase in
280-451: 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
320-601: A vanity label founded by Reznor and former Lucky Pierre manager John Malm Jr. The band completed their first record. In 1994, McMahon assembled a live band for this project. The new line-up featured Kevin McMahon on vocals and guitar, Chris Schleyer on lead guitar, Sebastien Monney on bass, Brian Kehew on keyboards and Sean Furlong on drums. The band performed under the name Riverhead in clubs in Los Angeles, unbeknownst to Nothing/Interscope Records. Kehew eventually left
360-485: 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
400-400: 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,
440-414: 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
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#1732798509106480-439: 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
520-413: Is still hope." During Nine Inch Nail's set, Reznor invited Manson on stage who ripped apart a Book of Mormon then threw it into the audience asking, "Do you let Him [God] run your lives?" "You can't explain this to people who weren't around it," recalled Reznor of this leg of the tour. "It's not sane, but imagine the kind of people who came to that show, and they're all trying to outdo each other. Some of
560-541: The Pretty Hate Machine Tour Series . Image-wise, instead of the sloppy, low-budget style for previous tours, the band often dressed in black leather smothered in cornstarch, with members often changing their hairstyles radically for every concert. Finck used makeup to hide his eyebrows, and Reznor would don 'fishnet gloves' (as they would come to be known) for the show. The showy yet intense style earned comparisons to David Bowie , of whom Reznor
600-533: The NIN set as "tight, brash and dramatic", but was disappointed at the lack of new material. On the second of the three nights, Richard Patrick was briefly reunited with the band and contributed guitar to a performance of " Head Like a Hole ". After the Self Destruct tour, Chris Vrenna, member of the live band since 1988 and frequent contributor to Nine Inch Nails studio recordings, left the act permanently to pursue
640-456: The Woodstock concert earned the group a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1995. Entertainment Weekly commented about the band's Woodstock '94 performance: "Reznor unstrings rock to its horrifying, melodramatic core--an experience as draining as it is exhilarating". Despite this acclaim, Reznor attributed his dislike of the concert to its technical difficulties. The main leg of
680-424: The band after 3 shows and was replaced by Paul Roessler in late 1994. The band subsequently changed its name to Prick and released its debut 7-inch single, "Communiqué", which was followed by the band's self-titled debut album in 1995. The album sold 66,000 copies. The track "Animal" became a minor alternative radio hit and its music video was released at the same year. Furlong and Roessler were fired from
720-404: The band in 1995. Garrett Hammond replaced Furlong on drums and Dave Ogilvie was hired for live programming. The band performed as a supporting act to David Bowie , alongside Nine Inch Nails on Outside Tour in 1995. In 1996, McMahon played guitar for three Nine Inch Nails shows on Nights of Nothing tour and was backed by them on two Prick tracks. In 1996, McMahon moved to London to record
760-552: The band's music videos. A DVD version, featuring bonus content, was planned for 2005. However, licensing issues forced an indefinite delay. An alleged "prototype" of the DVDs eventually leaked to torrent websites in 2006. This release has been attributed to Trent Reznor himself. This was Nine Inch Nails' first tour since the early 1990s shows for Pretty Hate Machine . During this time, NIN's music became angrier and more aggressive via Broken and The Downward Spiral , which led to
800-433: The beginning of the tour, it was one last favor. —Marilyn Manson Following the conclusion of the arduous recording sessions for Marilyn Manson's sophomore album Antichrist Superstar , acrimony between the band, Reznor, and Nothing Records was at its peak. The band nevertheless grudgingly agreed to fulfill their contractual obligation to promote the record a little over a month prior to its release by performing on
840-408: 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
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#1732798509106880-584: The concerts being often violent and personal, with band members injuring themselves. The stage set consisted of grungy curtains that would fall for visuals during songs such as 'Hurt', or rise during more aggressive songs. The back of the stage was littered with darker and standing lights, with very few conventional lights. Reznor overhauled the band lineup and image for the tour. Robin Finck and Danny Lohner joined to play guitar and bass guitar , respectively. Chris Vrenna and James Woolley were brought back from
920-533: The crowd. This led to Nine Inch Nails's notoriety as a live act. The shows often consisted of songs from Pretty Hate Machine , Broken , The Downward Spiral , as well as songs such as " Get Down Make Love " and " Dead Souls ", which were formerly staples of their live show. " Burn " made its live debut on the second to last show of the tour. An incident occurred at the tour's Delta Center stop on October 18, 1994, in Salt Lake City, Utah . Manson
960-456: The dissolution of his previous project, Lucky Pierre . In 1992, started a new unnamed project and recorded four demo songs with Trent Reznor , a longtime friend and a former Lucky Pierre member who found success with his new project, Nine Inch Nails . These songs were recorded in Reznor's Le Pig studio and featured a re-recording of a track from Lucky Pierre's 1988 Communiqué EP . After Reznor
1000-401: The first place, and now I've inadvertently injured my drummer, nailing him with a microphone stand and landing him in the hospital. We had wanted to do a Marilyn Manson show to kick off the tour for Antichrist Superstar , but this turned into some sort of strange ego trip which I'm sure was just to make us look foolish. I'm going to go to sleep now and pretend like this didn't happen. This wasn't
1040-408: The floor unconscious. Manson then walked offstage while the crowd looked on to see whether or not the drummer was alright. Fish managed to crawl a few inches before he collapsed and was carried away by road crew to the hospital. Fish's injury necessitated five stitches and a brief rumor spread the incident was a deliberate assault . Fish later recounted that had he not turned his head at the last moment
1080-474: The guys in the (Jim Rose) Circus have horns and a tail, and one of the guys was trying to have trepanation performed on him in my studio: drilling a hole in the back of the head so the spinal fluid leaks out and you're high forever. That's the level it was getting to… I'm going to point the finger at Jim Rose. The first time I was ever around him, I was eating a light bulb , thinking, 'What am I doing?'" "Physical", "Get Down, Make Love" and "Terrible Lie" made
1120-406: 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
1160-483: The second evening of Nights of Nothing , at the Irving Plaza on September 5, 1996. While performing the final song of their five-song set, "1996", Manson picked up a weighted microphone stand and proceeded to smash the drumkit. Drummer Ginger Fish kept playing what remained of his disintegrating equipment until Manson accidentally struck him on the side of the head with the weighted base, sending him face first to
1200-431: The shows, their set transitioning into Bowie's set with joint performances of both bands' songs. However, the audiences reportedly did not respond positively, owing to the acts' differences. The tour concluded with "Nights of Nothing": a three-night showcase of performances from Nothing Records bands Marilyn Manson, Prick , Meat Beat Manifesto , and Pop Will Eat Itself , then a 80-minute set by NIN. Kerrang! described
1240-520: 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
Self Destruct Tour - Misplaced Pages Continue
1280-549: The stage: Reznor pushed Lohner into the mud pit as the concert began and saw mud from his hair going into his eyes while performing. NIN was widely proclaimed to have "stolen the show" from its popular contemporaries, mostly classic rock bands, and its fan base expanded. The band received considerable mainstream success thereafter, performing with significantly higher production values and the addition of various theatrical visual elements. Its performance of " Happiness in Slavery " from
1320-513: The stand would have hit him directly in the face and said of the incident, "we just get a little carried away sometimes." " Dead Souls " was played at the Atlanta show. Bibliography 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
1360-453: The success of Pretty Hate Machine and Broken as well as the band's departure from TVT Records , the nearly immediate success of The Downward Spiral led to Nine Inch Nails playing larger venues. This debuted the band's new grungy and messy image in which band members would often come out in ragged clothes slathered in corn starch. They would often destroy their instruments at the end of concerts, attack each other, and stage-dive into
1400-621: The tour featured Marilyn Manson as the supporting act. Bassist Jeordie White – then playing under the pseudonym "Twiggy Ramirez" – later played bass with NIN from 2005 to 2007. After another tour leg supporting the remix album Further Down the Spiral , NIN contributed to the Alternative Nation Festival in Australia and subsequently embarked on the Dissonance Tour , which included 26 performances with co-headliner David Bowie. NIN opened
1440-499: 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
1480-529: Was a fan. Later in the tour, Reznor's protégé Marilyn Manson would often join the frontman on stage to sing their songs—as evidenced in the Closure documentary. The tour included a set at Woodstock '94 broadcast on pay-per-view and seen in as many as 24 million homes. The band being covered in mud was a result of pre-concert backstage play, contrary to the belief that it was an attention-grabbing ploy, thus making it difficult for Reznor to navigate
1520-517: Was an American industrial rock band, founded in 1992 in Los Angeles by guitarist and songwriter Kevin McMahon , after his first project Lucky Pierre disbanded. The first line-up of the band featured McMahon on vocals and guitar, Chris Schleyer on guitar and Andy Kubiszewski on drums. The band was known for its glam rock and new wave influences. From 1989 to 1992, Kevin McMahon lived in Los Angeles and continued to write songs after
1560-438: Was fully immersed in the recording of Nine Inch Nails' second album, The Downward Spiral , McMahon went to England to collaborate with British producer Warne Livesey. Meanwhile, he was joined up with guitarist Chris Schleyer and drummer Andy Kubiszewski, who was known for his involvement in the bands Exotic Birds and Stabbing Westward and recorded eight songs with them. The band signed to Nothing Records of Interscope ,
1600-480: Was prohibited from performing after the venue owner took offense to Manson's merchandise which included a band t-shirt with the satirical message, "Warning: Heavy Metal Music contains satanic messages that will KILL GOD in your impressionable teenage minds. As a result, you will be convinced to KILL YOUR MOM AND DAD , and eventually, in all act of hopeless, suicidal , ' rock and roll ' behaviour, you will KILL YOURSELF . Please, burn your records while there
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