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 .
22-485: The Viva la Vida Tour was the fourth concert tour undertaken by British rock band Coldplay . It was launched in support of their fourth studio album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008), becoming a massive commercial and critical success. The tour visited Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Americas, further establishing the band as one of the biggest touring acts in the world. The stage setup consisted of
44-955: 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
66-419: A stripped-down main stage and two catwalks; Coldplay also performed amongst audience members at the back of venues in a special acoustic set. Instead of a giant video screen on-stage, the band opted for six hanging giant spheres that displayed images, video and streamed closeups. Lead singer Chris Martin dubbed the fixtures as their "magic balls". During the introduction, " The Blue Danube " by Johann Strauss II
88-453: 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
110-485: 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
132-400: 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,
154-443: 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
176-439: 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
198-437: 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
220-585: 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
242-481: Is repeated across a number of the visuals like " Speed of Sound " and " Glass of Water ". This takes the gig-goers on a journey through a solar system where the stars coalesce to form an eye shape that goes supernova and engulfs the screen in flames. However, other sections of the show were completely different. " Lovers in Japan ", one of the highlights in visual terms, uses a series of archive footage and animations across
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#1732787471397264-862: 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
286-707: The band's official tour book, which was sold exclusively on merchandise booths and their online store. Performing members Main crew Video Video crew Lighting crew Sound technicians Stage Security Merchandise Catering Management Booking agents Suppliers 77 Million Paintings Website Creative input Tour book Photos courtesy of Others Special thanks Credits taken from Projection, Lights & Staging News , with product quantities being represented between parenthesis whenever possible. Cities Others Concert tour Different segments of longer concert tours are known as "legs". The different legs of
308-567: The encore at the Oslo Spektrum , Oslo , to play a cover of the A-Ha song "Hunting High and Low". The intro of the concert would begin in space before turning to show the Earth and zooming to aerial views of the continent, country, city and then stadium that the show would take place. The idea was to make each show being a spectacle in its own, rather than just part of the tour. The cosmic theme
330-434: 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
352-515: The organization's logo and website was featured on one of the light ball fixtures during each show. On 23 July 2008 Coldplay performed their second in two shows at the United Center arena in Chicago . In each of the two shows, the band shot the music video for " Lost! " by performing the song twice. On 19 September 2008, Chris Martin was accompanied by A-ha keyboardist Magne Furuholmen 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
396-477: The screen at the back of the stage and in the end thousands of confetti butterflies would rain all over the venue. For the show's closing number, " Life in Technicolor II ", the paintings created for the album artwork from Viva La Vida was treated with sprocket and projection effects to create a vibrant, immersive and colorful effect. There were 34 supporting acts for the tour. They are: In total,
418-471: The tour grossed $ 222,256,153 from 3,022,635 tickets sold. Coldplay also broke the attendance record of Sydney 's Acer Arena , which was previously held by Justin Timberlake 's FutureSex/LoveShow (2007). Source: Main stage B-stage C-stage Encore Source: Main stage B-stage C-stage Encore Source: Main stage B-stage C-stage Encore Credits adapted from
440-444: 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
462-577: 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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#1732787471397484-523: Was played before the band came into the stage. The tour visited arenas and stadiums in two separate phases: in London, they visited The O2 Arena in 2008 and the Wembley Stadium in 2009, with the latter show featuring a half-dome stage design. Coldplay were accompanied by Oxfam and David Gibbin during the tour. Volunteers were stationed at each venue to tell concert goers how to reduce poverty;
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