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47-621: The War Tour was a concert tour by the Irish rock band U2 , which took place in 1982 and 1983 in support of the group's third album War . The tour took place in Western Europe, the United States, Canada and Japan, with new material from War taking an increasing role as the tour progressed. Venues were mostly halls, but some arenas were introduced later on. U2's performances were very well received both critically and commercially, especially in

94-485: A Birmingham show had pacing and thematic problems due to "newer numbers clumsily breaking the mood that had earlier been created" but praised many other elements of the show, saying that "their skill at breaking down barriers between band and audience has never been better." Some poor notices for the album itself from the British pop weeklies upset Bono during the tour, and one from Sounds bothered him so much that he insulted

141-578: A distance between themselves and their audience and with the audience itself changing in nature. The group was being mobbed by fans at some locations and Bono became a sex symbol to female fans. The tour grossed about $ 2 million overall and was their first venture on the road that was profitable. The War Tour was the first U2 tour on which the lighting and stage design was done by Willie Williams , who would continue to perform that role in all of U2's subsequent tours. While originally hired for just lighting, Williams quickly became involved in all aspects of

188-568: A hit single there. Many of the War Tour shows sold out on the American leg. The group began booking bigger venues on the tour as a result. The tour helped War stay in or near the US albums chart Top 20 for the duration of that leg, which represented by far their best commercial performance so far in the United States. At the same time, the band had to deal with larger-scale success for the first time, with more of

235-435: A little more subtle about things like that. But hey, as mistakes go, that's probably not a bad one." The move upward from clubs to halls to arenas that the War Tour spanned did not faze the group. This had been their plan, and Bono said, "If we stay in small clubs, we'll develop small minds, and then we'll start making small music." And early on, Bono had told Williams that someday the group would do "Pink Floyd-size shows." But

282-615: A nearly three-month interlude, U2 played a show in Honolulu, Hawaii, before their first tour of Japan for six shows, with the tour ending on 30 November 1983 at the Nakano Sun Plaza in Tokyo. While in Japan, U2 made two television appearances, one of which featured a performance of "New Year's Day" in which Edge performed almost entirely on piano due to a guitar failure. In both UK and US publicity for

329-796: 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. The Electric Co. "The Electric Co." or "Cry/The Electric Co."

376-542: A short song called "The Cry" or "Cry" has been linked to the beginning "The Electric Co". The riff from "The Cry" was later used in the song "Is That All?" from the group's 1981 album October . "The Electric Co." was sometimes titled "Cry/The Electric Co." because it was preceded by "The Cry". In the studio version of "The Electric Co." found on Boy , "The Cry" is not incorporated in the song. "The Cry" preceded "The Electric Co." at every concert since 1980 in Edinburgh until

423-470: A snippet of "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim lasting 27 seconds. U2 didn't get permission to sing this song, causing them to pay US $ 50,000. The original release (along with other releases) contains the snippet, but others contained an edited version of the song. In U2 Live at Red Rocks , "Cry/The Electric Co." was not in the original release of the film because Bono repeats singing the snippet of "Send in

470-472: A song's meaning, and here this was the "idea of a flag drained of all colour, the idea of surrender." This became the focal image of the tour, with Rolling Stone saying of the Red Rocks performance, "The sight of Bono singing the anti-violence anthem 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' while waving a white flag through crimson mist (created by a combination of wet weather, hot lights and the illumination of those crags) became

517-453: 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

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564-477: 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

611-400: 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,

658-443: 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

705-439: 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

752-437: 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

799-555: Is a riveting public personality, leaping and crawling all over the stage and above it into the scaffolding." The Boston Globe wrote that the group's performance "reached a rare, wondrous zone – where rock 'n' roll transcended the ordinary and took the audience on a lift that was equal parts spiritual and sensual." It said that Bono's vocals "sound like pleas and prayers, the lyrics failure and hope" and described The Edge's guitar playing as embodying "clear, ringing lines that were both atmospheric and jarring." The Oregonian wrote that it

846-487: Is a song by Irish rock band U2 , and is the tenth track on their debut album Boy , released in 1980. "Electric co." is an abbreviation for " electric convulsion therapy ", which is an electric shock undergone by patients in psychiatry as part of their treatment. The band wrote this as a protest song in reference to a friend who tried to kill himself and as a result was taken to a psychiatric hospital that practiced electric convulsion therapy. For live performances,

893-792: The Centrum in Worcester, Massachusetts and at the Los Angeles Sports Arena . Many of the shows featured the Welsh band The Alarm as the opening act. During this tour, they appeared before one of the largest audiences in US music history: on Memorial Day at the US Festival in San Bernardino, California , they appeared at noontime on the third day of the festival before a crowd of over 125,000. The festival

940-620: The War song "40" . The next leg went to North America for 48 shows and two radio appearances, beginning on 23 April in Chapel Hill , North Carolina and ending on 26 June at the Hudson River Park Pier 84 facility in New York City. The War Tour was U2's first as a full-time headlining act. Most of the venues were colleges and smaller auditoriums, but they played a few arena shows, such as at

987-448: The United States where U2 broke through to become a major act. Scenes of lead singer Bono waving a white flag during the song " Sunday Bloody Sunday " became an emblematic image of this phase of U2's career. It was their first tour as full-time headlining act and their first to be profitable. The live album Under a Blood Red Sky and the concert film U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky both originated from performances on

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1034-592: The War Tour proper began, with the album's release coming two days later. The band played 29 shows and three television appearances in Scotland, England, and Wales, ending on 3 April with a single continental show at the Printemps de Bourges in Bourges , France. Three or four additional songs from War were added to these set lists, including " Two Hearts Beat As One ", and the band started their 1980's practice of ending shows with

1081-496: The War Tour separated U2 from the mass of new wave or college rock acts and into mainstream rock visibility. Shows were typically 90 minutes long. Bono was emotional and very theatrical during shows; during songs he would climb lighting rigs, plunge into the audience, or walk out onto side balconies. As the tour progressed, band members and others became concerned that Bono's antics – while making for good press copy and having an electric effect on some fans – were detracting from

1128-693: The band had left the stage. At one show at Dublin's Phoenix Park Racecourse , the fans' singing of the refrain How long, to sing this song from the song went on for 15 minutes after the concert's end. Initial British critical reaction to the first leg of the War Tour was favourable but with some reservations. The group was already well known there, and while War debuted at the top of the UK albums chart , it had encountered some early backlash, with NME saying "the great personal fury" of U2's early work had been replaced by "literal but sincere sloganeering". Sounds magazine said

1175-777: The band's American audience and rewarded the large financial risk the show had represented. The album used performances culled from the Red Rocks show as well as a 6 May show in Boston's Orpheum Theatre and a 20 August show in St. Goarshausen , West Germany at the Lorelei Amphitheatre . The Orpheum Theatre performance was also recorded and broadcast on the King Biscuit Flower Hour syndicated radio program. U2 then played at 5 outdoor summer festivals in Western Europe in July and August. After

1222-480: The defining image of U2's warrior-rock spirit." So strong was the image that the group became somewhat ambivalent about it; years later, bassist Adam Clayton would say, "If you had to reduce U2 down to the waving of the white flag, which is a moment from the War Tour, that would be the worst thing. At the time, I think it was in the spirit of the performance. But we weren't very ironic people back then. We were pretty serious people, and we didn't see that we could have been

1269-518: The end of The Unforgettable Fire Tour . During this period, Bono sang a snippet of " Send in the Clowns " by Stephen Sondheim at the end of the song. During The Joshua Tree Tour , it was played without "The Cry", and the number of times they played this song was reduced. It was last performed on August 3, 1987. On March 28, 2005, in San Diego, California, on the opening night of the Vertigo Tour ,

1316-584: The first airing of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" in Northern Ireland ; lead singer Bono told the crowd, "We're going to do a song for you now. If you don't like it, we'll never play it again. It's called 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'." The reception was positive, and the song stayed in. Subsequent introductions would explicitly clarify the song's purpose: "This song is not a rebel song, this song is 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'!" On 26 February 1983 at Caird Hall in Dundee , Scotland,

1363-476: The group's visual presentation. Starting with the Pre-War Tour, the minimalist stage design featured a red carpet-covered riser on which the drums and keyboards stood. Three large white flags were placed at the back of the stage, representing the notion of "surrender"; electric fans set the flags flying at designated moments in the show. Stage fog was also used in places. One newspaper review said that "Lighting

1410-434: 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

1457-452: The medium-sized venues of the War Tour were enough at the time; two decades later, the band's Red Rocks performance captured on Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky was included on Rolling Stone ' s list of the "50 Moments that Changed the History of Rock and Roll". Concert tour Different segments of longer concert tours are known as "legs". The different legs of

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1504-478: The most spectacular outdoor venue in the United States) was recorded for what turned out to be a live album entitled Under a Blood Red Sky and concert film entitled Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky . A steady rain and the surreal, torch-lit natural beauty of the surroundings combined to present U2's performance in the most dramatic of contexts. Frequently shown on MTV, the video helped to further expand

1551-655: The music and might end in a disaster (an assessment Bono later agreed with). "New Year's Day" became a hit single, and in concert performances were full of vitality, with The Edge rapidly switching back and forth between piano and electric guitar. Older songs such as " Gloria " and " 11 O'Clock Tick Tock " were kept in the set list . "40"'s show-closing, thoughtful presence – wherein The Edge and bassist Adam Clayton swapped instruments, then three band members left one by one leaving only drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. – grew into an audience participation ritual that would continue even after

1598-468: The returning snippet of "Send in the Clowns" plus others. The song was played in most of the concerts in the first leg, and all but one of the shows in the second leg, and remained constant during the third before becoming used more sporadically. It had only appeared in one of the 21 concerts in 2006. It was not played again until the Innocence + Experience Tour where it saw occasional performances played after

1645-462: The reviewer by name during a show in Portsmouth . U2's exciting concerts earned critical praise during the American leg, where the band had not been as well-known previously. Both American audiences and American critics were more open than the British to the group's upfront emotional statements and theatricality. The New York Times ' John Rockwell wrote that: "This is a great live band. Bono

1692-467: 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

1739-426: The show opener " The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone) ", again with "Send in the Clowns" and "I Can See for Miles" regularly snippeted. "The Electric Co." has appeared in 3 video releases and 3 live album releases beginning with Under a Blood Red Sky , U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky , Live from Boston 1981 , Vertigo 2005: Live from Chicago and Live from Paris . In Under a Blood Red Sky , Bono sings

1786-548: The song was performed for the first time in 17 years. It became a favorite on the Vertigo Tour. During the first leg of the tour it was preceded by "The Cry", but they stopped using it during the second leg, except in Montreal in the third set. Bono characterized "The Electric Co." by the fragments sung during the song, such as " Bullet with Butterfly Wings " by The Smashing Pumpkins and " I Can See for Miles " by The Who , as well as

1833-545: The tour, the group emphasised that it opposed "wallpaper music" from artists who spent more time on their hairdos than anything else. In the US, advertisements for the tour read "U2 Declare War" and talked about "The War on Boring Music", especially in the context of breaking up conservative radio formats . National identification also played a role; Bono said to US audiences variants of: "We're not just another English fashion band passing through. We're an Irish band and we're here to stay." War ' s music, its music videos, and

1880-504: The tour. The latter matched U2's concert fervour with the spectacular natural setting of the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in the rain to produce a memorable document of the War Tour and to further increase the group's popularity; U2's filming of the Red Rocks show was later selected by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the "50 Moments that Changed the History of Rock and Roll". After War had been recorded, but three months before it

1927-494: 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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1974-577: 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)

2021-431: The warmth of the thrill that U2 gave the crowd. I surrendered and I know I'm not alone." Contemporary Christian Music magazine said that the show avoided typical juvenile stage patter clichés and that from a Christian perspective, "It is true that U2 doesn't preach, but that does not mean a message is not communicated." Tickets were in demand in the US, spurred by word-of-mouth and the breakthrough of "New Year's Day" as

2068-461: Was "the best concert of 1983 so far: solid music played rhythmically and well, a positive stage attitude that recognised audience input, excellent sound and lights." The Village Voice wrote that U2 in concert evoked an "undeniable righteousness" about which "U2 was thrilled [and] their audience was thrilled". Journalist Rick Miller wrote of the opening US show in Chapel Hill, "There are no words for

2115-483: Was broadcast live on MTV . The performance climaxed in a grand finale where Bono scaled the proscenium of the US festival's huge stage while singing the song " The Electric Co. ", ending up about 100 feet above the ground. A week later, their 5 June 1983 performance at Red Rocks Amphitheatre (an outdoor venue near Morrison, Colorado in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains that many travelling musicians consider

2162-597: Was released, U2 began playing the Pre-War Tour : 20 shows, and a television appearance, in halls in Western Europe, commencing on 1 December 1982 in Glasgow and finishing in the band's home town, Dublin , on 24 December. These shows generally featured only three songs from the upcoming album, " Sunday Bloody Sunday ", " New Year's Day ", and " Surrender ". The 20 December performance in Belfast 's Maysfield Leisure Centre represented

2209-485: Was starkly beautiful for this concert, in tune with the occasional ominous tone of some of the songs." During "Sunday Bloody Sunday", Bono would march waving a white flag around to illustrate his anti-war and anti-nationalist stances and spur audiences to shout, "No more! No war!" The white flags were also sometimes handed off the stage, where they would be passed around amongst the audience. Bono said that his "limited voice" compelled him to search for other ways to express

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