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 .
47-572: A Reality Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie in support of his 2003 album Reality . The tour began on 7 October 2003 at the Forum Copenhagen , Denmark, continuing through Europe, North America, Asia, including a return to New Zealand and Australia for the first time since the 1987 Glass Spider Tour . At over 110 shows, the tour was the longest tour of Bowie's career. A heart attack in late June 2004 forced
94-585: A "live and interactive music event" staged in London on 8 September, one of the first live streams of a rock concert, and the first to be broadcast in 5.1 sound. This show was beamed live to audiences around the world, although some countries (such as the Japan and Australia) didn't broadcast the show until the following day, and some countries (like the US) did not broadcast the show until a week later. Some theaters report not receiving
141-501: A full 12 or so rounds, you’re ready to go!" Initially, Bowie worked with Derek Boshier to design the stage for the tour, as Boshier had designed the artwork for the Let's Dance album itself. The design proposed by Boshier was an "extravagant design reminiscent of the Diamond Dogs set with multiple platforms and levels, rotating prisms revealing different backdrop designs on each facet, and
188-414: A gigantic cartoon figure of Bowie with a guitar", but this was rejected as too expensive, so instead Bowie worked with Mark Ravitz to come up with what was the final design, which included four giant columns (affectionately referred to as "condoms") as well as a large moon and a giant hand. Ravitz had designed the set for Bowie's 1974 Diamond Dogs Tour , and would work on Bowie's next touring set as well,
235-785: 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. Serious Moonlight Tour The Serious Moonlight Tour
282-468: A result of continued discomfort. On 30 June, the tour was officially cancelled after Bowie was diagnosed with an acutely blocked artery that required an angioplasty procedure (performed on 26 June). A DVD video of the Point Theatre , Dublin performances of 2003 was released as A Reality Tour in 2004. A CD of the same performances was released as A Reality Tour in 2010. The following setlist
329-553: A result, he cancelled his tour plans and withdrew to his home in Switzerland where he became a recluse and continued working. Consequently, the Serious Moonlight Tour was Bowie's first tour in 5 years. This tour, designed to support Bowie's latest album Let's Dance , was initially designed to be a smaller tour, playing to the likes of sub-10,000-seat indoor venues around the world, similar to previous Bowie tours. However,
376-594: A single show during the tour was 80,000 in Auckland, New Zealand, while the largest crowd for a festival date was 300,000 at the US 83 Festival in California. The tour sold out at every venue it played. Bowie used boxing (of which he was a fan) to get in shape for the tour. His son Duncan Jones pointed out years later that "Each round [of boxing] is approximately the same length as a song, so if you can get your cardio up enough to do
423-453: 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
470-477: 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
517-400: 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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#1732880820867564-443: 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
611-439: 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
658-437: 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
705-564: The Hammersmith Odeon in London was a charity show for the Brixton Neighbourhood Community Association in the presence of Princess Michael of Kent . The show raised nearly £100,000 for charity (about £400,000 in today's currency), and was performed without the standard set. The 13 July 1983 Montreal Forum performance was recorded and broadcast on American FM radio and other radio stations worldwide, and it
752-493: The " Sound+Vision Tour ", one of Bowie's more theatrical undertakings. The stage included a giant LED screen with a raised catwalk, multiple platforms pushing out into the audience, staircases and "huge, bleached white tree branches" that dangled "gracefully from either side of the stage". Bowie himself helped design the stage alongside designer Therese Depreze, lighting designer Tom Kenny and visual director Laura Frank. The set list included tracks spanning Bowie's 30 plus years in
799-457: The 1987 Glass Spider Tour . The Serious Moonlight stage was deliberately given a vertical feeling (especially due to the columns) and an overall design that Bowie called a combination of classicism and modernism. The weight of one set (of which there were two) was 32 tons. Lighting the set were 40 Vari-Lites , some of which were set horizontally across the stage, which allowed them to "create set-piece landscapes" for certain songs. Bowie used
846-468: The 31 songs on the setlist. Each band member wore a costume which was designed "down to the smallest detail", as if a character in a play. Two sets of each person's costumes were made and worn on alternate nights, and everyone got to keep one set at the conclusion of the tour as a souvenir. The bands' costumes were a nod, a "slight parody", on all the New Romantic bands that were growing in popularity at
893-458: The Wind " were performed only on early dates of the tour. Various artists opened for Bowie across different legs, including UB40 , Icehouse , The Tubes , The Beat and Peter Gabriel . To counteract counterfeiting, tickets and backstage passes were printed with small flaws that casual observers would not notice, but tour staff and security were trained to spot. On 30 June 1983, the performance at
940-522: The band played songs for AOL Online, performing "New Killer Star", " I'm Afraid of Americans ", " Rebel Rebel ", "Days" and " Fall Dog Bombs the Moon ", all of which were streamed to AOL customers over the next few months. By the end of September, Bowie and band were in Brussels for final rehearsals. The tour itself was described by Bowie biographer Nicholas Pegg as "in some respects [...] even more theatrical" than
987-432: The band, but Vaughan showed up with a cocaine habit, a hard-partying wife and an entourage looking for easy access to drugs. Given that Bowie himself had moved to Berlin in the late 1970s to try and kick his own cocaine habit, Bowie and Vaughan's management failed to come to an agreement on how to temper the situation, and in the end Vaughan pulled out of the tour. Bassist Carmine Rojas called Vaughan's release "one of
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#17328808208671034-508: The cancellation of some dates near the end of the tour. Bowie retired from performing live in 2006, making this tour his last. The tour grossed US$ 46 million, making it the ninth-highest-grossing tour of 2004. Bowie announced the tour in June 2003, intending to play to over a million people across 17 countries, and was billed as his first major tour since the Outside Tour of 1995. Rehearsals for
1081-622: The center channel of audio of the show, meaning that some audiences didn't hear Bowie's singing as part of the broadcast (strictly an issue at the theaters' end, according to Tony Visconti , who was responsible for the mix). Bowie continued publicity for the album and tour, playing songs on shows such as Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on BBC One , The Today Show , Last Call with Carson Daly , and The Late Show with David Letterman . Tracks performed during these shows included " New Killer Star ", " Modern Love ", "Never Get Old", and " Hang On to Yourself ". Finally, in late September, Bowie and
1128-487: The day before when he had been backstage at the previous night's show, and he later recalled: I was playing Slick's guitar ... I had heard Slick play solos all night so I decided not to play solos and I just went out and thrashed the guitar. I really thrashed the guitar, I was waving the guitar above my head and all sorts of things. It was funny afterwards because David said, 'You should have seen [Earl Slick's] face...' meaning he looked petrified. I had his prize guitar and I
1175-434: 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
1222-538: The most heartbreaking moments he had ever witnessed on the road, Stevie left standing on the sidewalk with his bags surrounding him." Bowie, who was in Europe promoting the album and tour when the disagreement arose, did not have a say in Vaughan's departure. This happened less than one week before the tour's opening night, and as a result, Vaughan's replacement Earl Slick spent the next few days in his hotel room, learning all of
1269-517: The music business, from The Man Who Sold the World (1970) all the way to Reality (2003), along with collaborations such as "Sister Midnight" (originally from The Idiot (1977) by Iggy Pop ) and " Under Pressure " (released as a single (1981) by Bowie and Queen later found on Hot Space released the following year), and snippets and teasers of Bowie classics such as " Space Oddity " and " Golden Years ". The band had rehearsed around 60 songs for
1316-688: The musicians he'd newly collaborated with on Let's Dance , along with some longer standing collaborators, including Carlos Alomar who was the designated tour band leader. Stevie Ray Vaughan , who had contributed guitar solos to six of the songs on Let's Dance and who was up and coming, was to join the tour, also to please the American audience. Early rehearsals were held in Manhattan without Vaughan and Bowie, and were overseen by Alomar. Rehearsals moved to Las Calinas, Texas in April, where Bowie and Vaughan joined
1363-512: The next show in Seattle on 25 January 2004 was similarly positive, saying Bowie, "still every inch a superstar ... still oozes charm and sex appeal" and called the setlist a "celebration of his whole body of work." On 6 May 2004, a performance at the James L. Knight Center , Miami, Florida was cancelled after lighting technician Walter "Wally Gator" Thomas fell to his death prior to Bowie going onstage. At
1410-479: The press. It was, at the time, his longest, largest and most successful concert tour to date, although it has since been surpassed in length, attendance and gross revenue by subsequent Bowie tours. In 1980, David Bowie had released his album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) , at the time expecting to support the album with a tour. However, the murder of John Lennon in December 1980 deeply affected Bowie and as
1457-467: 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
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1504-667: The show in Oslo on 18 June 2004, Bowie was struck in the left eye with a lollipop thrown by an audience member. On 23 June, while on stage in Prague for the tour, Bowie had a heart attack (misdiagnosed at the time as a pinched nerve), which required him to leave the stage (and finally end the show early) to receive medical attention. The tour was officially curtailed after the Hurricane Festival performance in Scheeßel , Germany on 25 June 2004, as
1551-577: The studio. Slick suggested to Bowie a few days prior to the show that they play "Across the Universe" as a tribute; but Bowie said, "Well if we're going to do it, we might as well do ' Imagine '." They rehearsed the song a couple of times on 5 December (in Bangkok) and then performed the song on the final night of the tour as a tribute to their friend. The tour was a commercial high point for Bowie, who found his new popularity perplexing. He later remarked that, with
1598-427: The success of Let's Dance and the Serious Moonlight Tour, he lost track of who his fans were or what they wanted. One critic would later call this tour his "most accessible" because "it had few props and one costume change, from peach suit to blue." "The 'Blond Ambition' tour, as we ended up calling it, in 1984 [sic] was pretty good," Bowie conceded in 2003. "We'd booked it before everything went huge and it really
1645-503: The success of Let's Dance caused unexpectedly high demand for tickets: there were 250,000 requests for 44,000 tickets at one show, for example, and as a result the tour was changed to instead play in a variety of larger outdoor and festival-style venues. While reviewing the album the week following its release, the Billboard Magazine stated that "Bowie's first tour in five years would only enhance sales fire". The largest crowd for
1692-442: The time. Faced with high demand for tickets for the tour, Bowie decided to play his more recognizable songs from his repertoire, saying a few years later that his goal was to give the fans the songs that they'd heard on the radio over the past 15 years, calling the setlist a collection of songs that the fans "probably didn't realize when added up are a great body of work". Bowie and Carlos Alomar selected an initial list of songs for
1739-601: The tour begin in July, with the band from his previous Heathen Tour mostly unchanged; Mark Plati had other work booked, so guitarist Gerry Leonard was made the new bandleader. The band played a warm-up gig on 19 August in New York to an audience of about 500 people at The Chance theater. Starting in September, Bowie appeared on national radio and TV shows in Germany and France before doing
1786-466: The tour, 35 of which they rehearsed for the tour. One song that was on the rehearsal's song list that never actually got to the rehearsal stage was " Across the Universe ", which Bowie had covered in 1975 on his Young Americans album. The setlist for the tour was the basis for the track list for the 1989 box set Sound + Vision . Some of Bowie's less well-known songs, such as " Joe the Lion " and " Wild Is
1833-645: The tour, and the large repertoire of available songs allowed them to change the setlist from night to night, sometimes making up the setlist on the fly, a departure from some of Bowie's previous and heavily choreographed tours like the Serious Moonlight Tour of 1983, the Glass Spider Tour of 1987, and the Sound+Vision Tour of 1990. Bowie and his band played over two hours every night of the tour, playing more than 30 songs at some venues. One song that
1880-494: 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
1927-577: 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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1974-608: Was a worldwide concert tour by the English musician David Bowie , launched in May 1983 in support of his album Let's Dance (1983). The tour opened at the Vorst Forest Nationaal , Brussels, on 18 May 1983 and ended in the Hong Kong Coliseum on 8 December 1983; 15 countries visited, 96 performances, and over 2.6 million tickets sold. It was the biggest tour of the year 1983. The tour garnered mostly favourable reviews from
2021-779: Was from this concert that the live version of " Modern Love " was recorded. The concert on 12 September in Vancouver was recorded for the concert video Serious Moonlight , that was released in 1984 and on DVD in 2006. There were discussions to release a live CD from these performances as well, but that idea was later discarded. At the Canadian National Exhibition Stadium performance on 4 September 1983 in Toronto , Bowie introduced special guest Mick Ronson , who borrowed Earl Slick 's guitar and performed " The Jean Genie " with Bowie and band. Mick had only been asked to play
2068-1069: Was obtained from the concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium of Singapore, on 4 March 2004. It does not represent all concerts through the tour. Notation: From The Man Who Sold the World From Hunky Dory From The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars From Aladdin Sane From Diamond Dogs From Young Americans From Station to Station From Low From "Heroes" From Lodger From Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) From Let's Dance From Tonight From Outside From Earthling From Heathen From Reality Other songs: Concert tour Different segments of longer concert tours are known as "legs". The different legs of
2115-498: Was quite innovative. It was the first big theatrical-show-type tour there had been. Madonna and Prince came to see it and it had an influence." The 26 November show in Auckland became – at the time – the most attended concert in the Southern Hemisphere with over 80,000 people in attendance. Bowie specifically tried to avoid repeating the Serious Moonlight Tour's successful formula for his 1987 Glass Spider Tour . This
2162-546: Was rehearsed but not performed is "Win" from his 1974 album Young Americans ; it never made it further than the occasional soundcheck for the tour. The 24 January 2004 show in Vancouver, Canada was reviewed positively, with the reviewer saying that "with Bowie's near-flawless vocals, brilliant band, and smartly executed show, you wind up with one of the finest old-school rock gigs the Canucks’ home rink has ever hosted." The review of
2209-420: Was swinging it around my head and Slick's going 'Waaaa... watch my guitar', you know. I was banging into it and it was going round my head. Poor Slick. I mean, I didn't know it was his special guitar, I just thought it was a guitar, a lump of wood with six strings. The last show of the tour, on 8 December 1983, was the third anniversary of John Lennon 's death, whom Bowie and Slick had previously worked with in
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