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 .
20-558: Zip Code was a concert tour by English rock band the Rolling Stones . It began on 24 May 2015 in San Diego and travelled across North America before concluding on 15 July 2015 in Quebec City . The tour was announced on 31 March 2015 with tickets going on sale to the general public two weeks later. The name is a reference to the jeans-related artwork for Sticky Fingers , which received
40-517: A dispute over the ownership of her first six studio albums in 2019, which prompted her to re-record them. She has released four re-recorded albums— Fearless (Taylor's Version) (2021), Red (Taylor's Version) (2021), Speak Now (Taylor's Version) (2023), and 1989 (Taylor's Version) (2023)—all of which reached number one in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and
60-1040: 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. Taylor Swift albums discography The American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has released 11 original studio albums , 4 re-recorded albums , 5 extended plays (EPs) , and 4 live albums . She has sold 114 million album-equivalent units worldwide, 51 million of which are certified in
80-511: A special re-release in 2015, and had its entire track list played during the Zip Code Tour. On 31 March 2015, the Rolling Stones announced the Zip Code tour, a new United States & Canada tour subtitled Tour of North America 2015 . The tour featured stadium concerts after extensive usage of said venues during the 14 On Fire European tour. Mick Jagger had declared that the band would extend
100-453: 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
120-477: 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
140-400: 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,
160-443: 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
180-439: 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
200-437: 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
220-546: The Billboard 200, and each of them sold over one million US first-week copies. All four albums reached number one in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand; and the latter three all reached number one in the United Kingdom. Under a recording contract with Republic Records signed in 2018, Swift has released five original studio albums— Lover (2019), Folklore (2020), Evermore (2020), Midnights (2022), and The Tortured Poets Department (2024) —all of them peaked atop
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#1733093471913240-541: The Billboard 200. Lover was Swift's first to reach number one in Spain and Sweden, and Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department each sold one million first-week copies in the United States; the latter broke the record for the highest single-week vinyl sales. All of these albums reached number one in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Swift's departure from Big Machine resulted in
260-522: The United States. In terms of pure sales, she has tallied 46.6 million albums in the United States and 7 million albums in the United Kingdom. On the US Billboard 200 , as of August 2024 , she has accumulated 14 number-one albums—seven of which sold one million first-week copies, and 84 weeks at number one—more than any other solo act. Swift signed a recording contract with Big Machine Records in 2005 and released six albums under
280-514: The entire ten-song track list of Sticky Fingers . The show was filmed and later released on Blu-Ray, DVD, CD and LP. On 27 May 2015, the Rolling Stones performed a private show at Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach , California, playing a shorter set of fifteen songs. This set list is representative of the performance on 9 June 2015. It does not represent all concerts for the duration of the tour. Concert tour Different segments of longer concert tours are known as "legs". The different legs of
300-511: The label. Her self-titled debut album (2006) spent more weeks on the US Billboard 200 chart than any other album in the 2000s decade, and her second studio album, Fearless (2008), was the only album from the same decade to spend one year in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. Fearless was Swift's first album to top the charts in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Her next studio albums— Speak Now (2010), Red (2012), 1989 (2014), and Reputation (2017)—all reached number one on
320-434: 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
340-410: 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
360-637: The tour to South America "but it's kind of difficult to put together." Given the tour started the same year the Sticky Fingers album received a deluxe re-release, "Zip Code" is a reference to how that album's cover features the crotch of a man wearing jeans, which in the original vinyl release had a working zipper . On 20 May 2015, the Rolling Stones performed a surprise L.A. concert at The Fonda Theatre (an intimate 1,300-person-capacity venue) in Hollywood , California , playing sixteen songs in total, including
380-494: 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
400-577: 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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