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HIStory World Tour

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HIStory World Tour
World tour by Michael Jackson
One of the Michael's statues throughout Europe to promote the tour and his HIStory album.
LocationEurope, Africa, Asia, Oceania, North America
Associated albumHIStory and Blood on the Dance Floor (*)
Start dateSeptember 7, 1996
End dateOctober 15, 1997
Legs2
No. of shows82
Michael Jackson concert chronology

The HIStory World Tour was the third and final worldwide solo concert tour by American megasuperstar Michael Jackson, covering Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and North America. The tour included a total of 82 concerts and was attended by approximately 4.5 million fans, beating his previous Bad Tour with 4.4 million. The tour was the largest concert tour ever by a solo artist in terms of attendance at the time grossing a total of over $163.5 million (excluding free concerts). The HIStory tour spanned the globe with stops in 58 cities, 35 countries on 5 continents.

Overview

Royal concert in Brunei

Prior to the tour, Jackson performed a free concert at the Jerudong Park Amphitheatre in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei on 16 July, 1996, attended by 60,000 throughout the park. The concert was in celebration of the fiftieth birthday of Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei and was attended by the Brunei royal family.

Much of the concert resembled Jackson's Dangerous World Tour, including his outfit, stage, and the setlist, keeping the details of the upcoming HIStory Tour a close secret. The concert also marked the debut live performance of "You Are Not Alone" and "Earth Song" as well as the last performances of "Jam", "Human Nature", "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" and "She's Out of My Life" at a Jackson concert. This concert was also among the last performances of "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" being sung fully live; most subsequent performances have been partially lip-synched.

The full concert was never broadcast on television but was a rare promo item in possession of private collectors; a high quality VHS copy has been leaked.

The changes

Set list: Royal Concert Brunei

Encore;

Tour announcement

Jackson at Perth Airport in 1996.

The birth of Kingdom International, a joint venture between Jackson and HRH Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, the nephew of the Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, the King of Saudi Arabia from 1982 to 2005, was announced at a press conference held at the Palais des Congres in Paris, France on 19 March 1996. Kingdom International allowed opportunities to be created and developed in the entertainment industry. In this conference Jackson said "Kingdom International is a dream come true." It was then announced that Jackson would embark on his third solo world tour. Unlike Jackson's past two, the HIStory Tour was not sponsored by Pepsi-Cola.

First leg (1996)

Jackson performing "Earth Song" in Lausanne.

Jackson started the tour off with a concert at Letna Park in Prague, one of Jackson's largest single attended concerts in his career. On October 7, 1996, he performed for the first time ever in Africa in front of 60,000 fans in Tunis in a solo tour. During the tour's stopover in Sydney, Australia, he married his ex-wife, Debbie Rowe in a private and impromptu ceremony. He was interviewed by Molly Meldrum In Brisbane. On January 3 and 4, 1997 Jackson only performed two concerts in North America. He did not perform in the USA mainland, but rather in Honolulu, Hawaii at the Aloha Stadium to a crowd of 35,000 each. While in Amsterdam, Michael donned a rare jacket that was used during "Thriller".

Second leg (1997)

The second leg started off on May 31, 1997 at the Weserstadion in Bremen, Germany. Set list changes included the addition of "Blood on the Dance Floor" and later on the removal of the Off the Wall Medley and "The Way You Make Me Feel". After,It was only during the first concert in Bremen that Jackson donned a red jacket for "Blood on The Dance Floor," which was later replaced with a blue uniform. "Blood on the Dance Floor" was taken off the set list after the concert in Oslo on August 19, 1997. Also, Jackson performed at the Parken Stadium on his 39th birthday with 50,000 fans. He was presented with a surprise birthday cake, marching band, and fireworks on stage before the Jackson 5 Medley. Pro footage of this is found in Michael's private home movies. A concert was supposed to take place on August 7 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, but was canceled due to poor ticket sales (this was the only concert that was canceled during the tour). The concert at Hippodrome Wellington of Ostend, Belgium was supposed to be held on August 31, 1997, but was postponed to September 3 following Princess Diana's death. During the September 3 concert audiences were required to be put into "cages". Starting with this concert, several of the final concerts had begun with Jackson's cover of Charlie Chaplin's Smile being played back, and an image of Diana on the jumbotron for some parts of the concert. Also, Michael usually performs "Billie Jean" with his hair in a ponytail, but during the second leg of HIStory Tour, at a concert in Amsterdam, Michael performed the whole "Billie Jean" number with his hair down. Amateur footage of this concert can be found on the internet. In Munich, on July 6, during "Scream" his jacket accidentally opened up. In the same concert the camera lets you see every little thing happening like Michael going on the crane between "Thriller" and "Beat It" or Michael on his way backstage with Michael Bush, his costume designer. Sometimes at the end of "HIStory" Michael went through the floor. But most of the time went backstage. The same thing happened with the camera between Thriller and Beat It in Amsterdam on June 10 and lets you see him coming out of the wall and climbing the ladder to the crane and then starting the song when he's completely on the crane and when the ladder is out of the way and taken through the wall where Michael and Michael Bush came from. It was also Bush's job to put the ladder on and take it back. He also had to signal the machines when Michael is safely up on the crane and ready. Usually Michael performs Stranger in Moscow with his jacket open, but from the Bremen May 31 concert to Amsterdam June 10, he performed the song with his jacket closed.

Televised concerts

All concerts were professionally filmed by Nocturne Productions, Inc. which filmed all of Jackson's tours and private affairs. Just one concert, from Seoul on October 11, 1996 was commercially released on VHS in Korea. The DVD release of the Munich concerts held on July 4 and 6, 1997 planned for Christmas but was subsequently cancelled as Jackson was not satisfied with the performance.

A number of full, or near-full concerts were broadcast on television. Small parts of other certain concerts (typically the opening medley of Scream/They Don't Care About Us/In the Closet) were also shown on news reports around the world.

The following is a list of full or near-full concerts broadcast on Television, or otherwise noted:

First leg (1996)

The first full televised concert and also the third concert of the tour. The Great Gates of Kiev introduction was filmed off-screen onto the JumboTron, not a direct feed like the other concerts. The crowd noises and some crowd footage is from the Dangerous Tour in Bucharest DVD, but the true origin of these sounds is unknown, as the Bucharest DVD contained footage from Wembley, Madrid and several other concerts. During Billie Jean the playback started late as Jackson covered his mouth to lipsync. The concert was televised by TELE 7 ABC.

Set list: Bucharest
  • October 7, 1996 El Menzah Stadium - Tunis, Tunisia

    • This concert was aired on September 18, 2010 by the Nessma TV channel in Tunisia. This performance marked the first time Jackson performed in the continent of Africa. Before then, only parts of this concert were shown on television as well as a very poor quality amateur-filmed far from the stage. The broadcast ended at "Heal The World", cutting off the final number, "HIStory". The quality of the broadcast was rather average as the entire concert was on a VHS and broadcast at a low bit rate. A large, spinning Nessma TV logo occasionally rolled across the screen as a means of copyright protection. The concert broadcast twice, with the red ball appearing in different places in both broadcasts. During the first broadcast, a scrolling bar of text was placed at the bottom of the screen informing viewers of the second broadcast.

    Set list: Tunis
  • October 14, 1996 Olympic Stadium - Seoul, South Korea

    • During the performance of "Earth Song", Jackson, (who was up on a cherry picker) was accosted by a male Korean fan who climbed up the crane just to meet Jackson. Michael held on to the man because he had a risk of falling. The man was then taken away by security after the crane was lowered. This concert was commercially released on VHS in Korea. Before the release of the 1992 Dangerous Tour Concert in Bucharest this was the only commercially released Michael Jackson concert. Despite an official release the versions that have appeared online are poor quality leaks because copy protection of the original VHS has prevented a good quality rip. The intros and endings of some songs are cut off.

    Set list: Seoul
  • October 27, 1996 Merdeka Stadium - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    • Performances of "Come Together D.S", "Black Or White", "Earth Song", "Heal the World", and "HIStory" were not broadcast. The available broadcast go up to "Dangerous". Snippets of the October 29 concert (including the aforementioned songs) were also released during a news report on TV1000. Because crotch grabbing is considered impure in Islam, Jackson altered his crotch-grabbing move in this concert. It was televised by ntv7, but so far, only poor quality VCD recordings are known to exist.

    Set list: Kuala Lumpur
  • November 9, 1996 Ericsson Stadium - Auckland, New Zealand

    • This was the last known professionally filmed concert with the "Off the Wall Medley" and last performance of "Come Together/D.S.". It was also the only known performance of "Billie Jean" with a repeated chorus near the end of the dance sequence. Also, when Jackson began singing "Thriller", for a brief moment, the acapella could not be heard.

    Set list: Auckland
  • November 17, 1996 Sydney Cricket Ground - Sydney, Australia

    • Only a few songs were broadcast from this concert, as well as parts from the concert on November 14 and were shown in a 1 hour timeslot on the Nine Network in early 1997 (and no intro for "Billie Jean"). Nine Network also showed some footage from the first concert in the days after Jackson died; it is revealed that he sang "Beat It" fully live as the acapella track was malfunctioning at the time. Just a few hours after the latter performance, Jackson married Debbie Rowe in a civil ceremony in his presidential suite at the Sheraton on the Park Hotel. Also in Sydney, Michael's latest short film Ghosts had it's film premiere.

    Set list: Sydney
  • December 8, 1996 Asia World City - Parañaque City, Philippines

    • This was televised initially by GMA Network. Often referred to as "HIStory Tour Manila." This was also broadcast on Singapore's MediaCorp Channel 5 around October 2006. The Channel 5 version fades after each song (there is no intro to Billie Jean), but is in higher quality than the GMA version." The Way You Make Me Feel" was performed but not broadcast, there was an amateur snippet of The Way You Make Me Feel filmed and put on a news report in Manila.

    Set list: Manila
  • December 31, 1996 Jerudong Park Amphitheatre - Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

    • This was never televised, but known to exist as a rare promo item as with Royal Concert. Along with the latter performance, it is one of the rarest known concert footages to exist. Private collectors have obtained the concert on VHS in high quality but have never released full concert footage, remaining controversial for their refusal to share the tape. In October 2008 a poor-quality VCD copy (also additionally compressed and watermarked) was uploaded onto the internet by a fan in Brunei who obtained the concert from a stage crew. Video quality was fair and the sound was badly encoded with a rumbling distortion when bass was played. Unwatermarked files from the same VCD source had been uploaded, though the sound quality is still very poor. As of 2011 this concert is still only available in poor quality. A high quality, raw soundboard recording is rumored to exist, but there is no evidence of such a bootleg. As with Malaysia, Brunei has a mostly Muslim population, so Jackson altered his crotch-grab move and this is also obscured by camera angles that are different from most other concerts. This concert is also noted for the first verse of "Scream" being sung live. The curtain used in "Smooth Criminal" and the Cherry Picker for "Beat It" & "Earth Song" were not present during this concert (though they were during the Royal Brunei Concert).

    Set list: Bandar Seri Begawan

    Second leg (1997)

    Jackson planned upon filming this concert for a DVD release by Christmas time, so more camera angles (including individual crowd shots) were used, and the audio was later remastered heavily to emphasize the percussion and audience sounds. This concert was also an early experiment by Jackson with High Definition cameras. The release was ultimately cancelled due to Jackson's dissatisfaction of the behind-the-scenes filming. However, the performance was televised extensively in many different countries, making it one of the most readily available concerts. The most common version is the one aired by Sat.1 and most other channels, but other versions, such as the one that aired in South Africa (with a small segment from a concert at Johannesburg), and a Japanese version with alternate camera angles also exist. Most versions have also been edited with a segment from the concert on August 3, 1997 at Leipzig before the Jackson 5 Medley where Jackson talks about an insect on the stage which he calls the security to remove. An unedited version of the Concert from July 4 has the original camera angles seen on the jumbotrons and original sound. Two amateur videos from July 6 (one of which contained footage of both concerts) also exist. Following Jackson's death, this concert was re-televised by RTL 5, who had previously televised it on their Veronica channel.

    This was also televised in Singapore's MediaCorp Channel 5 in 2009. It was also recently televised in Germany on ZDF on June 24 with alternate camera angles and being upscaled to 720p HD, and in Australia on the music channel MAX, on the 25th of June 2010 and 2011. In Malaysia, 8TV had broadcast the concert on August 2009 in conjunction with the King of Pop's birthday, and it was shown again on 26 June 2010 in conjunction with Michael Jackson's 1st death anniversary.

    Set list: Munich

    Broadcast by TV1000 and Channel 3. Most VHS rips of this version that have appeared seem to suffer from a greenish video noise and audio problems. This concert, along with the 1996 concert in Seoul, were televised on Korean Television in July 2009; the songs "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", "Stranger in Moscow" and "Blood on the Dance Floor" were edited off in this new televised version of this concert. However, only a version with poor sound quality was recorded by a fan. This performance was also televised on Singapore's MediaCorp Channel 5 in early 2010, both on its standard definition channel as well as upscaled to 1080i HD. The upscaled version has been recorded by fans but has not been shared. The audio of the concert had been edited by the TV station, resulting in some compression issues as well as the censoring of Scream ("stop fucking with me" has been replaced with "stop pressuring me").

    Set list: Copenhagen

    Also broadcast by TV1000 and Channel 3. This concert is very similar to the Copenhagen concert; also the last televised performance of "Blood on the Dance Floor" (though the concert in Oslo on August 19 was the last live performance of this song). During "Scream", the pre-recorded a capella vocal of Jackson did not play back. Jackson continued to lip-sync and dance until the vocals continued during the chorus.

    Set list: Gothenburg

    Most versions that have appeared suffer from audio noise and the video has some ghosting artifacts, although there is no watermark. The HIStory Teaser is shown at the end of the programme. This is the last known full performance to exist on video.

    Set list: Helsinki

    Setlist

    Set list: First Leg/Second Leg

    Song Info

    • "Off The Wall Medley" was withdrawn from the show in Tunis [Oct. 7], Bombay [Nov. 1], Sydney [Nov. 14 and 16], Brisbane [Nov. 19], Tokyo [Dec. 20], Bandar Seri Begawan [Dec. 31], and all 1997 shows , except for Bremen [May 31 & Jun. 6], Cologne [Jun. 3], Amsterdam [Jun. 8 & 10] and Kiel [Jun. 13].
    • "Come Together" / "D.S." was withdrawn from the show in Bombay [Nov. 1], Bandar Seri Begawan [Dec. 31], and all 1997 shows.
    • "Blood On The Dance Floor" was performed in all 1997 shows until August 19 (Oslo) except Vienna (Jul. 2); it was performed with a red jacket in Bremen (May 31).
    • "Dangerous was withdrawn from the show in Tokyo (Dec. 20) and Manila (Dec. 8).
    • At every "HIStory" tour stop, during "You Are Not Alone", one lucky girl was allowed to dance with Michael on stage.
    • In the performance of Heal the World" in Bucharest, the headset microphone was having problems. So, one of the backup singers lent Michael his microphone.
    • In one of the performances in Tokyo, Michael slipped when his was leaning for "Smooth Criminal", and footage was shown on YouTube that was taken by a fan.
    • In the first concerts in Amsterdam and Sydney, Michael sang "Beat It" fully live.
    • In the middle of the year, Michael's friend Princess Diana died from a car accident, the concert in Ostend Michael told the crew to put Charlie Chaplin's song "Smile" on and at the end of the song, Michael said "R.I.P Princess Diana" through the microphone.
    • In the first concert in Seoul, Michael was on the crane for "Earth Song", then a fan jumped on the it to meet Michael. Michael held the man for safety and at the end the secruity guards took him away from Jackson.
    • On the August 29 concert in Denmark, it was Michael's birthday and after "You Are Not Alone" there was a surprise birthday performance for him. Starting with a marching band coming in and after that, two of the crew members presented Michael with a birthday cake and after he quoted, "This is beautiful, thank You So Much." At the end he thanked his fans for the surprise.
    • In some of the first concerts in Europe, the jacket for "Thriller" and *"Come Together" / "D.S." were red when they are usually white for Thriller and blue for the medley.
    • The same concert Michael paid a tribute to Princess Diana, the perfromance of "Heal the World" there would usually be a picture of the globe on the screen, but for this concert it was replaced with a picture of the Princess of Wales.

    Tour dates

    # Date City Country Venue Attendance
    First leg (1996)
    Europe
    1 September 7, 1996 Prague Czech Republic Letna Park 123,000
    2 September 10, 1996 Budapest Hungary Népstadion 90,000
    3 September 14, 1996 Bucharest Romania Lia Manoliu Stadium 70,000
    4 September 17, 1996 Moscow Russia Dynamo Stadium 50,000
    5 September 20, 1996 Warsaw Poland Bemowo Airport 100,000
    6 September 24, 1996 Zaragoza Spain La Romareda Stadium 45,000
    7 September 28, 1996 Amsterdam Netherlands Amsterdam Arena 50,000
    8 September 30, 1996 50,000
    9 October 2, 1996 50,000
    Africa
    10 October 7, 1996 Tunis Tunisia El Menzah Stadium 65,000
    Asia
    11 October 11, 1996 Seoul South Korea Olympic Stadium 50,000
    12 October 13, 1996 50,000
    13 October 18, 1996 Taipei Taiwan Chungshan Soccer Stadium 40,000
    14 October 20, 1996 Kaohsiung Chungcheng Stadium 32,000
    15 October 22, 1996 Taipei Chungshan Soccer Stadium 40,000
    16 October 25, 1996 Singapore Singapore National Stadium 35,000
    17 October 27, 1996 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Merdeka Stadium 40,000
    18 October 29, 1996 40,000
    19 November 1, 1996 Mumbai India Andheri Sports Complex 60,000
    20 November 5, 1996 Bangkok Thailand IMPACT Arena 40,000
    Oceania
    21 November 9, 1996 Auckland New Zealand Ericsson Stadium 43,000
    22 November 11, 1996 43,000
    23 November 14, 1996 Sydney Australia Sydney Cricket Ground 40,000
    24 November 16, 1996 40,000
    25 November 19, 1996 Brisbane ANZ Stadium 50,000
    26 November 22, 1996 Melbourne Melbourne Cricket Ground 65,000
    27 November 24, 1996 65,000
    28 November 26, 1996 Adelaide Adelaide Oval 30,000
    29 November 30, 1996 Perth Burswood Dome 18,000
    30 December 2, 1996 18,000
    31 December 4, 1996 18,000
    Asia
    32 December 8, 1996 Parañaque City Philippines Asia World City 55,000
    33 December 10, 1996 55,000
    34 December 12, 1996 Tokyo Japan Tokyo Dome 40,000
    35 December 15, 1996 40,000
    36 December 17, 1996 40,000
    37 December 20, 1996 40,000
    38 December 26, 1996 Fukuoka Fukuoka Dome 40,000
    39 December 28, 1996 40,000
    40 December 31, 1996 Bandar Seri Begawan Brunei Jerudong Park Amphitheatre 70,000
    North America
    41 January 3, 1997 Honolulu United States Aloha Stadium 35,000
    42 January 4, 1997 35,000
    Second leg (1997)
    Europe
    43 May 31, 1997 Bremen Germany Weserstadion 50,000
    44 June 3, 1997 Cologne Müngersdorfer Stadion 60,000
    45 June 6, 1997 Bremen Weserstadion 35,000
    46 June 8, 1997 Amsterdam Netherlands Amsterdam Arena 50,000
    47 June 10, 1997 50,000
    48 June 13, 1997 Kiel Germany Nordmarksportfield 55,000
    49 June 15, 1997 Gelsenkirchen Parkstadion 45,000
    50 June 18, 1997 Milan Italy San Siro 45,000
    51 June 20, 1997 Lausanne Switzerland La Pontaise Olympic Stadium 35,000
    52 June 22, 1997 Bettembourg Luxembourg Krakelshaff 40,000
    53 June 25, 1997 Lyon France Stade de Gerland 23,000
    54 June 27, 1997 Paris Parc des Princes 50,000
    55 June 29, 1997 45,000
    56 July 2, 1997 Vienna Austria Ernst Happel Stadium 40,000
    57 July 4, 1997 Munich Germany Olympic Stadium 70,000
    58 July 6, 1997 70,000
    59 July 9, 1997 Sheffield United Kingdom Don Valley Stadium 43,000
    60 July 12, 1997 London Wembley Stadium 68,600
    61 July 15, 1997 72,000
    62 July 17, 1997 72,000
    63 July 19, 1997 Dublin Ireland Royal Dublin Society 43,000
    64 July 25, 1997 Basel Switzerland St. Jakob Park 50,000
    65 July 27, 1997 Nice France Stade Charles-Ehrmann 30,000
    66 August 1, 1997 Berlin Germany Olympic Stadium 78,000
    67 August 3, 1997 Leipzig Festwiese 54,000
    68 August 10, 1997 Hockenheim Hockenheimring 85,000
    69 August 14, 1997 Copenhagen Denmark Parken Stadium 50,000
    70 August 16, 1997 Gothenburg Sweden Ullevi Stadium 50,000
    71 August 19, 1997 Oslo Norway Valle Hovin 30,000
    72 August 22, 1997 Tallinn Estonia Song Festival Grounds 75,000
    73 August 24, 1997 Helsinki Finland Olympic Stadium 52,000
    74 August 26, 1997 40,000
    75 August 29, 1997 Copenhagen Denmark Parken Stadium 50,000
    76 September 3, 1997 Ostend Belgium Hippodrome Wellington 60,000
    77 September 6, 1997 Valladolid Spain José Zorrilla Stadium 40,000
    Africa
    78 October 4, 1997 Cape Town South Africa Greenpoint Stadium 35,000
    79 October 6, 1997 35,000
    80 October 10, 1997 Johannesburg Johannesburg Stadium 57,000
    81 October 12, 1997 47,000
    82 October 15, 1997 Durban Kings Park Stadium 50,000

    Cancellations and Postponements

    Performers

    Dangerous World Tour

    Credits

    • Executive Director: MJJ Productions
    • Artistic Director: Michael Jackson
    • Assistant Director: Peggy Holmes
    • Choreographed by: Michael Jackson & LaVelle Smith
    • Staged & Designed by: Kenny Ortega
    • Set Designed by: Michael Cotton & John McGraw
    • Lightning Designer: Peter Morse
    • Director of Security: Bill Bray
    • Costumes Designed by: Gianni Versace, Dennis Tompkins & Michael Bush
    • Hair & Make-up: Karen Faye
    • Stylist: Tommy Simms
    • Artist Manager: Tarak Ben Amar
    • Personal Management: Gallin Morey Associates

    References

    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HIStory_World_Tour&oldid=467751717"