Contents

HIStory World Tour

1996–97 concert tour by Michael Jackson

HIStory World Tour

TourbyMichael Jackson
Promotional image for the tour
Arrangers	Kenny Ortega Michael Jackson
Location	Europe Asia Oceania Africa North America
Associated album	HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix (from the show on May 31, 1997)
Start date	September 7, 1996
End date	October 15, 1997
Legs	3
No. of shows	82
Attendance	4,500,000[1][2][3]
Box office	US $165 million ($317.79 million in 2021 dollars)[4]
Michael Jackson concert chronology
Dangerous World Tour (1992–1993) HIStory World Tour (1996–1997) MJ & Friends (1999)

The HIStory World Tour was the third and final worldwide solo concert tour by American singer and songwriter Michael Jackson, covering Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa and North America. The tour included a total of 82 concerts spanning the globe with stops in 57 cities, 35 countries on 5 continents. The tour promoted Jackson's 1995 album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. The second leg also promoted the remix album Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix. The tour was attended by over 4.5 million fans.^[1][2][3]

Overview[edit]

The tour was announced on May 29, 1996, and marked Jackson's first concert tour since his Dangerous World Tour ended in late 1993.^[5]

Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania (1996)[edit]

Jackson's debut concert for the tour, performed at Letná ParkinPrague, was one of the largest single attended concerts in his career, with over 125,000 people.^[6] On October 7, 1996, he performed for the first time ever in the Arab world and Africa as a solo artist in Tunis.^[7] During the tour's stopover in Sydney, Australia, he married Debbie Rowe in a private and impromptu ceremony. He was interviewed by Molly MeldrumInBrisbane and danced with two women during "You Are Not Alone".

North America (1997)[edit]

From January 3–4, 1997, Jackson performed his only two concerts on this tour in the US, in Honolulu, Hawaii, at the Aloha Stadium, to a crowd of 35,000 each; making him the first artist in history to sell out the stadium.^[8]

Europe and Africa (1997)[edit]

During the break period, Jackson worked and released his Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix album. The second leg started on May 31, 1997, at the WeserstadioninBremen, Germany.

Jackson performed at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark on his 39th birthday with 60,000 fans. He was presented with a surprise birthday cake, marching band, and fireworks on stage after "You Are Not Alone". The concert at Hippodrome WellingtonofOstend, Belgium, was originally scheduled for August 31, 1997, but was postponed to September 3 following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Latin America cancellations (1997–98)[edit]

There were some initial plans to take the tour, in February 1997, to such Brazilian cities as São Paulo, Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, and Brasília; but these plans were suspended due to promotional issues. Jackson tried to visit Brazil again in February 1998, as well as Argentina, but these too were scrapped so that he could work on MJ and Friends.

Recordings[edit]

Throughout the tour, many concerts were professionally filmed by Nocturne Productions, but none were ever officially released on DVD. In South Korea, a VHS recording of his show in Seoul was released, only within the bounds of the country. Although the footage is poor in quality and Michael Jackson was suffering a fever at the time, resulting in his vocals being weakened, it made major success in that country. Jackson planned to release a DVD of his performance in Munich, Germany (July 6th). The film was never released due to Jackson being unimpressed by his vocals brought on by laryngitis. In 2010, TV channels such as RTL 5, ZDF, WOWOW, and Veronica TV broadcast the Munich concert in HD, and those broadcasts can be found on YouTube. This broadcast contains footage mostly from the Munich July 6th show, but it has some snippets from the first Munich show (July 4th) and a large snippet of the Leipzig show (August 3rd) during the Jackson 5 Medley speech. In 2022, a 1080p version of Billie Jean from the Munich concert was leaked, this version of the performance wasn't just the July 6th performance as this new 1080p footage contained snippets from the July 4th performance of Billie Jean, along with that, part of the soundboard from the show was also leaked, 54 audio tracks from Billie Jean were leaked along with a live mic feed where Jackson's voice could be heard singing where normally playback would be heard. It was rumoured that the remaster, in addition to some portions of the soundboard audio, were planned to be released alongside a 25th anniversary edition of the HIStory album, but plans were likely halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[9] Some other full-length concerts have been leaked to YouTube including those in Auckland (November 11, 1996), Basel (July 25, 1997), Copenhagen (August 14, 1997), Gothenburg (August 16, 1997) and Helsinki (August 26, 1997). Many amateur recordings from shows such as Amsterdam (September 30, 1996), Cologne (June 3, 1997) and Milan (June 18, 1997) can also be found on YouTube.

Show performance[edit]

The HIStory World Tour was one of the most high tech concert shows of the time. The show's opening featured a video segment where Jackson piloted a spacecraft through multiple points in history before emerging from underneath the stage at the end. The stage featured two statues of Jackson on either side of it, and was large enough to use an entire curtain for the opening segment of "Smooth Criminal".

Set list[edit]

Tour dates[edit]

Prague

Budapest

Prague

HIStory World Tour (Europe)

Prague

HIStory World Tour (Asia)

Prague

HIStory World Tour (Africa)

Prague

HIStory World Tour (Australia and New Zealand)

Personnel[edit]

See also[edit]

• List of highest-attended concerts
• List of most-attended concert tours
• List of highest-grossing concert tours

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Bibliography

• Brooks, Darren (2002). Michael Jackson: An Exceptional Journey. Chrome Dreams. ISBN 1-84240-178-5.
• "Billboard Boxscore". Billboard. Vol. 109, no. 37. New York City. 1997-09-13. p. 22. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 2014-04-18.
• "Billboard Boxscore". Billboard. Vol. 109, no. 34. New York City. 1997-08-23. p. 14. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 2014-04-18.
• "Billboard Boxscore". Billboard. Vol. 109, no. 35. New York City. 1997-08-30. p. 14. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 2014-04-18.
• O'Toole, Kit (2015). Michael Jackson FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the King of Pop. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 978-1-4950-4598-1.