The Onyx Hotel Tour

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The Onyx Hotel Tour

Tour by Britney Spears
Dates	March 2, 2004 - June 6, 2004
Legs	2
Shows	54 in total

1 The Onyx Hotel Tour press release
2 Summary
3 Performances and Controversies
4 Playlist:
5 Tour dates
- 5.1 First Leg
- 5.2 Second Leg

[edit] The Onyx Hotel Tour press release

Onyx Hotel Tour was Britney Spears’ tour in support of her fourth album "In the Zone", and it started in San Diego on March 2, 2004.

Britney’s set design was based on the mysterious theory of the Onyx stone. The Onyx Hotel is a unique, mysterious hotel powered by an onyx stone. Each guest who enters this hotel shines their own light into the onyx, and in return, makes their fantasies come to life. It's a vibrant, whimsical place where wondrous dreams are realized, and the darkest of secrets are revealed.

Britney expressed, "I'm especially looking forward to bringing my tour to new markets and performing in front of fans that may not have had the opportunity to see any of my previous tours."

Britney is pleased to announce Kelis as a special guest on her tour. "'Milkshake' is one of my favorite new songs, and I am so excited that Kelis, who is so talented, has agreed to open the Onyx Hotel Tour for me."

[edit] Summary

While Britney's last tour, "Dream Within a Dream" was Vegas-style theatrical, "The Onyx Hotel Tour" was more New York-style theatrical. This show was purposely less lavish than the previous tour and featured little pyrotechnics or other visual effects, as compared to DWAD, apparently to make the show more intimate and focused more on the songs and dancing. However, Spears's production team spared no expense on the show's setup. They were reportedly inspired by the city of Tokyo, with its futuristic, postmodern architecture, and designed their stage based on it, with state-of-the-art video screens and set pieces. Most of the songs performed were from her then-current album, In the Zone, but a few of her earlier efforts did appear on the set list, in remixed form. Spears also played piano briefly during "Everytime".

Spears had seven costume changes throughout the show, with various outfits ranging from a black catsuit during the show's opener to a pair of bikini underwear. The clothes came courtesy of several designers such as Roberto Cavalli and DSQUARED, who also designed costumes for DWAD.

The tour grossed $38 million and was seen by more than half a million fans in North America alone. [1]

The March 28 show in Miami was filmed for a special that aired on Showtime and attracted huge ratings. The show was rerun several times that year and still drew significantly large numbers. [2] Unlike Spears's previous televised concerts, this show has not been released to DVD.

During the show in Moline, Illinois, Spears suffered a fall during "(I Got That) Boom Boom" and injured her knee. Shows in Chicago and Detroit were postponed to the end of the first leg of the tour. The show in Cleveland was postponed to the summer leg because of illness, but due to the subsequent cancellation of the entire third leg, never ended up happening.

The third leg of the tour, which would have been a second North American trek, as well as Asia, was cancelled because of the injury resulting from a fall on the set of Britney's video shoot for "Outrageous" in Queens, NY. She underwent arthroscopic knee surgery at a New York hospital. The surgery was necessary to repair severe damage caused to the singer's leg by the incident. There have been rumours stating that Britney did not want to tour in the summer, 2004. She wanted to start her life. Many tabloids stated that her injury was an excuse for her to get out of performing for her tour. Many critics found it strange that Britney got married right after the tour was supposed to end which was in October, 2004.

Opening acts were Skye Sweetnam in the US and Europe, Kelis in the US and the final show in Dublin, JC Chasez in Europe, and Wicked Wisdom in Europe, and Toronto based rock/reggae band dodger filling in for 5 dates that Kelis cancelled for due to illness.

[edit] Performances and Controversies

The 2004 Onyx Hotel Tour brought new criticism for Spears, for in certain routines she and her dancers were seemingly nude and performing explicit routines simulating gay sex "Touch of My Hand" and "Breathe on Me".

Britney Spears and a dancer during the performance of Breathe On Me

During the performance of "Touch of My Hand", Spears emerged onstage in a white robe, then after the second verse, removed it, revealing a tight flesh-colored suit covered in crystals (an obvious homage to her diamond-encrusted nude body in her "Toxic" video).

[edit] Playlist:

"Toxic"
"Overprotected (Original version)"/"Overprotected (The Darkchild Remix)"
"Boys (Co-Ed Remix)"
"Showdown"

Video Interlude

"Everytime"
"The Hook Up"
"I'm a Slave 4 U"

Video Interlude

"Shadow"

Video Interlude

Interlude

"(I Got That) Boom Boom"
"Me Against the Music"

[edit] Tour dates

[edit] First Leg

03/02/04 - San Diego, CA - San Diego Sports Arena (Sold Out)
03/03/04 - Glendale, AZ - Glendale Arena
03/05/04 - Fresno, CA - Save Mart Center
03/06/04 - Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand Garden Arena (Sold Out)
03/08/04 - Los Angeles, CA - Staples Center (Sold Out)
03/09/04 - Oakland, CA - Oakland Arena (Sold Out)
03/11/04 - Portland, OR - Rose Garden Arena
03/12/04 - Seattle, WA - KeyArena at Seattle Center
03/15/04 - Denver, CO - Pepsi Center
03/17/04 - Omaha, NE - Qwest Center
03/18/04 - Moline, IL - Mark of the Quad (Britney falls during “Boom Boom” and injures her knee)
03/19/04 - Rosemont, IL - Allstate Arena (Cancelled due to injury)
03/21/04 - Auburn Hills, MI - The Palace of Auburn Hills (Cancelled due to injury)
03/23/04 - Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena
03/24/04 - Columbia, SC - Colonial Center
03/25/04 - Jacksonville, FL - Veterans Memorial Coliseum (Sold Out)
03/28/04 - Miami, FL - American Airlines Arena (Sold Out)
03/29/04 - Orlando, FL - TD Waterhouse Centre (Sold Out)
03/31/04 - Philadelphia, PA - Wachovia Center (Sold Out)
04/01/04 - Cleveland, OH - Gund Arena (Cancelled due to illness)
04/03/04 - Toronto, CANADA - Air Canada Centre (Sold Out)
04/04/04 - Montreal, CANADA - Centre Bell (Sold Out)
04/06/04 - Manchester, NH - Verizon Wireless Arena (Sold Out)
04/08/04 - Providence, RI - Dunkin' Donuts Center
04/09/04 - Trenton, NJ - Sovereign Bank Arena (Sold Out)
04/10/04 - East Rutherford, NJ - Continental Airlines Arena (Sold Out)
04/13/04 - Rosemont, IL - Allstate Arena (Rescheduled from original 03/19/04 show)
04/14/04 - Auburn Hills, MI - The Palace of Auburn Hills (Rescheduled from original 03/21/04 show)