The Greatest Love World Tour

The Greatest Love World Tour
Tour by Whitney Houston
Associated album Whitney Houston
Start date July 26, 1986
End date December 1, 1986
Legs 4
Shows 35 in North America
? in Europe
7 in Japan
3 in Australia
Whitney Houston tour chronology
The Greatest Love World Tour
(1986)		 Moment of Truth World Tour
(1987-1988)

The Greatest Love World Tour was Whitney Houston's first headlining worldwide tour in support of her multi-platinum debut album, Whitney Houston. The tour started at the Merriweather Post Pavilion on July 26, 1986 and was a four month venture. The 1986 arena tour included shows in North America, Europe, Japan and Australia following the success of the singer's debut album.

Contents

History

Houston's debut album was released in early 1985 and she performed at various clubs to promote the album. Following the success of the hit single "You Give Good Love", Houston became the opening act for singers' Luther Vandross and Jeffrey Osborne on their individual 1985 US tours.[1] After the next single, "Saving All My Love For You" became Houston's first #1 in the US, she began headlining her own shows, playing at various American theaters, festivals, and clubs throughout the summer and fall of 1985. With more #1 hits on the way, and Houston's album at the top of the album charts, she would become a household name. She then embarked on her first worldwide tour, the successful Greatest Love World Tour. The tour started in North America during the summer of 1986, before heading to Europe, Japan, Australia and back to USA for a final show in Hawaii during the fall.

Concert dates as a opening act or before the official tour debut, and boxscore data

Not all dates are listed
Date City Country Venue Main performer Ticket price(s) Attendance / capacity Ticket grossing
July 12 - 15, 1985[2] Cleveland, Ohio United States Front Row Theater Jeffrey Osborne $15.75 12,200 / 12,874 (95.4%) $192,150
August 8, 1985 Des Moines, Iowa Veterans Memorial Auditorium n/a
August 9 - 10, 1985[3] Merrillville, Indiana Holiday Star Theater Jeffrey Osborne $16 6,169 / 6,800 (90.7%) $97,120
August 16, 1985[4] Houston, Texas The Summit Luther Vandross $17.65 13,939 / 13,939 (100%) $238,805
August 29, 1985[5] Concord, California Concord Pavilion Jeffrey Osborne $16.50 / $13.50 7,816 / 7,816 (100%) $114,756
August 30 - 31, 1985[5] Los Angeles, California Greek Theatre $17.50 / $16 / $10 12,374 / 12,374 (100%) $188,745
October 11, 1985[6] Baltimore, Maryland Lyric Theater Herself $18 / $16 4,734 / 5,000 (94.7%) $77,762
October 19, 1985[6] Indianapolis, Indiana Clowes Memorial Hall $15.50 / $13.50 4,339 / 4,339 (100%) $62,877

The show

The show consisted of Houston on a fringed round stage in the center of the arena/theater with a 9-piece band playing and four backup vocalists behind her.[1] There were no costume changes or background dancers. Brother Gary Garland would replace Jermaine Jackson and Teddy Pendergrass on the duets. Young New Jersey comedienne Sylvia Traymore opened the show and did hilarious impersonations of such stars as Dionne Warwick, Tina Turner, Cher and others.[1]

While on her first global tour, Houston revealed she was a creative musician; rearranging most of the songs during her shows and sometimes deviating from the album's version. In "You Give Good Love", Houston would slow it down and emphazise the soulful elements of the song, treating it like a gospel number while breaking it down with her background singers.[7] During "Saving All My Love", Houston arranged the song into a bluesy jazz number that recalled Billie Holliday. Houston often scatted with sax player Josh Harris during the end of the song.[7] Many critics noted "He/I Believe" and "I Am Changing" as the show's highlights. The former is a song she learned from her mother which joins the gospel songs "He Is" with "I Believe". The latter is a cover of the show Jennifer Holliday's show stopping Dreamgirls song.[7] After opening the show with a tease of the anthemic "Greatest Love of All", Houston closed out the show with a slowed down soulful version of the song.

Billboard magazine's Carlo Wolff said the following on his column for her show at Saratoga Performing Arts Center on July 28, 1986.

“ For the second date of her first headlining tour, the show was remarkably polished and emotional...A versatile, purposeful singer Houston may not be La Diva yet. But she is certainly La Divette.[8] ”

Opening acts

Set list

  1. "Greatest Love of All" (Intro tease)
  2. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
  3. "Eternal Love"
  4. "You Give Good Love"
  5. "Hold Me" (duet with Gary Houston)
  6. "How Will I Know"
  7. "Take Good Care of My Heart" (duet with Gary Houston)
  8. "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do" (duet with Gary Houston)
  9. "Saving All My Love for You"
  10. "Someone for Me"
  11. "I Am Changing"
  12. "Heart to Heart"
  13. "All at Once"1
  14. "A Brand New Day"2
  15. "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)"
  16. "He/I Believe"
  17. "Greatest Love of All"

1only performed in Japan and select dates in Europe
2only performed on select dates in the USA

Notes

The band

Houston and John Simmons were friends from their church in New Jersey. While Houston was trying to get a recording contract, she would perform sets as part of her mother's nightclub act in New York. Simmons was her musical director. Houston asked Simmons to put together a band that would back her during her nightclub act and record label showcases.[10] Houston kept most of the band during her touring career, which consisted of the following:

Tony Bulluck was the tour manager.

Tour dates

Date City Country Venue
North America
July 26, 1986 Columbia, Maryland United States Merriweather Post Pavilion[11]
July 28, 1986 Saratoga Springs, New York Saratoga Performing Arts Center[11]
July 29, 1986 Boston, Massachusetts Boston Common[11]
July 31, 1986
August 1, 1986
August 2, 1986 Wantagh, New York Jones Beach Amphitheater[12]
August 4, 1986 Holmdel, New Jersey Garden State Arts Center[12]
August 6, 1986 Wantagh, New York Jones Beach Amphitheater[12]
August 10, 1986 Atlanta, Georgia Chastain Park[12]
August 11, 1986
August 12, 1986 Nashville, Tennessee Starwood Amphitheatre
August 14, 1986 Cincinnati, Ohio Riverbend Music Center[13]
August 15, 1986 Louisville, Kentucky Freedom Hall[14]
August 16, 1986 Indianapolis, Indiana Indiana State Fair Coliseum[14]
August 18, 1986 Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio Blossom Music Festival
August 19, 1986 Clarkston, Michigan Pine Knob Amphitheatre
August 20, 1986
August 22, 1986 Toronto Canada Canadian National Exhibition Stadium[15]
August 24, 1986 Ottawa Ottawa Civic Centre
August 25, 1986 Montreal Montreal Forum
August 27, 1986 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania United States Mann Center for the Performing Arts
August 28, 1986 Syracuse, New York New York State Fair
(cancelled due to rain)[16]
August 30, 1986 Hoffman Estates, Illinois Poplar Creek
August 31, 1986
September 1, 1986 St Louis, Missouri The Muny[13]
September 8, 1986 Denver, Colorado Red Rocks Amphitheater[17]
September 12, 1986 Sacramento, California California Exposition & State Fair[17]
September 13, 1986 San Francisco, California Shoreline Amphitheater[17]
September 14, 1986 Concord, California Concord Pavilion[17]
September 16, 1986 Fresno, California Fresno Convention Center[18]
September 18, 1986 San Diego, California San Diego Sports Arena[18]
September 19, 1986 Costa Mesa, California Pacific Amphitheater[19]
September 21, 1986 Los Angeles, California Greek Theatre
September 23, 1986
Europe
(Not all dates are listed)
October 10, 1986 Brussels Belgium Forest National
October 17, 1986 London, England United Kingdom Wembley Arena
October 19, 1986
October 20, 1986
Asia
November 4, 1986 Osaka Japan Festival Hall
November 5, 1986 Osaka-jō Hall
November 6, 1986 Nagoya Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium
November 8, 1986 Yokohama Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium
November 10, 1986 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
November 11, 1986
November 12, 1986
Australia
November 15, 1986 Sydney Australia Sydney Entertainment Centre
November 16, 1986
November 17, 1986
North America
November 30, 1986 Honolulu, Hawaii United States Neal S. Blaisdell Center[20]
December 1, 1986

Boxscore data

Not all data are listed
Date(s) Venue City Ticket price(s) Ticket sold / available Ticket grossing
July 26, 1986[11] Merriweather Post Pavilion Columbia, Maryland $16.50 / $11.50 13,000 / 13,000 (100%) $176,267
July 28, 1986[11] Saratoga Performing Arts Center Saratoga Springs, New York $15 / $10 20,000 / 20,000 (100%) $218,735
July 29, 31, August 1, 1986[11] Boston Common Boston, Massachusetts $19.50 / $17.50 37,500 / 37,500 (100%) $667,065
August 2, 6, 1986[12] Jones Beach Theatre Wantagh, New York $22 / $20.50 / $17.50 20,600 / 20,600 (100%) $376,326
August 4, 1986[12] Garden State Arts Center Holmdel, New Jersey $18.50 / $11 10,600 / 10,600 (100%) $156,647
August 10 - 11, 1986[12] Chastain Park Atlanta, Georgia $22 / $20.50 / $17.50 12,702 / 12,702 (100%) $259,545
August 14, 1986[13] Riverbend Music Center Cincinnati, Ohio $20 / $11.50 16,289 / 16,289 (100%) $251,000
August 15, 1986[14] Freedom Hall Arena Louisville, Kentucky $10 15,600 / 15,600 (100%) $156,310
August 16, 1986[14] Indiana State Fair Indianapolis, Indiana $14.50 / $12.50 16,287 / 16,287 (100%) $225,965
August 22, 1986[15] Canadian National Exhibition Stadium Toronto, Ontario $23.50 / $19.50 25,370 / 25,370 (100%) $465,286
September 1, 1986[13] The Muny St. Louis, Missouri $20.50 / $18.50 / $16.50 9,846 / 9,846 (100%) $189,980
September 8, 1986[17] Red Rocks Amphitheatre Denver, Colorado $24.40 / $22 / $19.80 8,950 / 8,950 (100%) $203,854
September 12, 1986[17] California Exposition & State Fair Sacramento, California $17.50 8,273 / 8,500 (97.3%) $144,778
September 13, 1986[17] Shoreline Amphitheater Mountain View, California $18.50 / $15.50 15,211 / 15,211 (100%) $256,782
September 14, 1986[17] Concord Pavilion Concord, California $22.50 / $15.50 8,333 / 8,333 (100%) $152,458
September 16, 1986[18] Fresno Convention Center Fresno, California $17.50 5,908 / 5,908 (100%) $99,715
September 18, 1986[18] San Diego Sports Arena San Diego, California $25 / $18.50 9,051 / 9,051 (100%) $172,092
September 19, 1986[19] Pacific Amphitheater Costa Mesa, California $24.75 / $15 13,946 / 18,764 (74.3%) $294,954
November 30 - December 1, 1986[20] Neal S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, Hawaii $22.50 - $17.50 17,600 / 17,600 (100%) $362,313
Total 285,066 / 290,011 (98.3%) $4,830,072

References

  1. ^ a b c d Clarence Waldron (1 September 1986). Whitney Houston Headlines Her First Tour Across the Country‎ (p58-60). Jet. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=vrMDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA58&dq=whitney+houston&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=0&as_pt=MAGAZINES&cd=18#v=onepage&q=whitney%20houston&f=false. Retrieved 2010-01-12. 
  2. ^ "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.) 97 (31): 48. August 3, 1985. ISSN 0006-2510. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=uSQEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&hl=en&rview=1&pg=PT83#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved March 2, 2011. 
  3. ^ "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.) 97 (34): 41. August 24, 1985. ISSN 0006-2510. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=2iQEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&lr&hl=en&rview=1&pg=PT64#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved March 2, 2011. 
  4. ^ "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.) 97 (36): 39. September 7, 1985. ISSN 0006-2510. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=HiQEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&lr&hl=en&rview=1&pg=PT38#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved March 2, 2011. 
  5. ^ a b "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.) 97 (38): 42. September 21, 1985. ISSN 0006-2510. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=vyQEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&lr&hl=en&rview=1&pg=PT41#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved March 2, 2011. 
  6. ^ a b "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.) 97 (44): 49. November 2, 1985. ISSN 0006-2510. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=RyQEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&lr&hl=en&rview=1&pg=PA49#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved March 2, 2011. 
  7. ^ a b c Takiff, Jonathon. "Whitney Makes Converts". Philadelphia Daily News. August 28, 1986.
  8. ^ Carlo Wolff (August 23, 1986). Talent in Action. Billboard. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=UiQEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PT64&dq=billboard%201987&lr=lang_en&num=20&as_brr=0&as_pt=MAGAZINES&pg=PT41#v=onepage&q=saratoga%20springs&f=false. Retrieved 2010-01-15. 
  9. ^ AllWhitney.com
  10. ^ Charles, Nat. "Conducting Electricity, and Idolatry". New York Times. January 14, 2007.
  11. ^ a b c d e f "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.) 98 (33): 26. August 16, 1986. ISSN 0006-2510. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=4SQEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PT56&dq=gbs_search_r&pg=PT25#v=onepage&q=&f=false. Retrieved December 22, 2011. 
  12. ^ a b c d e f g "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.) 98 (34): 42. August 23, 1986. ISSN 0006-2510. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=UiQEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&hl=ko&pg=PT41#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved December 22, 2011. 
  13. ^ a b c d "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.) 98 (37): 31. September 13, 1986. ISSN 0006-2510. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=IiQEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA5&hl=ko&pg=PT33#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved December 22, 2011. 
  14. ^ a b c d "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.) 98 (35): 27. August 30, 1986. ISSN 0006-2510. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=GSQEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA4&hl=ko&pg=PA30#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved December 22, 2011. 
  15. ^ a b "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.) 98 (36): 20. September 6, 1986. ISSN 0006-2510. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=oCQEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&hl=ko&pg=PT19#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved December 22, 2011. 
  16. ^ "HOUSTON CONCERT CANCELED" Sun Sentinel. August 30, 1986. Pg 2A.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.) 98 (39): 21. September 27, 1986. ISSN 0006-2510. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=7CMEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&hl=ko&pg=PT20#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved December 22, 2011. 
  18. ^ a b c d "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.) 98 (40): 25. October 4, 1986. ISSN 0006-2510. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=yyQEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA3&hl=ko&pg=PA27#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved December 22, 2011. 
  19. ^ a b "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.) 98 (41): 27. October 11, 1986. ISSN 0006-2510. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=ESUEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&hl=ko&pg=PA27#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved December 22, 2011. 
  20. ^ a b "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc.) 98 (52): 36. December 27, 1986. ISSN 0006-2510. http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=tiQEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&hl=ko&pg=PA36#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved December 22, 2011. 
  21. ^ Teeds, J. "MELBOURNE CONCERT DOUBT". Sunday Mail. November 23, 1986.
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