| HIStory World Tour | ||||
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One of the Michael's statues throughout Europe to promote the tour and his HIStory album. |
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| World tour by Michael Jackson | ||||
| Location | Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania, North America | |||
| Associated album | HIStory and Blood on the Dance Floor (*) | |||
| Start date | September 7, 1996 | |||
| End date | October 15, 1997 | |||
| Legs | 2 | |||
| Shows | 82 | |||
| Michael Jackson tour chronology | ||||
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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.
Contents |
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.
Encore;
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.
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".
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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").
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.
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.
| # | 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 | |
First Leg
Second Leg
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