Rock Witchu Tour

Rock Witchu Tour
Tour by Janet Jackson
Associated album	Discipline
Start date	September 10, 2008
End date	November 1, 2008
Legs	1
Shows	16 in North America
Janet Jackson tour chronology
All for You World Tour (2001/02) Rock Witchu Tour (2008) Number Ones: Up Close and Personal World Tour (2011)

The Rock Witchu Tour was the fifth concert tour by American singer-songwriter, Janet Jackson, in support of her tenth studio album Discipline. This was Jackson's first tour in nearly seven years.^[1] The tour visited North America. A Japanese leg was planned for February 2009,^[2] however the concert promoters for the Japan dates later cancelled them due to illness and the events of the 2009 economic crisis.^[3] The tour officially ended on November 1, 2008 in New York City.

About the tour

Rumors of Jackson touring were sparked during promotion of her previous two studio albums Damita Jo and 20 Y.O., where Jackson stated in many interviews that she was preparing for a tour. The unnamed tours were canceled abruptly when Jackson began recording new material.^[1] Jackson stated:

"I was supposed to go on tour with the last album [...] We were actually in full-blown tour rehearsals at that point ... learning numbers, getting everything together, set designs [...] I had to kind of shut everything down and go into the studio."

In early 2008 on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Jackson announced that she would go on tour. The audience was given free tickets to her show at the Staples Center. While planning the tour, Jackson started a phone line where fans could call in and request songs to be performed. Jackson will be performing all of her memorable hits, including those from her pre-Control days.^[4] The two and a half hour show kicked off in Vancouver on September 10, 2008 to rave reviews.^[5][6]

Britney Spears attended the Los Angeles date of the "Rock Witchu Tour" and said the show inspired the choreography for her "Womanizer" video. Rehearsals for "Womanizer" were shown on the documentary Britney: For the Record, with Spears saying "I like how it's close together. In Janet's show that's what they did a lot. She did a lot of close stuff like that with the dancers, and it was so powerful".^[7] Spears also hired Janet's stylist from the tour for The Circus Starring Britney Spears tour.^[8]

About the show

The setup of the stage includes a giant square-shaped catwalk surrounding the first several front rows of seats, reaching out to the center of the arena where fans can easily see Jackson from any level of seating. Rows of seating inside the catwalk are exclusively designed for those with purchased fan club memberships. There are three video screens that take on the stage, including the biggest one being in the center where video clips are shown throughout songs to take place for effects and in-between costume change breaks. Other special staging includes movable staircases, steel cages, pyrotechnics, and other special pieces.

The show begins with an echo of words being said in the distance of the arena, such as "Janet", "Rock Witchu", "Dance", and "Discipline". As the words speed up, the show lights come on and several dancers dressed as astronauts appear on the stage, with two standing beside two big glittery “J”’s (representing Janet’s name.) The “J”’s move back and forth on the center of the stage with stars appearing on the center video screen (a representation of Space.) Pretty soon, fog appears in front of the audience and a bang of pyrotechnics blasts, thus beginning the opening of the show. Jackson appears on the upper center section of the stage in a gold hyperspace dance suit singing "The Pleasure Principle", as well as two other hits from her Control album for the Control Medley, and later moving on to "Feedback".

Notable performances of the night include the Pre-"Control" medley, in which Jackson performs songs she has never done before live from her first two albums Janet Jackson and Dream Street, as well as an S&M display on-stage with a lucky audience member to perform the title track off Jackson's tour supporting album, Discipline.

For the finale of the show, Jackson and her dancers perform "Luv" and Jackson's top-five hit, "Runaway".^[5]

Opening acts

• Nelly (select venues)
• LL Cool J (select venues)
• Donnie Klang
• DJ Juan (select venues)

Set list

1. Control Medley:
   • "The Pleasure Principle"
   • "Control"
   • "What Have You Done for Me Lately"
2. "Feedback"
3. "You Want This"
4. "Alright"
5. "Miss You Much"
6. "Never Letchu Go"
7. "Come Back to Me"
8. "Let's Wait Awhile"
9. "Again"
10. "So Excited"
11. "So Much Betta"
12. "Nasty"
13. "All Nite (Don't Stop)"
14. "Rock with U"
15. "Together Again"
16. Pre-Control Medley:
    • "Young Love"
    • "Say You Do"
    • "Don't Stand Another Chance"
17. "Doesn't Really Matter"
18. "Escapade"
19. "Love Will Never Do (Without You)"
20. "When I Think of You"
21. "All for You"
22. "Got 'til It's Gone"
23. "Call on Me"
24. "That's the Way Love Goes"
25. "I Get Lonely"
26. "Funny How Time Flies (When You're Having Fun)"
27. "Any Time, Any Place"
28. "Discipline"
29. "Black Cat"
30. "If"
31. "Rhythm Nation"

Encore

32. "Luv" (contains elements of Lil Wayne's "Lollipop")
33. "Runaway"

Source:^[4]

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue
North America
September 10, 2008	Vancouver	Canada	General Motors Place
September 13, 2008	Oakland	United States	Oracle Arena
September 17, 2008	Los Angeles		Staples Center
September 19, 2008	Paradise		Mandalay Bay Events Center
September 20, 2008	San Diego		San Diego Sports Arena
September 25, 2008	Rosemont		Allstate Arena
September 28, 2008	Toronto	Canada	Air Canada Centre
October 15, 2008	Washington, D.C.	United States	Verizon Center
October 17, 2008	East Rutherford		Izod Center
October 19, 2008	Atlanta		Philips Arena
October 21, 2008	Houston		Toyota Center
October 22, 2008	Dallas		American Airlines Center
October 24, 2008	Kansas City		Sprint Center
October 26, 2008	Tulsa		BOK Center
October 28, 2008	Auburn Hills		The Palace of Auburn Hills
November 1, 2008	New York City		Madison Square Garden

Cancellations and rescheduled shows

September 29, 2008	Montreal, Quebec, Canada	Bell Centre	Cancelled[9]
October 1, 2008	Boston, Massachusetts	TD Garden Banknorth	Cancelled[9]
October 2, 2008	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Wachovia Center	Cancelled[9]
October 4, 2008	Greensboro, North Carolina	Greensboro Coliseum	Cancelled[9]
October 7, 2008	Sunrise, Florida	BankAtlantic Center	Cancelled[9]
October 11, 2008	Montville, Connecticut	Mohegan Sun Arena	Cancelled[9]
October 13, 2008	Verona, New York	Turning Stone Event Center	Cancelled[9]
February 14, 2009	Saitama City, Japan	Saitama Super Arena	Cancelled[10]
February 15, 2009	Saitama City, Japan	Saitama Super Arena	Cancelled[10]
February 17, 2009	Osaka, Japan	Osaka-jō Hall	Cancelled[10]
February 19, 2009	Nagoya, Japan	Nagoya Rainbow Hall	Cancelled[10]
February 22, 2009	Fukuoka, Japan	Marine Messe Fukuoka	Cancelled[10]

Box Office Score Data

Venue	City	Tickets Sold / Available	Gross Revenue
General Motors Place	Vancouver	8,941 / 11,074 (81%)	$927,098 [11]
Oracle Arena	Oakland	9,430 / 12,282 (77%)	$809,478 [12]
Staples Center	Los Angeles	12,109 / 12,109 (100%)	$1,181,045 [12]
Mandalay Bay Events Center	Paradise	8,085 / 8,168 (99%)	$1,027,602 [13]
Allstate Arena	Rosemont	9,519 / 11,541 (82%)	$792,139 [13]
Verizon Center	Washington, D.C.	9,720 / 10,389 (94%)	$1,077,846 [14]
Izod Center	East Rutherford	10,865 / 14,247 (76%)	$883,472 [14]
Philips Arena	Atlanta	7,503 / 9,698 (77%)	$665,775 [15]
Toyota Center	Houston	7,385 / 7,470 (99%)	$578,039 [14]
American Airlines Center	Dallas	7,729 / 11,640 (66%)	$532,393 [14]
BOK Center	Tulsa	5,355 / 6,208 (86%)	$231,690 [15]
The Palace of Auburn Hills	Auburn Hills	7,733 / 9,687 (80%)	$441,578 [15]
Madison Square Garden	New York City	9,995 / 12,029 (83%)	$799,082 [16]
TOTAL		114,034 / 136,542 (84%)	$9,917,237

Total grosses for the "Rock Witchu Tour", updated with inflation over time with 2011's average ticket price, brings the gross tour equivalent to $13,750,000.

Additional Notes

• Janet originally planned on touring in support of her previous two albums Damita Jo and 20 Y.O., but plans were changed when she began recording a new album instead. Some of the production ideas for the tours were used on the "Rock Witchu Tour".
• Janet announced the tour during an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
• Britney Spears attended the Los Angeles date of the "Rock Witchu Tour" and said she was inspired by the tour for the choreography for her "Womanizer" music video during her Britney: For the Record documentary. Spears also hired Janet's stylist from the tour for The Circus Starring Britney Spears tour.
• The tour's stage included a long, square-shaped catwalk that surrounded the first few rows of floor seats and extended into the center of the arena. Seats inside of the catwalk area were sold through Janet's official fan club.
• A few months before the tour began, Janet asked fans to call a special phone number and leave her a voice mail message with their suggestions for what songs should be included in the tour's setlist.
• The performances of "Luv" on the "Rock Witchu Tour" used an interpolation of Lil Wayne's Lollipop".
• Janet removed "Discipline", "Funny How Time Flies (When You're Having Fun)" and "Any Time, Any Place" from the Detroit, Michigan date of the tour due to a Michigan law prohibiting the simulation of sexual acts.
• Janet suffered from a variety of health issues during the tour. As a result, additional dates in Europe and Japan were forced to be canceled due to Janet being ordered to rest after suffering from vestibular migraines. The tour became Janet's shortest one to date, with only 16 shows performed.
• Total grosses for the "Rock Witchu Tour", updated with inflation over time with 2011's average ticket price, brings the gross tour equivalent to $13,750,000.

Personnel

• Show Director: Janet Jackson & Gil Duldulao
• Promoter: Leonard Rowe
• Creative Director and Choreographer: Gil Duldulao
• Assistant to Creative Director & Choreographer: Stephani Kammer
• Band: David Barry (Musical Director/Guitars), Adam Blackstone (Bass), Lil' John Roberts (Drums), Daniel Jones (Keyboards)^[17]
• Costumes: Donatella Versace
• Lighting and Set Design: Vince Foster ^[18][19]
• FOH Sound Engineer: Jon Lemon ^[20][21]
• Pyrotechnics Design: Lorenzo Cornacchia (Vice President of Pyrotek Special Effects)^[22]

Dancers

• Gil Dululao (Main Choreographer)
• Jillian Meyers
• Laurel Thompson
• Nick Bass
• Ed Moore
• Teddy Forance
• Cassidy Noblett
• Victor Rojas
• Whyley Yoshimura
• Anthony Garza (Swing Dancer)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Janet Jackson.

• Official website

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