Its the circle of life, folks. Not only did the tour break the record for the highest-grossing tour, but the bands Oct. 25, 2009date at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, also holds therecord for the highest attendance at a single concert with over 97,000 people. But, its more than safe to say that the pop concert was never the same after the Queen of Pop hit the road. Maybe that pain fueled the music. Guns N' Roses: Not in This Lifetime Tour, #2. This final tour was run in conjunction with the release of the groups final album, "The Division Bell., Tour gross (adjusted for inflation): $423,574,349 -- Matt Melis, 71. No Doubt, Deftones, L7, Quicksand, and Sublime all performed, touring the states with no idea of what a massive footmark they were leaving, one that would eventually widen to resemble a bigger beast altogether. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. The slate saw Springsteen finally headlining full-size arenas and adding several soon-to-be staples to the setlist. Right on. By Erik Hedegaard. symphony orchestra Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Luckily, nobody told that to Tina Turner, or at least she didnt pay them any attention if they did. 1. worth applauding. Joanna Newsom- Have One on Me Tour (2010), Though one could say Joanna Newsom continues to outdo herself in live settings today, the singer-songwriter and harpist outdid herself in 2010 while touring behind the triple-LP Have One on Me. Daft Punk Alive 2006/2007 (2006-07), Daft Punk have existed for 26 years now, yet the French electronic duo have only toured two times. Elton John, Foreigner, Queen and Eric Clapton hit the road. Again, a lot of time to spend onstage with someone you cant stand. "USA for Africa," as the U.S. ensemble was known, featured Jackson, Richie, Geldof, Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, and many. The record-breaking concert at Rio de Janeiro was held in the middle of the "A Bigger Bang" tour. Celine Dion: Taking Chances World Tour, #17. Do they have fees? Paramorew/Tegan and Sara - Honda Civic Tour (2010), Though it's very much a sponsored event (and in no way tries to hide it), the annual Honda Civic Tour is a blessing for pop, rock, and punk fans, especially kids who rarely get to see big acts in suburban areas because of age restrictions. Madonna- Whos That Girl World Tour (1987), Madonna didnt invent the pop concert. Matt Melis, 58. Stevie Wonder- Songs in the Key of Life Tour (2015), To hear Stevie Wonder is to hear what it feels like to smile from the joy of being alive. In 2012, Madonnas "MDNA Tour, which followed the release of her 12th studio album of the same name, was thehighest-grossing tour of the year. Tour gross (adjusted for inflation): $345,700,000 Live, the band played their greatest hits and every passage in between, nailing their sets. Performing every song from an iconic album like this one isn't easy, especially when there are 22 songs to play, not to mention other hits and singles from your catalog. LL Cool J, Whodini, Eric B. I first photographed Bon Jovi live in 1983, when they opened for ZZ TOP at Madison Square Garden. He was working on new graphics! In 2005, Smith's live performances were bigger and better for a range of reasons. With the songs from new hit record Goodbye Yellow Brick Road at his disposal, John, already balding, sporting huge sunglasses, and dressed in one outrageous glam costume (plenty of sequins and feathers) or another, turned what couldve been polite piano recitals into full-blown rock revivals. We also dont always know that a goodbye is taking place. 1 Name Just One - 10 to 1: Music . The road has been a way of life for John since the late 60s, and very few, if any, have struck as many memorable poses as the piano rocker along the way. The 50 Greatest Concerts of the Last 50 Years From Led Zeppelin's U.S. debut to Jay Z and Kanye West's 'Watch the Throne' spectacle, and beyond By Christopher R. Weingarten, David Browne, Jon. If live music is all about reaching out and connecting with an audience, Coyne can be credited for finally improving on the classic crowd surf. Although the decade of excess came to a close over 32 years ago, many of the biggest acts that came of age. Take that, Tito! And live, he could flaunt that wide range of material while flaunting why he is, more than anything else, a born performer. The "A Bigger Bang" concert tour turned out to be the top grossing tour of 2006. 2. But perhaps more importantly, it was a bill stacked with powerful women, a first for the Honda Civic Tour and one that paved the way for other acts that followed. Paul McCartney- Out There Tour (2013-15), No musical artist appears on the average bucket list in concert form more than Paul McCartney. But all the in-band tension couldnt keep Stills and Young from burying the hatchet long enough to join David Crosby and Graham Nash on a 31-gig trek in 1974. Matt Melis, 36. Wed be excused if thats the case with Jimi Hendrix. From the reggae twists to the pop choruses, The Clash were changing the course of history, and the band illuminated it live on the stage. In a sense, they still havent found what theyre looking for, but are well ahead of schedule in their quest. Three years prior to that she was . Radiohead In Rainbows Tour (2008-09), The best Radiohead album, the best Radiohead tour, and the best Radiohead mood? Because little did fans know, this would wind up being the bands final big tour before eventually breaking up. Nina Corcoran, 20. Nina Corcoran, 97. Phish leveled up and its impossible to deny. 8 Pink Floyd - 75,250 Swift's sets primarily came from the "Reputation, album with only one or two classics mixed in. -- Matt Melis, 31. Top Contributed Quizzes in Music. Shows played: 69 The tour, whose set list leaned heavily on the bands most recent release "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, spurred three concert films: "Vertigo 2005: Live from Chicago, "Vertigo: Live from Milan, and "U2 3D., Tour gross (adjusted for inflation): $493,336,432 Chris Frantz was grinning modestly while Jerry Harrison looked onwards. Nina Corcoran, Def Jam in the mid-80s can be compared to Motown in its heyday. Beginning with the "Voodoo tour, Wyman was replaced with the groupscurrent bassist, Darryl Jones. Led Zeppelin- North American Tour 1968/1969 (1968-69), Its telling that Robert Plant and Jimmy Page cant leave their homes without being asked about the chances of a Led Zeppelin reunion. Its so iconic that its routinely covered today (down to every last detail) by The Musical Box, a Genesis cover band that Gabriel himself donated instruments and set design pieces to so the tour can reach a new generation. Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood: World Tour, #15. My, my. In 1972, Yes embarked on their greatest tour of all time: Close to the Edge. The honor for top-grossing music tour of all timeis held by U2. Nina Corcoran, 09. And this tour was big. Bruce Springsteen went on tour with the E Street Band in 2016 to mark the 35th anniversary of his 1980 EP "The River. There are a whopping 20 songs on the album, and Springsteenperformed it in its entirety at all North American tour stops. Heres everything you need to know. Both legs were out of this world, but lets face it: one just makes for a slightly cooler story to tell the grandkids -- Matt Melis, 15. All three members of Run-DMC were 22 years old and all three members of Beastie Boys were between 21 and 23. Check out our hot list of bands and singers touring in 2023. -- Matt Melis, 35. Nina Corcoran, 82. Nina Corcoran, Tom Waits had left his drunken piano lounge act long behind him by the mid-80s and stumbled into his alter ego of Frank OBrien, a character he and wife Kathleen Brennan would both incorporate into his records and adapt for the stage. It was a moment in time where people across the world got to witness Bowie before them and realize, yes, this was a rock star about to take his position at the forefront for generations. Other touring locations included London, New Zealand, South America, and Japan. On the live stage, Jack and Meg Whites crunchy, loud, perfectly imperfect sound came stomping out, unabashedly messy and all the more charming because of it. Phish- Phish Destroys America (1997), Its hard to pick a single best Phish tour, especially if youre a die-hard fan. Though their comically large beards would suggest they'd been in hiding, the Neutral Milk Hotel crew seemed just as delightfully unhinged as their music always painted them as being, from the warped singing saw solos to the slightly out-of-key reckless hollers. Nirvana would go on to play more dates the rest of the year, but it was that initial breakthrough, the turning point of fame encroaching before the mass hysteria ensued, that provided the band with a peak scenario to see them in. But it wasnt until the 1998 Yield Tour that the frontman and his colleagues matured and settled into being the best touring band on the planet. Whether it was fearlessly taunting a lightning storm at Lollapalooza or lunging into the audience at indoor shows throughout the tour, Florence Welch showed the type of full-faced courage that fills the band's music with tangible flashes of life. He wound up growing a beard, hiding in Paris, and running the city's marathon incognito, causing the band to cancel their UK dates but pull him back aboard in time for the US tour stretch with their ideal catalog ready to go. On the Victory Tour, his last stint as a Jackson, he actually performed his solo albums Off the Wall and Thriller with the group and stunned the world with his moonwalk, single glove, and sequined jacket trademarks hed take with him into his solo career. But if were talking the moment that Bruce and band really became Kings of the Road (or maybe Bosses), that would have to be the Darkness Tour. Total tour attendance: N/A At these events, fans could see established acts like Smokey Robinson & The Miracles and James Brown supported by future stars like a teenage Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, and The Temptations. The Flaming Lips- 2003 Summer Tour (2003), The Flaming Lips have been weird for a very long time and have pushed the boundaries of live spectacle as much as, if not more than, any other band of their era. While 3.5 million fans were lucky enough to attend the concerts, millions more were able to watch a televised special thatwon three Emmy Awards. The famed beach in Rio De Janeiro was the scene of one of the biggest rock shows EVER, when the legendary band performed to 1.5 million fans on 18 February 2006. . By the time they returned for 16 dates traversing the country the following year -- most of which lasted only about 30 minutes and included several other acts on the bill -- Beatlemania was in full effect. Known for gimmicks like hanging from a cross, the "Sticky & Sweet tour had none of that. Nina Corcoran, 83. The Police - Synchronicity Tour (1983-84), In 1983, just before their dissolution, The Police became the Biggest Band in the World thanks to the success of Synchronicity. After all, Alive was the dance party everybody wanted to see and the tour everyone regrets not going to, even if nabbing tickets was nearly impossible anyway. Shows played: 205 The run included the bands legendary May 8th stop at Cornell, considered by many to be the holy grail of Dead shows. While both acts are fun in their own right, having the bands perform back to back turned venues like The Fillmore into proper discotheques, where the spirit of live dance bands felt as palpable as ever (though maybe it was the sweat that was palpable, in hindsight). One of two tours on the list that is still announcing new dates, Billy Joels "Billy Joel in Concert tour so far has booked 16 dates for 2019. Terms of Use. While both acts put on good sets, it was Green Day whose live show remained consistent and invigorating, whereas Blinks tour prior to this one was their tightest so far. Neil Youngwith Crazy Horse - Rust Never Sleeps Tour (1978), Theres no denying that Neil Young is a dynamic live performer. Nina Corcoran, 11. 5 business days handling time after receipt of cleared payment. Nina Corcoran, 70. Tour gross (adjusted for inflation): $421,181,298 Shows played: 219 On top of this, the 1970 tour saw their iconic headlining set at the Isle of Wight Festival. He proved that a pop star could outdraw the hottest bands on the planet and that a pop concert could be an elaborate stage production on a scale never before seen. Shows played: 110 The stage setup was ambitious! --Matt Melis, 93. The Rolling Stones: Voodoo Lounge Tour, #3. Nina Corcoran, 51. Matt Melis, 18. Rarely has a festival so large known their audience so well and delivered better. The Tour of Life was her first-ever concert tour and lasted just over one month. It was the tour that saw them flood Madison Square Garden, the tour that represented a new financial model for rock acts, and the tour that produced one of the first live bootleg recordings (the second concert in Oakland, for those who don't know). Thats why the Bon or Brian debate has always seemed pointless. Matt Melis, For her seventh tour ever, Bjrk turned her abstract, Grammy-nominated album Biophilia into a visual representation of the nature, technology, and music crossroads that it aimed to explore. That boldness swells in size when people realize just how powerful that can be -- powerful enough for the radio, even. Matt Melis, 56. Check out SoundMojo to discover tomorrow's. As the album and its handful of singles climbed the charts and took the world by storm, the real storm was brewing backstage as romantic partnerships in the group fell apart. For the first time since 1994, Radiohead performed in Mexico, and they made their live debut in Brazil, Argentina, and Chile come the end of the tour. No matter your personal taste in music, its highly probable that you know Coldplays breakthrough single, "Yellow, which climbed the charts in 2000. The Jesus and Mary Chain's Jim Reid curated the tour in hopes of proving independent rock artists could be worthy of bigger venues, using Lollapalooza as a blueprint for how to do it. Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust. With drug charges in the past, the Stones finally hopped across the pond to play sold-out arenas, showing their growth as adults and as professional musicians. Matt Melis, 44. Lady Gaga- Born This Way Ball (2012-13), Billed as an electro-metal pop-opera with openers like Zedd and The Darkness tacked on, Lady Gagas Born This Way Ball was set to be a spectacle even before she hit the road. Theres a case to be made for each and recent archival releases from the 70s remind us that Young needed nothing but a guitar and a mic to mesmerize but 1978s Rust Never Sleeps Tour with Crazy Horse offered the best of all worlds. Still, if we have to pick one tour, we have to go back to the purported beginnings of Wayne Coynes infamous hamster ball, which permits the smiling weirdo to visit his fans in bubble-boy style. Some dirty riffs, a paint can of makeup, a lot of tongue, and a little debauchery all go a long way, and the KISS Army has followed them every step of that journey (sometimes in platform boots). Nina Corcoran, 59. The bands Autobahn Tour configuration has gone down in history as their classic touring lineup. Bookmark Quiz Bookmark Quiz Bookmark. As single after single climbed both country and mainstream charts, you were just as likely to hear Shania Twain blasting from a 16-year-old teen girls first car as a rugged pickup truck. The first leg promoting the album began some 14 months before The Dark Side was released and found the band previewing arguably the greatest album of all time in its near-completed form for their fans.