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A bird's eye view of Madonna's 2008 Sticky & Sweet Tour in the national stadium of Santiago, Chile.

A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific tour with a particular album or product (for example: U2's The Joshua Tree Tour named after the album). Especially in the popular music world, such tours can become large-scale enterprises that last for several months or even years, are seen by hundreds of thousands or millions of people, and bring in millions of dollars (or the equivalent) in ticket revenues. A performer who embarks on a concert tour is called a touring artist.^[1][2]

Different segments of longer concert tours are known as "legs".^[3] The different legs of a tour are denoted in different ways, dependent on the artist and type of tour, but the most common means of separating legs are dates (especially if there is a long break at some point), countries and/or continents, or different opening acts. In the largest concert tours it is becoming more common for different legs to employ separate touring production crews and equipment, local to each geographical region.^{[citation needed]} Concert tours are often administered on the local level by concert promoters or by performing arts presenters. Usually, small concert tours are managed by a road manager whereas large concert tours are managed by a tour manager.

Logistics

The main challenge in concert tours is how to move the performance's logistics from one venue to another venue, especially for a transcontinental tour. Tour logistics should be very organized and everything has to happen on time and in the right order as planned.^[4]Autoweek magazine estimated 30 to 50 trucks were required by Taylor Swift's 1989 World Tour to bring all the stage, sound equipment, instruments, props, and clothes.^[5] When Beyoncé visited the United Kingdom with her 2016 Formation World Tour, it took seven Boeing 747 air freighters and a fleet of more than 70 trucks to get her stage set and other gear to the venues. The logistics phase of that tour didn't include transportation of the backstage staff, musicians, performers, and the singer herself.^[6]

Rock-It Cargo is one of the company that provided freight forwarding for some of the biggest names in music, such as Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, and The Police. Before the start of a tour, Rock-It Cargo had to move gear to a central location—either a rehearsal spot or the site of the first engagement. Then it arranged to transport whatever gear the band requires from one venue to the next. The company's vice president, Ed Butler, said "We use different freight modes—local trucking, cross-country trucking, air freight, and ocean freight. We also provide import, export, customs clearance, carnets (a document that allows a shipper—including a band—to move equipment across international boundaries and clear customs without paying duties)—everything a tour would need."^[4]

Boxscore

As of 2011^[update], the highest-grossing concert tour of all time is U2 360 Tour, with gross revenues of $736,137,344.^[7] The second highest-grossing concert tour of all time is The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang Tour, which earned approximately $558 million between 2005 and 2007.^[8] Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour, which earned $408 million in 2008 and 2009 was the highest-earning tour by a female artist.^[9] According to the 2014 report from Billboard Boxscore, six acts having made over US$ 1 billion in touring since 1990 were the Rolling Stones, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Coldplay and Bon Jovi.^[10]

Global touring revenue reported to Billboard Boxscore exceeded $5.5 billion in 2016.^[11] Due to the collapse of record sales in the 21st century, concert tours have became a major income for recording artists.^[12] Besides the tickets, touring also generates money from the sales of merchandise and meet-and-greet package.^[13][14]

Response

The mobility of concert tours requires a lot of costs, times, and energy. British singer Adele expressed her unhappiness of concert tours, saying "Touring is a peculiar thing, it doesn't suit me particularly well. I'm a real homebody and I get so much joy in the small things."^[15] A concert residency concept is offered as an alternative to performers. As opposed to the concert tour, the concert residency consists of multiple shows in one location.^[16]

The 2015 study by charity Help Musicians UK found that over 60% of musicians suffered from depression or other psychological issues, with touring an issue for 71% of respondents.^[17]

See also

• Lists of concert tours

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Concert tours.

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  Billboard Touring News