HIStory World Tour

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HIStory World Tour
One of many identical statues, positioned throughout Europe to promote HIStory.
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	3
Shows	44 in Europe 19 in Asia 11 in Australasia 6 in Africa 2 in North America 82 played

The HIStory World Tour was the third and final worldwide solo concert tour by American artist 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 World 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 $165 million (excluding free concerts).^[1] The HIStory World Tour spanned the globe with stops in 58 cities, 35 countries on 5 continents. Unlike the Bad and Dangerous World Tours, the History World Tour has never been released on DVD, despite many fans requesting it. However, there have been several full concerts leaked on the internet.

Royal concert in Brunei

Prior to the tour, Jackson performed a free concert at the Jerudong Park Amphitheatre in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei on 16 July 1996. 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. This concert was not part of the Dangerous World Tour nor the HIStory World Tour. 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.

The changes

• "Carmina Burana" of the "Brace Yourself" introduction was replaced with a similar piece of opera.
• "Jam" had a shorter ending than usual.
• "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" was performed with Marva Hicks rather than Siedah Garrett. In the middle of the song, Michael almost sang Marva's part. They sang an extra chorus.
• "The Way You Make Me Feel" replaces "Workin' Day and Night".
• "The Way You Make Me Feel" begins with the slow intro from the 1988 Grammys performance, which features the 1st verse, and the main instrumentation skips the 1st verse.
• "You Are Not Alone" replaces "Will You Be There".
• "Billie Jean" instrumentation is slower than the Dangerous or Bad World Tours, similar in style to the later HIStory Tour (which used a slightly down-pitched a cappella for playback), but sung live. The dance ending has a repeated snare sound like that from "Why You Wanna Trip on Me", similar to the 1995 MTV Awards performance but without the bassline. Future performances of Billie Jean had this snare, but only in the beginning of the dance. Like the Dangerous and Bad Tours, Jackson does not beatbox before singing the final line and throwing the hat.
• In "Beat It", Michael sang the wrong lyrics in the second verse. Also, he threw his jacket at the end, which he did in HIStory Tour.
• The 1995 MTV Video Music Awards version of "Dangerous" replaces the 1993 American Music Awards version.
• Michael wore the golden shin pads in "Black or White" instead of the black ones. It began to be used in this show before HIStory Tour.
• "Heal the World" wasn't performed, but would be present in the HIStory World Tour.
• "Man in the Mirror" ended with a curtain call, instead of the Rocket Man finale.
• "Earth Song" was performed as an encore, and featured live adlibs at the end of the song.
• Although "Earth Song" is usually performed with the cherrypicker(and it was present in the concert because Jackson performed "Beat It"), he didn't use it in this performance but would use it on the HIStory Tour.
• The concert included the final live performances by Jackson of "Human Nature", "Jam", "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" and "She's Out of My Life". "Human Nature", "Jam" and "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" were later rehearsed for the 2009–2010 This Is It concert series, while "She's Out of My Life" was rehearsed for the first of Jackson's 1999 MJ and Friends concerts in Seoul, but later removed from the setlist.

Set list: Royal Brunei concert[show]

Tour announcement

Jackson at Perth Airport in 1996.

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 World Tour was not sponsored by Pepsi-Cola.

First leg (1996)

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 wife (later 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.

Second leg (1997)

Jackson performing "Earth Song" in Lausanne.

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 8 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. At the concert in Munich on July 6, 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, as he did in Brunei. But most of the time, he 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.

Song Info

• "The Way You Make Me Feel" was performed without the 2nd verse and it was withdrawn from all shows after Gelsenkirchen [Jun. 15].
• "Off the Wall Medley" was withdrawn from the show in Tunis and withdrawn permanently following the concert on June 13, 1997, in Kiel.
• "Come Together"/"D.S." was withdrawn from the show in Mumbai [Nov. 1], Manila [Dec. 8], Bandar Seri Begawan [Dec. 31], and all the second and third leg shows.
• "Blood on the Dance Floor" was performed in all the second leg shows until August 19 (Oslo) except Vienna (Jul. 2); it was performed with a red jacket in Bremen (May 31).
• "Dangerous was withdrawn from the show in Tokyo (Dec. 20) and Manila (Dec. 8).
• At every HIStory World Tour stop, during "You Are Not Alone", one lucky girl was allowed to dance with Michael on stage.
• In the performance of "Heal the World" in Bucharest, the headset microphone was having problems. So, one of the backup singers lent Michael his microphone.
• At every concert with a predominantly Muslim audience, such as Tunis or Kuala Lumpur, the "Black Panther" video was replaced with "Brace Yourself". Jackson also refrained from his crotch-grabbing move instead putting his hand more outside the thigh or towards the belly.
• In one of the performances in Tokyo, Michael slipped when he was leaning for "Smooth Criminal". The footage was shown on YouTube, it was taken by a fan (though the audience blocks the view of the moment Jackson falls down).
• During the first concerts in Amsterdam and Sydney, Michael sang "Beat It" fully live.
• In the middle of the year, Michael's friend Princess Diana died from a car accident. During the concert in Ostend Michael told the crew to put Charlie Chaplin's song "Smile" on and at the end of the song, Michael said "R.I.P Princess Diana" through the microphone. During the same concert Michael paid a tribute to Princess Diana, because during the performance of "Heal the World" there would usually be a picture of the globe on the big screen, but for this concert it was replaced with a picture of the Princess of Wales.
• During the first concert in Seoul, Michael was on the crane for "Earth Song", when a fan jumped on it to meet Michael. Michael held the man for safety and at the end of the song the security guards took him away from Jackson.
• During the August 29 concert in Denmark it was Michael's birthday and after "You Are Not Alone" there was a surprise birthday performance for him by the crew. Starting with a marching band coming in and after that, two of the crew members presented Michael with a birthday cake and after he quoted, "This is beautiful, thank you so much." At the end he thanked his fans for the surprise.
• In some of the first concerts in Europe, the jacket for "Thriller" and "Come Together"/"D.S." were red when they are usually white for "Thriller" and blue for the medley.
• During the first European concerts, Michael donned a rare jacket that was used during "Thriller".
• Michael usually performs "Billie Jean" with his hair in a ponytail, but during the second leg of HIStory World Tour, at a concert in Amsterdam, Michael performed the whole "Billie Jean" number with his hair down because his hairtie fell out. Amateur footage of this concert can be found on the internet.
• In Munich, on July 6, during "Scream" his jacket accidentally opened up.
• 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.
• On the second concert in South Africa, Michael's longtime friend Diana Ross attended the show and made a surprise appearance on stage in the middle of the performance of "Heal the World".

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue
Royal Brunei concert
July 16, 1996	Bandar Seri Begawan	Brunei	Jerudong Park
First leg
Europe
September 7, 1996	Prague	Czech Republic	Letna Park
September 10, 1996	Budapest	Hungary	Népstadion
September 14, 1996	Bucharest	Romania	Lia Manoliu Stadium
September 17, 1996	Moscow	Russia	Dynamo Stadium
September 20, 1996	Warsaw	Poland	Bemowo Airport
September 24, 1996	Zaragoza	Spain	Estadio La Romareda
September 28, 1996	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Amsterdam Arena
September 30, 1996
October 2, 1996
Africa
October 7, 1996	Tunis	Tunisia	Stade El Menzah
Asia
October 11, 1996	Seoul	South Korea	Olympic Stadium
October 13, 1996
October 18, 1996	Taipei	Taiwan	Chungshan Soccer Stadium
October 20, 1996	Kaohsiung		Chungcheng Stadium
October 22, 1996	Taipei		Chungshan Soccer Stadium
October 25, 1996	Singapore	Singapore	National Stadium
October 27, 1996	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	Merdeka Stadium
October 29, 1996
November 1, 1996	Mumbai	India	Andheri Sports Complex
November 5, 1996	Bangkok	Thailand	Muang Thong Thani City Center
Oceania
November 9, 1996	Auckland	New Zealand	Ericsson Stadium
November 11, 1996
November 14, 1996	Sydney	Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground
November 16, 1996
November 19, 1996	Brisbane		ANZ Stadium
November 22, 1996	Melbourne		Melbourne Cricket Ground
November 24, 1996
November 26, 1996	Adelaide		Adelaide Oval
November 30, 1996	Perth		Burswood Dome
December 2, 1996
December 4, 1996
Asia
December 8, 1996	Parañaque	Philippines	Asia World City Concert Grounds
December 10, 1996
December 13, 1996[2][3][4]	Tokyo	Japan	Tokyo Dome
December 15, 1996
December 17, 1996
December 20, 1996
December 26, 1996	Fukuoka		Fukuoka Dome
December 28, 1996
December 31, 1996	Bandar Seri Begawan	Brunei	Jerudong Park
North America
January 3, 1997	Honolulu	United States	Aloha Stadium
January 4, 1997
Second leg
Europe
May 31, 1997	Bremen	Germany	Weserstadion
June 3, 1997	Cologne		Mungersdorfer Stadion
June 6, 1997	Bremen		Weserstadion
June 8, 1997	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Amsterdam Arena
June 10, 1997
June 13, 1997	Kiel	Germany	Nordmarksportfield
June 15, 1997	Gelsenkirchen		Parkstadion
June 18, 1997	Milan	Italy	San Siro
June 20, 1997	Lausanne	Switzerland	Stade Olympique de la Pontaise
June 22, 1997	Bettembourg	Luxembourg	Krakelshaff
June 25, 1997	Lyon	France	Stade de Gerland
June 27, 1997	Paris		Parc des Princes
June 29, 1997
July 2, 1997	Vienna	Austria	Ernst-Happel-Stadion
July 4, 1997	Munich	Germany	Olympic Stadium
July 6, 1997
July 9, 1997	Sheffield	United Kingdom	Don Valley Stadium
July 12, 1997	London		Wembley Stadium
July 15, 1997
July 17, 1997
July 19, 1997	Dublin	Ireland	RDS Arena
July 25, 1997	Basel	Switzerland	St. Jakob Stadium
July 27, 1997	Nice	France	Stade Charles-Ehrmann
August 1, 1997	Berlin	Germany	Olympic Stadium
August 3, 1997	Leipzig		Festwiese
August 10, 1997	Hockenheim		Hockenheimring
August 14, 1997	Copenhagen	Denmark	Parken Stadium
August 16, 1997	Gothenburg	Sweden	Ullevi
August 19, 1997	Oslo	Norway	Valle Hovin
August 22, 1997	Tallinn	Estonia	Tallinn Song Festival Grounds
August 24, 1997	Helsinki	Finland	Helsinki Olympic Stadium
August 26, 1997
August 29, 1997	Copenhagen	Denmark	Parken Stadium
September 3, 1997	Ostend	Belgium	Hippodrome Wellington
September 6, 1997	Valladolid	Spain	Estadio José Zorrilla
Third leg
Rehearsals[5]
October 2, 1997	Cape Town	South Africa	Greenpoint Stadium
October 3, 1997
Africa
October 4, 1997	Cape Town	South Africa	Greenpoint Stadium
October 6, 1997
October 10, 1997	Johannesburg		Johannesburg Stadium
October 12, 1997
October 15, 1997	Durban		Kings Park Stadium

Box office score data^[6]

Venue	City	Tickets Sold
Letna Park	Prague	125,000
Népstadion	Budapest	50,000
Lia Manoliu Stadium	Bucharest	70,000
Dinamo Stadium	Moscow	50,000
Bemowo Airport	Warsaw	120,000
Estadio La Romareda	Zaragoza	45,000
Amsterdam Arena	Amsterdam	150,000
Stade El Menzah	Tunis	60,000
Olympic Stadium	Seoul	100,000
Chungshan Soccer Stadium	Taipei	80,000
Chungcheng Stadium	Kaohsiung	40,000
National Stadium	Singapore	35,000
Merdeka Stadium	Kuala Lumpur	80,000
Andheri Sports Complex	Mumbai	60,000
Muang Thong Thani City Center	Bangkok	40,000
Ericsson Stadium	Auckland	86,000
Sydney Cricket Ground	Sydney	80,000
ANZ Stadium	Brisbane	40,000
Melbourne Cricket Ground	Melbourne	130,000
Adelaide Oval	Adelaide	30,000
Burswood Dome	Perth	60,000
Asia World City Concert Grounds	Parañaque	110,000
Tokyo Dome	Tokyo	180,000
Fukuoka Dome	Fukuoka	80,000
Jerudong Park	Bandar Seri Bengawan	40,000
Aloha Stadium	Honululu	70,000
Weserstadion	Bremen	105,000
Mungersdorfer Stadion	Cologne	60,000
Nordmarksportfield	Kiel	55,000
Parkstadion	Gelsenkirchen	50,000
San Siro	Milan	45,000
Stade Olympique de la Pointaise	Lausanne	35,000
Krakelshaff	Bettembourg	45,000
Stade de Gerland	Lyon	25,000
Parc des Princes	Paris	125,000
Ernst-Happel-Stadion	Vieena	50,000
Olympic Stadium	Munich	140,000
Don Valley Stadium	Sheffield	45,000
Wembley Stadium	London	216,000
RDS Arena	Dublin	43,000
St. Jacob Stadium	Basel	50,000
Stade Charles-Ehrmann	Nice	35,000
Olympic Stadium	Berlin	78,000
Festwiese	Leipzig	55,000
Hockenheimring	Hockenheim	85,000
Parken Stadium	Copenhagen	100,000
Ullevi	Gothenburg	50,000
Valle Hovin	Oslo	40,000
Tallinn Song Festival Grounds	Tallinn	75,000
Olympic Stadium	Helsinki	100,000
Hippodrome Wellington	Ostend	60,000
Estadio José Zorrilla	Valladolid	40,000
Greenpoint Stadium	Cape Town	72,000
Johannesburg Stadium	Johannesburg	105,000
Kings Park Stadium	Durban	50,000
TOTAL		4,145,000