HIStory World Tour

The HIStory World Tour was the third and final worldwide solo concert tour by American singer and songwriter Michael Jackson, covering Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa and North America. The tour included a total of 82 concerts spanning the globe with stops in 57 cities, 35 countries on five continents. The tour promoted Jackson's 1995 album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. The second leg also promoted the remix album Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix. The tour was attended by over 4.5 million fans and grossed over US $165 million making it the highest-grossing tour of the 1990s by a solo artist.^[1][2][3]

HIStory World Tour

Tour by Michael Jackson
Promotional image for the tour
Arrangers	Kenny Ortega Michael Jackson
Location	Africa Asia Europe North America Oceania
Associated album	HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix (from the show on May 31, 1997)
Start date	September 7, 1996
End date	October 15, 1997
Legs	2
No. of shows	82
Attendance	4,500,000[1][2][3]
Box office	US $165 million ($323.19 million in 2024 dollars)[4]
Michael Jackson concert chronology

Overview

The tour was announced on May 29, 1996, and marked Jackson's first concert tour since the Dangerous World Tour ended in November 1993.^[5]

Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania (1996)

Jackson's debut concert for the tour, performed at Letná Park in Prague, was one of the largest single attended concerts in his career, with over 125,000 people.^[6] On October 7, he performed for the first time ever in the Arab world and Africa as a solo artist in Tunis.^[7] During the tour's stopover in Sydney, he married Debbie Rowe in a private and impromptu ceremony. He was interviewed by Molly Meldrum in Brisbane and danced with two women during "You Are Not Alone".

North America (1997)

From January 3–4, Jackson performed his only two concerts on this tour in the US, in Honolulu, Hawaii, at the Aloha Stadium, to a crowd of 35,000 each; making him the first artist in history to sell out the stadium.^[8]

Europe and Africa (1997)

Michael Jackson performing "Earth Song" in Lausanne, June 20, 1997

During the break period, Jackson worked and released his Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix album. The second leg started on May 31, at the Weserstadion in Bremen, Germany.

Jackson performed at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark on his 39th birthday with 60,000 fans. He was presented with a surprise birthday cake, marching band, and fireworks on stage after "You Are Not Alone". The concert at Hippodrome Wellington of Ostend, Belgium, was originally scheduled for August 31, but was postponed to September 3 following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Latin America cancellations (1997–98)

There were some initial plans to take the tour, in February 1997, to such Brazilian cities as São Paulo, Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, and Brasília; but these plans were suspended due to promotional issues. Jackson tried to visit Brazil again in February 1998, as well as Argentina, but these too were scrapped so that he could work on MJ & Friends.^{[citation needed]}

Recordings

Throughout the tour, many concerts were professionally filmed by Nocturne Productions, but none were ever officially released on DVD. In South Korea, 마이클 잭슨 내한공연 (Michael Jackson HIStory Tour In Seoul), a VHS recording of the show in Seoul, was released.

Jackson also planned to release a DVD of his July 6 performance in Munich. However, the film was never released, due to Jackson being unimpressed by his vocals brought on by laryngitis. In 2010, TV channels such as RTL 5, ZDF, WOWOW, and Veronica TV broadcast the Munich performance in HD. It was interspersed with snippets from the July 4 show and a large snippet of the Leipzig show (August 3) during the "Jackson 5 Medley" speech. In 2022, a 1080p version of "Billie Jean" from the Munich concert was leaked, featuring snippets from the July 4 performance. Part of the soundboard feed from the show was also leaked.

Set list

1996–1997 set list^[9][10][11]

1. "Great Gates of Kiev" (introduction)
2. "Scream" / "They Don't Care About Us" / "In the Closet" (contains excerpts of "HIStory", "Great Gates of Kiev" and "She Drives Me Wild")
3. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
4. "Stranger in Moscow"
5. "Smooth Criminal" (contains elements of "Childhood")
6. "The Wind" (video interlude)
7. "You Are Not Alone"
8. "The Way You Make Me Feel" (September 7, 1996 – June 15, 1997)
9. The Jackson 5 Medley: "I Want You Back" / "The Love You Save" / "I'll Be There"
10. Off the Wall Medley: "Rock with You" / "Off the Wall" / "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" (select 1996 and 1997 dates)
11. "Remember the Time" (video interlude)
12. "Billie Jean"
13. "Thriller"
14. "Beat It"
15. "Come Together" / "D.S." (select 1996 dates) / "Blood on the Dance Floor" (select 1997 dates)
16. "Black Panther" (video interlude)
17. "Dangerous" (contains elements from "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by Yes, Ennio Morricone's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Theme", "Smooth Criminal", Janet Jackson's "You Want This" and "Interlude: Let's Dance", Judy Garland's "Get Happy", Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme", and a guitar intro from Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill")
18. "Black or White"
19. "Earth Song"
20. "We Are the World" (video interlude)
21. "Heal the World"
22. "HIStory" (with instrumental of "They Don't Care About Us" as a curtain call and contains elements from "Great Gates of Kiev")

Alterations^[9][10]

• Songs originally considered for the first leg of the tour included "Man in the Mirror", "She's Out of My Life", "Jam", "Childhood", "Will You Be There", "Dirty Diana", "State of Shock" and "2 Bad". "Morphine" was also rehearsed twice for the 1997 leg but was also removed.
• The medley of "Come Together" and "D.S." was removed after the Adelaide concert on November 26, 1996. "Blood on the Dance Floor" replaced them for most of the 1997 leg before being removed after August 19. Prior to this, it was omitted from the Vienna concert on July 2.
• "Rock with You", "Off the Wall" and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" were performed on select dates, before being permanently removed from the set list after June 13, 1997.
• "The Way You Make Me Feel" was performed on select dates until after June 15, 1997.
• Starting on September 3, 1997, the instrumental of "Gates of Kiev" was replaced with "Smile", in memory of Princess Diana.
• On August 22, 1997, "Ben" was played at the beginning of the Tallinn concert.

Tour dates

List of 1996 concerts, showing date, city, country, venue, tickets sold and number of available tickets

Date	City	Country	Venue	Attendance
September 7, 1996	Prague	Czech Republic	Letná Park	125,000 / 125,000
September 10, 1996	Budapest	Hungary	Népstadion	50,000 / 50,000
September 14, 1996	Bucharest	Romania	Stadionul Național	70,000 / 70,000
September 17, 1996	Moscow	Russia	Dynamo Stadium	50,000 / 50,000
September 20, 1996	Warsaw	Poland	Lotnisko Bemowo	120,000 / 120,000
September 24, 1996	Zaragoza	Spain	Estadio La Romareda	45,000 / 45,000
September 28, 1996[a]	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Amsterdam Arena	250,000 / 250,000[b]
September 30, 1996[a]
October 2, 1996[c]
October 7, 1996	Tunis	Tunisia	El Menzah Stadium	60,000 / 60,000
October 11, 1996	Seoul	South Korea	Olympic Stadium	100,000 / 100,000
October 13, 1996
October 18, 1996	Taipei	Taiwan	Zhongshan Soccer Stadium	80,000 / 80,000[d]
October 20, 1996	Kaohsiung		Chungcheng Stadium	30,000 / 30,000
October 22, 1996[e]	Taipei		Zhongshan Soccer Stadium	—[d]
October 25, 1996	Singapore		National Stadium	26,000 / 35,000
October 27, 1996	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	Stadium Merdeka	80,000 / 80,000
October 29, 1996
November 1, 1996	Mumbai	India	Andheri Sports Complex	70,000 / 70,000
November 5, 1996	Bangkok	Thailand	IMPACT Lake Front Concert Grounds	40,000 / 40,000
November 9, 1996	Auckland	New Zealand	Ericsson Stadium	86,000 / 86,000
November 11, 1996
November 14, 1996	Sydney	Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground	86,000 / 86,000
November 16, 1996
November 19, 1996	Brisbane		ANZ Stadium	40,000 / 40,000
November 22, 1996	Melbourne		Melbourne Cricket Ground	130,000 / 130,000
November 24, 1996
November 26, 1996	Adelaide		Adelaide Oval	30,000 / 30,000
November 30, 1996	Perth		Burswood Dome	60,000 / 60,000
December 2, 1996
December 4, 1996
December 8, 1996	Manila	Philippines	Asia World City Concert Grounds	110,000 / 110,000
December 10, 1996
December 13, 1996	Tokyo	Japan	Tokyo Dome	180,000 / 180,000
December 15, 1996
December 17, 1996
December 20, 1996
December 26, 1996	Fukuoka		Fukuoka Dome	80,000 / 80,000
December 28, 1996
December 31, 1996	Bandar Seri Begawan	Brunei	Jerudong Park Amphitheater	4,000 / 4,000

List of 1997 concerts, showing date, city, country, venue, tickets sold and number of available tickets

Date	City	Country	Venue	Attendance
January 3, 1997	Honolulu	United States	Aloha Stadium	70,000 / 70,000
January 4, 1997
May 31, 1997	Bremen	Germany	Weserstadion	85,000 / 85,000[f]
June 3, 1997	Cologne		Müngersdorfer Stadion	60,000 / 60,000
June 6, 1997	Bremen		Weserstadion	—[f]
June 8, 1997	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Amsterdam Arena	—[b]
June 10, 1997
June 13, 1997	Kiel	Germany	Nordmarksportfeld	55,000 / 55,000
June 15, 1997	Gelsenkirchen		Parkstadion	50,000 / 50,000
June 18, 1997	Milan	Italy	San Siro	65,000 / 65,000
June 20, 1997	Lausanne	Switzerland	Stade olympique de la Pontaise	35,000 / 35,000
June 22, 1997	Bettembourg	Luxembourg	Krakelshaff	45,000 / 45,000
June 25, 1997	Lyon	France	Stade de Gerland	25,000 / 25,000
June 27, 1997	Paris		Parc des Princes	95,000 / 100,000
June 29, 1997
July 2, 1997	Vienna	Austria	Ernst-Happel-Stadion	50,000 / 50,000
July 4, 1997	Munich	Germany	Olympiastadion	150,000 / 150,000
July 6, 1997
July 9, 1997	Sheffield	England	Don Valley Stadium	43,031 / 48,000 [12]
July 12, 1997	London		Wembley Stadium	212,601 / 216,000
July 15, 1997
July 17, 1997
July 19, 1997	Dublin	Ireland	RDS Arena	43,261 / 43,261 [13]
July 25, 1997	Basel	Switzerland	St. Jakob Stadium	50,000 / 50,000 [14]
July 27, 1997	Nice	France	Stade Charles-Ehrmann	30,003 / 36,260
August 1, 1997	Berlin	Germany	Olympiastadion	78,187 / 78,187[15]
August 3, 1997	Leipzig		Festwiese	54,483 / 55,000
August 10, 1997	Hockenheim		Hockenheimring	85,000 / 85,000[16]
August 14, 1997	Copenhagen	Denmark	Parken Stadium	47,402 / 47,402 [17]
August 16, 1997	Gothenburg	Sweden	Ullevi	50,000 / 50,000
August 19, 1997	Oslo	Norway	Valle Hovin	37,904 / 40,000 [18]
August 22, 1997	Tallinn	Estonia	Tallinn Song Festival Grounds	75,000 / 75,000
August 24, 1997	Helsinki	Finland	Helsinki Olympic Stadium	91,106 / 96,000 [19]
August 26, 1997
August 29, 1997	Copenhagen	Denmark	Parken Stadium	50,161 / 50,161 [20]
September 3, 1997[g]	Ostend	Belgium	Hippodrome Wellington	55,000 / 60,000
September 6, 1997[h]	Valladolid	Spain	Estadio José Zorrilla	20,000 / 26,000
October 4, 1997	Cape Town	South Africa	Green Point Stadium	70,000 / 70,000
October 6, 1997
October 10, 1997	Johannesburg		Johannesburg Stadium	106,495 / 108,000
October 12, 1997
October 15, 1997	Durban		Kings Park Stadium	50,000 / 50,000
Total				4,420,158 / 4,500,000 (98%)

Personnel

Lead performer Vocals, dance, choreographer: Michael Jackson Dancers 1996 leg LaVelle Smith Cris Judd Travis Payne Damon Navandi Courtney Miller Jason Yribar Anthony Talauega Richmond Talauega Shawnette Heard Lori Werner 1997 leg LaVelle Smith Cris Judd Anthony Talauega Richmond Talauega Stacy Walker Faune Chambers Band members Musical director: Brad Buxer Assistant musical director: Kevin Dorsey Keyboards: Isaiah Sanders, Brad Buxer Drums: Jonathan Moffett Guitars: Jennifer Batten, Greg Howe (1996 leg – replaced Jennifer Batten in Amsterdam (October 2), Tunis and Seoul), David Williams Bass: Freddie Washington Vocals Vocal director: Kevin Dorsey Vocals: Kevin Dorsey, Dorian Holley, Marva Hicks (1996–1997 leg), Darryl Phinnessee (1996 leg), Fred White (1997 leg)

Credits Executive director: MJJ Productions Artistic director: Michael Jackson Assistant director: Peggy Holmes Choreographed by: Michael Jackson & LaVelle Smith Staged & designed by: Kenny Ortega Set designed by: Michael Cotton & John McGraw Lighting designer: Peter Morse Security 1996: Darrell Featherstone Security 1997: Bill Bray Costumes designed by: Dennis Tompkins & Michael Bush Hair & make-up: Karen Faye and Tommy Sims Stylist: Tommy Sims Tour producer and personal manager: Tarak Ben Ammar Personal management: Gallin Morey Associates Music video directors: Steve Barron, Joe Pytka, John Landis, Bruce Gowers, Martin Scorsese, Bob Giraldi, John Singleton and Nick Saxton Sponsor Kingdom Entertainment

See also

• List of highest-attended concerts
• List of most-attended concert tours
• List of highest-grossing concert tours

Notes

1. Originally scheduled at Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca, Morocco on September 27 and 29, 1996, but the venue was moved due to security issues.
2. Attendance combined with the attendance from September 28, 30 and October 2, 1996, and June 8 and 10, 1997.
3. Originally scheduled at Cairo International Stadium in Cairo, Egypt, but the venue was moved due to security issues.
4. Attendance combined with the attendance from October 18 and 22.
5. Originally October 16, but was rescheduled due to logistical issues.
6. Attendance and box office combined with the attendance from May 31 and June 6.
7. Originally August 31, 1997, but was rescheduled due to the death of Princess Diana.
8. Originally September 6, 1997, but was rescheduled due to tour restructuring.