Bad (tour)

Bad Tour

Tour by Michael Jackson
File:Badtour1988.jpg
Associated album	Bad
Start date	September 12, 1987
End date	January 27, 1989
Legs	2
No. of shows	123
Michael Jackson concert chronology

The Bad Tour was Michael Jackson's first world tour as a solo performer which was sponsored by Pepsi that started on September 12, 1987 in Tokyo, Japan and ended on January 27, 1989 in Los Angeles, California. The tour consisted of 123 concerts to approximately 4.4 million fans across fifteen countries, beaten by Jackson's later HIStory Tour with 4.5 million. When the tour finished it grossed a total of over $125 million, equivalent to over $380 million in 2008.

Background

Following the release of Bad in the end of August 1987, Jackson embarked on his first solo world tour. He himself explained that the tour would be his last (his "farewell tour"), as he intended to concentrate on making records and film. Yet ironically Jackson would hold two further world tours in the nineties.

Japan and Australia (1987)

Bad led to a huge rise in popularity for Jackson, particularly in Japan. Other popular performers such as George Michael and Madonna had began their solo world tours in Japan, as it was seen as the place for their final "live dress rehearsal". The Japanese press tend to only idolise the artist, and so concentrate on the positive unlike the tabloid press in the West. When Jackson's Japan Airlines Flight 61 touched down at Tokyo's Narita International Airport over 600 journalists, cameramen and hundreds of more screaming fans were waiting to cover his arrival. Even Bubbles, Jackson's pet chimp, who took a separate flight, was greeted by more than 300 people. This was what to be termed by the tabloids as "Michaelmania" or "Jacksonmania" throughout the rest of the tour, as fans would gather outside Jackson's hotel, tour bus and concert venues. Whilst in Tokyo, Molly Meldrum flew in to record a world exclusive one hour TV special with Jackson and his then-manager, Frank DiLeo, which was featured on 60 Minutes. Whist touring in Osaka, Jackson met with then-Mayor Yasushi Oshima to receive the Key to the City. Jackson brought along Bubbles with him, the first animal allowed inside the Osaka Town Hall. The total attendance for the fourteen sold out concerts in Japan during the first leg of the tour was 450,000. A chartered Jumbo jet flew into Tokyo carrying 22 truck-loads of equipment along with Jackson's 132-member entourage. It was announced during one of his concerts in Osaka, that Jackson dedicated his Japanese tour and each performance of "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" to Yoshioka Hagiwara, a five-year-old boy who was kidnapped and murdered and also gave £12,000 to the parents of Hagiwara.

After Japan, the tour stopped in Australia. Due to various reasons, concerts in Wellington and Auckland in New Zealand were cancelled. Whilst not onstage in Australia, Jackson spent time visiting sick children at their homes in suburban Sydney, where in one instance he actually put children to bed after a plea from their mothers over the phone.

USA, Europe and Japan (1988-1989)

Before the first leg even began, new costumes were being designed and more spectacular effects were being considered for the second leg. Before the tour's second leg began in Kansas City, Missouri Michael and his band rehearsed in Pensacola, Florida. Here Michael himself said "...we are starting all over again with the American tour. We are building a new show with new sets, staging and new songs". Jackson performed a private concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 3, 1988 where all proceeds were donated to the United Negro College Fund. Tickets for the show could not be purchased at regular box offices, as a special lottery system determined ticket receivers. Both Siedah Garrett and Tatiana Thumbtzen, who featured in the video for The Way You Make Me Feel and kissed Jackson on stage during the song's performance, made special appearances. The kiss created more press and tabloid stories on Jackson and Thumbtzen's relationship.

Whilst performing in London, Princess Diana and Prince Charles attended the concert on July 16, 1988, the third of the seven concerts at the old Wembley Stadium. Jackson had also met them prior to the concert, and donated a cheque of $450,000 to the Prince's Trust and Great Ormond Street Hospital, as well as presenting a tour jacket and a special display of Jackson's solo albums Bad, Thriller and Off the Wall to the royal children. On September 8, 1988 in London, Jackson received a special award by the management of the old Wembley Stadium for setting a new attendance record, which was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records. Jackson performed seven unbroken sold out concerts (five in a row, two together at later dates) that were attended by a total of 504,000. This record had beaten the previous held by Genesis, with three. Until the demolition of the stadium this record had not been beaten. The last concert held in the UK, at the Aintree Racecourse resulted in 3,100 fans being treated by the St. John Ambulance service for faints, passing out, headaches, hysteria and being crushed amongst the crowd of 125,000.

During August of 1988, after performing in the United Kingdom, Jackson and his tour crew stayed at the £50,000 a week Incosol Health Spa in Marbella, Spain, to help him and his tour crew be in top shape for the rest of the tour. Jackson's health regime included mountain treks, gym sessions and underwater massages.

During his visit to Madrid, Michael Jackson visited the home of then Spanish Finance Minister Miguel Boyer and wife Model/T.V. Presenter Isabel Preysler. At the time a fourteen year old Enrique Iglesias was on summer holidays at his mother's (Isabel Preysler) there he was photographed alongside his family with Jackson, this was the second time both had met.

Official DVD release

In August 2005, an on-line petition was created to support an official release of a Bad Tour concert in 1988, with heavy interest in the release of a London concert at Wembley Stadium. Although the target was 10,000 signatures, the petition continues to grow even to this day, with a total of more than 13,405. There have been many DVD Promo videos released on-line about the petition.

Setlist

The first leg setlist consisted of songs not only from Jackson's solo albums Bad, Thriller and Off the Wall, but also from the albums Triumph and Destiny by The Jacksons. The last two songs were the only ones from Bad, compared to the second leg with seven.

First leg

1. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
2. "Things I Do for You"
3. "Off the Wall"
4. "Human Nature"
5. "Heartbreak Hotel"
6. "She's out of My Life"
7. Jackson 5 Medley ("I Want You Back", "The Love You Save", "I'll Be There")
8. "Rock with You"
9. "Lovely One"
10. "Bad Groove" Interlude (solo performance by the band)
11. "Workin' Day and Night"
12. "Beat It"
13. "Billie Jean"
14. "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)"
15. "Thriller"
16. "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" w/ Sheryl Crow
17. "Bad"

Second leg

1. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
2. "Heartbreak Hotel"
3. "Another Part of Me"
4. "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" w/ Sheryl Crow
5. "She's out of My Life"
6. Jackson 5 Medley ("I Want You Back", "The Love You Save", "I'll Be There")
7. "Rock with You"
8. "Human Nature"
9. "Smooth Criminal"
10. "Dirty Diana"
11. "Thriller"
12. "Bad Groove" interlude (solo performance by the band)
13. "Workin' Day and Night"
14. "Beat It"
15. "Billie Jean"
16. "Bad"
17. "The Way You Make Me Feel"
18. "Man in the Mirror"

Tour dates

No.	Date	City	Country	Venue	Attendance
First Leg (1987)
Japan
1-3	September 12, 13, 14	Tokyo	Japan	Korakuen Stadium	45,000
4-6	September 19, 20, 21	Osaka	Japan	Hankyu Nishinomiya Stadium	48,000
7-11	September 25, 26, 27 October 3, 4	Yokohama	Japan	Yokohama Stadium	38,000
12-14	October 10, 11, 12	Osaka	Japan	Osaka Stadium	32,000
Australia
15	November 13	Melbourne	Australia	Olympic Park Stadium	45,000
16-17	November 20, 21	Sydney	Australia	Parramatta Stadium	45,000
18-19	November 25, 28	Brisbane	Australia	Entertainment Centre	13,500
The organised concert at the Athletic Park in Wellington, New Zealand on December 2 was cancelled.
The organised concert at the Ericsson Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand on December 6 was cancelled.
Second Leg (1988-1989)
North America
20-21	February 23, 24	Kansas City, Missouri	United States	Kemper Arena	16,960
22-24	March 3, 4, 5	New York City, New York	United States	Madison Square Garden	19,000
25-26	March 12, 13	St. Louis, Missouri	United States	St. Louis Arena	18,000
27-28	March 18, 19	Indianapolis, Indiana	United States	Market Square Arena	17,000
29	March 20	Louisville, Kentucky	United States	Freedom Hall	19,000
30-31	March 23, 24	Denver, Colorado	United States	McNichols Sports Arena	20,125
32-34	April 30, March 1	Hartford, Connecticut	United States	Hartford Civic Center	15,060
35-37	April 8, 9, 10	Houston, Texas	United States	The Summit	17,000
38-40	April 13, 14, 15	Atlanta, Georgia	United States	The Omni	17,000
41-43	April 19, 20, 21	Chicago, Illinois	United States	Rosemont Horizon	20,000
44-46	April 25, 26, 27	Dallas, Texas	United States	Reunion Arena	19,000
47-49	May 4, 5, 6	Minneapolis, Minnesota	United States	Met Center	16,890
Europe
50-51	May 23, 24	Rome	Italy	Stadio Flaminio	35,000
52	May 29	Turin	Italy	Stadio Comunale di Torino	53,600
The organised concert in Lyon, France on May 30 was cancelled after only half of the 30,000 tickets were sold.
53	June 2	Vienna	Austria	Prater Stadium	55,000
54-56	June 5, 6, 7	Rotterdam	Holland	Feijenoord Stadium	48,400
57-58	June 11, 12	Gothenburg	Sweden	Eriksburg	53,000
59	June 16	Basel	Switzerland	St. Jakob Park Stadium	50,000
60	June 19	West Berlin	Germany	Platz der Republik (The Reichstag / Berlin Wall)	50,000
61-62	June 27, 28	Paris	France	Parc des Princes	64,000
63	July 1	Hamburg	Germany	Volkspark Stadium	50,000
64	July 3	Cologne	Germany	Mungersdorfer Stadium	70,000
65	July 8	Munich	Germany	Olympic Stadium	72,000
66	July 10	Hockenheim	Germany	Hockenheimring	70,000
67-71	July 14, 15, 16, 22, 23	London	United Kingdom	Wembley Stadium	72,000
72	July 26	Cardiff	United Kingdom	Cardiff Arms Park	55,000
73-74	July 30, 31	Cork	Republic of Ireland	Páirc Uí Chaoimh	60,000
75	August 5	Marbella	Spain	Football Municipal Stadium	28,000
76	August 7	Madrid	Spain	Vicente Calderón Stadium	60,000
77	August 9	Barcelona	Spain	Nou Camp Stadium	90,000
78	August 11	Nice	France	Charles Ehrmann Stadium	35,000
79	August 14	Montpellier	France	Stade Richter	35,000
80	August 19	Lausanne	Switzerland	La Pontaise Stadium	45,000
81	August 21	Wurzburg	Germany	Talavera Wiesen	43,000
82	August 23	Werchter	Belgium	Festival Ground	55,000
83-84	August 26, 27	London	United Kingdom	Wembley Stadium	72,000
85	August 29	Leeds	United Kingdom	Roundhay Park	90,000
86	September 2	Hannover	Germany	Niedersachsen Stadium	40,000
87	September 4	Gelsenkirchen	Germany	Park Stadium	52,000
88	September 6	Linz	Austria	Linz Stadium	40,000
89	September 10	Milton Keynes	United Kingdom	The Bowl	60,000
90	September 11	Liverpool	United Kingdom	Aintree Racecourse	125,000
North America
91-93	September 26, 27, 28	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	United States	Civic Arena	16,230
94-96	October 3, 4, 5	East Rutherford, New Jersey	United States	Meadowlands Arena	20,350
97-98	October 10, 11	Cleveland, Ohio	United States	The Coliseum	19,000
99-102	October 13, 17, 19	Washington DC	United States	Capital Centre of Landover	17,470
103-105	October 24, 25, 26	Detroit, Michigan	United States	Palace of Auburn Hills	16,670
The 4 organised concerts at the Tacoma Dome in Seattle, Washington from October 30 to November 2 were cancelled when Michael's vocal cords became swollen. These concerts, which were sold out, were not rescheduled.
106-108	November 7, 8, 9	Irvine, California	United States	Irvine Meadows Amphitheater	15,000
109	November 13	Los Angeles, California	United States	Memorial Sports Arena	18,000
Following the first Los Angeles concert the remaining concerts on November 14, 15, 20, 21 and 22 were cancelled due to illness. These concerts were rescheduled for January 1989.
Japan
110-118	Dec. 9, 10, 11, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26	Tokyo	Japan	Tokyo Dome	45,000
North America
119-123	January 16, 17, 18, 26, 27	Los Angeles, California	United States	Memorial Sports Arena	18,000

Trivia

• A granddaughter of Emperor Hirohito attended the first concert in Tokyo on September 12, 1987.
• The concert in Yokohama, Japan on September 26, 1987 was filmed and broadcast by Nippon TV.
• During the concert in Brisbane, Australia on November 25, 1987, Stevie Wonder made a surprise appearance to perform "Just Good Friends" with Jackson that appeared on the Bad album. This was the only live performance of the song to date.
• Michael earned $63 million for the 14 concerts in Japan in 1987, and £16 million for the 12 concerts in the United Kingdom in 1988 (an equivalent of £700,000 per hour). This is equivalent to $176 million today - from just these 26 concerts, and it's uncertain how much more Jackson earned from the remaining 97 concerts performed.
• The concerts at Gothenburg on 11th and June 12, 1988 were scheduled to be held at the Ullevi Stadium, but it was under repair. Instead the concert was held at the Eriksbergs Shipyard.
• On June 16, 1988 Elizabeth Taylor and Bob Dylan attended the concert in Basel, Switzerland.
• On August 29, 1988 Jackson performed in Leeds, England in front of 90,000 fans on his 30th birthday. The fans sang Happy Birthday to Jackson before the performance of Another Part of Me.
• The concert at the Aintree Racecourse on September 11, 1988 was the largest attended concert of the whole tour, with an attendance of 125,000 for the single night.

Performers

Lead performer

• Vocals, Dance, Choreographer: Michael Jackson

Dancers

• LaVelle Smith, Dominic Lucero, Evaldo "Eddie" Garcia, Randy Allaire

Band members

• Music Director: Greg Phillinganes
• Assistant Musical Director: Kevin Dorsey
• Keyboards: Greg Phillinganes, Christopher Currell, Rory Kaplan
• Drums: Ricky Lawson
• Guitar: Jennifer Batten, Jon Clark
• Bass Guitar: Don Boylette
• Vocal Director: Kevin Dorsey
• Vocals: Kevin Dorsey, Darryl Phinnessee, Dorian Holley, Sheryl Crow

Credits

Tour Staff

• Executive Director: MJJ Productions
• Executive Producer: Frank DiLeo
• Tour Coordinator: Sal Bonafede
• Attorneys: Ziffren, Brittenham & Branca
• Business Management: Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman
• Public Relations: Solters/Roskin/Friedman Inc.
• Band Coordinator: Nelson Hayes
• Assistant to Michael Jackson: Mary Coller
• MJJ Production Staff: Miko Brando, Martha Browning
• Assistant to Mr. DiLeo: Meredith Besser
• Assistant to Mr. Bonafede: Marcia Gilbreath
• Security Director: Bill Bray
• Executive Interpreter: Patrick Nopakun
• Special Thanks to: Kenny Rogers

• Assistant Director: Jolie Levine
• Choreographed by: Michael Jackson
• Assistant Choreography & Staging: Vincent Paterson
• Set Designed by: Tom McPhilips
• Lighting Designer: Allen Branton
• Hair & Make-up: Karen Faye
• Tour Photographer: Sam Emerson, Harrison Funk (Rejoined Michael in Europe 1988)

External links

• Collection of concert tickets from the Bad Tour
• Collection of second leg concert posters from the Bad Tour
• Bad Tour 1988 DVD Promo Video 1
• Bad Tour 1988 DVD Promo Video 2