Tour by Bee Gees | |
Location | North America |
---|---|
Associated album | Spirits Having Flown |
Start date | 28 June 1979 |
End date | 6 October 1979 |
Legs | 2 |
No. of shows | 56 |
Bee Gees concert chronology |
Spirits Having Flown Tour (also known as the Spirits Tour and the North American Tour) was the eighth concert tour by the Bee Gees in support of their fifteenth studio album Spirits Having Flown (1979). The tour began on 28 June 1979 in Fort Worth, Texas reaching a total of 38 cities before coming to a close on 6 October 1979 in Miami, Florida. It was their most lavish and successful tour during the height of their popularity following two straight number-one albums and six number-one singles and grossed over $10 million from 49 shows, as reported by Billboard by the end of its run. The tour was organized and promoted by Jerry Weintraub and Concerts West.
After the release of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, The Bee Gees were unable to tour due to their commitment to the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie. Then from March to November 1978, they spent much of their time in the studio recording Spirits Having Flown , the follow-up album to Saturday Night Fever.
Prior to the kickoff of the tour, The Bee Gees popularity grew even further following Saturday Night Fever , when they were the headline act on the Music for UNICEF Concert in January. Then they won four Grammy awards in February for Fever and by June, they pulled off a feat only matched by The Beatles with six consecutive US number-one singles, when "Love You Inside Out" topped the charts in June, setting the stage for the hottest summer tour since The Beatles in 1964.
In addition, the Bee Gees' brother Andy Gibb took part in the tour, making a guest vocal appearance; he, too, was at the height of his popularity, having notched three US Billboard number-one singles and appearing at the Music for UNICEF Concert.
Considering the group's popularity was at an all-time high, stringent security precautions were taken, though The Bee Gees themselves set up base in only five cities. They would fly to the next venue and return to their home base immediately following the show. They leased a custom 55-seat Boeing 720 jet (previously used by Led Zeppelin) at a cost of over one million dollars with a specially designed logo on the exterior of the plane. The Bee Gees were accompanied on the tour by a film crew capturing highlights of the shows, for use in an NBC-TV special which aired in November, hosted by David Frost. [1]
The Bee Gees were joined on stage with their usual band featuring Alan Kendall on guitar, Blue Weaver on keyboards and Dennis Bryon on drums, as well as Boonero Horns, a 6-piece brass section and Sweet Inspirations, which provided backing vocals.
Given that this was the most ambitious tour The Bee Gees ever embarked on, there was a lot of preparation that went into the tour, from an extensive rehearsal schedule (in which The Bee Gees missed that year's Billboard music awards, where they won an astonishing 11 awards), staging and special effects, merchandising and tight security. The tour consisted of a 41-date schedule starting in Fort Worth, Texas and ending in their hometown of Miami, Florida. The 3 Gibb brothers were identically dressed in incredibly skin-tight, white satin trousers and dazzling white spangled jackets throughout the tour. During the Houston show on June 30, a bearded John Travolta joined the Bee Gees on stage during "You Should Be Dancing" to reprise some of his footwork from Saturday Night Fever. Travolta was in Houston shooting the film Urban Cowboy . [1] Besides the surprise appearance by Travolta at the Houston concert, many celebrities were in attendance at many of the concerts. Among the 60,000 fans at L.A.'s Dodger Stadium were Cary Grant, Barbra Streisand, Rod Stewart, Olivia Newton-John, Karen Carpenter, Jack Nicholson and Harry Wayne Casey of KC & The Sunshine Band. [1] Prior to their September 24 concert in Landover, the Bee Gees were invited to the White House where President Carter congratulated them for their efforts with UNICEF. [1]
A scheduled concert in Kansas City, Missouri had to be cancelled due to severe damage to the roof of Kemper Arena during a violent storm on June 4.
Date | City | Country | Venue | Opening act | Attendance | Revenue |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
North America [2] [3] | ||||||
28 June 1979 | Fort Worth | United States | Tarrant County Convention Center | Sweet Inspirations | 13,901 / 13,901 | $202,480 |
29 June 1979 | Austin | Special Events Center | 17,440 / 17,440 | $231,410 | ||
30 June 1979 | Houston | The Summit | 16,654 / 16,654 | $231,285 | ||
2 July 1979 | Denver | McNichols Sports Arena | — | — | ||
3 July 1979 | Salt Lake City | Salt Palace | 12,920 / 12,920 | $177,748 | ||
5 July 1979 | San Diego | San Diego Sports Arena | 12,714 / 12,714 | $175,853 | ||
7 July 1979 | Los Angeles | Dodger Stadium | 56,000 / 56,000 | $700,000 | ||
9 July 1979 | Oakland | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena | 38,078 / 38,078 | $530,305 | ||
10 July 1979 | ||||||
11 July 1979 | ||||||
13 July 1979 | Seattle | Seattle Center Coliseum | 26,707 / 26,707 | $369,443 | ||
14 July 1979 | ||||||
15 July 1979 | Vancouver | Canada | Pacific Coliseum | 15,158 / 15,158 | $215,828 | |
17 July 1979 | Portland | United States | Memorial Coliseum | 22,769 / 22,769 | $320,458 | |
18 July 1979 | ||||||
21 July 1979 | Saint Paul | St. Paul Civic Center | 31,040 / 31,040 | $434,445 | ||
22 July 1979 | ||||||
24 July 1979 | Ames | Hilton Coliseum | 14,685 / 14,685 | $204,220 | ||
25 July 1979 | Madison | Dane County Coliseum | 9,883 / 9,883 | $144,573 | ||
26 July 1979 | Indianapolis | Market Square Arena | 17,730 / 17,730 | $245,328 | ||
28 July 1979 | Pontiac | Pontiac Silverdome | 36,270 / 36,270 | $453,375 | ||
30 July 1979 | Chicago | Chicago Stadium | 36,196 / 36,196 | $507,573 | ||
31 July 1979 | ||||||
1 August 1979 | St. Louis | Checkerdome | 16,834 / 16,834 | $238,290 | ||
3 August 1979 | Tulsa | Mabee Center | 10,586 / 10,586 | $151,250 | ||
4 August 1979 | Oklahoma City | Myriad Convention Center | 15,477 / 15,477 | $217,920 | ||
27 August 1979 | New Haven | New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum | 10,880 / 10,880 | $157,768 | ||
28 August 1979 | Providence | Providence Civic Center | 26,139 / 26,139 | $371,368 | ||
29 August 1979 | ||||||
31 August 1979 | Toronto | Canada | Maple Leaf Gardens | 18,249 / 18,249 | $264,265 | |
1 September 1979 | Montreal | Montreal Forum | Burton Cummings | 34,733 / 34,733 | $484,984 | |
2 September 1979 | ||||||
4 September 1979 | Pittsburgh | United States | Civic Arena | Sweet Inspirations | — | — |
5 September 1979 | ||||||
7 September 1979 | New York City | Madison Square Garden | ||||
8 September 1979 | ||||||
9 September 1979 | ||||||
11 September 1979 | 39,364 / 39,364 | $376,000 | ||||
12 September 1979 | ||||||
14 September 1979 | Buffalo | Buffalo Memorial Auditorium | 16,800 / 16,800 | $236,492 | ||
15 September 1979 | Cincinnati | Riverfront Coliseum | 33,334 / 33,334 | $469,545 | ||
16 September 1979 | ||||||
18 September 1979 | Richfield | Richfield Coliseum | 35,000 / 35,000 | $496,000 | ||
19 September 1979 | ||||||
21 September 1979 | Philadelphia | The Spectrum | 29,056 / 29,056 | $399,015 | ||
22 September 1979 | ||||||
24 September 1979 | Landover | Capital Centre | 36,674 / 36,674 | $515,568 | ||
25 September 1979 | ||||||
26 September 1979 | Norfolk | Norfolk Scope Arena | 11,854 / 11,854 | $163,783 | ||
28 September 1979 | Birmingham | BJCC Coliseum | 17,901 / 17,901 | $243,583 | ||
29 September 1979 | Atlanta | Omni Coliseum | 31,951 / 31,951 | $455,315 | ||
30 September 1979 | ||||||
2 October 1979 | Greensboro | Greensboro Coliseum | 18,299 / 18,299 | $213,980 | ||
3 October 1979 | Columbia | Carolina Coliseum | 12,151 / 12,151 | $171,065 | ||
4 October 1979 | Jacksonville | Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Coliseum | 10,117 / 10,117 | $140,580 | ||
6 October 1979 | Miami | Miami Stadium | — | — | ||
Total | 803,544 / 803,544 | $10,911,095 | ||||
2 August 1979 | Kansas City, Missouri | Kemper Arena | Cancelled |
3 August 1979 | Kansas City, Missouri | Kemper Arena | Cancelled |
26 August 1979 | Boston, Massachusetts | Boston Garden | Cancelled |
7 October 1979 | St. Petersburg, Florida | Bayfront Center | Cancelled |
The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in the mid- to late 1970s. The group sang recognisable three-part tight harmonies: Robin's clear vibrato lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid- to late 1970s and 1980s. The group wrote all their own original material, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists, and are regarded as one of the most important and influential acts in pop-music history. They have been referred to in the media as The Disco Kings, Britain's First Family of Harmony, and The Kings of Dance Music.
Saturday Night Fever is the soundtrack album from the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta. The soundtrack was released on November 15, 1977. Prior to the release of Thriller by Michael Jackson, Saturday Night Fever was the best-selling album in music history, and still ranks among the best-selling soundtrack albums worldwide, with sales figures of over 40 million copies.
One Night Only is a live album and DVD/Blu-ray by the Bee Gees. It features the group's concert at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in 1997 and includes many of their greatest hits.
"Night Fever" is a song written and performed by the Bee Gees. It first appeared on the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever on RSO Records. Producer Robert Stigwood wanted to call the film Saturday Night, but singer Robin Gibb expressed hesitation at the title. Stigwood liked the title Night Fever but was wary of marketing a movie with that name. The song bounded up the Billboard charts while the Bee Gees’ two previous hits from Saturday Night Fever soundtrack were still in the top ten. The record debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart at #76, then leaped up 44 positions to #32. It then moved: 32–17–8–5–2–1. It remained at #1 for eight weeks, and ultimately spent 13 weeks in the top 10. For the first five weeks that "Night Fever" was at #1, "Stayin' Alive" was at #2. Also, for one week in March, Bee Gees related songs held five of the top positions on the Hot 100 chart, and more impressively, four of the top five positions, with "Night Fever" at the top of the list. The B-side of "Night Fever" was a live version of "Down the Road" taken from the Bee Gees 1977 album, Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live.
"Stayin' Alive" is a song written and performed by the Bee Gees from the Saturday Night Fever motion picture soundtrack. The song was released in 1977 as the second single from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. The band co-produced the song with Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson. It is one of the Bee Gees' signature songs. In 2004, "Stayin' Alive" was placed at No. 189 on the list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The 2021 updated Rolling Stone list of 500 Greatest Songs placed "Stayin' Alive" at No. 99. In 2004, it ranked No. 9 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema. In a UK television poll on ITV in December 2011 it was voted fifth in "The Nation's Favourite Bee Gees Song".
"Jive Talkin' " is a song by the Bee Gees, released as a single in May 1975 by RSO Records. This was the lead single from the album Main Course and hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100; it also reached the top-five on the UK Singles Chart in the middle of 1975. Largely recognised as the group's "comeback" song, it was their first US top-10 hit since "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" (1971).
"Too Much Heaven" is a song by the Bee Gees, which was the band's contribution to the "Music for UNICEF" fund. They performed it at the Music for UNICEF Concert on 9 January 1979. The song later found its way to the group's thirteenth original album, Spirits Having Flown. It hit No. 1 in both the US and Canada. In the United States, the song was the first single out of three from the album to interrupt a song's stay at #1. "Too Much Heaven" knocked "Le Freak" off the top spot for two weeks before "Le Freak" returned to #1 again. "Too Much Heaven" also rose to the top three in the UK. In the US, it would become the fourth of six consecutive No. 1s, equalling the record set by Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles for the most consecutive No. 1 songs. The six Bee Gee songs are "How Deep Is Your Love", "Stayin' Alive", "Night Fever", "Too Much Heaven", "Tragedy" and "Love You Inside Out". The songs spanned the years of 1977, 1978 and 1979.
"Chiquitita" is a song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released in January 1979 as the first single from Voulez-Vous (1979), the group's sixth album. Agnetha Fältskog performs the lead vocals. Originally, the track "If It Wasn't for the Nights" was going to be the album's lead single, but after "Chiquitita" was completed these plans were abandoned, and it remained an album track.
Spirits Having Flown is the fifteenth album released by the Bee Gees. It was the group's first album after their collaboration on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. The album's first three tracks were released as singles and all reached No. 1 in the US, giving the Bee Gees an unbroken run of six US chart-toppers in a one-year period and equaling a feat shared by Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles. It was the first Bee Gees album to make the UK top 40 in ten years, as well as being their first and only UK No. 1 album. Spirits Having Flown also topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and the US. The album has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time.
"Tragedy" is a song released by the Bee Gees, written by Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb, included on their 1979 album Spirits Having Flown. The single reached number one in the UK in February 1979 and repeated the feat the following month on the US Billboard Hot 100. In 1998, it was successfully covered by British pop group Steps, whose version also reached number one in the UK.
"Love You Inside Out" is a 1979 hit single by the Bee Gees from their album, Spirits Having Flown. It was their last chart-topping on the Billboard Hot 100, interrupting Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff", becoming the third single from the album to do so. In the UK, the single peaked at No. 13 for two weeks. It was the ninth and final number-one hit for the Bee Gees in the US, and the twelfth and final number-one hit in Canada as well. The trio would not return to the top 10 for ten years, with the song, "One".
A New Day... was the first concert residency performed by Canadian singer Celine Dion in The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It was created and directed by Franco Dragone to support her seventh English-language and eighteenth studio album A New Day Has Come (2002). The show premiered on 25 March 2003 and ended on 15 December 2007.
Break Every Rule World Tour is the sixth concert tour by singer Tina Turner. The tour supported her sixth solo album Break Every Rule (1986). It was sponsored by Pepsi-Cola and broke box office records in 13 different countries: United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Austria, France, Ireland and Denmark. It was the third highest-grossing tour by a female artist in North America in 1987 and the highest-grossing female tour of the 1980s with a total of $11.3 million . Her show in Rio de Janeiro remains the largest paying concert audience by a female artist with 180,000 spectators.
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The Even Now Tour is the fourth concert tour by American recording artist Barry Manilow. The tour supports his fifth studio album Even Now (1978). Beginning in the summer of 1978, Manilow performed over 60 shows in North America and, marks the first time the singer performed in Europe.
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