Pick a Day

Music History Events: Tours

September 6, 1987 At the Starwood Ampitheater in Nashville, Lynyrd Skynyrd reunite for a tour to mark the 10th anniversary of the plane crash that killed lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines.More

June 19, 1987 Mötley Crüe begin their Girls, Girls, Girls tour with a show in Tucson, Arizona. The stage show features an inflatable Harley, lots of pyro, and a contraption that spins Tommy Lee and his drum kit upside down while he plays. Whitesnake is the opening act; later on the tour an new band called Guns N' Roses takes that slot.

December 26, 1986 The Beastie Boys kick off their Licensed To Ill tour with a show at The Ritz in New York City. By the time the tour is over, Licensed To Ill will be America's first #1 rap album, and thousands of Volkswagen emblems will go missing as fans steal them to emulate Mike D's signature look.More

May 21, 1986 Run-DMC, LL Cool J and Whodini kick off the Raising Hell tour with a show in Columbus, Georgia. All three acts are from New York City; the tour, which stops in places like Saginaw, Michigan, and Jacksonville, Florida, affirms that rap is finding a much wider audience.

March 21, 1985 In Vancouver, the Canadian wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen begins his "Man In Motion" tour to raise money for spinal cord research. Inspired by his quest, fellow Canadian David Foster works with John Parr to write a tribute song to Hansen for the film St. Elmo's Fire.More

November 11, 1982 Prince begins his 1999 tour with a show in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The opening acts are two groups he put together in Minneapolis: The Time and Vanity 6.

September 2, 1982 Fleetwood Mac kick off their Mirage tour in Atlanta. Their opening act is Men at Work, whose debut album Business as Usual is racing up the charts in America. Two weeks after the tour ends in October, Men At Work get their own tour as headliners.

September 25, 1981 The Rolling Stones start their US tour with a concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, where they play to a crowd of 90,000. The tour is sponsored by musk maker Jovan, establishing a new paradigm for corporate involvement.More

February 7, 1980 At the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Pink Floyd stage the first production of The Wall, an immersive concert performance in which a giant wall is erected on stage as the band plays, representing the alienation between audience and performer.More

July 29, 1979 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers conclude their "Lawsuit Tour" with a show at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. Petty embarked on the tour to raise money for his legal battles with MCA Records.More

October 26, 1976 The Mothership, a lander that descends to the stage when the band play "Mothership Connection," appears for the first time during P-Funk's show at the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans.More

October 30, 1975 Bob Dylan performs the first show of his Rolling Thunder Revue at the War Memorial Auditorium in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Later the subject of two documentaries, the unusual tour is no ordinary cash grab.More

November 2, 1974 George Harrison begins his Dark Horse tour with Ravi Shankar in Vancouver, BC. It's the first solo tour for any Beatle, and a drag on Harrison, who doesn't travel well. It's the last time he tours until 1991, when he joins Eric Clapton on some dates in Japan.

November 12, 1973 In Leeds, England, Queen begin their first tour. They're the opening act for Mott the Hoople.

March 1, 1973 In Ontario, Alice Cooper launches the Billion Dollar Babies tour, where he's beheaded nightly in a guillotine. The decapitation goes over so well that it becomes a regular feature at Cooper's live shows throughout his career.

October 16, 1962 At the Howard Theatre in Washington, DC, Motown Records launches their first package tour, the "Motortown Revue." Mary Wells and The Contours (thanks to their hit "Do You Love Me") are the big draws; lower on the bill are Marvin Gaye, The Supremes and Little Stevie Wonder.

December 11, 2023 Taylor Swift's Eras tour becomes the first to gross over $1 billion, hitting the mark in the first 60 shows, according to Pollstar's report. The previous record holder was Elton John's Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which took in $939 million in 328 shows from 2018-2023.

October 14, 2023 After a delay while she battled a bacterial infection, Madonna begins her Celebration Tour at the O2 Arena in London. Three of her kids join her onstage, with daughter Ester doing some vogueing and son David playing guitar.

August 12, 2023 At Yankee Stadium, Jonas Brothers kick off their Five Albums, One Night tour with a 66-song setlist.

May 10, 2023 In Stockholm, Beyoncé kicks off her Renaissance tour, her first since her Formation tour in 2016. Among her accessories: Tiffany in-ear monitors with 4.5-carat diamonds.

April 27, 2023 In Amsterdam, Metallica launch their M72 Tour, with each stop a weekend of two shows with different setlists and opening acts.

March 17, 2023 Taylor Swift launches her Eras tour in Glendale, Arizona. The three-hour show is divided into 10 acts dedicated to the music and looks of each of her previous albums. It's her first trek since her Reputation Tour five years and four albums earlier.

August 5, 2022 In Orlando, Bad Bunny sets out on his first stadium tour, the World's Hottest Tour. It lives up to its name, becoming the top-grossing tour of 2022 as audiences return to concerts following the pandemic.

June 16, 2022 Eight years after signing a "cessation of touring agreement," Mötley Crüe kick off a co-headlining tour with Def Leppard in Atlanta.

April 15, 2008 Tom Morello kicks off the Tom Morello Justice Tour 2008 in Los Angeles, California.

April 7, 2008 The newly reunited Stone Temple Pilots announce a 65-date reunion tour and play for the first time since 2002.

April 4, 2008 New Kids on the Block announce their upcoming reunion tour during NBC's Today show in New York City.

March 20, 2008 At the O2 Arena in London, the Eagles launch their world tour in support of their album Long Road Out of Eden.

May 7, 2007 The first and only Hottest Chicks In Metal Tour kicks off in Louisville. All the bands on the tour are fronted by women: Lacuna Coil (Cristina Scabbia), Within Temptation (Sharon den Adel), In This Moment (Maria Brink), The Gathering (Anneke van Giersbergen) and Stolen Babies (Dominique Lenore Persi).

April 12, 2007 In Omaha, Nebraska, Kenny Chesney launches his Flip Flop Summer tour. 17-year-old Taylor Swift was going to be an opening act on the tour but had to bow out when Cruzan Rum came on as a sponsor. Chesney makes it up to her with a note of encouragement and a big check that helps line up her own tour in 2009.