HIStory World Tour

HIStory World Tour

World tour by Michael Jackson
One of many identical statues based on Diana Walczak's original HIStory statue, positioned throughout Europe to promote HIStory.
Associated album	HIStory and Blood on the Dance Floor
Start date	September 7, 1996
End date	October 16, 1997
Legs	2
No. of shows	44 in Europe 19 in Asia 11 in Australasia 6 in Africa 2 in North America 82 played
Box office	US $165 million ($313.17 in 2024 dollars)
Michael Jackson concert chronology

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 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.

Übersicht

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 debut live performances 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", "She's Out of My Life" and "Man in the Mirror" 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 promotional item in possession of private collectors; a high quality VHS copy was leaked.

The changes

• "Carmina Burana" of the "Brace Yourself" introduction was replaced with a similar piece of opera, as it had been in some Dangerous Tour concerts.
• "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, 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", "She's Out of My Life" and "Man in the Mirror". "Human Nature", "Jam", "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" and "Man in the Mirror" 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

• 1. "Brace Yourself" Introduction
• 2. "Jam"
• 3. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
• 4. "Human Nature"
• 5. "Smooth Criminal"
• 6. "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" with Marva Hicks
• 7. "She's Out of My Life"
• 8. The Jackson 5 Medley
  • "I Want You Back"
  • "The Love You Save"
  • "I'll Be There"
• 9. "Thriller"
• 10. "Billie Jean"
• 11. "The Way You Make Me Feel"
• 12. Black Panther Video Interlude
• 13. "Beat It" with Jennifer Batten
• 14. "You Are Not Alone"
• 15. "Dangerous" (samples an extract from "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by Yes, Ennio Morricone's "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" theme, "Smooth Criminal", Janet Jackson's "You Want This" and "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")
• 16. "Black or White"
• 17. "Man in the Mirror"
  Encore
• 18. "Earth Song"

Tour announcement

Jackson at Perth Airport in 1996.

After the concert in Brunei, 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

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 and third legs

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.

Set list

Set list: 1996–1997

• 1. "Gates of Kiev" Video Intro
• 2. "HIStory Medley"
  • "Scream"
  • "They Don't Care About Us" featuring snippet of "HIStory"
  • "In the Closet" featuring snippet of "She Drives Me Wild"
• 3. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
• 4. "Stranger in Moscow"
• 5. "Smooth Criminal"
• 6. "The Wind" Video Interlude
• 7. "You Are Not Alone"
• 8. "The Way You Make Me Feel" performed on select dates
• 9. "The Jackson 5 Medley"
  • "I Want You Back"
  • "The Love You Save"
  • "I'll Be There"
• 10. "Off the Wall Medley" performed on select 1996 and 1997 dates
  • "Rock with You"
  • "Off the Wall"
  • "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"
• 11. "Remember the Time" Video Montage Interlude
• 12. "Billie Jean"
• 13. "Thriller"
• 14. "Beat It"
• 15. "Come Together"/"D.S." performed on select 1996 dates
• 16. "Blood on the Dance Floor" (performed from Bremen to Oslo in the second leg, omitted on July 2)
• 17. "Black Panther" Video Interlude (sometimes replaced with "Brace Yourself" video)
• 18. "Dangerous" (withdrawn from Tokyo concert on Dec. 20 and from Manila concert on Dec. 8; samples an extract from "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by Yes, Ennio Morricone's "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" theme, "Smooth Criminal", Janet Jackson's "You Want This" and "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")
• 19. "Black or White"
• 20. "Earth Song"
• 21. "We Are the World" Video Interlude
• 22. "Heal the World"
• 23. "They Don't Care About Us" Instrumental
• 24. "HIStory"
• 25. "HIStory Teaser"

Notes

• "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 all the shows after the one in Auckland [Nov. 11].
• "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).
• "HIStory Medley" replaces "Jam".
• "Stranger in Moscow" replaces "Human Nature".
• "You Are Not Alone" replaces "I Just Can't Stop Loving You".
• "The Way You Make Me Feel" replaces "She's Out of My Life".
• "HIStory" replaces "Man in the Mirror".
• 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 second leg, his longtime friend Princess Diana died from a car accident in Paris, France. During the concert in Ostend, Charlie Chaplin's song "Smile" sang by Jackson was played before the concert had started. During the same concert Michael paid a tribute to his longtime friend Princess Diana, 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.
• 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/Town	Land	Venue
Royal Brunei concert
July 16, 1996	Bandar Seri Begawan	Brunei	Jerudong Park
1996 leg
September 7, 1996	Prague	Tschechische Republik	Letna Park
September 10, 1996	Budapest	Ungarn	Népstadion
September 14, 1996	Bucharest	Rumänien	Lia Manoliu Stadium
September 17, 1996	Moscow	Russland	Dynamo Stadium
September 20, 1996	Warsaw	Polen	Bemowo Airport
September 24, 1996	Zaragoza	Spanien	Estadio La Romareda
September 28, 1996	Amsterdam	Niederlande	Amsterdam Arena
September 30, 1996
October 2, 1996
October 7, 1996	Tunis	Tunesien	Stade El Menzah
October 11, 1996	Seoul	Südkorea	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	Singapur	Singapur	National Stadium
October 27, 1996	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	Merdeka Stadium
October 29, 1996
November 1, 1996	Mumbai	Indien	Andheri Sports Complex
November 5, 1996	Bangkok	Thailand	Muang Thong Thani City Center
November 9, 1996	Auckland	Neuseeland	Ericsson Stadium
November 11, 1996
November 14, 1996	Sydney	Australien	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
December 8, 1996	Manila	Philippinen	Asia World City Concert Grounds
December 10, 1996
December 13, 1996	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
1997 leg
January 3, 1997	Honolulu	Vereinigte Staaten	Aloha Stadium
January 4, 1997
May 31, 1997	Bremen	Deutschland	Weserstadion
June 3, 1997	Cologne		Mungersdorfer Stadion
June 6, 1997	Bremen		Weserstadion
June 8, 1997	Amsterdam	Niederlande	Amsterdam Arena
June 10, 1997
June 13, 1997	Kiel	Deutschland	Nordmarksportfield
June 15, 1997	Gelsenkirchen		Parkstadion
June 18, 1997	Milan	Italien	San Siro
June 20, 1997	Lausanne	Schweiz	Stade Olympique de la Pontaise
June 22, 1997	Bettembourg	Luxemburg	Krakelshaff
June 25, 1997	Lyon	Frankreich	Stade de Gerland
June 27, 1997	Paris		Parc des Princes
June 29, 1997
July 2, 1997	Vienna	Österreich	Ernst-Happel-Stadion
July 4, 1997	Munich	Deutschland	Olympic Stadium
July 6, 1997
July 9, 1997	Sheffield	England	Don Valley Stadium
July 12, 1997	London		Wembley Stadium
July 15, 1997
July 17, 1997
July 19, 1997	Dublin	Irland	RDS Arena
July 25, 1997	Basel	Schweiz	St. Jakob Stadium
July 27, 1997	Nice	Frankreich	Stade Charles-Ehrmann
August 1, 1997	Berlin	Deutschland	Olympic Stadium
August 3, 1997	Leipzig		Festwiese
August 10, 1997	Hockenheim		Hockenheimring
August 14, 1997	Copenhagen	Dänemark	Parken Stadium
August 16, 1997	Gothenburg	Schweden	Ullevi
August 19, 1997	Oslo	Norwegen	Valle Hovin
August 22, 1997	Tallinn	Estland	Tallinn Song Festival Grounds
August 24, 1997	Helsinki	Finnland	Helsinki Olympic Stadium
August 26, 1997
August 29, 1997	Copenhagen	Dänemark	Parken Stadium
September 3, 1997	Ostend	Belgien	Hippodrome Wellington
September 6, 1997	Valladolid	Spanien	Estadio José Zorrilla
October 4, 1997	Cape Town	Südafrika	Greenpoint Stadium
October 6, 1997
October 10, 1997	Johannesburg		Johannesburg Stadium
October 12, 1997
October 15, 1997	Durban		Kings Park Stadium

Planned concerts, cancellations and postponements

• 07/29/97: Barcelona, Spain, Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys; CANCELLED
• 08/08/97: Ljubljana, Slovenia, Ljubljana Hippodrome; CANCELLED
• 08/31/97: Ostend, Belgium, Hippodrome Wellington; Rescheduled for September 3, 1997. (Due to the tragic car road accident death of his longtime friend Princess Diana.)

Box office score data

Source

Venue	City	Tickets sold/available	Gross revenue
Don Valley Stadium	Sheffield	43,031 / 48,000 (88%)	$1,991,600
Wembley Stadium	London	212,601 / 216,000 (98%)	$9,236,683
RDS Arena	Dublin	43,261 / 43,261 (100%)	$1,740,203
St. Jakob Stadium	Basel	50,000 / 50,000 (100%)	$2,317,881
Stade Charles-Ehrmann	Nice	30,003 / 36,260 (82%)	$1,083,898
Olympic Stadium	Berlin	78,187 / 78,187 (100%)	$2,934,036
Festwiese	Leipzig	54,483 / 55,000 (99%)	$2,110,035
Hockenheimring	Hockenheim	85,000 / 85,000 (100%)	$3,261,701
Parken Stadium	Copenhagen	97,563 / 97,563 (100%)	$5,296,577
Ullevi Stadium	Gothenburg	50,000 / 50,000 (100%)	$2,202,073
Valle Hovin	Oslo	37,904 / 40,000 (94%)	$1,646,889
Song Festival Ground	Tallin	75,000 / 75,000 (100%)	$2,627,174
Olympic Stadium	Helsinki	91,106 / 96,000 (90%)	$4,166,735
	TOTAL	948,139 / 970,271 (90%)	$40,615,485

Legacy

• Jackson was the first artist in history to sell out the Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. He performed two sold out concerts there on January 3 and 4, 1997.

Personnel

Dangerous World Tour

Lead performer

• Vocals, Dance, Choreographer: Michael Jackson

Dancers

First Leg

• LaVelle Smith, Travis Payne, Shawnette Heard, Damon Navandi, Courtney Miller, Anthony Talauega, Richmond Talauega, Loru Werner, Jason Yribar

Second 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 (2nd leg – replaced Jennifer Batten for a few concerts), David Williams
• Bass: Freddie Washington
• Vocal Director: Dorian Holley
• Vocals: Kevin Dorsey, Dorian Holley, Marva Hicks (1st & early 2nd legs), Darryl Phinnessee (1st leg), Fred White (2nd 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
• Director of Security: Bill Bray
• Costumes Designed by: Dennis Tompkins & Michael Bush
• Hair & Make-up: Karen Faye
• Stylist: Tommy Simms
• Artist Manager: Tarak Ben Amar
• Personal Management: Gallin Morey Associates