The Greatest Love World Tour

The Greatest Love World Tour
World tour by Whitney Houston
LocationNorth America • Europe • Asia • Oceania
Associated albumWhitney Houston
Start dateJuly 26, 1986
End dateDecember 1, 1986
Legs4
No. of shows
  • 36 in North America
  • 7 in Asia
  • 4 in Oceania
  • 6 in Europe
  • 53 total
Box office$5 million ($12.88 in 2023 dollars)[1] (North America leg)
Whitney Houston concert chronology

The Greatest Love World Tour was the debut worldwide concert tour by American singer Whitney Houston, in support of her debut studio album Whitney Houston. The four-month tour began in North America on July 26, 1986 at the Merriweather Post Pavilion with an itinerary that included visits in Europe, Japan and Australia.

Background

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Main article: US Summer Tour

Houston's debut album was released in early 1985 and she performed at various clubs to promote the album. Following the success of the US #1 R&B hit single "You Give Good Love", Houston became the opening act for singers' Luther Vandross and Jeffrey Osborne on their individual 1985 US tours.[2] After the next single, "Saving All My Love For You" became Houston's first #1 on the US Hot 100, she began headlining her own shows, playing at various American theaters, festivals, and clubs throughout the summer and fall of 1985.[3] With more #1 hits on the way, and Houston's album at the top of the album charts, she would become a household name. She then embarked on her first worldwide tour, the successful The Greatest Love Tour. The tour started in North America during mid-1986, before heading to Europe, Japan, Australia and back to the US for a final show in Hawaii at the end of the year.

The show

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The show consisted of Houston on a fringed round stage in the center of the arena/theater with a 9-piece band playing and four backup vocalists behind her.[2] There were no costume changes or background dancers. Brother Gary Garland would replace Jermaine Jackson and Teddy Pendergrass on the duets. Comedian Sylvia Traymore served as the opening act.[2]

While on her first global tour, Houston revealed she was a creative musician; rearranging most of the songs during her shows and sometimes deviating from the album's version. In "You Give Good Love", Houston would slow it down and emphasize the soulful elements of the song, treating it like a gospel number while breaking it down with her background singers.[4] During "Saving All My Love", Houston arranged the song into a bluesy jazz number that recalled Billie Holiday. Houston often scatted with sax player Josh Harris during the end of the song.[4] Many critics noted "He/I Believe" and "I Am Changing" as the show's highlights. The former is a song she learned from her mother which joins the gospel songs "He Is" with "I Believe". The latter is a cover of the show Jennifer Holliday's show stopping Dreamgirls song.[4] After opening the show with a tease of the anthemic "Greatest Love of All", Houston closed out the show with a slowed down soulful version of the song.

Billboard magazine's Carlo Wolff said the following on his column for her show at Saratoga Performing Arts Center on July 28, 1986.

For the second date of her first headlining tour, the show was remarkably polished and emotional...A versatile, purposeful singer, Houston may not be La Diva yet. But she is certainly La Divette.[5]

Opening acts

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Sylvia Morrison from Washington, DC, is the first black female impressionist/comedian.[6]

  • Sylvia Traymore Morrison (US—leg)
  • Mark McCollum (comedian) (US—leg)
  • Kenny G (US—leg, select dates)

Set list

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  1. Instrumental intro (contains elements of "Also sprach Zarathustra" and excerpts from "Greatest Love of All")
  2. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
  3. "Eternal Love"
  4. "You Give Good Love"
  5. "Hold Me" (duet with Gary Houston)
  6. "How Will I Know"
  7. "Take Good Care of My Heart" (duet with Gary Houston)
  8. "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do" (duet with Gary Houston)
  9. "Saving All My Love for You"
  10. "Someone for Me
  11. "I Am Changing"
  12. "Heart to Heart"
  13. "All at Once"[a]
  14. "He, I Believe"
  15. "The Greatest Love of All"
Notes
  1. ^ performed in Europe and Japan
Additional notes

Shows

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List of concerts, showing date, city, country, venue, tickets sold, number of available tickets and amount of gross revenue
Date City Country Venue Attendance Revenue
North America[8][9][10]
July 26, 1986 Columbia United States Merriweather Post Pavilion 13,000 / 13,000 $176,267
July 28, 1986 Saratoga Springs Saratoga Performing Arts Center 20,000 / 20,000 $218,735
July 29, 1986 Boston Boston Common 37,000 / 37,000 $667,065
July 31, 1986
August 1, 1986
August 2, 1986 Wantagh Jones Beach Marine Theater 20,600 / 20,600[a] $376,326[a]
August 4, 1986 Holmdel Township Garden State Arts Center 10,600 / 10,600 $156,647
August 6, 1986 Wantagh Jones Beach Marine Theater [a] [a]
August 10, 1986 Atlanta Chastain Park Amphitheater 12,702 / 12,702 $259,545
August 11, 1986
August 12, 1986 Nashville Starwood Amphitheatre — —
August 14, 1986 Cincinnati Riverbend Music Center 16,289 / 16,289 $251,000
August 15, 1986 Louisville Freedom Hall 15,600 / 15,600 $156,310
August 16, 1986 Indianapolis Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum 16,287 / 16,287 $225,965
August 18, 1986 Cuyahoga Falls Blossom Music Center — —
August 19, 1986 Clarkston Pine Knob Music Theatre — —
August 20, 1986
August 22, 1986 Toronto Canada CNE Grandstand 25,370 / 25,370 $465,286
August 24, 1986 Ottawa Lansdowne Park — —
August 26, 1986 Montreal Montreal Forum
August 27, 1986 Philadelphia United States Mann Music Center
August 30, 1986 Hoffman Estates Poplar Creek Music Theater
August 31, 1986
September 1, 1986 St. Louis Municipal Theatre of St. Louis 9,846 / 9,846 $189,980
September 7, 1986 Syracuse New York State Fairgrounds — —
September 8, 1986 Morrison Red Rocks Amphitheatre 8,950 / 8,950 $203,854
September 12, 1986 Sacramento Cal Expo Amphitheatre 8,273 / 8,500 $144,778
September 13, 1986 Mountain View Shoreline Amphitheatre 15,211 / 15,211 $256,782
September 14, 1986 Concord Concord Pavilion 8,333 / 8,333 $152,485
September 16, 1986 Fresno Selland Arena 5,908 / 5,908 $99,715
September 18, 1986 San Diego San Diego Sports Arena 9,051 / 9,051 $172,092
September 19, 1986 Costa Mesa Pacific Amphitheatre 13,946 / 18,764 $294,954
September 21, 1986 Los Angeles Greek Theatre — —
September 23, 1986
Europe
October 10, 1986 Brussels Belgium Forest National — —
October 11, 1986 Rotterdam Netherlands Rotterdam Ahoy
October 17, 1986 London England Wembley Arena
October 19, 1986
October 20, 1986
October 25, 1986 Glasgow Scotland SECC
Asia
November 4, 1986 Osaka Japan Osaka Festival Hall — —
November 5, 1986 Osaka-jō Hall
November 6, 1986 Nagoya Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium
November 8, 1986 Yokohama Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium
November 10, 1986 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
November 11, 1986
November 12, 1986
Oceania
November 15, 1986 Sydney Australia Sydney Entertainment Centre — —
November 16, 1986
November 17, 1986
November 25, 1986 Melbourne Melbourne Entertainment Centre
North America[11]
November 30, 1986 Honolulu United States Blaisdell Arena 17,600 / 17,600 $362,313
December 1, 1986
Total 285,066 / 290,011 $4,830,072
Cancellations and rescheduled shows
August 28, 1986 Geddes, New York State Fair Grandstand Rescheduled for September 7, 1986[12]
November 19, 1986 Brisbane, Australia Brisbane Entertainment Centre Cancelled[13]
November 20, 1986 Brisbane, Australia Brisbane Entertainment Centre Cancelled[13]
November 23, 1986 Melbourne, Australia Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre Cancelled[13]
November 24, 1986 Melbourne, Australia Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre
November 26, 1986 Perth, Australia Perth Entertainment Centre Cancelled[13]
November 27, 1986 Sydney, Australia Sydney Entertainment Centre Cancelled[13]

Personnel

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Houston and John Simmons were friends from their church in New Jersey. While Houston was trying to get a recording contract, she would perform sets as part of her mother's nightclub act in New York City. Simmons was her musical director. Houston asked Simmons to put together a band that would back her during her nightclub act and record label showcases.[14] The tour manager was Tony Bulluck, who remained her tour manager on several of her tours later, including the Nothing but Love Tour. Rickey Minor and Whitney's brother Gary Houston remained band members throughout her touring career.

Band

  • Music director / piano – John Simmons
  • Bass guitar / bass synthesizer – Ricky Minor
  • Guitar – Curtis Taylor Neishloss
  • Keyboards – Willard Meeks
  • Saxophone – Josh Harris
  • Drums – Brian Brake
  • Percussion – Kevin Jones
  • Background vocalists – Gary Houston, Felicia Moss, Voneva Simms, Billy Baker

Tour management

  • Manager – Tony Bulluck

Broadcast and recordings

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  • The show at Osaka-jō Hall on November 5 was broadcast live on Asahi Hōsō Radio in Japan. There were no official recordings released to the public.

Ticket price score data

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Not all ticket price dates are listed
July 26, 1986 Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD $16.50 / $11.50
July 28, 1986 Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY $15 / $10
July 29, 31, August 1, 1986 Boston Common, Boston, MA $19.50 / $17.50
August 2, 6, 1986 Jones Beach Theatre, Wantagh, New York $22 / $20.50 / $17.50
August 4, 1986 Garden State Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ $18.50 / $11
August 10, 11, 1986 Chastain Park, Atlanta, GA $22 / $20.50 / $17.50
August 14, 1986 Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati, OH $20 / $11.50
August 15, 1986 Freedom Hall Arena, Louisville, KY $10
August 16, 1986 Indiana State Fair, Indianapolis, IN $14.50 / $12.50
August 22, 1986 CNE Stadium, Toronto, Ontario $23.50 / $19.50
September 1, 1986 The Muny, St. Louis, MO $20.50 / $18.50 / $16.50
September 8, 1986 Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Denver, CO $24.40 / $22 / $19.80
September 12, 1986[15] California Exposition & State Fair, Sacramento, CA $17.50
September 13, 1986 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA $18.50 / $15.50
September 14, 1986 Concord Pavilion, Concord, CA $22.50 / $15.50
September 16, 1986 Fresno Convention Center, Fresno, CA $17.50
September 18, 1986 San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, CA $25 / $18.50
September 19, 1986 Pacific Amphitheatre, Costa Mesa, CA $24.75 / $15
November 30, December 1, 1986 Neal S. Blaisdell Center, Honolulu, HI $22.50 / $17.50

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d The score data is combined from the shows held at Jones Beach Marine Theater on August 2 and 6 respectively.

References

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  1. ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d Clarence Waldron (1 September 1986). Whitney Houston Headlines Her First Tour Across the Country (p58-60). Jet. Retrieved 2010-01-12.
  3. ^ Whitney Houston Takes Fame in Stride.Orlando Sentinel
  4. ^ a b c Takiff, Jonathon. "Whitney Makes Converts". Philadelphia Daily News. August 28, 1986.
  5. ^ Carlo Wolff (August 23, 1986). "Talent in Action". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
  6. ^ Palm Beach Improv | Comedian: Sylvia Traymore
  7. ^ AllWhitney.com
  8. ^ Sources for dates in North America:
  9. ^ North America 1st Leg Boxcore Data:
  10. ^ "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses". Billboard. Vol. 98, no. 39. September 27, 1986. p. 21. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  11. ^ "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses". Billboard. Vol. 98, no. 52. December 27, 1986. p. 36. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  12. ^ Hard Rain; Whitney Houston at New York State Fair
  13. ^ a b c d e Teeds, J. "MELBOURNE CONCERT DOUBT". Sunday Mail. November 23, 1986.
  14. ^ Charles, Nat. "Conducting Electricity, and Idolatry". New York Times. January 14, 2007.
  15. ^ Billboard Boxscore Top Concert Grosses, September 27, 1986
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