Who's That Girl World Tour

Who's That Girl World Tour

Tour by Madonna
File:Madge bicep4.jpg Madonna performing Lucky Star during her 1987 World Tour
Associated album	True Blue Who's That Girl
Start date	June 14 1987
End date	September 6 1987
Legs	3
No. of shows	4 in Japan 22 in North America 11 in Europe 37 in Total
Madonna concert chronology

The Who's That Girl World Tour is the second concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna. The tour was also Madonna's first world tour, reaching Asia, North America and Europe. The tour supported her third studio album, True Blue and the soundtrack Who's That Girl.

About the tour

Madonna's first world concert tour ventured to Japan, North America and Europe, covering the main regions of her popularity. It ranked as one of 1987's top 10 tours in North America, grossing approx. US$ 20 million (Madonna grossed over a half million dollars for every date she played).

Madonna had 7 costume changes during the show. All the costumes, from the opening-number bustier seen in "Open Your Heart" to the red flamenco dress worn during "Who's That Girl", were designed by Marlene Stewart. In comparison with Madonna's first tour, The Virgin Tour, the show was elaborate, dramatic and controversial, using moving floors and multi-media components to accompany her choreography and music; the show also cross-referenced other pop culture, from classic gangster movies ("White Heat") to Motown ("Like a Virgin") to even her own nude photo scandal two years prior ("Where's The Party"). Several times during the show gigantic video-screens and projections were used to make comments on society and religion (Pope John Paul II and then-President of the United States, Ronald Reagan) and sexuality ('Safe Sex'). She even had a stronger voice and actually reinvented herself from her last tour: she was slimmer, cut and bleached her hair, and displayed a new onstage confidence she'd previously lacked. Of touring as a blond, Madonna stated, "It looks better onstage."

Joining her on the tour was 16-year old Christopher Finch. He replaced Felix Howard, the boy from the "Open Your Heart" music video, who couldn't get a work permit in order to participate on the tour.

In Japan, a thousand troops had to restrain a crowd of 25,000 fans seeking to greet Madonna at the airport. When severe storms forced the cancellation of her first shows, despondent fans nearly rioted, and Madonna was confronted with out-of-control teenagers soaking themselves in the rain outside the stadium. Promoters had no choice but to refund US$7 million to ticket-buyers. Madonna's Madison Square Garden show in New York City was an AIDS benefit with all the proceeds from the show going to AmFAR. She dedicated her performance of "Live to Tell" to her late friend Martin Burgoyne, the designer of her 1983 "Burning Up" single sleeve.

Madonna's first 2 shows at Wembley Stadium in London, UK sold out at a then record-breaking time of 18 hours and 9 minutes (144,000 tickets).

Opening Act

• Level 42

Setlist

1. "Open Your Heart"
2. "Lucky Star"
3. "True Blue"
4. "Papa Don't Preach"
5. "White Heat"
6. "Causing a Commotion"
7. "The Look of Love"
8. "Dress You Up"
9. "Material Girl"
10. "Like a Virgin" (contain excerpts from "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)")
11. "Where's the Party"
12. "Live to Tell"
13. "Into the Groove"
14. "La Isla Bonita"
15. "Who's That Girl"
16. "Holiday"

Source:

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue
Asia
June 14 1987	Osaka	Japan	Osaka Stadium
June 15 1987
June 21 1987	Tokyo		Korakuen Stadium
June 22 1987
North America
June 27 1987	Miami	United States	Orange Bowl
June 29 1987	Atlanta		The Omni
July 2 1987	Washington, D.C.		Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium
July 4 1987	Toronto	Canada	CNE Stadium
July 6 1987	Montreal		Montreal Forum
July 7 1987
July 9 1987	Foxboro	United States	Sullivan Stadium
July 11 1987	Philadelphia		Veterans Stadium
July 13 1987	New York		Madison Square Garden
July 15 1987	Seattle		Kingdome
July 18 1987	Anaheim		Anaheim Stadium
July 20 1987	Mountain View		Shoreline Amphitheatre
July 21 1987
July 24 1987	Houston		Astrodome
July 26 1987	Irving		Texas Stadium
July 29 1987	St. Paul		St. Paul Civic Center
July 31 1987	Chicago		Soldier Field
August 2 1987	East Troy		Alpine Valley Music Theatre
August 4 1987	Richfield		Richfield Coliseum
August 5 1987
August 7 1987	Pontiac		Pontiac Silverdome
August 9 1987	East Rutherford		Giants Stadium
Europe
August 15 1987	Leeds	England	Roundhay Park
August 18 1987	London		Wembley Stadium
August 19 1987
August 20 1987
August 22 1987	Frankfurt	Germany	Waldstadion
August 25 1987	Rotterdam	Netherlands	Feyenoord Stadium
August 26 1987
August 29 1987	Paris	France	Parc de Sceaux
August 31 1987	Nice		Stade de l'Ouest
September 4 1987	Turin	Italy	Stadio Comunale
September 6 1987	Florence		Stadio Comunale

Additional Notes

• June 20, 1987 (Tokyo, Japan) canceled due to heavy rain which caused riots.
• June 27, 1987 (Miami, Florida) the rain followed the tour to her first stop in North America with the fans sitting in the torrential summer downpour while waiting for Madonna's arrival. The opening act Level 42 were forced to cancel their set however the rain did eventually stop and the show did go on at approximately 9:55 pm about 1 hour and 1/2 later than expected.
• Tickets and posters for a planned concert on August 31, 1987 at the St. Jakob Stadium in Basel, Switzerland were already printed, but the event never materialised because of failed negotiations between Madonna's management and the Swiss concert promoter Good News. A gig in Nice, France was instead organised for that date.

Personnel

• Director: Jeffrey Hornaday
• Tour Manager: Eric Barnett
• Musical Director: Patrick Leonard
• Set Designer: Jerome Sirlin
• Lighting Design & Direction: Peter Morse
• Costume Design: Marlene Stewart
• Wardrobe: Christopher Ciccone & Rob Saduski
• Make-Up & Hair: Debi Mazar (credited as Debi M.)
• Props: Mario Ciccone
• Choreography: Shabba Doo

Band

• Keyboards: Patrick Leonard and Jai Winding
• Guitar: James Harrah and David Williams
• Synth Bass: Kerry Hatch
• Drums: Jonathan Moffett
• Percussion: Luis Conte
• Backing Vocals: Donna DeLory (a.k.a. Donna de Lory), Niki Haris, and during the Japanese leg of the tour Nadirah Shakoor took the place of Debra Parson (a.k.a. Debra Parsons)
• Dancers: Shabba Doo, Angel Ferreira, and Christopher Finch

Reception

Upon completion, the tour was the top female concert attraction of 1987, even though some shows did not sell-out but were close to doing so, like her concert at the Orange Bowl were she managed to attract close to 60,000 fans. Madonna to date is the only female solo performer to ever play a stadium tour of North America. The Madison Square Garden show in New York City was an AIDS benefit, with all proceeds from the show going toward the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR). The first two shows at Wembley Stadium in London sold-out at a then record-breaking time of 18 hours and 9 minutes for 144,000 tickets. However around 10,000 concert tickets were still left unsold for her Leeds concert. Madonna's concert in Paris in front of 130,000 fans remains, to this date, her biggest concert audience ever. A concert was also planned in Basel, Switzerland for the 31st of August, but negotiations between Madonna's management and local organizers failed due to the high fee (US$1 million) that Madonna's camp demanded. As a result Nice, France was booked in the itinerary. Her first-ever Italian concert in Turin, was presented by the Italian state broadcaster RaiUno and broadcast around the world. Just in Italy, the show was watched by around 13 million households.

Broadcasts and recordings

Main articles: Who's That Girl - Live In Japan and Ciao, Italia! - Live from Italy

Who's That Girl - Live In Japan was released in Japan only in 1987 it includes a show from Tokyo, Japan. In 1988 an international VHS, Ciao, Italia! - Live from Italy was released. Later it was available on laserdisc and DVD.