Rhythm Nation World Tour 1990

Background

Due to the fact that A&M Records had chosen not to invest in promoting a concert tour for Control (1986), the Rhythm Nation World Tour 1990 became Jackson's first in support of a studio album. A&M announced plans for her global tour in the fall of 1989. She was assisted by a team of eleven musicians, back-up singers, and six dancers. Anthony Thomas was selected as chief choreographer for the tour. Thomas stated: "Janet was looking for dancers with a hybrid of street and technical training ... I'd say the cast is half and half between those two, which is what makes it so interesting. I'm not a trained dancer—and Janet is not, either. She just looks like it because she's a natural. She picks up dance steps very quickly." According to Joel Selvin of the San Francisco Chronicle: "Thomas and Jackson also collaborated on the dance sequences for Jackson's half-hour video—a telemusical her publicists call it—that accompanied the release of her 'Rhythm Nation' album in October."

Musician and record producer Chuckii Booker was hired as Jackson's musical director; his band became the tour's opening act. Booker explained that he was approached by Jackson after a recommendation from her producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. In an interview, he stated: "I had known Janet for four to five years, but it was pretty much on a hi-and-goodbye basis until last September when she invited me to a 'Rhythm Nation' party in Los Angeles. I attended and told her I was very excited for her. She said, 'Yes, and I'd like you to be musical director.' I turned around, thinking she was talking to somebody else. I couldn't believe it. But then I found out she had talked to Jimmy and Terry and they had recommended me." Reporter Doug Adrianson wrote: "Because of the inevitable comparisons with brother Michael, 32, expectations for the Rhythm Nation Tour are higher than a moonwalk. To make sure the show is suitably spectacular, Jackson and musical director Chuckii Booker rehearsed with a sizable crew for two weeks at the Pensacola Civic Centre ... the same place Michael fine-tuned his Bad tour." Her tour was managed by Roger Davies, stage designer Mark Fisher, and Benny Collins. Total production cost was an estimated $2 million.

Promotion

On June 9, 1990, MTV aired a four-hour special entitled "Janet Jackson Saturday" featuring interviews and music videos by Jackson, as well as live coverage of her tour. The full "Rhythm Nation 1814 World Tour" concert from the second date at the Tokyo Dome in Japan was filmed and aired on Japanese television.

Critical reception

Music writer Troy Moon, who viewed the tour's dress rehearsal, called the show "spontaneous, very loose and limber. It came off as nightclub funk, more Prince than (Michael)." He also noted the emphasis on the show's dance routines, stating "[t]he singing almost comes as an afterthought." The debut concert in Miami, Florida on March 1, 1990 sold out prior to the performance. Music Critic Deborah Wilker remarked that "[Janet] does not present a serious threat to brother Michael, though she has proven beyond any doubt she is a formidable force in her own right." She reported the concert showcased the fact that "Jackson is an accomplished dancer whose choreography has set trends worldwide. The music, though extremely engaging, is secondary." She also reported on the media attention surrounding the opening concert, stating, "[t]he kick-off of this tour was a media event, with reporters and film crews from across the country on hand. In the audience was Janet's brother Jackie and mother Katherine, as well as singer Whitney Houston and producers Jam and Lewis."

Reviewing her concert at Madison Square Garden, Jon Pareles of The New York Times compared her showmanship to that of her brother Michael, and Prince. However, he states that she could not sing and dance simultaneously as well as either and suspected some of her performance was lip-synced. In her defense, he adds: "Yet in a video-era pop event like Miss Jackson's concert, old-fashioned musicianship matters less than the overall package—and Miss Jackson turns out to be an endearing performer despite all the calculation. Her songs are not just catchy, but full of worthwhile messages about independence and tolerance as well." Commenting on her performance at the Capital Centre in Washington, Richard Harrington of The Washington Post noted that the growing trend of video screen use in concert had both advantages and drawbacks, such as [l]iving up to the very expectations engendered by those incessantly played video images." In reference to her showmanship, he stated that "[s]he doesn't quite command the stage yet, but she has little problem commanding attention, thanks to her spectacular dancing and the wonderfully aggressive choreography that informs the 90-minute show." In his opinion, the most "engaging" aspects of the concert were Jackson's ballads such as "Let's Wait Awhile" and "Come Back to Me". He adds that "[a]lthough the focus was clearly on Jackson's dynamic dancing and her apparently boundless energy, she acquitted herself well on the vocal front. The singing seemed mostly note-perfect recaps of the records, and there is less range and dynamics here than in her dancing, but overall, it was effective enough."

Los Angeles Times critic Chris Willman, who reviewed her opening southern California concert at The Forum expressed: "If the dancing in Janet's tour is even more enthralling than that of brother Michael (who can still best her in pure technical proficiency), it's because she spends so much of her stage time working with six other dancers as part of a hip-hop chorus line. It represents the pinnacle of what can be done in the popping 'n' locking style-a rapid-fire mixture of rigidly jerky and gracefully fluid movements." He complimented her endurance for her 80-minute-plus show and downplayed criticism of lip-syncing by saying "[e]ven a classically trained vocalist would be hard-pressed to maintain any sort of level of volume—or, more appropriately, 'Control'—while bounding up and down stairs and whipping limbs in unnatural directions at impeccable, breakneck speed." The first international concert took place in Tokyo, Japan at the Tokyo Dome on May 17, 1990. Los Angeles Times reported that "Japan became a 'Rhythm Nation' as Janet Jackson opened her tour at the Tokyo Dome, cascading thunderous waves of funk and choreography over 50,000 people ... The choreography, a cross between break-dancing and military maneuvers, sent some spectators dancing into the aisles." Jackson also performed in Osaka and Yokohama before returning to the North America and then traveled to Europe for the final leg of her tour.

Helen Metella of the Edmonton Journal praised Jackson's elaborate stage show, calling her socially conscious message of unity a "noble quest." In reference of the comparisons between her and brother Michael, Metella comments that "the 23-year-old Jackson throws herself into an orgy of non-stop dancing and extravagant theatrics that clearly express her talent and her personal philosophies. She may not have surpassed Michael yet, but she's closing in on him fast—using many of his own tricks, yet." In reviewing her performance at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, Canada, Metella reports that the use of lighting and sound effects made for an excellent routine in addition to the well received vocalization of songs like "Control", "Nasty" and "What Have You Done for Me Lately", "[b]ut it was the dancing that was most electrifying ...witnessing the astonishing pace and physical commitment of Jackson during the dance numbers could and did galvanize us into action of our own, which is exactly what the show was about."

Commercial reception

The majority of all of the tour's concert dates became instant sell-outs. The tour's dress rehearsal at the Pensacola Civic Center issued 7,600 tickets to the public as a benefit to local charity, which sold-out in less than an hour. The first international concert, which took place in Tokyo, Japan sold out the Tokyo Dome within seven minutes—a record for the fastest sellout in the history of the Dome. Lori Buttars of The Salt Lake Tribune reported: "In May, Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation Tour became the fastest sell-out in Salt Palace history. Tickets for the June 18 concert were gone in a record 1 hour and 20 minutes after the box office opened." In June, 1990, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that Jackson's tour had become one of the most commercially successful box office attractions for a recording artist. In addition, "of those women soloists who regularly reach the top of the record charts, only Madonna is doing similar arena business." Grossing $28.1 million in the United States alone, the tour ranked number five among the best-selling of 1990 within the US, making Jackson the only female artist to place within the top ten. The Rhythm Nation World Tour, with an attendance of over two million patrons, remains the most successful debut tour by any recording artist.

Opening acts

Set list

1. "Control"
2. "Nasty"
3. "What Have You Done for Me Lately"
4. "Let's Wait Awhile"
5. "When I Think of You"
6. "The Pleasure Principle"
7. "T.V." (interlude)
8. "State of the World"
9. "Race" (interlude)
10. "The Knowledge"
11. "Funny How Time Flies (When You're Having Fun)" (instrumental interlude)
12. "Black Cat"
13. "Come Back to Me"
14. "Alright"
15. "Escapade"
16. "Miss You Much"
17. "Pledge" (interlude)
18. "Rhythm Nation"

Tour

Dancers – "The Nation"

Janet Jackson, Anthony Thomas, Terry Bixler, LaVelle Smith

Janet Jackson, Tina Landon, LaVelle Smith, Terry Bixler, Anthony Thomas

Miscellaneous