The Sweet Escape Tour

Background

The tour was Stefani's follow up to her previous The Harajuku Lovers Tour. It went worldwide as compared to her previous tour which was constricted only to North America and had more than double the number of shows. It was Stefani's last solo effort as she rejoined her band No Doubt after the tour ended. The main feature were usage of various props such as a prison for Stefani's opening act, a six-piece band and a large multimedia screen in the backdrop showing videos and animations.

The tour had its own set of controversies. A group of students making up for The National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students, banned Stefani's concert that was slated to take place August 21 at Putra Indoor Stadium. The union's vice president, Abdul Muntaqim said, "Her performance and her attire are not suitable for our culture. It promotes a certain degree of obscenity and will encourage youth to emulate the western lifestyle. The concert should be stopped." The organizer of the vent, Maxis Communications later responded, "Stefani has confirmed that her concert will not feature any revealing costumes. She will abide by the Malaysian authorities' guidelines to ensure that her show will not be offensive to local sensitivities." In April, Akon drew criticism for having on-stage dirty dancing with a fifteen-year-old preacher's daughter, at a club in Trinidad and Tobago, as part of a fake contest. As a result, the tour's sponsor Verizon Wireless decided not to sponsor the tour. Stefani donated $166,000 from her October 30 concert in San Diego to "The San Diego Foundation" fire relief fund. On her June 22 and June 23 concerts in Irvine, California, Stefani was joined onstage by her No Doubt bandmates. They performed their songs "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs", "Sunday Morning","Hella Good" and their cover of Talk Talk's "It's My Life".

Critical reception

The Sweet Escape tour was generally well received by critics. Christina Fuoco-Karasinski of Livedaily said, "The show's pacing was impeccable. Instead of silence or banter between songs, Stefani's band played musical interludes, or the dancers entertained." Katrina-Kasey Wheeler on PopMatters appreciated the props saying, "everything from the set list to the visuals and props displayed a larger-than-life aura" and that "... years after Gwen Stefani first emerged as a major presence in the world of pop music, she's finally got a show to match". Chris Macias of Sacbee also appreciated the concert and described the show as "It's part pep rally, part Broadway musical, plus a whole lot of breakdancing from Stefani's sidekicks". Though some critics differed. Joan Anderman of Boston.com said, "...her bad notes were hers, part of a real personality rather than a standard-issue pop star." T. Michael Crowell of the San Diego Union-Tribune also agreed and said, "Her vocal range is narrow, and her pitch is not always dead-on." The tour was a commercial success. The tour was the twenty-third most successful tour in the United States in 2007. The tour grossed $30,511,669 through the 55 shows in the U.S with 53 sold-out shows.

Broadcasts and recordings

Gwen announced in both the October 30 concert at the Cox Arena at Aztec Bowl and the November 1 concert at the Stockton Arena that she was filming her Sweet Escape Tour DVD. Only one concert of the Cox Arena, and Stockton Arena can be chosen for the Sweet Escape Tour DVD. For the Special occasion, Gwen did a special performance of the song "U Started It" which had only been seen at a few shows. During the concert she ran out into the audience to sing "Cool". However, the recorded performances were not released as a separate DVD. Instead, it is available on select deluxe editions of The Sweet Escape.

Opening acts

Set list

1. "The Sweet Escape" (performed with Akon)
2. "Rich Girl" (performed with Eve)
3. "Yummy"
4. "4 in the Morning"
5. "Luxurious"
6. "Early Winter"
7. "Wind It Up"
8. "Fluorescent" ¹
9. "Danger Zone"
10. "Hollaback Girl"
11. "Wonderful Life"
12. "Now That You Got It"
13. Medley:
    1. "Don't Get It Twisted
    2. "Breakin' Up"
14. "Cool"
15. "Orange County Girl"
16. Encore:
    1. "The Real Thing" (Wendy and Lisa Slow Jam Mix)
    2. "U Started It" ¹
    3. "What You Waiting For?"

¹ Performed at select dates.

Tour dates