Bad World Tour

This article is about the tour. You may have been looking for the album.

Bad World TourTour by Michael Jackson
General Information
Associated album	Bad
Start date	September 12, 1987
End date	January 27, 1989
Legs	7
Number of shows	123
Supporting acts	Kim Wilde Taylor Dayne
Attendance	4,400,000
Box office	$295.1 million
Tour chronology
Previous	"Victory Tour"
Next	"Dangerous World Tour"

The Bad World Tour is the first worldwide concert tour by Michael Jackson. It was launched in support of the artist's seventh studio album, Bad (1987) and lasted sixteen months, spanning from September 12, 1987 until January 27, 1989. The shows were sponsored by Pepsi.

The tour became the second highest grossing tour of the decade, as well as one of the most attended tours in history. As announced by Jackson himself during the last show of the tour, these were initially meant to be his last performances in history. However, the Bad World Tour was eventually followed by the Dangerous World Tour and HIStory World Tour.

Background

For the longest time, while already releasing hit solo albums, Michael still toured with the Jacksons. At a December 1984 show of the Victory Tour, Jackson announced his departure from the group, stating it was the final show he was gonna play with them.

On June 29, 1987, Michael's manager, Frank DiLeo announced the singer was going to embark on his first solo concert tour. The shows would be sponsored by Pepsi, a company which previously got Jackson in hospital after a tragic pyrotechnics accident a few years prior.

The tour was originally going to finish in Tokyo, but Jackson suffered from swollen vocal cords after the first of six concerts in Los Angeles in November 1988. The remaining five shows were then rescheduled for January 1989. However, due to this decision, Greg Phillinganes had to leave the band in early January, as his schedule was busy as he was set to tour with Eric Clapton. Instead, John Barnes would be hired to take Phillinganes' place. With the tour ending, Michael sought medical care for vocal-chord nodules.

Awards and nominations

The Bad World Tour was nominated in 1988 for the Tour of the Year 1988 award at the now non-existent International Rock Awards.

Setlist

• 1987
• 1988-1989

1987

1. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
2. "Things I Do For You"
3. Off the Wall"
4. "Human Nature"
5. "Heartbreak Hotel"
6. "She's Out of My Life"
7. "Jackson 5 Medley" ("I Want You Back"/"The Love You Save"/"I'll Be There")
8. "Rock with You"
9. "Lovely One"
10. "Bad Groove" (Interlude)
11. "Workin' Day and Night"
12. "Beat It"
13. "Billie Jean"
14. "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)"
15. "Thriller"
16. "I Just Can't Stop Loving You"
17. "Bad"

1988-1989

1. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
2. "Heartbreak Hotel"
3. "Another Part of Me"
4. "Human Nature"
5. "Smooth Criminal"
6. "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" (duet with Sheryl Crow)
7. "She's Out of My Life"
8. "Jackson 5 Medley" ("I Want You Back"/"The Love You Save"/"I'll Be There")
9. "Rock with You"
10. "Dirty Diana"
11. 'Thriller"
12. "Bad Groove" (Interlude)
13. "Workin' Day and Night"
14. "Beat It"
15. "Billie Jean"
16. "Bad"
17. "The Way You Make Me Feel"
18. "Man in the Mirror"

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue	Attendance	Revenue
Asia
September 12, 1987	Tokyo	Japan	Korakuen Stadium	135,000 / 135,000	$52,423,603
September 13, 1987
September 14, 1987
September 19, 1987	Nishinomiya		Hankyu Nishinomiya Stadium	120,000 / 120,000
September 20, 1987
September 21, 1987
September 25, 1987	Yokohama		Yokohama Stadium	240,000 / 240,000
September 26, 1987
September 27, 1987
October 3, 1987
October 4, 1987
October 10, 1987	Osaka		Osaka Stadium	120,000 / 120,000
October 11, 1987
October 12, 1987
Oceania
November 13, 1987	Melbourne	Australia	Olympic Park Stadium	45,000 / 45,000	—
November 20, 1987	Sydney		Parramatta Stadium	90,000 / 90,000
November 21, 1987
November 27, 1987	Brisbane		Brisbane Entertainment Centre	27,000 / 27,000
November 28, 1987
North America
February 23, 1988	Kansas City	United States	Kemper Arena	50,877 / 50,877	$963,137
February 24, 1988
March 3, 1988	New York City		Madison Square Garden	57,000 / 57,000	$1,800,000
March 5, 1988
March 6, 1988
March 13, 1988	St. Louis		St. Louis Arena	17,000 / 17,000	—
March 18, 1988	Indianapolis		Market Square Arena	34,000 / 34,000
March 19, 1988
March 20, 1988	Louisville		Freedom Hall	19,000 / 19,000
March 24, 1988	Denver		McNichols Sports Arena	40,251 / 40,251	$842,918
March 25, 1988
March 26, 1988
March 30, 1988	Hartford		Hartford Civic Center	45,188 / 45,188	$1,071,148
March 31, 1988
April 1, 1988
April 8, 1988	Houston		The Summit	51,000 / 51,000	—
April 9, 1988
April 10, 1988
April 13, 1988	Atlanta		Omni Coliseum	51,000 / 51,000
April 14, 1988
April 15, 1988
April 19, 1988	Rosemont		Rosemont Horizon	40,000 / 40,000
April 20, 1988
April 21, 1988
April 25, 1988	Dallas		Reunion Arena	57,000 / 57,000
April 26, 1988
April 27, 1988
May 4, 1988	Minneapolis		Met Center	50,662 / 50,662	$1,139,895
May 5, 1988
May 6, 1988
Europe
May 23, 1988	Rome	Italy	Stadio Flaminio	80,000 / 80,000	—
May 24, 1988
May 29, 1988	Turin		Stadio Comunale	60,000 / 60,000
June 2, 1988	Vienna	Austria	Praterstadion	55,000 / 55,000
June 5, 1988	Rotterdam	Netherlands	Stadion Feijenoord	145,200 / 145,200
June 6, 1988
June 7, 1988
June 11, 1988	Gothenburg	Sweden	Eriksberg	106,000 / 106,000
June 12, 1988
June 16, 1988	Basel	Switzerland	St. Jakob Stadium	50,000 / 50,000
June 19, 1988	West Berlin	West Germany	Platz der Republik	43,000 / 43,000
June 27, 1988	Paris	France	Parc des Princes	63,000 / 63,000
June 28, 1988
July 1, 1988	Hamburg	West Germany	Volksparkstadion	50,000 / 50,000
July 3, 1988	Cologne		Müngersdorfer Stadion	70,000 / 70,000
July 8, 1988	Munich		Olympiastadion	72,000 / 72,000
July 10, 1988	Hockenheim		Hockenheimring	80,000 / 80,000
July 14, 1988	London	England	Wembley Stadium	504,000 / 504,000
July 15, 1988
July 16, 1988
July 22, 1988
July 23, 1988
July 26, 1988	Cardiff	Wales	Cardiff Arms Park	55,000 / 55,000
July 30, 1988	Cork	Ireland	Páirc Uí Chaoimh	130,000 / 130,000
July 31, 1988
August 5, 1988	Marbella]	Spain	Estadio Municipal de Marbella	28,000 / 28,000
August 7, 1988	Madrid		Vicente Calderón Stadium	60,000 / 60,000
August 9, 1988	Barcelona		Camp Nou	95,000 / 95,000
August 12, 1988	Montpellier	France	Stade Richter	35,000 / 35,000
August 14, 1988	Nice		Stade Charles-Ehrmann	35,000 / 35,000
August 19, 1988	Lausanne	Switzerland	Stade olympique de la Pontaise	45,000 / 45,000
August 21, 1988	Würzburg	West Germany	Talavera Mainwiesen	43,000 / 43,000
August 23, 1988	Werchter	Belgium	Werchter Festivalpark	55,000 / 55,000
August 26, 1988	London	England	Wembley Stadium	—
August 27, 1988
August 29, 1988	Leeds		Roundhay Park	90,000 / 90,000
September 2, 1988	Hannover	West Germany	Niedersachsenstadion	40,000 / 40,000
September 4, 1988	Gelsenkirchen		Parkstadion	52,000 / 52,000
September 6, 1988	Linz	Austria	Linzer Stadion	40,000 / 40,000
September 10, 1988	Milton Keynes	England	Milton Keynes Bowl	60,000 / 60,000
September 11, 1988	Liverpool		Aintree Racecourse	125,000 / 125,000
North America
September 26, 1988	Pittsburgh	United States	Civic Arena	48,694 / 48,694	$1,144,917
September 27, 1988
September 28, 1988
October 3, 1988	East Rutherford		Meadowlands Arena|Brendan Byrne Arena	61,061 / 61,061	$1,600,755
October 4, 1988
October 5, 1988
October 10, 1988	Richfield		Richfield Coliseum	38,000 / 38,000	—
October 11, 1988
October 13, 1988	Landover		Capital Centre	69,883 / 69,883	$1,747,075
October 17, 1988
October 18, 1988
October 19, 1988
October 24, 1988	Auburn Hills		The Palace of Auburn Hills	50,010 / 50,010	—
October 25, 1988
October 26, 1988
November 7, 1988	Irvine		Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre	45,000 / 45,000
November 8, 1988
November 9, 1988
November 13, 1988	Los Angeles		Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena	93,198 / 93,198	$2,423,603
Asia
December 9, 1988	Tokyo	Japan	Tokyo Dome	450,000 / 450,000	—
December 10, 1988
December 11, 1988
December 17, 1988
December 18, 1988
December 19, 1988
December 24, 1988
December 25, 1988
December 26, 1988
North America
January 16, 1989	Los Angeles	United States	Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena	—	—
January 17, 1989
January 18, 1989
January 26, 1989
January 27, 1989
Total				4,559,065 / 4,559,065 (100%)	$63,212,402

Cancelled dates

Date	City	Country	Venue	Reason
October 17, 1987	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	Hong Kong Coliseum	Cancelled for unknown reasons
October 18, 1987
November 3, 1987	Perth	Australia	WACA Ground
November 8, 1987	Adelaide		Thebarton Oval
December 2, 1987	Wellington	New Zealand	Athletic Park
December 6, 1987	Auckland		Mount Smart Stadium
March 14, 1988	St. Louis	United States	St. Louis Arena	Laryngitis
April 1, 1988	Cincinnati		Riverfront Coliseum	Tour restructuring
April 2, 1988
May–June, 1988	Milan	Italy	San Siro
June 23, 1988	Lyon	France	Stade de Gerland	Low ticket sales
October 31, 1988	Tacoma	United States	Tacoma Dome	Laryngitis
November 1, 1988
November 2, 1988
1988–1989	N/A	Canada	N/A	Planned concerts did not take place due to unknown reasons

Broadcasts & recordings

Live at Wembley July 16, 1988

On September 18, 2012, over two decades after the show took place, a DVD of the July 16, 1988 show at the Wembley Stadium was released as a part of the Bad 25 promo and box set. Additionally, the deluxe edition of Bad 25 includes audio from the show on the third disc as well. The full film was later uploaded to the official Michael Jackson YouTube channel.

Broadcasts

• Tokyo (September 12, 1987)
• Tokyo (September 13, 1987)
• Tokyo (September 14, 1987)
• Nishinomiya (September 1987)
• Osaka (October 1987)
• Melbourne (November 13, 1987)
• Sydney (November 1987)
• Brisbane (November 1987)
• Kansas City (February 1988)
• New York City (March 1988)
• St. Louis (March 13, 1988)
• Indianapolis (March 1988)
• Louisville (March 20, 1988)
• Hartford (March-April 1988)
• Houston (April 1988)
• Rome (May 1988)
• Vienna (June 2, 1988)
• Gothenburg (1988)
• Basel (June 16, 1988)
• West Berlin (June 19, 1988)
• Paris (June 1988)
• Cologne (July 3, 1988)
• Munich (July 8, 1988)
• Hockenheim (July 10, 1988)
• London (July 14, 1988)
• London (July 15, 1988)
• London (July 22, 1988)
• Cork (July 1988)
• Marbella (August 5, 1988)
• Madrid (August 7, 1988)
• Barcelona (August 9, 1988)
• Würzburg (August 21, 1988)
• Werchter (August 23, 1988)
• Leeds (August 29, 1988)
• Hannover (September 2, 1988)
• Milton Keynes (September 10, 1988)
• Liverpool (September 11, 1988)
• Pittsburgh (September 1988)
• Landover (October 1988)
• Los Angeles (November 13, 1988)
• Tokyo (December 1988)
• Los Angeles (January 27, 1989)

Personnel

Creative Directors

• Michael Jackson (Lead Vocals, Show Director, Dancer and Choreographer)
• Peggy Holmes (Assistant Director)
• Vince Patterson (Choreographer)
• Tom McPhillips (Set Designer)
• Allen Branton (Lighting Designer)

Production

• Frank DiLeo (Personal Management)
• Sal Bonafede (Tour Coordinator)
• John Draper (Tour Manager)
• Benny Collins (Production Manager)
• Nelson Hayes (Production Coordinator)
• Rob Henry (Production Coordinator)
• Gerry Bakalian (Stage Manager)
• Tait Towers, Inc. (Set Construction)
• Clair Bros. (Sound)
• Kevin Elison (house sound engineer)
• Rick Coberly (Monitor Engineer)
• Ziffren, Brittenham and Branca (Attorneys)
• Gelfand, Rennert and Feldman (Business Management)
• Solters/Roskin, Friedman Inc.(Public Relations)
• Bob Jones (V.P. of Communications, MJJ)
• Glen Brunman (Media Relations, Epic Records)
• Gretta Walsh Of Revel Travel (Travel Agent)

Dancers

• Randy Allaire
• Evaldo Garcia
• Dominic Lucero
• LaVelle Smith

Band

• Greg Phillinganes (Lead keyboards, synthesizers, musical director)
• Rory Kaplan (keyboards, synthesizers)
• Christopher Currell (Synclavier, digital guitar, sound effects)
• Ricky Lawson (Drums)
• Jennifer Batten (Rhythm and lead guitar)
• Jon Clark (Lead and rhythm guitar)
• Don Boyette (bass guitar, synth bass)
• John Barnes (lead keyboards, synthesizers) (1989 Los Angeles concerts only)

Background Vocals

• Kevin Dorsey (vocal director)
• Darryl Phinnessee
• Dorian Holley
• Sheryl Crow

Stylists and Assistants

• Karen Faye (Hair & Make-up)
• Tommy Simms (Stylist)
• Gianni Versace, Dennis Tompkins & Michael Bush (Costumes Designed)
• Jolie Levine (Michael's Personal Assistant)
• Meredith Besser (Assistant)

Sponsors

• Pepsi
• Nippon Television (Japan only)

Gallery

"Look deep within yourself, and you'll find something amazing." To view the Bad World Tour gallery, click here.

Trivia

• On this tour, Jackson performed "Thriller" live for the first time.
• During the concert in Brisbane on November 28, 1987, Stevie Wonder made a guest appearance during the song "Bad."
• The setlist would be changed around for shows in the European second leg, performing "Human Nature" & "Smooth Criminal" after "Rock with You".
• "The Way You Make Me Feel" was sometimes taken out of the set list for time constraints or other unknown reasons, so "Man in the Mirror" was performed in the "Bad" jacket, instead of classic "The Way You Make Me Feel" blue shirt. During other shows, both "Man in the Mirror" and "The Way You Make Me Feel" were removed, leaving Jackson ending the show with "Bad", as he'd done in the first leg.
• During the last 1989 Los Angeles show Michael wore a white shirt for "The Way You Make Me Feel" instead of a blue one.
• Jackson would only wear the black shirt for the first show and only time wear he would wear it. He never wore it ever again due to the costume & lighting obscuring his dances.