Dangerous World Tour
|Dangerous World Tour|
Promotional image for the tour
|World tour by Michael Jackson|
|Location||Europe, Asia, South America, North America|
|Start date||June 27, 1992|
|End date||November 11, 1993|
|Shows||40 in Europe
18 in Asia
6 in South America
6 in North America
|Michael Jackson tour chronology|
The Dangerous World Tour was the second worldwide solo concert tour by American recording artist Michael Jackson. The tour, sponsored by Pepsi-Cola, included 70 performances. All profits were donated to various charities including Jackson's own "Heal the World Foundation". The tour ran from June 27, 1992, to November 11, 1993. In November 1993, Jackson ended the tour due to, as he announced, illness that required hospitalization. The performer became dependent on painkillers, having suffered from dehydration, migraines and injuries. Originally, the Dangerous World Tour was supposed to run until Christmas of 1993.
Following the huge success of the Bad world tour, Jackson's first solo world tour, where he earned $125 million, the star claimed that he would not tour again, and would instead concentrate on making films and records. On February 3, 1992 in a Pepsi press conference, it was announced that Jackson would be touring again. The announcement coincided with a new deal between Jackson and Pepsi, with a reported $20 million deal to sponsor the tour.
In an interview, Jackson stated, "The only reason I am going on tour is to raise funds for the newly-formed Heal the World Foundation, an international children's charity, that I am spearheading to assist children and the ecology. My goal is to gross $100 million by Christmas 1993. I urge every corporation and individual who cares about this planet and the future of the children to help raise money for the charity. The Heal the World Foundation will contribute funds to paediatric AIDS in honour of my friend, Ryan White. I am looking forward to this tour because it will allow me to devote time to visiting children all around the world, as well as spread the message of global love, in the hope that others will be moved to do their share to help heal the world."
Preparations and set designs 
The stage used for the tour required more time to set up than before. This was seen in the tour schedule where a considerable number of concerts were one-stop performances. Equipment, which in total weighed over 100 tons, required two Boeing 747 jet aircraft and multiple lorries to transport to each venue.
Before the tour began, Jackson and his band (which had changed a little since the Bad world tour) rehearsed the whole concert. The footage of the rehearsals has been leaked into the Internet. However, the exact date and location of the performances is not clear, but it was rumored that the rehearsals took place in Jackson's Neverland home. The rehearsals included performances that never made it into the final show, including "Remember the Time", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Bad" and "Rock with You," among others.
For the tour's design, Jackson was influenced by the uniform worn in the military. For "Jam", the first performance on the tour's set list, Jackson wore two variations of a faux-military uniform. Costumes worn for the performances of "Workin' Day and Night", "Bad", as well as his later HIStory World Tour, were examples of this. During the first and second legs, the uniform was a grey-green jacket with a one bolted strap which sparkled with multicolour. For the third leg, Jackson wore a black uniform with three gold bolted straps, one going from his collar to his waist in one direction and the other two in another; he also used this costume at the first Dangerous Tour concert in Munich, first second leg concert in Tokyo, the Super Bowl XXVII halftime show in 1993, and later at the Royal Brunei Concert (pre-HIStory World Tour concert) in 1996.
The tour also incorporated several stage illusions. The Dangerous era was considered one of Jackson's best. Each concert on the tour ended by a stuntman, Kinnie Gibson, who secretly switched with Jackson as he kneels down a trap hole in the stage, dressed in a full astronaut costume (therefore appearing as Jackson), flying out of the arena using a rocket belt. Each concert also began with a illusion-like stunt dubbed "the Toaster" in which following the ringing of bells and the roar of a panther, Jackson catapults on to the stage through a trap door in the front, sending off pyrotechnics that electrified the crowd. "That opening was kick-ass," admired Janet Jackson. "I'm sitting in the sound tower and all the kids are everywhere. And when he jumped out of whatever the hell that thing was, I was yelling so loud, the kids in front of me were looking back and I didn't even know it. My friend Tina is saying, Jan, they're looking at you. Because I was going, Fuck yeah, Mike! That was the shit to me. That was so bad-ass. Why didn't I think of that? When he thought of that shit, he hit it." A similar version of "the Toaster" stunt was used in the beginning of Jackson's Super Bowl XXVII Halftime Show performance in 1993.
In the first and second legs, the transition from "Thriller" to "Billie Jean" was another stage trick. When Jackson walks into two pillars, he secretly switches with a werewolf-masked backup dancer while he changes for Billie Jean. The backup dancer posing as Jackson is placed into a coffin which disappears when dancers posing as skeletons and zombies drape a cloth over the coffin and pull it out. Jackson appears fully dressed for Billie Jean in the upper stage level as it lowers down. The coffin portion of this stage illusion was removed in some of first leg shows and the entire third leg of the tour, and replaced with the Jackson impersonator and the backup dancers performing an encore of the "Monster Breakdown" (the dance sequence in "Thriller").
First and second legs (1992) 
The original set list for the first leg featured "The Way You Make Me Feel" and "Bad", but these were taken out after the eighth concert in Oslo, Norway. However, these two songs were returned for the first four performances in Tokyo, Japan (the second leg).
During the Europe leg in 1992, MTV was allowed to film backstage and broadcast six fifteen minute episodes on the tour. The show was called Dangerous Diaries and presented by Sonya Saul.
Jackson sold the film rights to his October 1, 1992 concert in Bucharest, Romania to HBO for $21 million. The deal was the highest ever paid for a live concert. The concert was broadcast live on radio and shown on television across 61 countries, and received the highest TV ratings in the history of the HBO network, in which Jackson was honoured with a CableACE Award. In 2004, the concert was released on DVD as part of Jackson's The Ultimate Collection box set. It was released in 2005 as the separate DVD Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour. The footage used on the released version is actually a mixture of footage from Bucharest – The BBC Broadcast, HBO live telecast (pay per view) and the HBO TV version, however for the DVD shots of many fans were included to give the show a feeling of hype.
The Toulouse, France concert performed on September 16, 1992 featured a special instrumental performance of the first half of the song "In the Closet" as an interlude between the songs "Heal the World" and "Man in the Mirror". Princess Stéphanie of Monaco, who was the "Mystery Girl" in the actual song, was in attendance at this concert. This concert marked the first and only time that this song was performed on the tour.
On December 31, 1992 during the New Year's Eve concert in Tokyo, Japan, Slash made a special guest appearance for the performance of "Black or White". Slash also made a special appearance for "Black or White" at the concert in Oviedo, Spain in September 1992.
Super Bowl XXVII 
Unlike many previous years, Jackson was the only performer in the entire Super Bowl XXVII halftime show. The show started with Jackson dancing on certain jumbotrons, followed by impersonators that posed on top of the screen, which gave the illusion of Jackson moving from one side of the stadium to the other. Then Jackson himself catapulted on stage and simply stood frozen in front of the audience. Jackson's set included songs "Jam" (with the beginning of "Why You Wanna Trip on Me"), "Billie Jean" and "Black or White". The finale featured an audience card stunt, a video montage showing Jackson participating in various humanitarian efforts around the world, and a choir of 3,500 local Los Angeles area children singing "We Are the World", later joining Jackson as he sang his single "Heal the World".
It was the first Super Bowl where the audience figures actually increased during the half-time show. The selection of Jackson for the halftime show was in response to sagging interest in recent performances, notably in the two years immediately prior. The NFL and FOX network officials decided it was necessary to sign top acts for the halftime in future years to boost future viewership and interest. The NFL donated $100,000 to Jackson’s Heal the World Foundation.
Third leg (1993) 
The day the third leg began on August 24, 1993 in Bangkok, the accusation of child sexual abuse against Jackson was made public. Three days beforehand, a search warrant was issued, allowing police to search Jackson's Neverland Ranch, Santa Ynez Valley, California.
On 29 August, Jackson performed in front of 47,000 on his 35th birthday in Singapore.
During his visit to Moscow in September, Jackson came up with the song "Stranger in Moscow" which would be released on his 1995 album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. It was during a time when Jackson felt very alone, far away from his family and friends, yet every night throughout his tours fans would stay by his hotel and support him.
The tour was to last longer, but it was the huge pressure from the child abuse accusations (which was generating huge media and press attention), as well as various health problems and injuries that made Jackson end the tour in Mexico. Jackson began taking Valium, Xanax and Ativan (known as lorazepam in the UK) to deal with the stress of the accusations made against him. After the tour ended, Jackson voluntarily entered a rehabilitation program. In a taped statement, he credited Elizabeth Taylor, his sister Janet Jackson, and his family for support during the accusations and dealing with his drug addiction.
Set list 
"Michael's show, I loved," said Janet Jackson. "The only thing – and I told him – that I wish he had done was to play more songs from the new album. And I wish he had played 'Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough'. He goes, 'I know, Jan, and the other brothers told me that, but you know what? I was really pressed for time.' And that's the thing, when you become so busy. So it was pretty much the same show as he's been doing for some time."
Opening acts 
- Kris Kross
- D'Influence (England only)
- Snap! (Bucharest only)
- Culture Beat (1993 European dates only)
Tour dates 
|June 25, 1992||Munich||Germany||Olympiastadion|
|June 27, 1992||Munich||Germany||Olympiastadion|
|June 30, 1992||Rotterdam||Netherlands||Feijenoord Stadium|
|July 1, 1992|
|July 4, 1992||Rome||Italy||Stadio Flaminio|
|July 6, 1992||Monza||Stadio Brianteo|
|July 7, 1992|
|July 11, 1992||Cologne||Germany||Müngersdorfer Stadion|
|July 15, 1992||Oslo||Norway||Valle Hovin|
|July 17, 1992||Stockholm||Sweden||Stockholm Olympic Stadium|
|July 18, 1992|
|July 20, 1992||Copenhagen||Denmark||Gentofte Stadion|
|July 22, 1992||Werchter||Belgium||Werchter Festival Ground|
|July 25, 1992||Dublin||Ireland||Lansdowne Road|
|July 30, 1992||London||United Kingdom||Wembley Stadium|
|July 31, 1992|
|August 5, 1992||Cardiff||Cardiff Arms Park|
|August 8, 1992||Bremen||Germany||Weserstadion|
|August 10, 1992||Hamburg||Volksparkstadion|
|August 13, 1992||Hamelin||Weserbergland Stadium|
|August 16, 1992||Leeds||United Kingdom||Roundhay Park|
|August 18, 1992||Glasgow||Glasgow Green|
|August 20, 1992||London||Wembley Stadium|
|August 22, 1992|
|August 23, 1992|
|August 26, 1992||Vienna||Austria||Prater Stadium|
|August 28, 1992||Frankfurt||Germany||Waldstadion|
|August 30, 1992||Ludwigshafen||Südweststadion|
|September 2, 1992||Bayreuth||Volks Stadium|
|September 4, 1992||Berlin||Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sportpark|
|September 6, 1992[A]||Gelsenkirchen||Parkstadion|
|September 8, 1992||Lausanne||Switzerland||Stade Olympique de la Pontaise|
|September 11, 1992[B]||Basel||St. Jakob Stadium|
|September 13, 1992||Paris||France||Hippodrome de Vincennes|
|September 16, 1992||Toulouse||Stadium Municipal de Toulouse|
|September 18, 1992||Barcelona||Spain||Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys|
|September 21, 1992||Oviedo||Estadio Carlos Tartiere|
|September 23, 1992||Madrid||Estadio Vicente Calderón|
|September 26, 1992||Lisbon||Portugal||Estádio José Alvalade|
|October 1, 1992||Bucharest||Romania||Lia Manoliu Stadium|
|October 4, 1992[C]||Istanbul||Turkey||İnönü Stadium|
|October 7, 1992[D]||Izmir||İzmir Atatürk Stadium|
|October 10, 1992[E]||Athens||Greece||Olympic Stadium|
|December 12, 1992||Tokyo||Japan||Tokyo Dome|
|December 14, 1992|
|December 17, 1992|
|December 19, 1992|
|December 22, 1992|
|December 24, 1992|
|December 30, 1992|
|December 31, 1992|
|Super Bowl XXVII halftime show|
|January 31, 1993||Pasadena||United States||Rose Bowl Stadium|
|August 15, 1993[F]||Hong Kong||Hong Kong||Sha Tin Racecourse|
|August 16, 1993[E]|
|August 24, 1993||Bangkok||Thailand||Suphachalasai Stadium|
|August 27, 1993|
|August 29, 1993||Singapore||Singapore||Singapore National Stadium|
|September 1, 1993|
|September 4, 1993||Taipei||Taiwan||Taipei Municipal Stadium|
|September 6, 1993|
|September 10, 1993||Fukuoka||Japan||Fukuoka Dome|
|September 11, 1993|
|September 15, 1993||Moscow||Russia||Luzhniki Stadium|
|September 19, 1993||Tel Aviv||Israel||Yarkon Park|
|September 21, 1993|
|September 23, 1993||Istanbul||Turkey||İnönü Stadium|
|September 26, 1993||Tenerife||Spain||Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife|
|October 8, 1993||Buenos Aires||Argentina||Estadio River Plate|
|October 10, 1993|
|October 12, 1993|
|October 15, 1993||Sao Paulo||Brazil||Estádio do Morumbi|
|October 17, 1993|
|October 21, 1993[G]||Santiago||Chile||Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos|
|October 23, 1993|
|October 26, 1993[H]||Lima||Peru||Estadio Nacional Jose Diaz|
|October 29, 1993||Mexico City||Mexico||Estadio Azteca|
|October 31, 1993|
|November 7, 1993|
|November 9, 1993|
|November 11, 1993|
Cancellations and postponements 
Warm up gig (1992) 
First leg (1992) 
- 08/01/92: London, England, Wembley Stadium; Rescheduled for August 23, 1992. (Jackson reported a viral infection.) 
- 08/21/92: London, England, Wembley Stadium; Rescheduled for August 20, 1992. (Due to tour restructuring.)
- A 09/06/92: Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Parkstadion; CANCELLED (Due to serious health problem.)
- B 09/11/92: Basel, Switzerland, St. Jakob Stadium; CANCELLED (Due to serious health problem.)
- C 10/04/92: Istanbul, Turkey, İnönü Stadium; CANCELLED (Jackson arrived in Istanbul 2 October. Five hours before Jackson was due to perform, an announcement was made that, due to a vocal cord ailment, the concert had been cancelled.) During the same tour he later performed in Istanbul, Turkey 23 September 1993.
- D 10/07/92: Izmir, Turkey, İzmir Atatürk Stadium; CANCELLED (Due to serious health problem.)
- E 10/10/92: Athens, Greece, Olympic Stadium; CANCELLED (Due to serious health problem.)
- The European leg of the Dangerous World Tour ended after 37 of 42 planned dates, due to Jackson's ill health. He rested for several weeks before flying to Japan.
- There were some initial plans to take the tour to Venice, Italy; Liverpool, England; Stuttgart, Germany; Sevilla, Spain. These plans were later suspended due to tour restructuring.
- Jackson had also planned to end the 1992 Europe tour in Moscow Red Square, Russia. During the same tour he later performed in Moscow, Russia 15 September 1993.
Third leg (1993) 
- F 08/15/93: Hong Kong, Sha Tin Racecourse; CANCELLED (Originally, the Dangerous World Tour was to begin in Hong Kong with shows on August 15 and 16. Those dates were cancelled and could not be rescheduled because it would conflict with the start of the racing season.)
- F 08/16/93: Hong Kong, Sha Tin Racecourse; CANCELLED
- 08/25/93: Bangkok, Thailand, National Stadium; Rescheduled for August 26, 1993. (Jackson recovered from dehydration.)
- 08/26/93: Bangkok, Thailand, National Stadium; Rescheduled for August 27, 1993. (Jackson wasn't fully recovered from dehydration.) 
- 08/30/93: Singapore, National Stadium; Rescheduled for September 1, 1993. (Jackson collapsed before the show had begun.)
- 09/07/93 or 09/08/93; (another rejected application to perform in Seoul) 11/13/94 and 11/14/93: Seoul, South Korea, Olympic Stadium; BANNED/CANCELLED (This concert was banned by the authorities.)
- 09/30/93: Johannesburg, South Africa; CANCELLED (Marcel Avram, a concert promoter, claimed that he had no contract with the local promoter and these concerts were cancelled due to continuing violence in South Africa.)
- 10/02/93: Johannesburg, South Africa; CANCELLED
- 10/19/93: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Maracanã Stadium; CANCELLED (This concert was cancelled due to tour restructuring.)
- G 10/21/93: Santiago, Chile, Chile National Stadium; Rescheduled for October 25, 1993. (Due to serious health problem.) CANCELLED
- H 10/26/93: Lima, Peru, Estadio Nacional Jose Diaz; CANCELLED (Due to serious health problem.)
- 10/30/93: Mexico City, Mexico, Azteca Stadium; Rescheduled for October 31, 1993. (Due to tour restructuring.)
- 11/02/93: Mexico City, Mexico, Azteca Stadium; Rescheduled for November 7, 1993. (Due to serious health problem.)
- 11/03/93: Mexico City, Mexico, Azteca Stadium; Rescheduled for November 9, 1993. (Jackson recovered from surgery.)
- 11/06/93: Mexico City, Mexico, Azteca Stadium; Rescheduled for November 11, 1993. (Jackson continued to recover.)
- 11/09/93: San Juan, Puerto Rico, Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium; Rescheduled for November 14, 1993. CANCELLED
- 11/12/93: Caracas, Venezuela, Poliedro de Caracas; Rescheduled for November 19, 1993. CANCELLED
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates, al-Maktoum Stadium; BANNED/CANCELLED (Jackson planned to give 2 concerts in Dubai. These concerts were banned.)
- 12/03/93: Sydney, Australia; Sydney Cricket Ground; CANCELLED
- 12/04/93: Sydney, Australia; Sydney Cricket Ground; CANCELLED
- 12/06/93 or 12/07/93: Melbourne, Australia, Waverley Park; CANCELLED
- Jakarta, Indonesia, Gelora Bung Karno Stadium; BANNED/CANCELLED (This concert was banned by the authorities.)
- New Delhi, India, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi; CANCELLED (There were plans to give 2 concerts in India and these were supposed to be the last Dangerous World Tour concerts in December 1993.)
- There were also plans to take the tour to Monterrey, Mexico and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in November/December 1993.
Box office score data 
|Venue||City||Tickets Sold|
|Cardiff Arms Park||Cardiff||50,000|
|The Haugh (Glasgow Green)||Glasgow||65,000|
|Hippodrome de Vincennes||Paris||85,000|
|Carlos Tartiere Municipal Stadium||Oviedo||25,000|
|Vicente Calderon Stadium||Madrid||54,000|
|Estadio Jose Alvalade||Lisbon||52,411|
|Lia Manoliu National Stadium||Bucharest||70,000 + 20,000 police|
Broadcasts and recordings 
All concerts were professionally filmed by Nocturne Productions Inc., which filmed all of Jackson's tours and private affairs. The concert in Bucharest on October 1, 1992, was filmed and broadcast on television all across the world, with an unedited version airing on the BBC. The concert film titled Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour was officially released on DVD on July 25, 2005.
- Crampton, Luke (2009). Michael Jackson (Music Icons (Taschen)). Taschen. ISBN 9783836520812. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
- Q, June 1993
- Frank Cascio's Book: My Friend Michael: An Ordinary Friendship With An Extraordinary Man