The Sweet Escape Tour
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Sweet Escape Tour | ||
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| Gwen Stefani performing "Early Winter" | ||
| Tour by Gwen Stefani | ||
| Start date | April 21, 2007 | |
| End date | November 3, 2007 | |
| Legs | 4 | |
| Shows | 55 in North America 4 in Latin America 10 in Pacific 6 in Asia 26 in Europe 101 shows in total with 3 cancelled shows. |
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| Gwen Stefani tour chronology | ||
| Harajuku Lovers Tour (2005) |
The Sweet Escape Tour (2007) |
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The Sweet Escape Tour was American pop rock singer Gwen Stefani's second concert tour. The tour began in April 2007 in support of her sophomore solo album The Sweet Escape. The tour was a follow up to her 2005 tour, The Harajuku Lovers Tour. The seven month tour had a total of 101 shows in four legs on four continents and ended in November 2007.
The tour had various supplementary acts opening the shows namely Akon, Lady Sovereign, Gym Class Heroes, Cansei de Ser Sexy, Shirley Manson, Hoku Ho, OneRepublic, Sean Kingston and the colombian rock band The Hall Effect. Stefani's set list included songs from her two solo albums, Love.Angel.Music.Baby (2004) and The Sweet Escape (2006).
The tour was the twenty-third most commercially successful tour of 2007 in the United States, grossing over $30 million. The tour received generally positive reviews from critics.
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[edit] Introduction
The tour was Stefani's follow up to her previous The Harajuku Lovers tour(2005). 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.[1] 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.[2]
[edit] Stefani's set list
- "The Sweet Escape", with Akon
- "Rich Girl"
- "Yummy"
- "4 in the Morning"
- "Luxurious"
- "Early Winter"
- "Wind It Up"
- "Fluorescent"
- "Danger Zone"
- "Hollaback Girl"
- "Now That You Got It" (album version/reggae remix)
- "Don't Get It Twisted/Breakin' Up"
- "Cool"
- "Wonderful Life"
- "Orange County Girl"
Encore:
- "The Real Thing (a cappella)"[3]
- "U Started It"
- "What You Waiting For?"
^ a "Fluorescent" and "U Started It" were not included in set lists in Latin American, European, Asian, and Australian concerts.
[edit] Notable events
The tour was marked by many notable events. The tour had it's 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."[4] In April, Akon drew criticism for having on-stage simulated sex with a fifteen-year-old preacher's daughter, at a club in Trinidad and Tobago, as part of a fake contest.[5][6]As a result, the tour's sponsor Verizon Wireless decided not to sponsor the tour.[7]
Stefani donated $166,000 from her 30 October concert in San Diego to "The San Diego Foundation" fire relief fund.[8] 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".[9]
[edit] Tour dates
^ b These concerts were a part of the Summer Sonic Festival.
^ c These concerts were cancelled.
[edit] DVD
The show at the Cox Arena was filmed for her live DVD. For the occasion, Gwen did a special performance of the song "U Started It" which had only been seen at a few shows.
Also, when she ran out into the audience to sing Cool , she said that there was a contest going on for which show could sing the loudest. Stefani said, "Would you like to know the winning, winning, winning country, the winning country, it's kind of between, it's a little bit between Paris France, Colombia, and Irvine California." Then Stefani asked, "You think you can do it San Diego."
[edit] Critical reception and commercial success
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 break-dancers entertained."[13] 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".[3] 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".[14] 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."[15] T. Michael Crowell of Sign On San Diego also agreed and said, "Her vocal range is narrow, and her pitch is not always dead-on."[16]
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 18 sold-out shows.[17]
[edit] References
- General
- Gwen Stefani's setlist.. Livedaily. Retrieved on 2007-12-24.
- The Sweet Escape Tour dates.. About.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-24.
- Opening Acts. Last - fm. Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- Specific
- ^ Greene, Andy"No Doubt Hit the Studio;Gwen Stefani Oversees Proceedings From Afar" Rolling Stone Retrieved on 2007-12-28
- ^ Davis, Aaron"Gwen Stefani puts on pop performance at arena" Recornet Retrieved on 2008-01-07
- ^ a b Wheeler, Katrina - Kasey"Gwen Stefani - PopMatters Concert Review" PopMatters Retrieved on 2007-12-24
- ^ "Malaysian group urges ban on Gwen Stefani concert" Reuters Retrieved on 2007-12-22
- ^ Telesford, Nigel. Akon 'cons' Trinidad, Trinidad Express, 2007-04-14
- ^ Ramnarine, Kristy. Zen owner: Age limit 21 for club, Trinidad Express, 2007-04-20
- ^ Leeds, Jeff. Verizon Drops Pop Singer From Ads, New York Times, 2007-05-10
- ^ "Gwen Stefani Creates Wildfire Scholarship Fund" ET Retrieved on 2007-12-22
- ^ Kaufman, Gil "Gwen Stefani And No Doubt Surprise Fans With Hometown Reunion" MTV Retrieved on 2007-12-22
- ^ Kilgore, Kym "Gwen Stefani expands 'Sweet Escape' plan" LiveDaily Retrieved on 2007-12-18
- ^ Performance Video
- ^ "Stefani cancels Nov. 8-9 shows in Phoenix" azcentral.com Retrieved on 2007-12-28
- ^ Fuoco-Karasinski, Christina "Live Review: Gwen Stefani in Phoenix" Livedaily Retrieved on 2007-12-24
- ^ Macias, Chris"Stefani's sweet escape to Sleep Train" Sacbee Retrieved on 2007-12-24
- ^ Anderman, Joan"A sweet escape with Stefani" Boston.com Retrieved on 2007-12-27
- ^ Crowell, T. Michael"Energy, glitz of Gwen a hit with faithful fans" Sign On San Diego Retrieved on 2007-12-27
- ^ "Top 25 most successful tours of 2007" Billboard Retrieved on 2007-12-24
[edit] External links
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