HIStory World Tour

The HIStory World Tour was the third and final worldwide solo concert tour by American singer and songwriter Michael Jackson, covering Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa and North America. The tour included a total of 82 concerts spanning the globe with stops in 57 cities, 35 countries on 5 continents. The tour promoted Jackson's 1995 album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. The second leg also promoted the remix album Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix. The tour was attended by over 4.5 million fans.

Overview
The tour was announced on May 29, 1996, and marked Jackson's first concert tour since his Dangerous World Tour ended in late 1993.

Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania (1996)
Jackson's debut concert for the tour, performed at Letná Park in Prague, was one of the largest single attended concerts in his career, with over 125,000 people. On October 7, 1996, he performed for the first time ever in the Arab world and Africa as a solo artist in Tunis. During the tour's stopover in Sydney, Australia, he married Debbie Rowe in a private and impromptu ceremony. He was interviewed by Molly Meldrum In Brisbane and danced with two women during "You Are Not Alone".

North America (1997)
From January 3–4, 1997, Jackson performed his only two concerts on this tour in the US, in Honolulu, Hawaii, at the Aloha Stadium, to a crowd of 35,000 each; making him the first artist in history to sell out the stadium.

Europe and Africa (1997)
During the break period, Jackson worked and released his Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix album. The second leg started on May 31, 1997, at the Weserstadion in Bremen, Germany.

Jackson performed at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark on his 39th birthday with 60,000 fans. He was presented with a surprise birthday cake, marching band, and fireworks on stage after "You Are Not Alone". The concert at Hippodrome Wellington of Ostend, Belgium, was originally scheduled for August 31, 1997, but was postponed to September 3 following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Latin America cancellations (1997–98)
There were some initial plans to take the tour, in February 1997, to such Brazilian cities as São Paulo, Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, and Brasília; but these plans were suspended due to promotional issues. Jackson tried to visit Brazil again in February 1998, as well as Argentina, but these too were scrapped so that he could work on MJ and Friends.

Recordings
Throughout the tour, many concerts were professionally filmed by Nocturne Productions, but none were ever officially released on DVD. In South Korea, a VHS recording of his show in Seoul was released, only within the bounds of the country. Although the footage is poor in quality and Michael Jackson was suffering a fever at the time, resulting in his vocals being weakened, it made major success in that country. Jackson planned to release a DVD of his performance in Munich, Germany (July 6th). The film was never released due to Jackson being unimpressed by his vocals brought on by laryngitis. In 2010, TV channels such as RTL 5, ZDF, WOWOW, and Veronica TV broadcast the Munich concert in HD, and those broadcasts can be found on YouTube. This broadcast contains footage mostly from the Munich July 6th show, but it has some snippets from the first Munich show (July 4th) and a large snippet of the Leipzig show (August 3rd) during the Jackson 5 Medley speech. In 2022, a 1080p version of Billie Jean from the Munich concert was leaked, this version of the performance wasn't just the July 6th performance as this new 1080p footage contained snippets from the July 4th performance of Billie Jean, along with that, part of the soundboard from the show was also leaked, 54 audio tracks from Billie Jean were leaked along with a live mic feed where Jackson's voice could be heard singing where normally playback would be heard. It was rumoured that the remaster, in addition to some portions of the soundboard audio, were planned to be released alongside a 25th anniversary edition of the HIStory album, but plans were likely halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lead performer

 * Vocals, Dance, Choreographer: Michael Jackson

1996 Leg

 * LaVelle Smith
 * Cris Judd
 * Travis Payne
 * Damon Navandi
 * Courtney Miller
 * Jason Yribar
 * Anthony Talauega
 * Richmond Talauega
 * Shawnette Heard
 * Lori Werner

1997 Leg

 * LaVelle Smith
 * Cris Judd
 * Anthony Talauega
 * Richmond Talauega
 * Stacy Walker
 * Faune Chambers

Band members

 * Musical Director: Brad Buxer
 * Assistant Musical Director: Kevin Dorsey
 * Keyboards: Isaiah Sanders, Brad Buxer
 * Drums: Jonathan Moffett
 * Guitars: Jennifer Batten, Greg Howe (1996 leg – replaced Jennifer Batten in Amsterdam (October 2), Tunis and Seoul), David Williams
 * Bass: Freddie Washington

Vocals

 * Vocal Director: Kevin Dorsey
 * Vocals: Kevin Dorsey, Dorian Holley, Marva Hicks (1996–1997 leg), Darryl Phinnessee (1996 leg), Fred White (1997 leg)

Credits

 * Executive Director: MJJ Productions
 * Artistic Director: Michael Jackson
 * Assistant Director: Peggy Holmes
 * Choreographed by: Michael Jackson & LaVelle Smith
 * Staged & Designed by: Kenny Ortega
 * Set Designed by: Michael Cotton & John McGraw
 * Lighting Designer: Peter Morse
 * Security 1996: Darrell Featherstone
 * Security 1997: Bill Bray
 * Costumes Designed by: Dennis Tompkins & Michael Bush
 * Hair & Make-up: Karen Faye and Tommy Sims
 * Stylist: Tommy Sims
 * Tour Producer and Personal Manager: Tarak Ben Ammar
 * Personal Management: Gallin Morey Associates
 * Chris Senger : Production Manager
 * Music Video Directors: Steve Barron, Joe Pytka, John Landis, Bruce Gowers, Martin Scorsese, Bob Giraldi, John Singleton and Nick Saxton

Sponsor

 * Kingdom Entertainment