The Paul McCartney World Tour

The Paul McCartney World Tour was a worldwide concert tour by Paul McCartney, notable for being McCartney's first tour under his own name, and for the monumental painted stage sets by artist Brian Clarke. The 103-gig tour, which ran from 1989 through 1990, included a concert played to what was then the largest stadium crowd in the history of rock and roll.^[1]

The Paul McCartney World Tour

Tour by Paul McCartney
Cover of the tour booklet
Associated album	Flowers in the Dirt
Start date	26 September 1989
End date	29 July 1990
Legs	9
No. of shows	103
Paul McCartney concert chronology
The Paul McCartney World Tour (1989–90) Unplugged Tour 1991 (1991)

Concert ticket for 15 December 1989

Tour

The World Tour was Paul McCartney's first world tour under his own name; it was also his first major tour outing in ten years, following the Wings UK Tour 1979, and his first world tour since the 1976 Wings Over the World Tour (both also with Linda McCartney).

While the tour coincided with the release of the solo album Flowers in the Dirt, and promoted that record by inclusion of its songs in the set list, The Paul McCartney World Tour has been characterised as thematically more about him embracing his Beatles past; for the first time in any of his tours, a substantial number of Beatles songs were featured in the set list.

The tour was documented by the 1990 live albums Tripping the Live Fantastic and Tripping the Live Fantastic: Highlights!, and the 1991 concert film Get Back. A one-hour tour documentary was also aired on Channel 4 in the UK, titled From Rio to Liverpool.

Set designs

The sets for the tour were designed by regular McCartney collaborator, the artist Brian Clarke, who together with Linda McCartney created the album cover for Flowers in the Dirt. The hand-painted stage set backdrops, notable for their scale, were executed under Clarke’s supervision by the scenic painters Elms Lesters, at the Los Angeles Painting Rooms. The scale designs for the tour, individual artworks by Clarke in acrylic and paper collage on Velin, were first publicly exhibited in 1990, at the Mayor Gallery in London. Elements from the sets appear as the graphic basis of much of the promotional material.

 

Brian Clarke’s painted and collaged set designs for the tour, showing the original backdrops for the arena concerts, and the additional wings designed for shows in larger stadiums.

Tour booklet

Concert attendees received, free of additional charge, a lavish 9x12-inch 98-me page booklet, containing the tour itinerary, lengthy profiles of the band members, descriptions of the tour's stage and logistics, and an extended description of Friends of the Earth's mission. Two-thirds of the booklet consisted of McCartney's reflections upon his life and career, illustrated by many photographs.

Set list

The following set list is obtained from the September 28, 1989 concert in Scandinavium, Gothenburg.^[2] It is not intended to represent all dates throughout the tour.

1. "Figure of Eight"
2. "Jet"
3. "Rough Ride"
4. "Got to Get You into My Life"
5. "Band on the Run"
6. "Ebony and Ivory"
7. "We Got Married"
8. "Maybe I'm Amazed"
9. "The Long and Winding Road"
10. "The Fool on the Hill"
11. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
12. "Good Day Sunshine"
13. "Can't Buy Me Love"
14. "Put It There"
15. "Things We Said Today"
16. "Eleanor Rigby"
17. "This One"
18. "My Brave Face"
19. "Back in the U.S.S.R."
20. "I Saw Her Standing There"
21. "Twenty Flight Rock"
22. "Coming Up"
23. "Let It Be"
24. "Ain't That a Shame"
25. "Live and Let Die"
26. "Hey Jude"

Encore

27. "Yesterday"
28. "Get Back"
29. "Golden Slumbers"
30. "Carry That Weight"
31. "The End"

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue
Europe
26 September 1989	Drammen	Norway	Drammenshallen
28 September 1989	Gothenburg	Sweden	Scandinavium
29 September 1989	Stockholm		Isstadion
30 September 1989
3 October 1989	Hamburg	West Germany	Alsterdorfer Sporthalle
4 October 1989
6 October 1989	Frankfurt		Festhalle
7 October 1989
9 October 1989	Paris	France	Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy
10 October 1989
11 October 1989
16 October 1989	Dortmund	West Germany	Westfalenhalle
17 October 1989
20 October 1989	Munich		Olympiahalle
21 October 1989
22 October 1989
24 October 1989	Rome	Italy	Palaeur
26 October 1989	Milan		Palatrussardi
27 October 1989
29 October 1989	Zürich	Switzerland	Hallenstadion
30 October 1989
2 November 1989	Madrid	Spain	Palacio de los Deportes
3 November 1989
5 November 1989	Lyon	France	Halle Tony Garnier
7 November 1989	Rotterdam	Netherlands	Rotterdam Ahoy
8 November 1989
10 November 1989
11 November 1989
North America
23 November 1989	Inglewood	United States	Great Western Forum
24 November 1989
27 November 1989
28 November 1989
29 November 1989
3 December 1989	Rosemont		Rosemont Horizon
4 December 1989
5 December 1989
7 December 1989	Toronto	Canada	SkyDome
9 December 1989	Montreal		Montreal Forum
11 December 1989	New York City	United States	Madison Square Garden
12 December 1989
14 December 1989
15 December 1989
Europe
2 January 1990	Birmingham	England	National Exhibition Centre
3 January 1990
5 January 1990
6 January 1990
8 January 1990
9 January 1990
11 January 1990	London		Wembley Arena
13 January 1990
14 January 1990
16 January 1990
17 January 1990
19 January 1990
20 January 1990
21 January 1990
23 January 1990
24 January 1990
26 January 1990
North America
1 February 1990	Auburn Hills	United States	The Palace of Auburn Hills
2 February 1990
4 February 1990	Pittsburgh		Civic Arena
5 February 1990
8 February 1990	Worcester		Worcester Centrum
9 February 1990
12 February 1990	Cincinnati		Riverfront Coliseum
14 February 1990	Indianapolis		Market Square Arena
15 February 1990
18 February 1990	Atlanta		The Omni
19 February 1990
Asia
3 March 1990	Tokyo	Japan	Tokyo Dome
5 March 1990
7 March 1990
9 March 1990
11 March 1990
13 March 1990
North America
29 March 1990	Seattle	United States	Kingdome
31 March 1990	Berkeley		California Memorial Stadium
1 April 1990
4 April 1990	Tempe		Sun Devil Stadium
7 April 1990	Irving		Texas Stadium
9 April 1990	Lexington		Rupp Arena
12 April 1990	Tampa		Tampa Stadium
14 April 1990	Miami Gardens		Joe Robbie Stadium
15 April 1990
South America
20 April 1990	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	Maracanã Stadium
21 April 1990
Europe
23 June 1990	Glasgow	Scotland	S.E.C.C. Arena
28 June 1990	Liverpool	England	King's Dock
30 June 1990	Stevenage		Knebworth Park
North America
4 July 1990	Washington, D.C.	United States	RFK Stadium
6 July 1990
9 July 1990	East Rutherford		Giants Stadium
11 July 1990
14 July 1990	Philadelphia		Veterans Stadium
15 July 1990
18 July 1990	Ames		Cyclone Stadium
20 July 1990	Cleveland		Cleveland Stadium
22 July 1990	Raleigh		Carter–Finley Stadium
24 July 1990	Foxborough		Foxboro Stadium
26 July 1990
29 July 1990	Chicago		Soldier Field

Box office score data

Venue	City	Tickets sold / available	Gross revenue
The Palace of Auburn Hills	Auburn Hills	35,294 / 35,294	$1,005,879
Civic Arena	Pittsburgh	29,365 / 29,365	$836,903
Worcester Centrum	Worcester	29,600 / 29,600	$728,545
Riverfront Coliseum	Cincinnati	14,545 / 14,545	$414,533
Market Square Arena	Indianapolis	30,650 / 30,650	$873,525
The Omni	Atlanta	29,784 / 29,784	$848,844
California Memorial Stadium	Berkeley	118,352 / 118,352	$3,550,560
Sun Devil Stadium	Tempe	66,546 / 66,546	$1,996,380
Texas Stadium	Irving	57,337 / 57,337	$1,863,453
Rupp Arena	Lexington	19,951 / 19,951	$568,604
Tampa Stadium	Tampa	58,241 / 58,241	$1,747,230
Joe Robbie Stadium	Miami Gardens	95,410 / 95,410	$2,862,300
RFK Stadium	Washington, D.C.	91,892 / 91,892	$2,756,760
Giants Stadium	East Rutherford	105,082 / 105,082	$3,415,165
Veterans Stadium	Philadelphia	102,695 / 102,695	$3,107,980
Cyclone Stadium	Ames	53,763 / 53,763	$1,747,298
Cleveland Stadium	Cleveland	66,476 / 66,476	$1,994,280
Carter–Finley Stadium	Raleigh	51,260 / 51,260	$1,537,800
Foxboro Stadium	Foxborough	85,938 / 85,938	$2,578,110
Soldier Field	Chicago	55,630 / 55,630	$1,807,975
Total		1,197,811 / 1,197,811 (100%)	$36,242,124

Tour band

 

Outdoor stage and show, 14 July 1990 at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium

• Paul McCartney – lead vocals, guitars (acoustic, electric and bass), keyboards
• Linda McCartney – backing vocals, keyboards, percussion
• Hamish Stuart – backing vocals, guitars (acoustic, electric and bass)
• Robbie McIntosh – backing vocals, electric guitar
• Paul "Wix" Wickens – backing vocals, keyboards
• Chris Whitten – drums, percussion

See also

• List of highest-attended concerts

References

1. "Tour Archives: The Paul McCartney World Tour". paulmccartney.com. MPL Communications). Retrieved 12 Dec 2020.
2. Paul McCartney Concert Setlist at Scandinavium, Gothenburg, Sweden on September 28, 1989 http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/paul-mccartney/1989/scandinavium-gothenburg-sweden-63d11ec7.html