Tours that went to every continent

[StrawberryBlond 14,093]

What with touring being back in full force again and with record-breaking tours recently from the likes of Elton John, Taylor Swift and Beyonce and tour tickets being in such high demand, it makes me think of how many tours have literally tried to tour every continent so they went literally everywhere? Admittedly, it is very hard to travel to all continents on a single tour for many reasons which is why not many acts have done it and they just do it once if so. It is naturally a big deal to achieve this and it proves how much of a cultural sensation you are to have it be possible. So, there's 6 inhabitable continents: North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania. And I personally think it's a good bonus if they've also performed in Caribbean nations because they're super rare to tour in, so here's the ones I can seem to find in chronological order:

Celine Dion - Taking Chances Tour (2008-2009) - 131 dates across 6 continents including the Caribbean (Puerto Rico)

Beyonce - I Am...World Tour (2009-2010) - 104 dates across 6 continents including the Caribbean (Trinidad & Tobago) and she had plans to perform in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic before cancellation

Lady Gaga - Born This Way Ball (2012-2013) - 98 dates across 6 continents including the Caribbean (Puerto Rico)

Justin Bieber - Believe Tour (2012-2013) - 155 dates across 6 continents including the Caribbean (Puerto Rico & Dominican Republic) & Purpose World Tour (2016-2017) - 162 dates across 6 continents including the Caribbean (Puerto Rico & Dominican Republic) & had plans to another six continent tour with Justice World Tour but the remainder of the tour was cancelled

Bon Jovi - Because We Can Tour (2013) - 102 dates across 6 continents

Guns n' Roses - Not In This Lifetime...Tour (2016-2019) - 175 dates across 6 continents

Ed Sheeran - Divide Tour (2017-2019) - 260 dates across 6 continents including the Caribbean (Puerto Rico)

Katy Perry - Witness: The Tour (2017-2018) - 115 dates across 6 continents 

Backstreet Boys - DNA World Tour (2019-2023) - 218 dates across 6 continents

 

I think that's everyone. Let me know if I missed out anyone. For what it's worth, Michael Jackson and Enrique Iglesias almost did 6 continent tour but had to cancel the dates that would have made it possible. And naturally, there are many tours that came really close by missing just one continent. But it just goes to show how hard it is to make it possible because there's definitely many singers who would be capable of doing this. And to think Gaga was one of the first makes me so proud of her. 

[bionic 41,950]

i give limited emphasis to tours where they visit one/two countries in an entire continent

im surprised beyonce tours UAE so often

[LUCARTPOP 5,897]

Taylor next! 

[Ivannn 1,079]

But will Taylor Swift tour Africa? I was thinking She could do it in December this year with South African dates.

[RAMROD 104,155]

2 hours ago, Ivannn said:

But will Taylor Swift tour Africa? I was thinking She could do it in December this year with South African dates.

She won't. Don't ask why 

[AyeshaErotica 1,421]

I also think that's all. As a small side note: As far as I am informed, there has been not a single tour where a pop singer or band went to every 6 inhabitable continents and performed in at least five of these six continents also in a non-anglophone city (6th Continent Australia/Oceania is here considered to be guaranteed anglophone with no feasible other options).

[tylerjs 5,440]

Interesting. I’ve never really cared for seeing artists live, idk why. I saw Gaga live once at artRAVE and it was a great show of course, but I could live without ever doing another concert again. I’ve been to a couple shows but I just don’t really get the appeal I guess

[Reject False Icons 4,644]

This just proves in the past there used to be far bigger tours, and they did so many more dates than now, the level to be a pop star was so high, ofc artists ended up so exhausted and beaten up so good and bad 

[Cruelty 5,887]

so no-one else remembers when the Born This Way Ball played McMurdo Station? 

[dimitristhe 1,545]

Honourable mention should be these 2 Kylie Minogue tours.

Kylie Minogue - Aphrodite: Les Folies Europe, North America, Africa (South Africa), Asia and Australia 

Kylie Minogue - KylieX2008 (+2009 Festivals in Europe)  
Europe, South America, Asia, Oceania 

Out of topic: Gaga could have done some bigger venues during Born This Way Ball. She could have booked stadiums in India, Australia, Taiwan, Israel, Turkey and Greece. Also, a bigger stadium in Tokyo, London, Manchester, Barcelona, Milan and Amsterdam. Sometimes her team really underestimate her power.

[StrawberryBlond 14,093]

18 hours ago, bionic said:

i give limited emphasis to tours where they visit one/two countries in an entire continent

im surprised beyonce tours UAE so often

I get your point but honestly, some continents are so difficult to truly sell out in that it's a big deal to even go there at all as it's a big risk to touring profit if you can't sell tickets. That's why artists only go to certain regions every second or third tour. In countries with small populations and/or poverty, you can't expect them to buy tickets every 2/3 years on back-to-back tours. It really makes you feel grateful for all you have. To think, us in the West complain if an artist isn't coming to our city/state and complain about having to travel without thinking that a lot of the world live in regions where their fave literally never tours and who they'd have to travel across several countries to see live and they don't have enough money for the tickets alone never mind travel and accommodation costs.

A region like UAE is probably quite easy to tour in frequently because it's one of the richest nations on the planet. The richest ones like UAE might even have artists do a random small venue date for about 4k people or so from the mega elite who pay mega bucks. I know I sometimes see a random date on a tour roster in Monaco or Macau at some exclusive club or casino that made about $2 million from like, 2,000 people or something. Affluent nations always get frequent tour dates and the richer it is, the more expensive the tickets. Whenever Gaga tours in Japan, it's always one of her highest grossing dates despite that amount of people not making anywhere near that amount anywhere else. Making over $18 million from just 3 arena dates in Japan for BTWB is still mind-blowing to me. 

18 hours ago, Ivannn said:

But will Taylor Swift tour Africa? I was thinking She could do it in December this year with South African dates.

I was wondering. It's the only continent she hasn't announced dates for and the only continent she's never toured. Considering she's also touring South America for the first time ever now certainly suggests it's a possibility. It's clear her aim is to have at least 2 dates for every venue but I feel she could easily do 2 sold-out dates in either Johannesburg or Cape Town. It doesn't have to be the biggest stadium, just a stadium and she'll only extend the impressiveness of this tour. 

12 hours ago, LoliLux said:

I also think that's all. As a small side note: As far as I am informed, there has been not a single tour where a pop singer or band went to every 6 inhabitable continents and performed in at least five of these six continents also in a non-anglophone city (6th Continent Australia/Oceania is here considered to be guaranteed anglophone with no feasible other options).

I don't know why that's an issue, though. Of course it's impressive if they can get demand from non-anglophone cities but even most singers who speak the language fluently can't sell out these regions so it's not so much a language barrier but just how popular and culturally important your music is. I assume the only non-anglophone cities in North America are the majority French speaking regions of Quebec? 

7 hours ago, dimitristhe said:

Honourable mention should be these 2 Kylie Minogue tours.

Kylie Minogue - Aphrodite: Les Folies Europe, North America, Africa (South Africa), Asia and Australia 

Kylie Minogue - KylieX2008 (+2009 Festivals in Europe)  
Europe, South America, Asia, Oceania 

Out of topic: Gaga could have done some bigger venues during Born This Way Ball. She could have booked stadiums in India, Australia, Taiwan, Israel, Turkey and Greece. Also, a bigger stadium in Tokyo, London, Manchester, Barcelona, Milan and Amsterdam. Sometimes her team really underestimate her power.

Yep, I was aware of those. I actually could've sworn that Les Foiles did indeed go to 6 continents but found out that she didn't include South America, which she could easily have sold out in. I also could've sworn Shakira did at least one 6 continent tour but was surprised to find that she didn't visit Oceania. Rihanna did a 5 continent tour as well. 

Agreed about Gaga. At her peak, she could have done bigger venues. Still pressed that the UK was only given 2 stadiums and an arena for BTWB, that album had sold almost a million copies here by that point. I guess after the lack of sales in Eastern Europe, the disaster of the Bulgarian date especially and the lower than expected demand in Latin America (with the addition of the disaster of the Greek date for ArtRave) did make them cautious going forward. I hope that the amazing success of the all-stadium Chromatica tour inspires her team to keep booking stadiums and give her bigger ones where possible. Over 834k people were still interested in a 2-year-old album enough to buy expensive tickets to see her sing it live is a sign that if she put on a tour just after an album release, it would be even more successful.