The Earth Tour: 21 Nights in London explained

Concert Name:The Earth Tour: 21 Nights in London
Artist:Prince
Location:London, England
Venue:The O2 Arena
Type:Residency
Album:Planet Earth
Start Date:August 1, 2007
End Date:September 21, 2007
Number Of Legs:1
Number Of Shows:21
Last Tour:Per4ming Live 3121
(2006–07)
This Tour:The Earth Tour: 21 Nights in London
(2007)
Next Tour:Prince 20Ten
(2010)

The Earth Tour: 21 Nights in London was a concert residency at the O2 arena in London by American recording artist Prince that commenced on 1 August 2007 and concluded on 21 September 2007.[1] Tickets for all 21 nights were sold-out.

The residency was announced at a press conference on 8 May 2007. It was nominally in support of his recently released Planet Earth album which had been distributed in the UK for free with copies of The Mail on Sunday newspaper on 15 July 2007,[2] although the performances themselves primarily concentrated on earlier hits. Tickets for the concerts were priced at £31.21, echoing the title of Prince's 2006 album 3121.[3]

The show featured Prince and his band playing "in the round" on a stage in the shape of Prince's iconic Love Symbol #2 in the centre of the arena, surrounded by the audience. The set list changed nightly as Prince used code-words to direct his band to his next song choice (from a list of 200 songs that they had rehearsed in advance) on the fly. The concerts were followed by an after-party held at the neighbouring IndigO2 venue, also housed within the O2 facility, and which often saw Prince continue to perform, although these appearances were not guaranteed.

The Earth Tour remains the longest residency to have been held at the venue. The total audience attendance at the concerts was over 351,000.

Set list

Opening night set list

  1. UK Music Hall of Fame video intro
  2. "Purple Rain"
  3. "Girls & Boys" (includes "D.M.S.R." interpolation)
  4. "Satisfied"
  5. "Cream"
  6. "U Got the Look"
  7. "Shhh"
  8. "Musicology"
  9. "I Feel for You"
  10. "Controversy" (includes "Housequake" interpolation)
  11. "What a Wonderful World" (Instrumental) (performed by Renato Neto and Mike Phillips)
  12. "Somewhere Here on Earth"
  13. "Lolita"
  14. "Black Sweat"
  15. "Kiss"
  16. "If I Was Your Girlfriend"
  17. "Pink Cashmere" (includes "The One U Wanna C" lyrics)
  18. "7"
  19. "Come Together"
  20. "Take Me with U"
  21. "Guitar"
  22. "Planet Earth"
  23. "Crazy" (includes "One Nation Under a Groove" interpolation, performed by Shelby J.)
  24. "Nothing Compares 2 U"
  25. "Let's Go Crazy"
  26. "Little Red Corvette" (Solo guitar set)
  27. "Raspberry Beret" (Solo guitar set)
  28. "Sometimes It Snows in April" (Solo guitar set)
  29. "Get on the Boat"
  30. "A Love Bizarre"
  31. "Sexy Dancer"/"Le Freak" (vocals by Shelby J. and Marva King)

Band lineup

PrinceVox, Guitar, Bass, Keyboard/Piano, Sampler
Cora Coleman-DunhamDrums
Josh DunhamBass
Morris HayesKeyboards
Renato NetoKeyboards
Maceo ParkerSaxophoneshows until 1 September 2007 & 21 September 2007
Greg BoyerTrombone
Mike PhillipsSaxophone, Vocoder
Lee HogansTrumpet
Maya McCleanDance, Backing voxThe McClean sisters are collectively known as "The Twinz"
Nandy McCleanDance, Backing vox
Shelby J.Backing vox
Marva KingBacking vox

Shows

DateAttendanceRevenue
August 1, 2007351,527 / 351,527$22,052,026
August 3, 2007
August 4, 2007
August 7, 2007
August 10, 2007
August 11, 2007
August 14, 2007
August 17, 2007
August 18, 2007
August 24, 2007
August 25, 2007
August 28, 2007
August 31, 2007
September 1, 2007
September 6, 2007
September 9, 2007
September 12, 2007
September 13, 2007
September 16, 2007
September 20, 2007
September 21, 2007
Total351,527 / 351,527 (100%)$22,052,026

Notes and References

  1. News: Prince at the 02: The 21 nights that dazzled London. The Telegraph. April 22, 2016. McNulty. Bernadette.
  2. Web site: Mail on Sunday: 'include Prince CD in chart'. TheGuardian.com. July 13, 2007.
  3. Web site: Prince 21 Nights at the O2 in London - 10 years on from the greatest show on Planet Earth. August 3, 2017.