The Paul McCartney World Tour

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

Concert ticket for 15 December 1989

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.

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. 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

List of 1989 concerts

Date	City	Country	Venue
26 September	Drammen	Norway	Drammenshallen
28 September	Gothenburg	Sweden	Scandinavium
29 September	Stockholm		Isstadion
30 September
3 October	Hamburg	West Germany	Alsterdorfer Sporthalle
4 October
6 October	Frankfurt		Festhalle
7 October
9 October	Paris	France	Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy
10 October
11 October
16 October	Dortmund	West Germany	Westfalenhalle
17 October
20 October	Munich		Olympiahalle
21 October
22 October
24 October	Rome	Italy	Palaeur
26 October	Milan		Palatrussardi
27 October
29 October	Zürich	Switzerland	Hallenstadion
30 October
2 November	Madrid	Spain	Palacio de los Deportes
3 November
5 November	Lyon	France	Halle Tony Garnier
7 November	Rotterdam	Netherlands	Rotterdam Ahoy
8 November
10 November
11 November
23 November	Inglewood	United States	Great Western Forum
24 November
27 November
28 November
29 November
3 December	Rosemont		Rosemont Horizon
4 December
5 December
7 December	Toronto	Canada	SkyDome
9 December	Montreal		Montreal Forum
11 December	New York City	United States	Madison Square Garden
12 December
14 December
15 December

List of 1990 concerts

Date	City	Country	Venue
2 January	Birmingham	England	National Exhibition Centre
3 January
5 January
6 January
8 January
9 January
11 January	London		Wembley Arena
13 January
14 January
16 January
17 January
19 January
20 January
21 January
23 January
24 January
26 January
1 February	Auburn Hills	United States	The Palace of Auburn Hills
2 February
4 February	Pittsburgh		Civic Arena
5 February
8 February	Worcester		Worcester Centrum
9 February
12 February	Cincinnati		Riverfront Coliseum
14 February	Indianapolis		Market Square Arena
15 February
18 February	Atlanta		The Omni
19 February
3 March	Tokyo	Japan	Tokyo Dome
5 March
7 March
9 March
11 March
13 March
29 March	Seattle	United States	Kingdome
31 March	Berkeley		California Memorial Stadium
1 April
4 April	Tempe		Sun Devil Stadium
7 April	Irving		Texas Stadium
9 April	Lexington		Rupp Arena
12 April	Tampa		Tampa Stadium
14 April	Miami Gardens		Joe Robbie Stadium
15 April
20 April	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	Maracanã Stadium
21 April
23 June	Glasgow	Scotland	S.E.C.C. Arena
28 June	Liverpool	England	King's Dock
30 June	Stevenage		Knebworth Park
4 July	Washington, D.C.	United States	RFK Stadium
6 July
9 July	East Rutherford		Giants Stadium
11 July
14 July	Philadelphia		Veterans Stadium
15 July
18 July	Ames		Cyclone Stadium
20 July	Cleveland		Cleveland Stadium
22 July	Raleigh		Carter–Finley Stadium
24 July	Foxborough		Foxboro Stadium
26 July
29 July	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

Personnel

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 most-attended concerts