The Voodoo World Tour

The Voodoo World Tour is a tour by American R&B/neo soul singer D'Angelo in support of his Platinum selling album, Voodoo. The tour started March 1, with the first of five nights in Los Angeles, CA at the House of Blues.[1] The singer's itinerary included two North American Legs,[2] as well as dates throughout Europe and South America.

The Voodoo World Tour
Tour by D'Angelo
Associated albumVoodoo
Start dateMarch 1, 2000
End dateOctober 20, 2000
Legs4
No. of shows68 in United States
1 in Canada
1 in South America
7 in Europe
77 total
D'Angelo concert chronology

Background

Following Voodoo's release, D'Angelo embarked on his second international tour in support of the album. The tour was sponsored by the clothing company Levi Strauss & Co., and it featured D'Angelo promoting an end to gun violence.[3] After signing an initiative on June 7, 2000 at Hamilton High School in West Los Angeles to collect a million signatures by November 7 in support of "common-sense solutions" to end gun violence, the anti-gun violence organization PAX agreed to sponsor the tour.[3] The tour was also set to feature a wall composed of denim by Levi's, made available for fans to sign in support of anti-gun violence.[3] Consisting of a group assembled and directed by Questlove, the Soultronics, composed mostly of session personnel, the tour became one of the most attended shows of the year. According to a July 2000 issue of Jet magazine, the tour's first half "sold out in every city."[4] It began on March 1, 2000 at the House of Blues in Los Angeles,[5] The tour lasted nearly eight months, while performances went for up to three hours a night.[6][7] "The Voodoo Tour" was taken internationally to venues including Paris Olympia, Trump Taj Mahal, Brixton Academy, the Montreux Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Free Jazz Festival in Brazil.[8] Tour manager Alan Leeds, who previously headed James Brown's late 1960s and early 1970s outings, as well as Prince's Purple Rain tour in the mid-1980s, cited "The Voodoo Tour" as his most memorable gig.[6] J Dilla's group Slum Village opened on several dates, while R&B singer Anthony Hamilton sang backup within the Soultronics on occasion.[9][10]

The show

In contrast to D'Angelo's supporting tour for Brown Sugar, which presented him performing behind his keyboard on stage, he exhibited a different style of showmanship and energy. Rolling Stone magazine called him "confident and worldly" in his performance, while also stating "No wonder he's alive onstage now, dancing, touching the audience, slamming his microphone down, lying on the ground at the lip of the stage to sing 'One Mo' Gin' while girls grab his legs, his stomach, his crotch."[11] D'Angelo's wardrobe during the tour included tank tops, black leather pants, and boots.[11] On one of the live outings, Rolling Stone described the appearance of the performers, stating "The Soultronics begin each show in all black, but beyond that one requirement, each looks completely distinct. One man is in a deacon's robe, another in a long cape with a knit ski cap that says FBI. There’s a feather boa, a few badass leather coats, and Questlove's mighty Afro. There's a P-Funkish freaky flair to the Soultronics' look."[11]

In a review of D'Angelo's tour-opening performance at the House of Blues, The Hollywood Reporter's David Wollock described it as a "three-hour old-school soul marathon that was part 'Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine', part 'Let's Get It On', part 'Move on Up' gospel exuberance ... with call-and-response and other crowd-rousing church conventions".[12] Wollock praised D'Angelo for his energy and display of showmanship, and wrote that "like the best hip-hop emcees who can rock a crowd with two turntables and a microphone, D moved the crowd with pure voice and charisma."[12] A staff writer for the Chicago Defender lauded his performance at the Chicago Theatre, calling it "an explosive mixture of R&B, soul and funk."[13]

With ticket prices ranging from $49 to $79,[14] the tour became one of the most attended shows of 2000.[4] The tour began on March 1, 2000 at the House of Blues in Los Angeles,[5] while other venues included Paris Olympia, Trump Taj Mahal, Brixton Academy, the Montreux Jazz Festival, and the Essence Jazz Festival in New Orleans.[3] By July, the tour's first half had sold out in each city.[4] The tour lasted nearly eight months, while performances went for up to three hours a night.[6][7] The Voodoo Tour was taken internationally, with one of the most notable performances being the Free Jazz Festival in Brazil.[8]

Critical reception

Performances earned rave reviews from critics and publications, who praised D'Angelo's energy and "charisma as a live performer", as well as the Soultronics group,[15][16] and received comparisons to outings by the legendary funk bands Parliament and Sly & the Family Stone.[14] Tanya Bell of The Gazette wrote that the group "displayed enormous talent as it took them two hours to play 11 songs."[14] A staff writer for the Chicago Defender lauded his performance at the Chicago Theatre, calling it "an explosive mixture of R&B, soul and funk."[13] Rolling Stone called him "abundantly gifted, eye-poppingly spectacular", "confident and worldly" in his performance at the House of Blues in Los Angeles.[11] It compared the performance to his past concerts, stating "he's alive onstage now, dancing, touching the audience, slamming his microphone down, lying on the ground at the lip of the stage to sing 'One Mo' Gin' while girls grab his legs, his stomach, his crotch."[11]

Totally committed, D'Angelo betrayed neither weakness nor ego—and gave so much Thursday that Friday he canceled with a sore throat I absolutely believe was the truth. He was R&B Jesus, and I'm a believer. Travel to another city to see him now.

— Robert Christgau, 2000[17]

In a review of D'Angelo's tour-opening performance at the House of Blues, David Wollock of The Hollywood Reporter called it a "three-hour old-school soul marathon that was part 'Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine', part 'Let's Get It On', part 'Move on Up' gospel exuberance [...] with call-and-response and other crowd-rousing church conventions".[12] He added that, "like the best hip-hop emcees who can rock a crowd with two turntables and a microphone, D moved the crowd with pure voice and charisma."[12] Kaia Shivers of the Los Angeles Sentinel commented that his Los Angeles tour stop placed the city "under a spell that it seems hard pressed to shake."[18]

Reviewing his March performance at New York City's Radio City Music Hall, rock critic Robert Christgau dubbed D'Angelo "R&B Jesus" and proclaimed himself a "believer".[19] Christgau praised D'Angelo's delivery and compared the concert to a 1981 P-Funk outing at the Apollo Theater, stating "D'Angelo sang and danced and preached and flexed and crooned and humped the floor and covered Roberta Flack and snapped a mike stand in two and danced and sang and sang some more. Everything meshed; all stops were pulled out. It was already the greatest concert I'd seen in years when Redman and Method Man propelled the climactic 'Left and Right' through the vaulted ceiling. I flashed on P-Funk's 'Sadie', Apollo 1981. What a privilege to experience such a thing again."[20] He also compared it to Marvin Gaye in concert, writing that "I saw Marvin Gaye at this venue shortly before he was murdered, and it was no contest. Gaye was fine, but self-indulgent and riddled with blank spots."[20]

Opening acts

Set list
  1. "Voodoo" (Intro)
  2. "Devil's Pie"
  3. "Send It On"
  4. "Smooth"
  5. "Chicken Grease"
  6. "How Does it Feel?" (teaser)
  7. "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine"
  8. "Me and Those Dreamin' Eyes Of Mine"
  9. "Sh*t, Damn, Motherf*cker"
  10. "One Mo' Gin"
  11. "The Root" (teaser)
  12. "Feel Like Makin' Love"
  13. "Left and Right"
  14. "Left & Right (pt. 2)"
  15. Interlude
  16. "Brown Sugar"
  17. "Jonz in my Bonz"
  18. "Lady"
  19. "Fall In Love"
  20. "Untitled (How Does It Feel)"
  21. "Funk Jam"

Band

Tour dates
Date City Country Venue
North America[23]
March 1, 2000 Los Angeles United States House of Blues
March 2, 2000
March 3, 2000
March 5, 2000
March 6, 2000
March 16, 2000 New York City Radio City Music Hall
March 18, 2000
March 20, 2000 Radio City Music Hall (rescheduled from March 17)
March 21, 2000 Philadelphia Tower Theater
March 22, 2000
March 24, 2000 Washington, D.C. DAR Constitution Hall
March 25, 2000
March 26, 2000 Boston Wang Center (rescheduled from March 20)[24]
March 28, 2000 Cleveland Palace Theatre
March 29, 2000 Toronto Canada Massey Hall
March 31, 2000 Chicago United States Arie Crown Theater
April 1, 2000
April 3, 2000 Denver Paramount Theatre
April 5, 2000 Oakland Paramount Theater
April 6, 2000
April 7, 2000 Los Angeles Gibson Amphitheatre
April 8, 2000
April 10, 2000 San Diego Open Air Theatre
April 11, 2000 Las Vegas The Joint
April 12, 2000 Phoenix Celebrity Theatre
April 14, 2000 Dallas Majestic Theatre
April 15, 2000 Houston Aerial Theater
April 16, 2000
April 18, 2000 Nashville Tennessee Performing Arts Center
April 19, 2000 Kansas City Midland Theatre
April 20, 2000 St. Louis Fox Theater
April 22, 2000 Detroit Fox Theatre
April 23, 2000
April 25, 2000 Newark New Jersey Performing Arts Center
April 26, 2000 Washington, D.C. DAR Constitution Hall
April 28, 2000 Richmond Landmark Theater
April 29, 2000 Greensboro Special Events Center
April 30, 2000 Charlotte Ovens Auditorium
May 2, 2000 Miami James L. Knight Center
July 2, 2000 New Orleans Superdome
July 4, 2000 Milwaukee Marcus Amphitheater
Europe
July 7, 2000 Kristiansand Norway Quart Festival
July 8, 2000 Stockholm Sweden Cirkus
July 12, 2000 Paris France Le Grand Rex
July 14, 2000 Montreux Switzerland Montreux Jazz Festival
July 15, 2000 Zeebrugge Belgium Axion Beach Rock
July 16, 2000 The Hague Netherlands North Sea Jazz Festival
July 19, 2000 London England Brixton Academy
North America
July 28, 2000 Cincinnati United States Coors Light Festival
July 29, 2000 Chicago Chicago Theatre
July 30, 2000 Kansas City Midland Theatre
August 1, 2000 Denver Paramount Theatre
August 3, 2000 Phoenix Celebrity Theatre
August 4, 2000 Las Vegas House of Blues
August 5, 2000 San Diego Open Air Theater
August 7, 2000 Los Angeles Greek Theatre
August 8, 2000 Universal Amphitheater
August 9, 2000 Concord Chronicle Pavilion
August 10, 2000 Sacramento Memorial Auditorium
August 12, 2000 Portland Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
August 13, 2000 Seattle The Pier
August 16, 2000 Minneapolis Orpheum Theatre
August 18, 2000 Indianapolis Murat Temple
August 19, 2000 Detroit Chene Park
August 20, 2000 Cleveland State Theater
August 22, 2000 Pittsburgh Iron City Light Amphitheater
August 23, 2000 Buffalo Shea's Performing Arts Center
August 24, 2000 Atlantic City Trump Taj Mahal
August 27, 2000 Wallingford Oakdale Theatre
August 28, 2000 Boston Fleet Boston Pavilion
August 29, 2000 Holmdel Township PNC Bank Arts Center
August 31, 2000 Baltimore Pier Six Concert Pavilion
September 2, 2000 Fort Pierce Sunrise Theatre
September 3, 2000 Orlando Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre
September 4, 2000 Atlanta Chastain Park
South America
October 20, 2000 São Paulo Brazil Free Jazz Festival

References
  1. billboard bits-d'angelo tour.www.billboard.com-February 2000
  2. d'angelo eyes q-tip, mosdef and common for u.s. tour.www.mtv.com/news.Feb.9,2000
  3. Rosen, Craig. D'Angelo Wants To End Gun Violence. Yahoo! Music. Retrieved on 2008-11-01.
  4. Columnist. "Hot Singer D'Angelo". Jet: 58–62. July 3, 2000.
  5. Evan, Rob. Chart-Topper D'Angelo Sets Tour Plans Archived February 8, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. LiveDaily. Retrieved on 2010-08-09.
  6. "Peisner"
  7. Rosen, Craig. D'Angelo Recalls The Artist's Influence on Him. Yahoo! Music. Retrieved on 2008-11-01.
  8. Video: Brown Sugar Live in Brazil. AOL. Retrieved on 2008-08-16.
  9. Nelson, Trevor. Ayia Napa 2000 Slum Village Interview. BBC Radio 1. Retrieved on 2008-11-30.
  10. Collar, Matt. Biography: Anthony Hamilton. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2008-11-30.
  11. "Touré"
  12. "Wollock, David". "Concert Review: D'angelo House of Blues, West Hollywood". The Hollywood Reporter: March 3, 2000.
  13. Columnist. "D'Angelo Wows Crowd in Return Concert". Chicago Defender: August 3, 2000.
  14. Bell, Tanya. "D'Angelo Serves Up Pure Unadulterated Soul". The Gazette: August 3, 2000.
  15. Columnist. Corner(s)tones of Neo-Soul: D'Angelo ... A Story So Far, Part 1 Archived July 20, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. JazzandSoul. Retrieved on 2008-12-20.
  16. Hilburn, Robert. At Midyear, Shining Gems in a Dull Season. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2008-12-20.
  17. Thompson, Ahmir 'Questlove'. "Review: Voodoo". ?uestcorner/Okayplayer: 1999. Archived from the original on 2008-08-09.
  18. Shivers, Kaia. "D'Angelo Puts Los Angeles Under a Spell". Los Angeles Sentinel: March 15, 2000.
  19. Spotlight: D'Angelo. Universal Music Publishing Group. Retrieved on 2008-12-20.
  20. Christgau, Robert. Jesus Saves: D'Angelo. The Village Voice. Retrieved on 2008-12-20.
  21. d'angelo-lucy pearl donate funds to charity.www.mtv.com.news
  22. .Indianapolis Recorder
  23. d'angelo's throat woes postpone shows.www.mtv.com/news
  24. dangelo back in action after suffering throat problems.www.soundpike.com
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