Top 10 Concert Tours

AC/DC is one of the most celebrated, revered, and popular musical acts of all time, making it impossible to deny the amount of publicity and acclaim that their world tours receive. Perhaps none were bigger or better than the infamous Razors Edge World Tour, when AC/DC were at the top of their game. Playing over 160 shows across the world, the band was touring on their Razors Edge album and featured fan favorite songs like Thunderstruck, Back in Black, and Highway to Hell. Full of the typical manic energy that AC/DC is known for, this tour was hard rock at its absolute best.

In support of their wildly successful and 7x platinum selling album New Jersey, Bon Jovi took off on their equally successful encompassing “New Jersey Syndicate” Tour which spanned just under two years. At the height of their powers, Bon Jovi put on wildly erratic performances night after night. In fact their energy was so intense and exhausting that the band had to take an extended hiatus after the completion of the tour. Featuring explosive pyrotechnics and even a catwalk above the crowd, Bon Jovi proved to everyone that they could put on a kickass show.

Jumping from indie darlings to worldwide phenomenon with hits like “The Suburbs” and “Afterlife”, Arcade Fire has become one of the most critically acclaimed bands in music today. With the Reflektor Tour, the Montreal band demonstrated that they could put on a spectacle just as well as they can write beautiful music, while lead singer Win Butler validated himself as a joyful frontman. Complete with glass hexagons above the group, and fans decked out in their flashiest costumes, the Reflektor Tour was a glorious practice in visual and auditory bliss.

Def Leppard’s Hysteria is one of the best-selling albums of the 1980s, so it’s no surprise that the supporting tour for the record would be just as big of a hit. Totaling over 236 shows played in multiple cities around the planet, the Hysteria World Tour is notable for many reasons. This includes being drummer Rick Allen’s first tour since his life changing car accident as well as guitarist Steve Clark’s last tour before his death in 1991. With huge production value, such as a 360 degree stage set up, it’s not hard to see that Def Leppard brought their a-game to this ground-breaking tour.

The mid 1980s were truly some of the best times in modern music, and it is without a doubt that Bruce Springsteen's tours are some of the most popular and revered of all time. Promoting the now classic Born in the U.S.A. album, Springsteen played 156 amped up, energetic shows across the world, convincing all that a rock god was in the making. Selling out football stadiums, the tour was an enormous success, grossing between $80 and $90 million and keeping the album inside the Billboard Top 10 throughout the entire tour.

While Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour was certainly a revolution, there's no denying the heights that Madonna reached in 1990 with her Blond Ambition World Tour. She was certainly on top of the world at this point in her career, as she had just released Like A Prayer, one of her most popular albums. Named the Greatest Concert of the 1990s by Rolling Stone, this tour was highly controversial, mostly due to the singer's exceedingly sexual act. Nevertheless, it was extremely profitable, and cemented Madonna as a musical icon.

The Rolling Stones are certainly no strangers to fantastic concerts. One only needs to look at their Licks or A Bigger Bang Tour to realize that this timeless British band can put on a better show than any other band before or since. That said, their “Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour” rises above and beyond. Spanning from 1989 to 1990, the band played 115 shows, and the concerts grossed nearly $100 million. It may have been bassist Bill Wyman's last go-round with the Stones but he certainly went out with a bang.

While the tour's title may have suggested otherwise, this massive Michael Jackson tour was anything but bad. Before his classic Dangerous Tour, Jackson embarked on his first solo attempt with Bad, and his infectious energy wowed the world over. Filled with unstopable songs like Beat It and Billie Jean, Jackson pranced and danced around the stage like only he knew how, amazing everyone with his vocal and physical skills. He may have had his troubles off stage but on it, MJ was simply untouchable.

With The Wall Live, Roger Waters confirmed that he could put on an ambitious show, even without the Pink Floyd brand. The first time that The Wall was performed in its entirety since Water's 1990 Berlin concert, the tour grossed over $450 million and was easily one of the most complex tours of all time. Loaded with dramatic flair, props and a gigantic wall erected on stage, The Wall Live was less a musical experience and more of a visual art piece. No other concert has attempted what Roger Waters maniacally and miraculously pulled off.

Before we look at our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Kid A/Amnesiac Tours
Radiohead

The 1989 Tour
Taylor Swift

The Resistance Tour
Muse

Serious Moonlight Tour
David Bowie

Alive 2006/2007
Daft Punk

While there's no denying that U2's 360 Tour was amazing from a production standpoint, their Zoo TV Tour was revolutionary and changed the concept of what a concert could be. Visiting stadiums throughout 1992 and 1993, the tour was meant to give audiences a new perspective of the band, and boy did it succeed. It was elaborately staged and satirized the media by giving a sensory overload to the crowd, something you had to see to believe. By completely reinventing their image and sound, U2 also reinvented the musical and concert world forever.


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