Heartbreak Tour
 | This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. (June 2025) |
| Tour by New Edition | |
 1988 New Edition Heartbreak Tour Program Book | |
| Associated album |
|
|---|---|
| Start date | September 21, 1988 |
| End date | July 29, 1989 |
| Legs | 3 |
| No. of shows | 112 |
| New Edition concert chronology | |
The Heartbreak Tour was a concert tour by American boy band New Edition. The tour supported their fifth studio album, Heart break (1988).
Background
[edit]On their last tour, New Edition had to perform as a four-piece after Bobby Brown's departure, by spring 1987 they added Johnny Gill and recorded what is now considered their most influencial album: "Heart Break" released June 20, ,1988. By the beginning of fall, New edition was back on the road while at the same time the album had just reached platinum status.[1] The excitement arose when Bobby Brown, who had released "Don't Be Cruel" on the same day as New Edition's "Heart Break" and Al B Sure!, who had found succes with his first album In Effect Mode where joining as opening acts. The Heartbreak Tour was the 16th most popular tour of 1988 with the first leg grossing $14.1 million in tickets sales according to Pollstar. Big arenas in cities like the Inglewood, Chicago and Detroit were Sold out two or thee times. They even sold out certain cities in the south that haven't been sold out in ten years. The five members have been awarded a gold ticket by Madison Square Garden for sales of over 100.000 tickets.[2]
The group was involved in a School dropout rate reduction campaign sponsoring "What School Means To Me", a nationwide essay contest at elementary schools. The winner of the competition was invited to attend a New Edition concert and meet the group backstage.[3]
New Edition extended their schedule By headlining "Kiss Concert" In Mansfield, Massachussetts before performing a few shows for Budweiser Superfest.
However their engagement with Budweiser was cut short when on July 8 in Greensboro, as Guy was ending its act, members of New Edition came on stage upset that Guy might have played too long. A member of Guy is reported to have kicked or pushed a piece of New Edition's equipment off stage .New edition confronted Guy, a fight occured, the groups' bodyguards joined in the scuffle as band members threw microphones and kicked music equipment before officers and Coliseum security guards stepped in. New Edition band members later returned to the stage to play. Before they started, one of them apologized to the crowd of 13,755 people and tried to explain the fight, saying Guy staff members were "messing with their instruments", which almost caused them not to be able to perform. New Edition members said that another performer, Karyn White, loaned them equipment to perform with because theirs had been damaged in the scuffle. After The concert, the members of Guy allegedly threatened New Edition saying they were going to "get them". according to a Witness, members of New Edition flew several men from New York to Pittsburgh to provide the band with "muscle, to do whatever they had to do". While the three members of Guy were preparing to leave the Coliseum in a stretch limousine, an unidentified person began shouting insults and threats at the band. The three members left the limousine and followed the unidentified person back to the coliseum floor behind the stage. But police moved in to restrain band members. Police in Greensboro said that no arrests were made, and coliseum officials declined to comment on the fighting.[4]
The next day in Pittsburgh while stagehands of New Edition and Guy were setting up equipment for the concert, two Guy "roadies" attacked a crew member of New Edition near the Civic Arena stage. One man pounded another man with a baseball bat, and other crew members pulled out guns and knives. New Edition Production Manager Ronald Byrd,30 chased Guy's Security Manager Anthony Bee, 32 and out of the arena and across the street into the Hyatt Hotel about 4:30 p.m. and shoot him twice outside the hotel. Bee died at the Mercy Hospital. Ronald Byrd was charged with criminal homicide. Four members of Guy crew were jailed on assault charges in the beating of New Edition crew member Michael Clark. It was said that the crew members had been feuding over stage arrangements and other matters for weeks, according to stagehands.[5]
Following this incident, Tom Pagano, spokesman for the brewing and foods giant, announced that Anheuser-Busch has dropped New Edition and Guy 'whose crews were involved in a pre-concert brawl at the Civic Arena from the tour roster.[6]
The tour resumed in August with Santa Clara's "Great America Rock Concert series" in .
Opening acts
[edit]- Bobby Brown (September 1988-February 1989)
- Al B Sure! (September 1988-February 1989)
- The Gyrlz [7](in Saginaw,January 17, 1989)
Setlist
[edit]- "That's The Way We're Livin'"
- "Count Me Out"
- "Cool It Now"
- "Crucial"
- (Jelous Girl Interlude)
- "Is This The End"
- "Lost In Love"
- "You're Not My Kind Of Girl"
- "Boys To Men"
- "Can You Stand The Rain"
- (DJ Spinbad Interlude)
- "N.E Heartbreak"
- "If It sn't Love"
- Notes
- "Mr Telephon Man" was performed in the 1989 shows, Bobby Brown joined the group on stage to sing lead.
- "I'm Coming Home" was often performed.
Tour dates
[edit]- Summer 1989
| Date | City | Country | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | |||
| May 24 | West Allis | United States | Wisconsin State Fair Grandstand |
| June 2 | Austin | Frank Erwin center | |
| June 3 | Mansfield | Great Woods Center For The Performong Arts | |
| June 17 | Washington DC | RFK Stadium | |
| June 18 | Charlotte | Carowinds Paladium | |
| June 23 | Little Rock | Barton Coliseum | |
| June 24 | Houston | The Summit | |
| June 25 | Dallas | Reunion Arena | |
| June 27 | Honolulu | Blaisdell Arena | |
| July 1 | Los Angeles | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | |
| July 4 | Portland | Veterans Memorial Coliseum | |
| July 8 | Greensboro | Greensboro Coliseum | |
| August 27 | Santa Clara | Universal Amphitheater | |
References
[edit]- ^ Gold & Platinum: Searchable Database Archived June 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Retrieved on 2009-10-18.
- ^ "New Edition Tour Times Four". newspapers.com. Newsday from New York. 1989-01-02.
- ^ "New Edition is doing its bits to squelch school dropout rate in the country". Lakeland Ledger. 1989-01-02.
- ^ "Band members fight during concert". newspapers.com. The Thomasville Times. 1989-07-10.
- ^ "Man Is Killed as Band Fight Carries Over to Pittsburgh". newspapers.com. Winston-Salem Journal. 1989-07-10.
- ^ "Brawl stops band tour". Google.Books. The Bryan Times. 1989-07-12.
- ^ "New Edition concert mellow". newspapers.com. The Saginaw News. 1989-01-18.