Diamonds World Tour
The Diamonds World Tour was the fifth concert tour by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna. It was launched in support of her seventh studio album Unapologetic (2012). The tour was announced in September 2012 following the singer's performance at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards. The tour kicked off on March 8, 2013 in Buffalo, New York and officially ending on November 15, 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The tour visited the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia with 96 shows in total. This was Rihanna's first Australian tour since February 2011 with The Last Girl On Earth Tour.
"Diamonds tour" redirects here. Not to be confused with Diamond Tour. For the concert tour by Julie Bergan, see Diamonds Tour (Julie Bergan).Associated album
The set list for the concerts included songs from a selection of Rihanna's studio albums; the Diamonds World Tour includes five acts and an encore. Rihanna's outfits were designed by a variety of designers including Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy, Raf Simons of Christian Dior and Alber Elbaz, footwear was designed by French fashion line Christian Louboutin and Manolo Blahnik. The tour featured support acts including 2 Chainz, ASAP Rocky, David Guetta, and Haim among others.
The tour was met with praise from critics who noted artistic growth. Commercially, the Diamonds World Tour was a success, with extra dates added due to high demand. The tour grossed $137,982,530 (USD) from 87 shows according to Billboard magazine and was the fifth highest grossing worldwide tour of 2013.[2] Rihanna broke numerous records during the tour, becoming the youngest artist to ever headline a sold-out show at France's National Stadium, at the age of 25.[3] She also became the youngest artist to have sold-out shows held at Millennium Stadium (June 10, 2013) and Twickenham Stadium (June 15 & 16, 2013).[4] In South Africa, Rihanna created history in Johannesburg at the FNB Stadium where she became the first female and youngest artist to sell out the stadium.[5]
Fashion[edit]
To support her performances, Rihanna appeared in several different outfits on the stage.[19] The outfit for the opening of the show was created by Italian fashion designer Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy.[19] It features a masculine oversized black printed and hand embroidered parka, which channels his signature mix of streetwear and Haute Couture.[20] Under the parka, there was a black and white leather bra and a gold star embellishments, a sheer black silk shirt, gold embroidered satin shorts, and a gold shark tooth necklace engraved with the singer's name: "RIRI".[19] In an interview for Women's Wear Daily, Tisci said, "Rihanna represents what young and amazing means today. She is punk and talented. She offers intelligence, energy and pure beauty. She is the face of her generation."[21] According to a representative from Givenchy, the costume is a symbol of "female empowerment and urban haute couture elegance."[21] Tisci further contributed to a dark floor-length black cape, a printed parka with gold bullet motifs, and an energetic pink-and-neon dress paired with holographic kicks.[19]
Belgian fashion designer Raf Simons and the creative director at Christian Dior, also collaborated with the singer and created a sheer black dress with white Rihanna x Raf Simons text on both sides of the item paired with shorts, and white python custom Christian Louboutin boots.[19] According to Hilary Moss of New York magazine, both the boots [cargo pants] and the sunglasses which were worn with the outfit drew inspirations from the style of the nineties.[22] Her personal costume designer Adam Selman also designed some of the outfits including a red halter and wrap-around skirt wore for the ballads section and a red, white and yellow color-block bustier with matching leather pants and Manolo Blahnik snakeskin boots.[19][22] He also designed a dollar bill hologram dress combined with metallic Pierre Hardy high-tops. The jewelry for the Adam Selman looks was designed by Lynn Ban.[19][22][23] Regarding Rihanna, Selman spoke to New York Daily News, "Her body is so insane. It's the dream body to make clothes for. You don't have to try as hard."[19] For the encore, Rihanna wore an Alber Elbaz created jumpsuit that made visible her chest tattoo of goddess Isis.[22][24] The singer's personal stylist Mel Ottenberg, describe the outfits for the show in general as "a very Thug Life Tupac mixed with nineties candy raver".[24]
Commercial performance[edit]
After the North American leg of the tour was announced, due to high demand extra dates were added in Brooklyn, Toronto and Montreal.[26] After Rihanna announced the UK leg of the tour, pre-sale tickets searches rose by 700% on viagogo. Experts predicted that tickets for all of Rihanna's European shows could sell out in under six minutes.[27]
Rihanna made history on May 24 at the kickoff of Morocco's annual Mawazine Music Festival by performing for a crowd of 150,000; a new record in the country's capital.[28]
Rihanna also made history by becoming the youngest artist to ever headline a show at Paris' Stade de France, at the age of 25, stealing the distinction from Lady Gaga who performed at the stadium the year before at the age of 26.[29] Rihanna also performed at Millennium Stadium and two times at the Twickenham Stadium on June 10, 2013 and June 15 & 16, 2013 and again became the youngest artist ever to sell out the stadiums.[30] Istanbul's İnönü Stadium hosted Rihanna on May 30, 2013. The stadium welcomed 35,000 people for the concert, which lasted an hour and a half.[31]
Rihanna performed to a crowd of 65,000 in Singapore during Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday September 22, 2013. It was one of the biggest concert crowds in recent history.[32] Also, Rihanna's shows in South Africa were a commercial success. Rihanna made history on Sunday night when she became the youngest ever singer to sell out the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.[33] Rihanna was named the fifth-highest touring artist of 2013 by Billboard magazine, earning a gross of $137,982,530 over the course of 87 shows, of which 84 were sold out.[34] On Pollstar's year-end chart of the top one hundred grossing worldwide tours, from January 1 to December 31, 2013, the Diamonds World Tour was placed at number six with a gross of $141.9 million from the shows that were played during the given time period. Tickets were sold with an average gross of $1,867,248 per city.[35]
Critical reception[edit]
North America[edit]
The tour received general acclaim during the North American legs. Mick Stingley of Billboard magazine reviewed Rihanna's performance in Hartford; according to him, the singer shined during the show. He wrote that "her interplay with her dancers and her longtime band leader Nuno Bettencourt, was a treat".[36] Stingley concluded that with the costume and set changes, the video interludes and flashing lights, Rihanna put a "fantastic" show and was in "excellent" voice.[36] Donnie Moorhouse of The Republican also reviewed the show and wrote that it was type of show you would expect from a Grammy star who is in a same stratosphere as singers like Alicia Keys, Beyoncé Knowles and Jennifer Lopez. "Rihanna's performance was certainly on par with the performances those stars can deliver."[37] In a review of the concert in Chicago, Bob Gendron of Chicago Tribune stated, "Being a diva affords certain privileges. Which is why Rihanna didn't seem the least bit self-indulgent dressing up like an Egyptian princess, stomping in thigh-high boots and prancing around in the equivalent of expensive lingerie."[38] He noted the heavy background vocals during the performance and wrote that Rihanna sang less in comparison with her previous tours, however moved more, "Her body became a blur of curves and angles—elbows, hands, legs and knees bent into various positions. Suggestive and erotic, she knows how to tease.[38] Reviewing the concert in Detroit and writing for Detroit Free Press, Brian McCollum noted that the Diamonds World Tour is Rihanna's bid for showing 'Serious Artistic Growth. He stated that the performance, "was teeming with artsy flourishes and visual metaphor — from the Venus de Milo image behind her at show's start to the horror-film clips of 'Rockstar 101' to the stately pillars of light accompanying 'Man Down'."[39]
This set list is from the show on March 21, 2013 in Detroit. It does not represent all concerts for the tour.[36]
Notes