Soul2Soul II Tour
The Soul2Soul II Tour was the second co-headlining concert tour between American country music singers, and husband and wife, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Beginning as the Soul2Soul II Tour 2006, its shows featured elaborate production values using an open, cross-shaped stage.[1][2][3] Performances consisted of a set by Hill and set by McGraw, with the two sharing duets before, during, and after the individual sets.[3] Over the course of the show, the duets traced a thematic development starting at estrangement and ending in emotional closeness.[1][3]
Associated album
The tour capitalized on McGraw and Hill's popularity, both as musical artists[4] and as a couple.[2] It played 74 shows in 56 cities, and sold 1.1 million tickets.[4]
The tour grossed almost $89 million during 2006.[5] For the year, it was the third-highest grossing tour in North America (behind The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang Tour and Barbra Streisand's Streisand: The Tour);[5] and the fifth-highest grossing tour in the world for 2006.[6]
Soul2Soul II Tour 2006 became the highest-grossing country music tour of all time,[4] a position it still holds as of December 2007.[7] For its accomplishments, it received Pollstar's top Concert Industry Award, the Major Tour of the Year Award, for 2006.[8]
The tour was then continued the following year, as the rebranded Soul2Soul 2007. Some new songs were added to the set list, but the overall structure and theme of the show remained. Soul2Soul 2007 grossed some $52 million.[9] Together, the McGraw-Hill Soul2Soul tour has the highest gross for any multi-year country music tour ever, $141 million, breaking a mark previously held by Garth Brooks.[9] Over 1.6 million people saw the show over its two years.[9] The tour was the highest grossing tour ever by a country artist until Taylor Swift's "The Red Tour" surpassed it in 2014.
History[edit]
2006 tour[edit]
The tour's name was a reprise of the couple's very successful 2000 Soul2Soul Tour.[10][11] It capitalized on the couple's popularity as a couple: The New York Times wrote that, "Faith Hill and Tim McGraw may be the most popular married couple in country music, and maybe in all of pop music."[2] The pair had three albums on the country charts at the time, Hill's Fireflies and McGraw's Live Like You Were Dying and Reflected: Greatest Hits Vol. 2.[12]
Hill and McGraw first announced the Soul2Soul II Tour on January 30, 2006.[10] It quickly became one of the fastest-selling concert events of the year, with additional shows added in 15 cities due to high ticket demand; Ticketmaster labelled it the fastest-selling show of the year.[13] Ticket sales passed the one million mark with the one-millionth fan attending the first of three shows in Los Angeles at the Staples Center.[14] The lucky fan was given a Dodge Charger as a thank you gift from the couple.[14]
The tour began on April 21, 2006 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, and after 73 shows concluded on September 3, 2006 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Paradise, Nevada.
On May 11, Hill and McGraw announced that the July 5 concert in New Orleans would benefit Gulf Coast hurricane relief efforts.[15] From the beginning, Hill and McGraw have expressed criticism of the government response to Hurricane Katrina and the other Gulf Coast hurricanes.[15][16] Hill is a native of Mississippi and McGraw is a native of Louisiana.[15] All of the net proceeds of the concert were targeted to Katrina relief efforts in those two states.[15] Tickets for the concert went on sale several days later and within 30 minutes, the 17,000 available seats had sold out. McGraw also played one of his informal "Bread and Water" shows, staged at local clubs after an arena show, with proceeds going to hurricane relief efforts as well.[14]