Soul2Soul Tour

infobox concert tour
concert_tour_name = Soul2Soul 2000


artist = Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
start_date = July 12, 2000
end_date = December 12, 2000
number_of_legs = 3
number_of_shows = 65
this_tour = Soul2Soul Tour
(2000)
next_tour = Soul2Soul II Tour 2006
(2006)

The Soul2Soul 2000 Tour was the first joint concert tour by country singers, and husband and wife, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. The concert tour began in Atlanta in July 2000 and ended later that year in December in Orlando. The tour's shows featured an opening set by Hill, then a set by McGraw, followed by some songs performed jointly. The tour reflected both the successful marriage of the two artists as well as their very different styles and the dual directions country music was going in at the time.

The tour grossed nearly $50 million and was witnessed by close to 950,000 people.cite news | url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001806692 | title=McGraw, Hill Teaming For Another Tour | author=Waddell, Ray | publisher="Billboard" | date=2006-01-06 | accessdate=2008-07-12] 60 of the 65 reported shows were sold-out. It was fifth highest grossing of any genre in North America, [cite news | url=http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/1435912/20010103/nelson_willie.jhtml | title=Country Beat | publisher=VH1 | date=2001-01-03 | accessdate=2008-07-12] [cite news | url=http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5918846/tina_turner_the_top_touring_act_of_2000 | title=Tina Turner the Top Touring Act of 2000 | author=Saraceno, Christina | publisher="Rolling Stone" | date=2000-12-30 | accessdate=2008-07-12] and the leading country music tour, during 2000. An estimated 1 million people attended the shows. The pairing of the musically divergent couple led to Pollstar giving the tour its second-most important Concert Industry Award, that of Most Creative Tour Package for 2000. [cite web | url=http://www.pollstarpro.com/PCIA-Static/2000winners.htm | title=Pollstar Concert Industry Awards: 2000 Winners | publisher=Pollstar | accessdate=2008-07-12]

History

This was not the first time the two had toured together: Hill was McGraw's opening act on his 1996 Spontaneous Combustion Tour, which is where they first met. The Soul2Soul Tour was in support of their most recent albums at the time, McGraw's "A Place In The Sun" and Hill's mega-success "Breathe".cite web | last = | first = | coauthors = | title = Faith Hill Biography (1967–) publisher =The Biography Channel | date = | url=http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9542395 | accessdate =2007-04-23] The tour was originally set to run July through October, however, following unexpected success (the opening leg grossed $18 million), the tour was extended into the end of the year.

The opening night at the Philips Arena in Atlanta was sold out, but so many fans showed up looking to get in that the local promoter opened up a section behind the stage and let the fans in.cite book | last=Dickerson | first=James L. | title=Faith Hill: Piece of My Heart | publisher=Macmillan Publishers | year=2001 | isbn=0-312-28195-1 pp. 139–140.]

At the Madison Square Garden show in New York City – where a local radio host proclaimed the show the biggest country concert ever to hit the city – McGraw's father Tug McGraw was in attendance, as was New York Yankee pitcher Roger Clemens, who appeared onstage to bring Tim McGraw a Bud Lite.cite news | url=http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/faithhill/articles/story/5925349/soul_2_soul_tour_finds_mcgraw_hill_speaking_same_language_different_genre | title=Soul 2 Soul Tour Finds McGraw, Hill Speaking Same Language, Different Genre | author=Dansby, Andrew | publisher="Rolling Stone" | date=2000-09-19 | accessdate=2008-07-12]

After the tour concluded, McGraw toured on a solo basis, but Hill did not, until the couple staged their next joint production, the more elaborate and even more commercially successful Soul2Soul II Tour 2006.

The stage and the show

The show featured a unique 360 degree endstage that allowed for full arena capacity, with a catwalk and raised podiums on either side of the stage and a riser from below for performer entrances. It took almost 100 roadies to move the production from city to city. [cite news | url=http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2006-04-19-mcgraw-hill-tour_x.htm | title=Again, Hill, McGraw are Soul2Soul | author=Mansfield, Brian | publisher="USA Today" | date=2006-04-19 | accessdate=2008-07-12]

The show was presented as two self-contained sets. [cite news | url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070802/news_lz1w02soul.html | title=Kindred spirits | author=Toombs, Mikel | publisher="San Diego Union-Tribune" | date=2007-08-02 | accessdate=2008-07-12] Hill would perform first, followed by a short intermission and then McGraw would take the stage. In a sense Hill was still an opening act for McGraw, as the applause generally indicated that the majority of the audience was clearly there to see McGraw. The couple's music was very different at this stage of their careers, as Hill was exploring pop, techno and programmed drums, and 1960s retro sounds, while McGraw stuck to his more mainstream country approach.

After McGraw's set, a video montage was presented of the couple's family, then the two returned to close the show with five duets; the show closer was a rendition of Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way".cite news | url=http://www.cmt.com/artists/news/1472594/06122003/hill_faith.jhtml | title=Feels Like the First Time: McGraw and Hill Kick Off the Summer's Most Anticipated Country Tour | author=Kelly, James | publisher=CMT | date=2000-07-13 | accessdate=2008-07-12] CMT News wrote that "Go Your Own Way" represented "a clear-cut declaration of where country music finds itself today, aimed at Gen-Xers and baby boomers and drifting more into the pop realm than ever before." "Rolling Stone" said that in the show, "McGraw and Hill provided an interesting contrast in the differences between country and not country, pop country and pop pop." The "San Francisco Chronicle" found the "Go Your Own Way" ending, with the couple singing from opposite ends of the stage, "a little unclear on the concept: Country music's most happily marrieds were singing a bitter breakup song from rock's most famous divorce album to end their show."cite news | url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/08/02/DD84900.DTL&type=music | title=Faith Hill and Tim McGraw have the looks, but their San Jose Arena show lacks the music | author=Selvin, Joel | publisher="San Francisco Chronicle" | date=2000-08-02 | accessdate=2008-07-12]

Some critics reacted unfavorably to Hill's performance, criticizing her as a "vacuous and wooden entertainer", "lack [ing] identity [and singing] cotton candy",cite news | url=http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20000814&slug=4036733 | title=Tim McGraw serves up spice Faith Hill lacks | author=Rosenberg, Matt | publisher="The Seattle Times" | date=2000-08-14 | accessdate=2008-07-12] with a "voice [that] comes across as thin ... exposing...absolutely nothing in resembling personality." Her rendition of Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart" came in particular for poor notices. One newspaper mentioned her "her face full of Revlon", and indeed it was later reported that her makeup kit for the tour was a three-hundred pound case on seven wheels, designed specifically for her at $4,000 cost. Other writers praised Hill, saying she "belted it out with the best of them", and praising her performance of her "There Will Come a Day".cite news | url=http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/H/Hill_Faith/ConcertReviews/2004/11/09/707569.html | title=Concert Review: Faith Hill | author=Stevenson, Jane | publisher=Jam! | date=2000-12-08 | accessdate=2008-07-12]

et list

FAITH
#This Kiss
#The Way You Love Me
#Wild One
#I've Got My Baby
#The Secret of Life
#Let Me Let Go
#It Matters To Me
#What's In It For Me?
#If My Heart Had Wings
#Let's Go to Vegas
#Piece of My Heart
#There Will Come A Day
#Breathe
#:TIM
#Something Like That
#Where the Green Grass Grows
#Refried Dreams
#Everywhere
#Just to See You Smile
#The Joker
#For a Little While
#Down On the Farm
#Seventeen
#Some Things Never Change
#All I Want
#Don't Take the Girl
#I Like It, I Love It
#:TIM & FAITH
#It's Your Love
#Let Me Love You
#Angry All The Time
#Let's Make Love
#Go Your Own Way

Other songs included in the Hill's portion of the set list were "That's How Love Moves" and Diana Ross & the Supremes "Love Child". "Where Are You, Christmas?" appeared as the holidays approached. Other songs included in McGraw's set throughout the tour were "Heartbroke Again".

Opening acts

Keith Urban served as an unannounced opening act at some shows. The Warren Brothers also opened some shows.

Tour dates

#July 12, 2000 ~ Philips Arena ~ Atlanta, Georgia
#July 13, 2000 ~ BJCC ~ Birmingham, Alabama
#July 15, 2000 ~ RBC Center ~ Raleigh, North Carolina
#July 16, 2000 ~ Bi-Lo Center ~ Greenville, South Carolina
#July 18, 2000 ~ National Car Rental Center ~ Sunrise, Florida
#July 19, 2000 ~ Ice Palace ~ Tampa, Florida
#July 21, 2000 ~ Fox Arena ~ New Orleans, Louisiana
#July 22, 2000 ~ The Pyramid ~ Memphis, Tennessee
#July 23, 2000 ~ Cajundome ~ Lafayette, Louisiana
#July 26, 2000 ~ Pepsi Center ~ Denver, Colorado
#July 28, 2000 ~ Delta Center ~ Salt Lake City, Utah
#July 29, 2000 ~ MGM Grand Arena ~ Las Vegas, Nevada
#July 31, 2000 ~ San Jose Arena ~ San Jose, California
#August 4, 2000 ~ Arrowhead Pond ~ Anaheim, California
#August 5, 2000 ~ Sports Arena ~ San Diego, California
#August 6, 2000 ~ America West Arena ~ Phoenix, Arizona
#August 8, 2000 ~ ARCO Arena ~ Sacramento, California
#August 9, 2000 ~ Oakland Arena ~ Oakland, California
#August 11, 2000 ~ Rose Garden Arena ~ Portland, Oregon
#August 12, 2000 ~ Tacoma Dome ~ Tacoma, Washington
#August 13, 2000 ~ Spokane Arena ~ Spokane, Washington
#August 15, 2000 ~ BSU Pavilion ~ Boise, Idaho
#August 18, 2000 ~ Fargodome ~ Fargo, North Dakota
#August 19, 2000 ~ Target Center ~ Minneapolis, Minnesota
#August 20, 2000 ~ United Center ~ Chicago, Illinois
#September 1, 2000 ~ Gund Arena ~ Cleveland, Ohio
#September 2, 2000 ~ Mellon Arena ~ Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
#September 3, 2000 ~ Van Andel Arena ~ Grand Rapids, Michigan
#September 6, 2000 ~ Thompson- Boling Arena ~ Knoxville, Tennessee
#September 8, 2000 ~ Bryce Jordan Center ~ University Park, Pennsylvania
#September 9, 2000 ~ US Bank Arena ~ Columbus, Ohio
#September 10, 2000 ~ US Bank Arena ~ Columbus, Ohio
#September 12, 2000 ~ Pepsi Arena ~ Albany, New York
#September 13, 2000 ~ Hartford Civic Center ~ Hartford, Connecticut
#September 15, 2000 ~ MCI Center ~ Washington, D.C.
#September 16, 2000 ~ Madison Square Garden ~ New York City, New York
#September 17, 2000 ~ Worcester Centrum ~ Worcester, Massachusetts
#September 20, 2000 ~ East Union Center ~ Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
#September 22, 2000 ~ Conseco Fieldhouse ~ Indianapolis, Indiana
#September 23, 2000 ~ Kiel Center ~ Saint Louis, Missouri
#September 24, 2000 ~ Kemper Arena ~ Kansas City, Missouri
#September 26, 2000 ~ ALLTEL Arena ~ North Little Rock, Arkansas
#September 28, 2000 ~ Bradley Center ~ Milwaukee, Wisconsin
#September 29, 2000 ~ The Palace of Auburn Hills ~ Auburn Hills, Michigan
#September 30, 2000 ~ Palace of Auburn Hills ~ Auburn Hills, Michigan
#October 7, 2000 ~ Staples Center ~ Los Angeles, California
#October 8, 2000 ~ Centennial Garden ~ Bakersfield, California
#October 11, 2000 ~ American Airlines Arena ~ Dallas, Texas
#October 13, 2000 ~ Compaq Center ~ Houston, Texas
#October 14, 2000 ~ Frank Erwin Center ~ Austin, Texas
#October 15, 2000 ~ Myriad Arena ~ Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
#October 17, 2000 ~ Greensboro Coliseum ~ Greensboro, North Carolina
#October 18, 2000 ~ Freedom Hall ~ Louisville, Kentucky
#November 24, 2000 ~ Firstar Center ~ Cincinnati, Ohio
#November 25, 2000 ~ Charleston Civic Center ~ Charleston, West Virginia
#November 27, 2000 ~ Kohl Center ~ Madison, Wisconsin
#November 28, 2000 ~ Unknown Arena ~ Champaign, Illinois
#November 30, 2000 ~ Continental Airlines Arena ~ East Rutherford, New Jersey
#December 1, 2000 ~ 1st Mariner Arena ~ Baltimore, Maryland
#December 3, 2000 ~ Richmond Coliseum ~ Richmond, Virginia
#December 7, 2000 ~ Corel Centre ~ Ottawa, Ontario
#December 8, 2000 ~ Air Canada Centre ~ Toronto, Ontario
#December 9, 2000 ~ Blue Cross Arena ~ Rochester, New York
#December 11, 2000 ~ North Charleston Coliseum ~ North Charleston, South Carolina
#December 12, 2000 ~ TD Waterhouse Centre ~ Orlando, Florida

References