The Piece of Me Tour[2] (also referred to as Piece of Me: Exclusive Limited Tour[3]) was the tenth concert tour by American entertainer Britney Spears. Although it largely mirrors her Las Vegas residency, Britney: Piece of Me, which concluded in December 2017;[4] the stage-show was updated with new remixes, production technology, visuals and set list modifications to accommodate for arena shows.[5]

Piece of Me Tour
Tour by Britney Spears
Promotional poster for the tour
Location
  • Europe
  • North America
Start dateJuly 12, 2018 (2018-07-12)
End dateOctober 21, 2018 (2018-10-21)
Legs3
No. of shows31
Supporting act(s)Pitbull
Attendance260,531
Box office$54.3 million ($65.89 million in 2023 dollars)[1]
Britney Spears concert chronology

After performing 11 shows during the summer of 2017 in Asia, under a concert tour titled Britney: Live in Concert, the show was adapted to be performed in various select cities across North America and Europe.[6] The tour was announced in January 2018, and began in July.[7] The tour ranked at numbers 86 and 30 on Pollstar's 2018 Year-End Top 100 Tours chart both in North America and worldwide, respectively. In total, the tour grossed $54.3 million with 260,531 tickets sold and was the sixth highest-grossing female tour of 2018, and was the United Kingdom's second best-selling female tour of 2018.[8][9]

On September 5, 2018, it was announced that the tour was nominated for People's Choice Concert Tour of 2018 at the 44th People's Choice Awards.[10]

Background

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Following the release of Spears' ninth studio album, Glory, she expressed interest in performing internationally again. In March 2017, after several publications began leaking details about Spears' planned international shows, she confirmed the planned tour by announcing concert dates in the Philippines and Israel.[11] In the weeks following the announcement, Spears revealed additional Asian tour dates. Spears performed in the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong and Israel for the first time during the tour.[12] A special tour edition of her ninth studio album was released on May 31, to coincide with the start of the tour.[13]

On December 22, 2017, Spears announced she will be bringing the show to Denmark for the Smukfest.[14] On January 23, 2018, Spears announced dates for North America and Europe.[15][16] On February 13, 2018, Spears announced additional dates for the UK and Paris. Spears also announced Pitbull will join her across selected dates in Europe.[17]

Shows in the United States are sponsored by PepsiCo,[18] while the UK shows are sponsored by Britney Spears Fragrances.[19]

In a court testimony regarding her conservatorship in June 2021, Spears revealed she was forced by her management to do the Piece of Me Tour, citing that they claimed they could sue her if she did not follow through with it, going against her wishes of taking a break from performing after her four-year run in Las Vegas.[20] In an earlier court testimony leaked by The New York Times, Spears added that her management also forced her to go through a concert despite her having a 102 °F fever, with fans later pointing out that this concert was likely one of the Atlantic City stops of the tour.[21][22]

Critical reception

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The tour received polarized reviews throughout its run. Cristina Jerome from the Miami New Times stated "The Piece of Me Tour was for Britney Spears' day-one fans. The Princess of Pop allowed her audience to experience her career from the late '90s to the present day while sprinkling in a few hits from her latest studio album, Glory." Although complementing Spears' show production and stage presence, accusations of lip-syncing were mentioned.[23] In defence of Spears' lip-syncing accusations, Louis Staples from The Independent reviews the record-breaking Brighton Pride concert; "It is Spears' strength and vulnerability in the face of her troubles that most endears her to her fans. She is instantly forgiven for things that would normally sink other stars, such as her well-known aversion to live singing." Later mentioning that fans attend purely for the hits and "her glittery performance[s] proves that few people can match her cultural impact, or personify the words "icon" or "megastar" quite like her. Twenty years on, people still want a piece of Spears."[24] Emma Kelly from Metro said: "The pop legend, the phoenix who rose from a messy divorce, a breakdown and intense public scrutiny, has brought her Las Vegas residency Piece Of Me across the world, and last night it hit London's O2 Arena. After seeing Britney at Brighton Pride, a concert that saw 57,000 people scream 'Who is it?' at the stage ahead of Gimme More, I wasn't sure how much the concert could improve. But Britney is definitely an arena girl – and last night's show proved it."[25]

Commercial performance

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Demand in Europe and the United Kingdom saw ticket sites crashing, sparking Spears to add additional dates in London, Blackpool and Paris.[26] Tickets were sold-out in under ten minutes for her date at 3Arena in Dublin; however, with a strict touring schedule, no additional date was added.[27] The tour was named the second best-selling female tour in the United Kingdom in 2018, according to StubHub, only behind Taylor Swift's Reputation Stadium Tour.[28] In Oslo, the Piece of Me Tour was performed to over 20,000 spectators, making it one of Spears' highest European (excluding the United Kingdom) concert-attendances in her touring history.[29]

The concert in Bethlehem set a new record for the venue (previously held by The 1975), for the fastest-selling tickets in the venue.[30] Spears' first date as part of her European leg was the Brighton Pride Festival, which was attended by a record-breaking crowd of 57,000 at Brighton's Preston Park.[31] On August 11, 2018, Spears performed for 10,951 fans at Göransson Arena, Sweden, and broke the 10,500-record set by Scorpions in 2012.[32]

On September 26, 2018, Spears was ranked at #17 on Pollstar's Concert Pulse with $13.1 million gross and 100,891 tickets sold in eight cities. This total are including two nights at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, which sold 11,887 tickets and grossed $2.7 million, three shows at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, which sold 9,756 tickets and grossed $1.98 million, Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, which sold 6,998 tickets and grossed $946,100 and the first report from the 18-date European tour at Antwerps Sportpaleis in Belgium, which sold out 16,787 tickets and grossed $1.4 million.[33]

The Piece of Me Tour ranked at 86 and 30 on Pollstar's 2018 Year-End Top 100 Tours chart both in North America and worldwide, respectively. In total, the tour grossed $54.3 million with 260,531 tickets sold and was the sixth highest-grossing female tour of 2018, and was the United Kingdom's second best-selling female tour of 2018.[8][9]

Set list

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This set list is representative of the show on July 12, 2018, in National Harbor, Maryland. It is not intended to represent all shows.[34]

Notes

  • Starting on August 8, "Slumber Party" and "Touch of My Hand" were removed from the set list.

Tour dates

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List of concerts, showing date, city, country, venue, opening acts, tickets sold, number of available tickets and amount of gross revenue
Date City Country Venue Opening act Attendance Revenue
Leg 1 — North America[35][36]
July 12, 2018 Oxon Hill United States MGM National Harbor Theater 5,357 / 5,538 $1,555,048
July 13, 2018
July 15, 2018 Uncasville Mohegan Sun Arena 6,998 / 7,088 $946,100
July 17, 2018 Bethlehem Sands Bethlehem Center 1,883 / 1,883 $766,222
July 19, 2018 Atlantic City Borgata Event Center 5,952 / 5,952 $1,363,677
July 20, 2018
July 21, 2018
July 23, 2018 New York City Radio City Music Hall 11,754 / 11,754 $2,840,121
July 24, 2018
July 27, 2018 Hollywood Hard Rock Event Center 9,653 / 9,783 $1,870,943
July 28, 2018
July 29, 2018
Leg 2 — Europe[37][38]
August 4, 2018[a] Brighton England Preston Park [39]
August 6, 2018 Berlin Germany Mercedes-Benz Arena Pitbull[40][41] 13,735 / 13,735 $1,045,280
August 8, 2018[b] Skanderborg Denmark Skanderborg Dyrehave
August 10, 2018 Oslo Norway Telenor Arena Pitbull 20,423 / 20,423 $1,838,118
August 11, 2018 Sandviken Sweden Göransson Arena 10,951 / 10,951 $975,742
August 13, 2018 Mönchengladbach Germany Sparkassenpark 15,208 / 15,208 $1,167,490
August 15, 2018 Antwerp Belgium Sportpaleis 17,246 / 19,911 $1,351,033
August 17, 2018 Scarborough England Open Air Theatre 7,888 / 7,888 $787,539
August 18, 2018 Manchester Manchester Arena 13,780 / 13,780 $1,472,230
August 20, 2018 Dublin Ireland 3Arena 12,510 / 12,510 $1,124,171
August 22, 2018 Glasgow Scotland SSE Hydro 10,623 / 10,623 $978,782
August 24, 2018 London England The O2 Arena 40,611 / 44,171 $4,540,070
August 25, 2018
August 26, 2018
August 28, 2018 Paris France AccorHotels Arena 26,973 / 29,970[42] $2,387,006[43]
August 29, 2018
August 31, 2018 Birmingham England Genting Arena 7,213 / 7,213 $877,354
September 1, 2018 Blackpool Blackpool Tower Headland 18,974 / 18,974 $1,830,042
Leg 3 — North America[44]
October 21, 2018[c] Austin United States Austin360 Amphitheater
Total 257,732 / 267,355 $29,716,968

Notes

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  1. ^ The concert of August 4, 2018, at Preston Park in Brighton is a part of Brighton Pride.
  2. ^ The concert of August 8, 2018, at Skanderborg Dyrehave in Skanderborg is a part of Smukfest.
  3. ^ The concert on October 21, 2018, at Circuit of the Americas in Austin is part of the 2018 USGP Weekend.

References

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  1. ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  2. ^ Marotta, Michael (January 23, 2018). "Road Trip Red Alert: Britney Spears brings 'Piece Of Me' tour to Connecticut". Vanyaland. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  3. ^ "IT'S BRITNEY B*TCH!". RTÉ 2fm. Raidió Teilifís Éireann. January 23, 2018. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  4. ^ "Britney Spears Announces Summer World Tour". Broadway World. Wisdom Digital Media. March 28, 2017. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  5. ^ Chiu, Melody (May 17, 2018). "Britney Spears Reveals Son Sean Preston, 12, Plays Tackle Football: 'I Worry — He's Still a Baby to Me'". People. Time Inc. Retrieved August 18, 2018.
  6. ^ McRady, Rachel (January 23, 2018). "Britney Spears Announces 'Piece of Me' Tour in Summer 2018". Entertainment Tonight. CBS Television Distribution. Retrieved August 18, 2018.
  7. ^ Maslow, Nick (January 23, 2018). "Surprise! Britney Spears is taking her Las Vegas show on tour in the U.S. and Europe". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. Retrieved August 18, 2018.
  8. ^ a b "Year End Top 100 Worldwide Tours" (PDF). Pollstar.
  9. ^ a b "Year End Top 200 North American Tours" (PDF). Pollstar.
  10. ^ "2018 People's Choice Awards nominees". E! Online.
  11. ^ Butler, Karen (April 10, 2017). "Britney Spears' 'Piece of Me' show to close at Planet Hollywood in Vegas". United Press International. News World Communications. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  12. ^ "Finally, Britney Spears is coming to Manila". The Philippine Star. PhilStar Media Group. March 28, 2017. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  13. ^ Stern, Bradley (May 1, 2017). "BRITNEY'S 'GLORY' IS GETTING A SPECIAL TOUR EDITION RE-RELEASE (IN JAPAN)". PopCrush. Townsquare Media. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  14. ^ Spears, Britney (December 22, 2017). "Denmark!! See you at @Smukfest on August 8th!! #SMUK18pic.twitter.com/MI3yu6DKq7". @britneyspears. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  15. ^ Read-Dominguez, Jennifer. "Britney Spears' Piece of Me Tour is coming to the UK and Ireland for the first and last time ever". Digital Spy. Giant Digital. Retrieved January 23, 2018.
  16. ^ Roth, Madeline (January 23, 2018). "BRITNEY SPEARS WILL GIVE YOU A PIECE OF HER ON NEW SUMMER TOUR". MTV News. Viacom Media Networks. Archived from the original on January 26, 2018. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  17. ^ Duncan, Amy (February 13, 2018). "Extra Britney Spears tickets for UK tour go on sale - when, where and how to buy". Metro. DMG Media. Retrieved August 18, 2018.
  18. ^ Rossingnol, Derrick (January 23, 2018). "Britney Spears Is Taking Her Las Vegas Show On The Road". Uproxx. Uproxx Media Group. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  19. ^ Dinh, James (January 23, 2018). "Britney Spears Announces Summer 2018 'Piece Of Me' World Tour". iHeartRadio. iHeartMedia. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  20. ^ Aswad, Jem (June 23, 2021). "Read Britney Spears' Full Statement Against Conservatorship: 'I Am Traumatized'". Variety.
  21. ^ Day, Liz; Stark, Samantha; Coscarelli, Joe (June 22, 2021). "Britney Spears Quietly Pushed for Years to End Her Conservatorship". The New York Times.
  22. ^ "Britney Spears Tells Fans She Has To Perform w/ 102-Degree Fever In Resurfaced Video". YouTube.
  23. ^ Jerome, Cristina (July 27, 2018). "Britney Spears' Piece of Me Tour at the Seminole Hard Rock Was for Day-One Fans". Miami New Times. Miami New Times. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  24. ^ Staples, Louis (August 6, 2018). "Britney Spears will keep her fans dancing til the world ends – Brighton Pride review". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Archived from the original on May 26, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2018.
  25. ^ Kelly, Emma (August 25, 2018). "1 sølle hjerte: Britney Spears' Piece Of Me tour proves she's still the princess of pop through and through". Metro UK. Metro Entertainment UK. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  26. ^ Bowman, Lisa (January 27, 2018). "Britney Spears adds extra UK date as tickets sell out and appear on eBay for over £1000". NME. Time Inc. UK. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  27. ^ Finn, Melanie (January 27, 2018). "Britney Spears at 3Arena sold out in 10 mins - but third party sales still available". The Independent. The Independent. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  28. ^ "Taylor Swift tops UK bestselling female artist list". March 8, 2018. Archived from the original on March 8, 2018. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  29. ^ Braseth, Sofie (August 10, 2018). "Sjelløs superstjerne" [Soulful superstar]. Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Aller Media et alli. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  30. ^ Moser, John J. (January 27, 2018). "Britney Spears sells out Sands Bethlehem show in seconds: 5 reasons why". The Morning Call. Tronc. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  31. ^ Stolworthy, Jacob (August 5, 2018). "Brighton Pride releases statement following 'potentially deadly' chaos after Britney Spears show". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Archived from the original on May 26, 2022. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  32. ^ TT (August 10, 2018). "Britney Spears intar Sandviken med sågad show" [Britney Spears brings to Sandviken a musical concert]. Sydsvenskan (in Norwegian). Bonnier Group. Retrieved August 18, 2018.
  33. ^ Pollstar (September 26, 2018). "Concert Pulse: Taylor Swift Takes Top As Ed Sheeran Plays North America; Billy Joel, Britney Spears, DMB Debut" [Concert Pulse]. Pollstar. Ryan Borba. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  34. ^ Medeiros, Kavad (July 13, 2018). "Com novidades na setlist, Britney Spears estreia sua nova turnê com show nos Estados Unidos" [With some new changes, Britney Spears kicks off her new tour with a concert in the USA]. POPline (in Portuguese). Brazil. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  35. ^ Sources for tour dates in North America:
  36. ^ Sources for boxscore:
  37. ^ Sources for tour dates in Europe:
  38. ^ Sources for boxscore:
  39. ^ Patel, Joseph (August 4, 2018). "Britney Spears Official Twitter". Official Site. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  40. ^ Patel, Joseph (February 9, 2018). "Pitbull Added to Summer Tour + More Shows Announced!". Official Site. Archived from the original on June 21, 2019. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  41. ^ Patel, Joseph (February 9, 2018). "Britney Spears Piece Of Me tour support act announced as Pitbull". Official Charts. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  42. ^ "Paris Boxscore data". Touring Data. October 4, 2018.
  43. ^ "Paris boxscore data". Touring Data. October 4, 2018.
  44. ^ "Britney Spears and Bruno Mars "Look to Boost the US Grand Prix in Austin" (April 26, 2018). ESPN. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
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