Triumph Tour

The Triumph Tour was a concert tour by the Jacksons, covering the United States and Canada from July 8 to September 26, 1981. The tour grossed a total of $5.5 million, setting a record breaking four sold out concerts in Inglewood, California, just southwest of Los Angeles.[2]

Triumph Tour
Tour by the Jacksons
Michael Jackson performing "Rock with You" during the tour
LocationNorth America
Associated albumTriumph (1980)
Off the Wall (1979)
Start dateJuly 8, 1981
End dateSeptember 26, 1981
No. of shows44
Box officeUS $5.5 million
($15.47 million in 2019 dollars)[1]
the Jacksons concert chronology

History

By 1981, the Jacksons had regained success as a platinum-selling recording group with two albums, Destiny (1978) and Triumph (1980). Additionally, lead singer Michael Jackson was in the final stages of promoting his 1979 multi-platinum album, Off the Wall. This tour allowed Michael to bring in new show production ideas more to his liking. Inspired by Earth, Wind & Fire's live shows, Michael created the costumes and designed the stage. He and his brothers also collaborated on an intro that signaled similarities to their "Can You Feel It" music video. As it had been for many years, the choreography was done by Michael, Jackie and Marlon Jackson. The shows included magical elements designed by Doug Henning—for example, Michael disappearing in smoke during "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough".[3][4][5]

Touring tenure

The Triumph Tour began in Memphis, Tennessee and ended with a sold-out week of shows in Inglewood. Each show earned highly positive reviews, in part due to Michael's leadership and showmanship. His brothers also earned praise, particularly for Randy's and Tito's musicality, and Marlon's dance ability. The tour marked the last truly integrated group effort, as Michael's solo career would soon eclipse his success with his brothers. The tour was so well-received and popular that Epic had the brothers record a variety of shows, and compile them for an upcoming live release. It's rumored that the tracks were recorded during stops in Memphis, New York City, Buffalo and Providence. The live album, The Jacksons Live!, came out in the winter of 1981, and went gold in its initial run. Current sales are two million.

After the tour ended, Michael went back to record Thriller, his follow-up to Off the Wall (1979). It would be three years before the Jacksons would go back on the road again. Rolling Stone later named the Triumph Tour one of the best 25 tours between 1967 and 1987. To showcase the success of the Triumph Tour, Michael Jackson commented that it was their first show without any marginal material. After the Triumph tour, Michael patterned the Victory Tour (1984) and his Bad World Tour (1987–1989).

Stage

The stage was dark and had three groups of strobe lights, all of them containing different colors of lights, facing the stage diagonally. The stage also had a spotlight that followed the main performers. In addition to the lighting, the musicians played their instruments on fixtures (the horn section to the left of the stage, the drums to the center, and keyboards to the right; with the exception of the guitarists and Randy Jackson who played the piano, keyboards, and assorted percussion).

Opening act

Set list
Setlist[6][7]
  1. "Can You Feel It"
  2. "Things I Do for You"
  3. "Off the Wall"
  4. "Ben"
  5. "Walk Right Now"
  6. "This Place Hotel"
  7. "She's Out of My Life"
  8. The Jackson 5 Medley: "I Want You Back" / "ABC" / "The Love You Save"
  9. "I'll Be There"
  10. "Rock with You"
  11. "Lovely One"
  12. "Workin' Day and Night"
  13. "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"
  14. "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)"

Notes

  • The intro to "Can You Feel It" was inspired by the music video for the song.
  • The song "Walk Right Now" was removed from the setlist around August, making it one of the rarest songs to track down.
  • In early shows, "This Place Hotel" didn't have an explosion and was instead used in "Walk Right Now"

Tour dates
List of 1981 tour dates, showing date, city, country, venue, attendance, gross[8][9][10][11][12]
Date
(1981)		 City Country Venue Attendance Gross
July 8 Memphis United States Mid-South Coliseum 11,999 / 11,999 $118,528
July 10 Oklahoma City Myriad Convention Center N/A
July 11 Dallas Reunion Arena 15,602 / 15,602 $153,252
July 12 Houston The Summit N/A
July 15 San Antonio HemisFair Arena
July 17 Baton Rouge Riverside Centroplex Arena
July 18 Mobile Mobile Municipal Auditorium
July 24 Greensboro Greensboro Coliseum
July 25 Charlotte Charlotte Coliseum
July 26 Hampton Hampton Coliseum
July 28 Lakeland Lakeland Civic Center 10,000 / 10,000 $107,000
July 31 Landover Capital Centre N/A
August 1
August 2 Buffalo Buffalo Memorial Auditorium 11,000 $115,000
August 4 Montreal Canada Montreal Forum N/A
August 5 Toronto Maple Leaf Gardens
August 7 Uniondale United States Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
August 8 Cincinnati Riverfront Coliseum 15,898 / 15,898 $166,038
August 9 Richfield Richfield Coliseum N/A
August 12 Atlanta Omni Coliseum 15,667 / 15,667 $163,773
August 13 Pittsburgh Civic Arena N/A
August 14 Philadelphia Spectrum 17,842 / 17,842 $224,881
August 15 Hartford Hartford Civic Center 11,153 $121,490
August 16 Providence Providence Civic Center 13,000 / 13,000 $146,000
August 18 New York City Madison Square Garden N/A
August 19
August 21 Detroit Joe Louis Arena
August 22 Indianapolis Market Square Arena
August 23 Dayton University of Dayton Arena
August 26 Milwaukee MECCA Arena
August 28 Chicago Chicago Stadium
August 29 Lexington Rupp Arena
September 1 Kansas City Kemper Arena
September 2 St. Louis Checkerdome
September 3 Denver McNichols Sports Arena
September 6 Las Vegas Las Vegas Convention Center
September 8 San Diego San Diego Sports Arena
September 10 Daly City Cow Palace
September 15 Tempe ASU Activity Center 7,230 / 14,000 $75,915
September 18 Inglewood The Forum 55,000 / 55,000 $633,029
September 19
September 22 Oakland Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena 12,435 / 14,000 $149,633
September 25 Inglewood The Forum [lower-alpha 1]
September 26
TOTAL 196,826 $2,174,539
Postponements

Personnel
The Jackson 5
With
  • David Williams – guitar
  • Bill Wolfer – synthesizer
  • Mike McKinney – bass
  • Jonathan Moffett – drums
  • Wesley Phillips, Cloris Grimes, Alan (Funt) Prater, Roderick (Mac) McMorris – horns (East Coast Horns)

Notes
  1. The score data is combined from the shows held at The Forum from September 18, 19, 25, and 26, 1981 respectively.

References
  1. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  2. "Triumph Tour (1981)". titojackson.com. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  3. Doug Henning Michael Jackson -wind Triumph
  4. Michael Jackson - Off the Wall www.AllMichaelJackson.com
  5. Michael Jackson biography: The Jacksons years www.Michael-Jackson-trader.com
  6. Searl, Hanford (September 5, 1981). "Concert Review: Jackson Sellout". Billboard. p. 44.
  7. Eder, Bruce (November 1981). "The Jacksons Live: All Music Review".
  8. "It's a Jacksons' Summer! They're taking off again". Billboard. New York: Billboard Publications, Inc. 93: 28–29. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  9. "The Jacksons - Triumph Tour (1981)". The Michael Jackson Fan Club. June 2013. Archived from the original on June 16, 2013. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  10. Ralston, Jeannie (July 29, 1981). "The Jacksons: All Eyes Were on Michael Last Night". Evening Independent. 74 (230). St. Petersburg, Florida: Times Publishing Company. p. 8B. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  11. "Michael Jackson Fan Site Billie Jean". www.billiejean.be.
  12. Box office score data:
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