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Cover to Cover
World tour by George Michael
	Tour itinerary cover
Location	Europe; South America; Asia; North America;
Start date	15 January 1991
End date	31 October 1991
Legs	3
No. of shows	29
Guests	Elton John; Andrew Ridgeley;
George Michael concert chronology
	; The Faith Tour; (1988–89); ; Cover to Cover; (1991); ; 25 Live; (2006–08);

The Cover to Cover tour was the second solo concert tour by English singer-songwriter George Michael.^[1] The tour spanned 9 months between January and October 1991, comprising 29 shows across the United Kingdom, Brazil, Japan, Canada and the United States.^[1]

A cover version of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", a 1974 song by Elton John, recorded during the tour, was released in November 1991, and became a massive hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Michael and John had performed the song together at the Live Aid concert in 1985, and again at Michael's concert at Wembley Arena on 23 March 1991, where the duet was recorded. In April 1993, live performances of "Killer", "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" and "Calling You" formed part of the Five Live EP which again topped the UK Singles Chart. His next tour happened only 15 years later.^[2]

Background

In September 1990, George Michael released his second solo studio album, Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1. Following his decision to be taken more seriously as a songwriter, Michael refused to do any promotion for the album.^[3]

The North American portion of the tour was originally scheduled to begin on 6 February 1991 at the Massey Hall in Toronto, Ontario, concluding on 20 February in Los Angeles,^[4] but was postponed until late 1991.^[5] The tour finally began on 15 January 1991 at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England, and concluded on 31 October at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland.^[6] The tour was not a proper promotion for Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1; rather, it was more about Michael singing covers of his favourite songs.^[7]

On 25 and 27 January 1991, Michael headlined the Rock in Rio II festival. He was joined by his ex-Wham! bandmate, Andrew Ridgeley, the second night.^[1]

Critical reception

In a review of the 5 October 1991 concert at the Forum in Inglewood, California, Richard Cromelin of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "[...] at the Forum on Saturday, everything was as charged as ever in Georgeland: a screaming, sellout crowd, a hard-working star and hit after hit (so what if they were mostly three years old and more?)." He noted, "When the curtain rose, Michael was posed as the moody pop icon sporting his trademark sunglasses and five-o'clock shadow. But in what might serve as a metaphor for his self-liberation, he soon scrapped the male-model attitude and spent the rest of the show smiling and chatting with unpretentious warmth."^[8]

In a review of the concerts held at the Madison Square Garden in New York City for The New York Times, Stephen Holden opined that, "while the program's range and its taste in material showed Mr. Michael to be a dedicated student of contemporary pop-soul music, his performances rarely came close to matching the power of the original hit versions. [...] The show's better moments were Mr. Michael's performances of original songs that have the same mixture of traditional pop formality and soulful emotiveness as his singing. A version of the Wham! hit 'Everything She Wants', arranged in an early Motown style, and the evening's final encore, 'Freedom! '90', a proclamation of personal liberation, which became a spirited audience sing-along, proved to be the evening's peppy high points."^[9]

Recordings

The four Wembley Arena performances during 19–23 March 1991 were professionally recorded for a commercial release of the tour. A cover version of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", a duet with Elton John, was recorded on 23 March,^[10] and was later released as a single in November 1991. Performances of "Killer", "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" and "Calling You" were released as part of the Five Live EP, released on 19 April 1993.^[11] A performance of "Tonight" was featured on the Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin compilation album.^[12]

According to David Austin, whom Michael called his best friend in the A Different Story documentary,^[13] "There are 22 or 23 live tracks from the Cover to Cover tour that are simply amazing, finished and mixed and have never been heard before."^[14]

Set list

Shows

List of concerts, showing date, city, country, venue, tickets sold, number of available tickets, and amount of gross revenue
Date	City	Country	Venue	Attendance	Gross
Europe
15 January 1991	Birmingham	England	NEC Arena	—	—
16 January 1991	Birmingham	England	NEC Arena	—	—
South America
25 January 1991^[a]	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	Maracanã Stadium	—	—
27 January 1991^[a]	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	Maracanã Stadium	—	—
Asia
6 March 1991	Tokyo	Japan	Tokyo Dome	—	—
7 March 1991
9 March 1991
10 March 1991
Europe
19 March 1991	London	England	Wembley Arena	—	—
20 March 1991
22 March 1991
23 March 1991
North America
1 October 1991	Oakland	United States	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena	—	—
2 October 1991	Sacramento		ARCO Arena	—	—
5 October 1991	Inglewood		Great Western Forum	27,145 / 27,145	$622,553
6 October 1991	Inglewood		Great Western Forum	27,145 / 27,145	$622,553
9 October 1991	Tacoma		Tacoma Dome	—	—
10 October 1991	Vancouver	Canada	Pacific Coliseum
13 October 1991	Denver	United States	McNichols Sports Arena
15 October 1991	Houston		The Summit
16 October 1991	Dallas		Reunion Arena
18 October 1991	Auburn Hills		The Palace of Auburn Hills
20 October 1991	Rosemont		Rosemont Horizon	10,054 / 14,417	$256,648
22 October 1991	Toronto	Canada	Maple Leaf Gardens	14,201 / 14,201	$364,800
25 October 1991	New York City	United States	Madison Square Garden	29,031 / 29,031	$752,685
26 October 1991	New York City		Madison Square Garden	29,031 / 29,031	$752,685
28 October 1991	Worcester		Worcester Centrum	—	—
29 October 1991	Philadelphia		The Spectrum	11,248 / 14,570	$256,955
31 October 1991	Landover		Capital Centre	—	—

Notes

^ ^a ^b The concerts on 25 and 27 January 1991, at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro are part of Rock in Rio.

Personnel

As printed in the official Japanese tour programme:

Chris Cameron – Musical Director
Deon Estus – Bass/Vocals
Andy Hamilton – Keys/Saxophone
Danny Cummings – Percussion
David Clayton – Keyboards
Martin Bliss – Guitar
Danny Jacob – Guitar
Jonathan Moffett – Drums
Lynn Mabry – Background Vocals
Shirlie Lewis – Background Vocals
Jay Henry – Background Vocals
Rob Kahane – Personal Manager
Nicholas Brown/Stephen Brackman – Business Managers
Alan Zullo – Tour Manager
Ken Watts – Tour Coordinator
Jake Duncan – Artist's Liaison
Rich Mayne – Production Manager
Tom Armstrong – Stage Manager
Lauren Murphy – Asst. Tour Manager
Ronnie Franklin – Head of Security
Danny Francis – Security
Paul Dallanecra – Security
Melanie Panayiotou – Hair & Makeup
Alan Keyes – Wardrobe
Julie Chertow – Masseuse—Brazil/Japan

Benji Lefevre – House Sound Engineer
Chris Wade-Evans – Monitor Engineer
Roy Bennett – Lighting Designer
Gary Westcott – Varilite Operator
D.J. Howes – Tour Programmer/Keys
Dave Newton – Keyboard Tech
Nick Sizer – Percussion Tech
Ade Wilson – Guitar Tech
Dikka Jones – Guitar Tech
Paul Davies – Drum Tech
Bernie Kearns – Projection Operator
Paddy Fitzpatrick – Stage Set/Carpenter
Mike Allison – Senior Audio Tech
Edward Harbin – Audio Tech
Dave Conyers – Audio Tech
Peter Currier – Lighting Tech
Peter Parchment – Lighting Tech
Steve Rusling – Lighting Tech
Tim Dunn – Lighting Tech
Nicola Burton – Lighting Tech
Winterland Productions – Merchandising
Russell Young, Bradford Branson – Photography
George Michael & Simon Halfon – Design

Wembley Arena, March 19/20/22/23 1991 promotional cassette

A free exclusive cassette was given to audience members at the Wembley Arena concerts between 19–23 March. It contained one previously unreleased track, a cover of "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)", which was later released as a B-side to "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me".