Bee Gees w/ Andy Gibb "You Should Be Dancing" (Spirits Having Flown Tour - 1979) Harold Cowart (RIP) Bass, Sweet Inspirations – Backing Vocalists
Bee Gees Spirits tour footage from "The Bee Gees Special" NBC Documentary
 | |
| Spirits Having Flown | |
| Start date | June 28, 1979 |
| End date | October 6, 1979 |
| Legs | 1 |
| No. of shows | 53 in North America |
| Box office | $10.9 million |
| Bee Gees concert chronology | |
Bee Gees Spirits tour footage from "The Bee Gees Special" NBC Documentary
The Spirits Having Flown Tour is the eighth concert tour by the Bee Gees in support of their fifteenth studio album Spirits Having Flown. The tour began on 28 June 1979 in Fort Worth, Texas reaching a total of 38 cities before coming to a close on 6 October 1979 in Miami, Florida.
It was their most lavish and successful tour during the height of their popularity following two straight number-one albums and six number-one singles and grossed over $10 million as reported by Billboard by the end of its run.
Background
After the release of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, The Bee Gees were unable to tour due to their commitment to the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie. Then from March to November, 1978, they spent much of their time in the studio recording Spirits Having Flown, the follow-up album to Saturday Night Fever.
Prior to the kickoff of the tour, The Bee Gees popularity grew even further following Saturday Night Fever, when they were the headline act on the Music for UNICEF Concert in January. Then they won four Grammy awards in February for Fever and by June, they pulled off a feat only matched by The Beatles with six consecutive number one singles, when "Love You Inside Out" topped the charts in June, setting the stage for the hottest summer tour since The Beatles in 1964.
Considering the group's popularity was at an all-time high, stringent security precautions were taken, though The Bee Gees themselves setup base in only five cities. They would fly to the next venue and return to their home base immediately following the show. They leased a custom 55-seat Boeing 720 jet at a cost of over one million dollars with a specially designed logo on the exterior of the plane. The Bee Gees were accompanied on the tour by a film crew capturing highlights of the shows, for use in a NBC-TV special which aired in November, hosted by David Frost.[1]
The Bee Gees were joined on stage with their usual band featuring Alan Kendall on guitar, Blue Weaver on keyboards and Dennis Bryon on drums, as well as Boonero Horns, a 6-piece brass section and Sweet Inspirations, which provided backing vocals.The show
Being that this was the most ambitious tour The Bee Gees ever embarked on, there was a lot of preparation that went into the tour, from an extensive rehearsal schedule (in which The Bee Gees missed that year's Billboard music awards, where they won an astonishing 11 awards), staging and special effects, merchandising and tight security. The tour consisted of a 41-date schedule starting in Fort Worth, TX and ending in their hometown of Miami, FL. The 3 Gibb brothers were identically dressed in incredibly skin-tight, white satin trousers and dazzling white spangled jackets throughout the tour.
During theHouston show on June 30, a bearded John Travolta joined the Bee Gees on stage during "You Should Be Dancing" to reprise some of his footwork from Saturday Night Fever. Travolta was in Houston shooting the film Urban Cowboy.
Besides the surprise appearance by John Travolta at the Houston concert, many celebrities were in attendance at many of the concerts. Among the 60,000 fans at L.A.'s Dodger Stadium were Cary Grant, Barbra Streisand, Rod Stewart, Olivia Newton-John, Karen Carpenter, Jack Nicholson and Harry Wayne Casey of KC & The Sunshine Band.[1] Prior to their September 24 concert in Landover, the Bee Gees were invited to the White House where President Carter congratulated them for their efforts with UNICEF.[1]
Set list
- "Tragedy"
- "Edge of the Universe"
- "Night Fever"
- "Love So Right"
- "Stayin' Alive"
- "New York Mining Disaster 1941"
- "Run to Me"
- "Too Much Heaven"
- "Holiday"
- "I Can't See Nobody"
- "Lonely Days"
- "I Started a Joke"
- "Massachusetts"
- "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart"
- "Nights on Broadway"
- "To Love Somebody"
- "Words"
- "Wind of Change"
- "How Deep Is Your Love"
- "Jive Talkin'"
Tour dates
| Date | City | Country | Venue | Opening act | Attendance | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America[2] | ||||||
| 28 June 1979 | Fort Worth | United States | Warrant County Convention Center | Sweet Inspirations | 13,901 / 13,901 | $202,480 |
| 29 June 1979 | Austin | Frank Erwin Center | 17,440 / 17,440 | $231,410 | ||
| 30 June 1979 | Houston | The Summit | 16,654 / 16,654 | $231,285 | ||
| 2 July 1979 | Denver | Nicholson Sports Arena | N/A | N/A | ||
| 3 July 1979 | Salt Lake City | Salt Palace | 12,920 / 12,920 | $177,748 | ||
| 5 July 1979 | San Diego | San Diego Sports Arena | 12,714 / 12,714 | $175,853 | ||
| 7 July 1979 | Los Angeles | Dodger Stadium | 56,000 / 56,000 | $700,000 | ||
| 9 July 1979 | Oakland | Oakland Coliseum Arena | 38,078 / 38,078 | $530,305 | ||
| 10 July 1979 | ||||||
| 11 July 1979 | ||||||
| 13 July 1979 | Seattle | Seattle Center Coliseum | 26,707 / 26,707 | $369,443 | ||
| 14 July 1979 | ||||||
| 15 July 1979 | Vancouver | Canada | PONE Coliseum | 15,158 / 15,158 | $215,828 | |
| 17 July 1979 | Portland | United States | Portland Veterans Memorial Coliseum | 22,769 / 22,769 | $320,458 | |
| 18 July 1979 | ||||||
| 21 July 1979 | St. Paul | Saint Paul Civic Center Arena | 31,040 / 31,040 | $434,445 | ||
| 22 July 1979 | ||||||
| 24 July 1979 | Amen | Hilton Coliseum | 14,685 / 14,685 | $204,220 | ||
| 25 July 1979 | Madison | Dane County Coliseum | 9,883 / 9,883 | $144,573 | ||
| 26 July 1979 | Indianapolis | Market Square Arena | 17,730 / 17,730 | $245,328 | ||
| 28 July 1979 | Pontiac | Pontiac Silversmith | 36,270 / 36,270 | $453,375 | ||
| 30 July 1979 | Chicago | Chicago Stadium | 36,196 / 36,196 | $507,573 | ||
| 31 July 1979 | ||||||
| 1 August 1979 | St. Louis | St. Louis Checkerboard | 16,834 / 16,834 | $238,290 | ||
| 3 August 1979 | Tulsa | Mabel Center | 10,586 / 10,586 | $151,250 | ||
| 4 August 1979 | Oklahoma City | Myriad Convention Center | 15,477 / 15,477 | $217,920 | ||
| 27 August 1979 | New Haven | New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum | 10,880 / 10,880 | $157,768 | ||
| 28 August 1979 | Providence | Providence Civic Center | 26,139 / 26,139 | $371,368 | ||
| 29 August 1979 | ||||||
| 31 August 1979 | Toronto | Canada | Maple Leaf Gardens | 18,249 / 18,249 | $264,265 | |
| 1 September 1979 | Montreal | Montreal Forum | 34,733 / 34,733 | $484,984 | ||
| 2 September 1979 | ||||||
| 4 September 1979 | Pittsburgh | United States | Pittsburgh Civic Arena | N/A | N/A | |
| 5 September 1979 | ||||||
| 7 September 1979 | New York City | Madison Square Garden | 39,364 / 39,364 | $376,000 | ||
| 8 September 1979 | ||||||
| 9 September 1979 | ||||||
| 14 September 1979 | Buffalo | Buffalo Memorial Auditorium | 16,800 / 16,800 | $236,492 | ||
| 15 September 1979 | Cincinnati | Riverfront Coliseum | 33,334 / 33,334 | $469,545 | ||
| 16 September 1979 | ||||||
| 18 September 1979 | Cleveland | Coliseum at Chesterfield | 35,000 / 35,000 | $496,000 | ||
| 21 September 1979 | Philadelphia | The Spectrum | 29,056 / 29,056 | $399,015 | ||
| 22 September 1979 | ||||||
| 24 September 1979 | Handover | Capital Centro | 36,674 / 36,674 | $515,568 | ||
| 25 September 1979 | ||||||
| 26 September 1979 | Norfolk | Norfolk Scope | 11,854 / 11,854 | $163,783 | ||
| 28 September 1979 | Birmingham | Birmingham–Jefferson Civic Center Arena | 17,901 / 17,901 | $243,583 | ||
| 29 September 1979 | Atlanta | Omani Coliseum | 31,951 / 31,951 | $455,315 | ||
| 30 September 1979 | ||||||
| 2 October 1979 | Greensboro | Greensboro Coliseum | 18,299 / 18,299 | $213,980 | ||
| 3 October 1979 | Columbia | Carolina Coliseum | 12,151 / 12,151 | $171,065 | ||
| 4 October 1979 | Jacksonville | Jacksonville Coliseum | 10,117 / 10,117 | $140,580 | ||
| 6 October 1979 | Miami | Miami Stadium | N/A | N/A | ||
| Total | 803,544 / 803,544 | $10,911,095 | ||||
Tour band
Barry Gibb– Lead vocal, guitar
Robin Gibb– Vocals
Maurice Gibb– Backing vocal, guitar
Andy Gibb– Vocals
John Travolta– Vocals
Alan Kendall– Guitar
Joey Murcia– Guitar
Blue Weaver– keyboards
George Bitzer– Keyboards
Harold Cowart– Bass
Dennis Bryon– Drums
Joe Lala– Percussion
Boneroo Horns– Trumpets, Trombones, Saxophones
Sweet Inspirations– Backing vocalists