# The Voodoo World Tour

The Voodoo World Tour was a concert tour by American R&B/neo soul singer D'Angelo in support of his Platinum selling album, Voodoo. The tour started March 1, with the first of five nights in Los Angeles, CA at the House of Blues. The singer's itinerary included two North American legs, as well as dates throughout Europe and South America.

## Background

Following Voodoo's release, D'Angelo embarked on his second international tour in support of the album. The tour was sponsored by the clothing company Levi Strauss & Co., and it featured D'Angelo promoting an end to gun violence. After signing an initiative on June 7, 2000, at Hamilton High School in West Los Angeles to collect a million signatures by November 7 in support of "common-sense solutions" to end gun violence, the anti-gun violence organization PAX agreed to sponsor the tour. The tour was also set to feature a wall composed of denim by Levi's, made available for fans to sign in support of anti-gun violence. Consisting of a group assembled and directed by Questlove, the Soultronics, composed mostly of session personnel, the tour became one of the most attended shows of the year. According to a July 2000 issue of Jet magazine, the tour's first half "sold out in every city." It began on March 1, 2000, at the House of Blues in Los Angeles, The tour lasted nearly eight months, while performances went for up to three hours a night. "The Voodoo Tour" was taken internationally to venues including Paris Olympia, Trump Taj Mahal, Brixton Academy, the Montreux Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Free Jazz Festival in Brazil. Tour manager Alan Leeds, who previously headed James Brown's late 1960s and early 1970s outings, as well as Prince's Purple Rain tour in the mid-1980s, cited "The Voodoo Tour" as his most memorable gig. J Dilla's group Slum Village opened on several dates, while R&B singer Anthony Hamilton sang backup within the Soultronics on occasion.

## The show

In contrast to D'Angelo's supporting tour for Brown Sugar, which presented him performing behind his keyboard on stage, he exhibited a different style of showmanship and energy. Rolling Stone magazine called him "confident and worldly" in his performance, while also stating "No wonder he's alive onstage now, dancing, touching the audience, slamming his microphone down, lying on the ground at the lip of the stage to sing 'One Mo' Gin' while girls grab his legs, his stomach, his crotch." D'Angelo's wardrobe during the tour included tank tops, black leather pants, and boots. On one of the live outings, Rolling Stone described the appearance of the performers, stating "The Soultronics begin each show in all black, but beyond that one requirement, each looks completely distinct. One man is in a deacon's robe, another in a long cape with a knit ski cap that says FBI. There’s a feather boa, a few badass leather coats, and Questlove's mighty Afro. There's a P-Funkish freaky flair to the Soultronics' look."
In a review of D'Angelo's tour-opening performance at the House of Blues, The Hollywood Reporter's David Wollock described it as a "three-hour old-school soul marathon that was part 'Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine', part 'Let's Get It On', part 'Move on Up' gospel exuberance ... with call-and-response and other crowd-rousing church conventions". Wollock praised D'Angelo for his energy and display of showmanship, and wrote that "like the best hip-hop emcees who can rock a crowd with two turntables and a microphone, D moved the crowd with pure voice and charisma." A staff writer for the Chicago Defender lauded his performance at the Chicago Theatre, calling it "an explosive mixture of R&B, soul and funk."
With ticket prices ranging from $49 to $79, the tour became one of the most attended shows of 2000. The tour began on March 1, 2000, at the House of Blues in Los Angeles, while other venues included Paris Olympia, Trump Taj Mahal, Brixton Academy, the Montreux Jazz Festival, and the Essence Jazz Festival in New Orleans. By July, the tour's first half had sold out in each city. The tour lasted nearly eight months, while performances went for up to three hours a night. The Voodoo Tour was taken internationally, with one of the most notable performances being the Free Jazz Festival in Brazil.

## Critical reception

Performances earned rave reviews from critics and publications, who praised D'Angelo's energy and "charisma as a live performer", as well as the Soultronics group, and received comparisons to outings by the legendary funk bands Parliament and Sly & the Family Stone. Tanya Bell of The Gazette wrote that the group "displayed enormous talent as it took them two hours to play 11 songs." A staff writer for the Chicago Defender lauded his performance at the Chicago Theatre, calling it "an explosive mixture of R&B, soul and funk." Rolling Stone called him "abundantly gifted, eye-poppingly spectacular", "confident and worldly" in his performance at the House of Blues in Los Angeles. It compared the performance to his past concerts, stating "he's alive onstage now, dancing, touching the audience, slamming his microphone down, lying on the ground at the lip of the stage to sing 'One Mo' Gin' while girls grab his legs, his stomach, his crotch."
   Totally committed, D'Angelo betrayed neither weakness nor ego—and gave so much Thursday that Friday he canceled with a sore throat I absolutely believe was the truth. He was R&B Jesus, and I'm a believer. Travel to another city to see him now.
— Robert Christgau, 2000
In a review of D'Angelo's tour-opening performance at the House of Blues, David Wollock of The Hollywood Reporter called it a "three-hour old-school soul marathon that was part 'Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine', part 'Let's Get It On', part 'Move on Up' gospel exuberance [...] with call-and-response and other crowd-rousing church conventions". He added that, "like the best hip-hop emcees who can rock a crowd with two turntables and a microphone, D moved the crowd with pure voice and charisma." Kaia Shivers of the Los Angeles Sentinel commented that his Los Angeles tour stop placed the city "under a spell that it seems hard pressed to shake."
Reviewing his March performance at New York City's Radio City Music Hall, rock critic Robert Christgau dubbed D'Angelo "R&B Jesus" and proclaimed himself a "believer". Christgau praised D'Angelo's delivery and compared the concert to a 1981 P-Funk outing at the Apollo Theater, stating "D'Angelo sang and danced and preached and flexed and crooned and humped the floor and covered Roberta Flack and snapped a mike stand in two and danced and sang and sang some more. Everything meshed; all stops were pulled out. It was already the greatest concert I'd seen in years when Redman and Method Man propelled the climactic 'Left and Right' through the vaulted ceiling. I flashed on P-Funk's 'Sadie', Apollo 1981. What a privilege to experience such a thing again." He also compared it to Marvin Gaye in concert, writing that "I saw Marvin Gaye at this venue shortly before he was murdered, and it was no contest. Gaye was fine, but self-indulgent and riddled with blank spots."

## Opening acts

* Slum Village (USA—Leg 1 & 2)
* Mos Def (USA—Leg 1)
* Lucy Pearl (USA—Leg 2 – select dates)
* Amel Larrieux (USA—Leg 2)

## Set list

* "Voodoo" (intro)
* "Devil's Pie"
* "Send It On"
* "Smooth"
* "Chicken Grease"
* "How Does it Feel?" (teaser)
* "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine"
* "Me and Those Dreamin' Eyes of Mine"
* "Sh*t, Damn, Motherf*cker"
* "One Mo' Gin"
* "The Root" (teaser)
* "Feel Like Makin' Love"
* "Left & Right"
* "Left & Right (pt. 2)"
* Interlude
* "Brown Sugar"
* "Jonz in my Bonz"
* "Lady"
* "Fall in Love"
* "Untitled (How Does It Feel)"
* "Funk Jam"

## Band

* The Soultronics

## Tour dates

| Date | City | Country | Venue |
| North America ||||
| March 1, 2000 | Los Angeles | United States | House of Blues |
| March 2, 2000 | Los Angeles | United States | House of Blues |
| March 3, 2000 | Los Angeles | United States | House of Blues |
| March 5, 2000 | Los Angeles | United States | House of Blues |
| March 6, 2000 | Los Angeles | United States | House of Blues |
| March 16, 2000 | New York City | United States | Radio City Music Hall |
| March 18, 2000 | New York City | United States | Radio City Music Hall |
| March 20, 2000 | New York City | United States | Radio City Music Hall (rescheduled from March 17) |
| March 21, 2000 | Philadelphia | United States | Tower Theater |
| March 22, 2000 | Philadelphia | United States | Tower Theater |
| March 24, 2000 | Washington, D.C. | United States | DAR Constitution Hall |
| March 25, 2000 | Washington, D.C. | United States | DAR Constitution Hall |
| March 26, 2000 | Boston | United States | Wang Center (rescheduled from March 20) |
| March 28, 2000 | Cleveland | United States | Palace Theatre |
| March 29, 2000 | Toronto | Canada | Massey Hall |
| March 31, 2000 | Chicago | United States | Arie Crown Theater |
| April 1, 2000 | Chicago | United States | Arie Crown Theater |
| April 3, 2000 | Denver | United States | Paramount Theatre |
| April 5, 2000 | Oakland | United States | Paramount Theater |
| April 6, 2000 | Oakland | United States | Paramount Theater |
| April 7, 2000 | Los Angeles | United States | Gibson Amphitheatre |
| April 8, 2000 | Los Angeles | United States | Gibson Amphitheatre |
| April 10, 2000 | San Diego | United States | Open Air Theatre |
| April 11, 2000 | Las Vegas | United States | The Joint |
| April 12, 2000 | Phoenix | United States | Celebrity Theatre |
| April 14, 2000 | Dallas | United States | Majestic Theatre |
| April 15, 2000 | Houston | United States | Aerial Theater |
| April 16, 2000 | Houston | United States | Aerial Theater |
| April 18, 2000 | Nashville | United States | Tennessee Performing Arts Center |
| April 19, 2000 | Kansas City | United States | Midland Theatre |
| April 20, 2000 | St. Louis | United States | Fox Theater |
| April 22, 2000 | Detroit | United States | Fox Theatre |
| April 23, 2000 | Detroit | United States | Fox Theatre |
| April 25, 2000 | Newark | United States | New Jersey Performing Arts Center |
| April 26, 2000 | Washington, D.C. | United States | DAR Constitution Hall |
| April 28, 2000 | Richmond | United States | Landmark Theater |
| April 29, 2000 | Greensboro | United States | Special Events Center |
| April 30, 2000 | Charlotte | United States | Ovens Auditorium |
| May 2, 2000 | Miami | United States | James L. Knight Center |
| July 2, 2000 | New Orleans | United States | Superdome |
| July 4, 2000 | Milwaukee | United States | Marcus Amphitheater |
| Europe ||||
| July 7, 2000 | Kristiansand | Norway | Quart Festival |
| July 8, 2000 | Stockholm | Sweden | Cirkus |
| July 10, 2000 | Hamburg | Germany | Gruenspan |
| July 12, 2000 | Paris | France | Le Grand Rex |
| July 14, 2000 | Montreux | Switzerland | Montreux Jazz Festival |
| July 15, 2000 | Zeebrugge | Belgium | Axion Beach Rock |
| July 16, 2000 | The Hague | Netherlands | North Sea Jazz Festival |
| July 19, 2000 | London | England | Brixton Academy |
| North America ||||
| July 28, 2000 | Cincinnati | United States | Coors Light Festival |
| July 29, 2000 | Chicago | United States | Chicago Theatre |
| July 30, 2000 | Kansas City | United States | Midland Theatre |
| August 1, 2000 | Denver | United States | Paramount Theatre |
| August 3, 2000 | Phoenix | United States | Celebrity Theatre |
| August 4, 2000 | Las Vegas | United States | House of Blues |
| August 5, 2000 | San Diego | United States | Open Air Theater |
| August 7, 2000 | Los Angeles | United States | Greek Theatre |
| August 8, 2000 | Los Angeles | United States | Universal Amphitheater |
| August 9, 2000 | Concord | United States | Chronicle Pavilion |
| August 10, 2000 | Sacramento | United States | Memorial Auditorium |
| August 12, 2000 | Portland | United States | Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall |
| August 13, 2000 | Seattle | United States | The Pier |
| August 16, 2000 | Minneapolis | United States | Orpheum Theatre |
| August 18, 2000 | Indianapolis | United States | Murat Temple |
| August 19, 2000 | Detroit | United States | Chene Park |
| August 20, 2000 | Cleveland | United States | State Theater |
| August 22, 2000 | Pittsburgh | United States | Iron City Light Amphitheater |
| August 23, 2000 | Buffalo | United States | Shea's Performing Arts Center |
| August 24, 2000 | Atlantic City | United States | Trump Taj Mahal |
| August 27, 2000 | Wallingford | United States | Oakdale Theatre |
| August 28, 2000 | Boston | United States | Fleet Boston Pavilion |
| August 29, 2000 | Holmdel Township | United States | PNC Bank Arts Center |
| August 31, 2000 | Baltimore | United States | Pier Six Concert Pavilion |
| September 2, 2000 | Fort Pierce | United States | Sunrise Theatre |
| September 3, 2000 | Orlando | United States | Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre |
| September 4, 2000 | Atlanta | United States | Chastain Park |
| South America ||||
| October 20, 2000 | São Paulo | Brazil | Free Jazz Festival |