This Day in Pop: 'The Onyx Hotel Tour' kicks off in 2004 (March 02)

[PokemonSpears]

 

 

On March 02, 2004 The Onyx Hotel Tour kicked off in San Diego, in order to support Britney Spears' fourth album In the Zone. Britney visited America and Europe with it and and showed a more mature and adult side of her in comparison to her previous tours. With 54 concerts in total, 616,887 in attendance, a box office of U$35.3M, The Onyx Hotel Tour would be her last stadium concert before marrying Kevin and becoming a mom the following year, and eventually put under a conservatorship against her will in 2008.

Originally planned as "The In the Zone Tour" (later changed due to a lawsuit filed for trademark infringement) it was announced in December 2003. The tour extended through June 06, when it was abruptly cancelled after she injured her knee on the set of the Outrageous music video, after suffering another injury onstage in March while performing (I Got That) Boom Boom in Illinois. It was intended to end in August, and in total 40 shows were cancelled.

The setlist was comprised mostly of tracks from the album In the Zone, with only some of her classic hits making the cut, two of which, ...Baby One More Time and Oops!... I Did It Again, were reworked in a Cabaret style. The majority of the show is focused on dancing and sensual performances, but two moments stand out during the concert, the ballads Everytime, performed with Britney playing the piano, and Shadow.

 

Divided in seven segments that narrate the story within the Onyx Hotel, these were the songs performed on the tour:

1. Toxic
2. Overprotected
3. Boys
4. Showdown
5. ...Baby One More Time
6. Oops!... I Did It Again
7. (You Drive Me) Crazy
8. Everytime
9. The Hook Up
10. I'm a Slave 4 U
11. Shadow
12. Touch of My Hand
13. Breathe on Me
14. Outrageous
15. (I Got That) Boom Boom
16. Me Against the Music

 

 

In an interview for the Associated Press, she explained the meaning behind the onyx stone and the hotels in her life, as well as what the public could expect from the show:

 

MTV was a big supporter of the tour, doing several special shows to promote it. Thanks to Britney Online @CJMCH we just got this backstage at Fresno from TRL in high quality

 

There was also the longer MTV special Road to Miami

 

Besides the show from Miami in March, the one at Rock in Rio Lisboa was also broadcasted in June, and it was reported by MTV that a reality show was being produced to document the backstage of the European leg, which would be later reworked into what ended up being Britney & Kevin: Chaotic.

 

[PlayboyMommy]

Her second best tour 

This anecdote will never not be iconic 

Quote

The members of Miike Snow, who have just embarked on their first full American and European tour, are perhaps less concerned with massive success than some of their peers. They have, after all, seen the dark side of superstardom. “We have great Britney stories,” Karlsson says suggestively. Winnberg offers a printable incident: a tour in Hamburg where he and Karlsson helped Spears elude the paparazzi by jumping into a cab and going to a peep show. “She was drinking whiskey out of an ashtray at a strip club when her show was supposed to start,” says Karlsson.

[I'mNotTheAverageLady]

50 minutes ago, PokemonSpears said:

 

 

 

Hope this will be Britney's next post on insta

[MeAgainstTheMusic_]

My favourite tour! She looks so **** and confident. OHTney was such a vibe. I wish she could get this confident on stage again 

 

OHT would have been an amazing Las Vegas residency concept. It suits the feels of Vegas but just imagine it on a much bigger scale. 

 

[Iconic 4 U]

One of her best tours

[Martian_M00d]

That tour was definitely her best IMO 

[Jordan Miller]

5 hours ago, I'mNotTheAverageLady said:

Hope this will be Britney's next post on insta

I think she'll get to the Mario Testino photos first

 

[reVolution]

Her best tour hands down

[nthenwkiss]

imma be a hater here and say that this tour wasn't a favorite; I think they messed up the songs with those weird mixes and I hated that she was barefoot most of the time.

the attitude was totally on point tho' she gave face, looks, attitude and style; but dancing wasn't as perfect as DWAD; say what you must but it wasn't.

it had a lot of iconic performances but as a whole i feel like it wasn't THE concert; maybe she was over it by then.

[Martian_M00d]

Bring back Urbanney . Less glitzy Vegas leotards please 

[s&m]

Cassieney come here 

[MeAgainstTheMusic_]

1 hour ago, nthenwkiss said:

imma be a hater here and say that this tour wasn't a favorite; I think they messed up the songs with those weird mixes and I hated that she was barefoot most of the time.

the attitude was totally on point tho' she gave face, looks, attitude and style; but dancing wasn't as perfect as DWAD; say what you must but it wasn't.

it had a lot of iconic performances but as a whole i feel like it wasn't THE concert; maybe she was over it by then.

I’m intrigued to hear a different perspective on the OHT as I love it because on reflection she was on fire and was light years ahead of the performer she is today. I also relate it to one of the last times she had any proper fire as a performer. 

Interestingly though I’ve seen a few people say that the OHT was a much cheaper looking show than DWADT and her dancing/energy was very inconsistent. I put that down to the fact that she was overworked and tired by the amount of shows she was doing. They were two different times in her life and she didn’t take the DWADT to Europe. 

It is interesting that the OHT stage is very basic with LED lighting which would have been ahead of its time for 2004 but the main focus was definitely the dancing. That’s why I think it suited the Vegas theme as I said above. Her POM residency was missing something. They should have given it a theme rather than just a random show. 

[nthenwkiss]

3 minutes ago, MeAgainstTheMusic_ said:

I’m intrigued to hear a different perspective on the OHT as I love it because on reflection she was on fire and was light years ahead of the performer she is today. I also relate it to one of the last times she had any proper fire as a performer. 

Interestingly though I’ve seen a few people say that the OHT was a much cheaper looking show than DWADT and her dancing/energy was very inconsistent. I put that down to the fact that she was overworked and tired by the amount of shows she was doing. They were two different times in her life and she didn’t take the DWADT to Europe. 

It is interesting that the OHT stage is very basic with LED lighting which would have been ahead of its time for 2004 but the main focus was definitely the dancing. That’s why I think it suited the Vegas theme as I said above. Her POM residency was missing something. They should have given it a theme rather than just a random show. 

I agree with most of your points here, and in no way I'm saying the OHT was not an AMAZING tour, but I personally believe that the DWADT was her peak tour in an overall score. Simply put, DWADT = 100% then maybe the OHT = 97%; but like with a lot of things britney, her biggest competition has always been herself. in a lot of aspects she set the bar extremely high, even for herself sometimes. - which is why we as a fanbase are sometimes talking about her peaks and stuff.

like every artist she has had many peaks throughout her whole career; and all in different categories and different eras: for example the best tour (performance wise / visuals) might have been the DWADT but CIRCUS (which I think is overhyped) was the best selling one / biggest / longest, etc. or like with femme fatale, it might not be considered a great album of hers, but hey it has a ****tton of #1 hits. so i guess we'll always find ourselves comparing her to her successes.

makes sense?

[Isla]

7 hours ago, MeAgainstTheMusic_ said:

OHT would have been an amazing Las Vegas residency concept. It suits the feels of Vegas but just imagine it on a much bigger scale. 

 

Now that you've said I actually agree with this! The whole hotel/jazzy lounge vibes definitely remind me of Vegas.

I love this tour, although it's probably my second fave, behind Dream Within a Dream.

[CJMCH]

The TRL days: Backstage pass at Fresno, California

 

[Million Billion]

8 hours ago, nthenwkiss said:

imma be a hater here and say that this tour wasn't a favorite; I think they messed up the songs with those weird mixes and I hated that she was barefoot most of the time.

the attitude was totally on point tho' she gave face, looks, attitude and style; but dancing wasn't as perfect as DWAD; say what you must but it wasn't.

it had a lot of iconic performances but as a whole i feel like it wasn't THE concert; maybe she was over it by then.

The OHT was higly criticized at the time not only for being an overly ***ual-themed concert but because her dancing was a little lower than her previous tour but I think critics just overreacted, I mean, yes her dancing wasnt the same as the DWAD tour but they made it seem like she did it waaaaaaaaay worse which is not the case. 

I do like that vibe she gave to the show, very jazzy and less fabricated as the mixes she used in her previous shows. I guess i can recall an interview where she says she wanted a Broadway kind of a show, a very intimate show. 

To be objective I (we all) must admit her best tour is definitely the DWAD but to me, the Onyx Hotel Tour is my favorite, I love that rebellious I dont give a f-u-c-k kinda ***ual attitude. 

[SumoCyco2017]

She filmed Everytime the friday,sat, sun after my Seattle date when she came thru on this tour

[PokemonSpears]

after a failed attempt earlier today when I lost everything that I had already written, I finally updated the OP with what I could

better late than never

[princessmimi]

What an iconic tour even though its really not my fave.

I do have it on dvd though and its nice.

[thebritmaster]

This tour was everyTHAAANG