The Heart of Stone Tour was the second solo

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...

by American singer-actress

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

. The tour supported her nineteenth studio album, '' Heart of Stone''. A mini tour was set up in the summer 1989, and a second leg started in 1990. The tour reached North America, Australia and Europe and grossed over $40 million.

Background

The Heart of Stone Tour was

's most ambitious solo tour, after an 8-year absence, and spanned eight months, three continents plus two casinos, the

Sands Hotel The Sands Hotel and Casino was a historic American hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada, United States, that operated from 1952 to 1996. Designed by architect Wayne McAllister, with a prominent high sign, the Sands was the sevent ...

Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.

and

The Mirage The Mirage is a casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by Hard Rock International. The 65-acre property includes a casino and 3,044 rooms. Golden Nugget, Inc., le ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

. It was, in Cher's own words, "a cross between '' Phantom of the Opera'' and

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

". Her then-manager Bill Sammeth first set up a mini August tour in 1989, including stops in Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago,

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

, and

. In eight shows, grosses of $200,000-plus per night were made before audiences of 8,000–11,500. After the filming of ''

Mermaids In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

'', Cher resumed a bigger leg. The tour had been scheduled to open March 18 in Tucson, but the date was changed when the

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptom ...

threw Cher off her rehearsal schedule. Cher finally kicked off the North American leg of the tour in Dallas on March 31, 1990. The tour ran through to August 1990, and then proceeded to Europe and Australia in October and November. Cher sang in eight shows, during a six-night engagement, at the 1,500-seat theatre of

Reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote of Heart of Stone Tour, "Her show is a kind of Las Vegas mystery play with a message: Trust yourself, don't give up on life or love, and eternal celebrity can be yours."

Set list

# "

I'm No Angel ''I'm No Angel'' is a 1933 pre-Code film directed by Wesley Ruggles, and starring Mae West and Cary Grant. West received sole story and screenplay credit. It is one of her films that was not subjected to heavy censorship. Plot Tira (Mae West ...

" # " Hold On" # "

We All Sleep Alone "We All Sleep Alone" is the second official single from Cher's self-titled eighteenth album ''Cher'', released on January 28, 1988 by Geffen Records. The single was also released on VHS containing the music video, as directed by Cher. Song inform ...

" # " Bang-Bang" # " I Found Someone" # "Perfection" # "

Tougher Than the Rest "Tougher Than the Rest" is a song by Bruce Springsteen from his 1987 '' Tunnel of Love'' album. It was released as a single in some countries, following " Brilliant Disguise" and the title track, but was not released as a single in the United ...

" # " After All" # "

If I Could Turn Back Time "If I Could Turn Back Time" is a song by American singer and actress Cher from her 1989 nineteenth studio album '' Heart of Stone''. It was released as the album's lead single in July 1989, by Geffen Records. The song was written specifically f ...

" ;Encore #

Many Rivers to Cross "Many Rivers to Cross" is a song written and recorded in 1969 by Jimmy Cliff. It has since been recorded by many musicians, including Harry Nilsson, John Lennon, Joe Cocker, Percy Sledge, Little Milton, Desmond Dekker, UB40, Cher, The Br ...

" #

" Heart of Stone" #

" Takin' It to the Streets"

Tour dates

Additional notes

Prior to the opening concert of the Australian leg of her concert in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

on November 14, Cher also performed the after race concert at the conclusion of the 1990 Australian

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

on November 4. The concert was held on the Christian Brothers College Oval in the middle of the

Adelaide Street Circuit The Adelaide Street Circuit (also known as the Adelaide Parklands Circuit) is a temporary street circuit in the East Parklands adjacent to the Adelaide central business district in South Australia, Australia. The "Grand Prix" version of th ...

and a ticket to the race granted free entry to the show. Cancellations: Cher had to cancel her tour in Russia, two days after the tickets were sold. She was rumored to cancel dates in Brazil and Argentina as well.

Personnel

*Show Directed by

Kenny Ortega Kenneth John Ortega (born April 18, 1950) is an American filmmaker, touring manager, and choreographer. He is known for directing the films ''Newsies'', '' Hocus Pocus'', ''The Cheetah Girls 2'', '' High School Musical'', '' Michael Jackson's T ...

*Artistic Director:

Marty Callner Marty Callner (born 1950 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American television director, who has made music videos, comedy specials, concert specials, and television shows, in a career spanning from 1977 to present day. He is the creator of HBO's '' H ...

*Musical Director: Gary Scott *Set Designer: Kenny Ortega *Costume Design:

Bob Mackie Robert Gordon "Bob" Mackie (born March 24, 1939) is an American fashion designer and costumier, best known for his dressing of entertainment icons such as Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Diahann Carroll, Carol Channing, Cher, Doris Day, Marlene D ...

*Additional Costumes: Ret Turner *Additional Costumes: Mike Schmidt *Make-up: Leonard Engelman *Hair: Renate Leuschner *Keyboards: Paul Mirkovich *Guitar: Elijah Blue Allman *Guitar: Dave Amato *Guitar:

David Shelley David Joseph Shelley (November 23, 1957 – August 10, 2015) was an American blues rock musician who performed with Cher and released two critically acclaimed albums, ''That's My Train'' (2012) and ''Trick Bag'' (2013). Biography Early years Dav ...

*Bass: Hugh McDonald *Bass: Donnie Nossov *Drums: Ron Wikso *Lead Vocals: Cher *Backing Vocalist:

Darlene Love Darlene Wright (born July 26, 1941), known professionally as Darlene Love, is an American singer and actress. She was the lead singer of the girl group the Blossoms and she also recorded as a solo artist. She began singing as a child with her ...

*Backing Vocalist: Pattie Darcy Jones *Backing Vocalist:

Edna Wright Edna Wright (February 2, 1945 – September 12, 2020) was an American singer, best known as the lead singer of Honey Cone, the girl group that went to No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 with the song "Want Ads" in 1971. She was the younger sister ...

*Dancers: Bubba Carr *Dancers: Aaron Cash *Dancers: Bill Holden Jr. *Dancers: Trish Ramish *Dancers: Michelle Rudy *Dancers: Peter Tramm *Dancers: Eyan Williams *Dancers: Troy Burgess

Broadcasts and recordings

Only a few dates during this tour were recorded and kept. The shows that we know were definitely recorded are: Pensacola Civic Center, Pensacola, Florida, USA
Cher's 1990 Pensacola, Florida date was one of the concerts recorded as told by Cher herself on the 2005 release of the Mirage Special. During this concert, Cher's microphone does not work during the opening. There is no known copy of this concert in circulation and the only footage available is on the Mirage concert DVD. It is under the title of blooper in the bonus features and features only the concert intro and snippet of 'I'm No Angel'. In 2020, TimeLife released “The Best Of Cher” on DVD. A bonus feature included “Baby Hold On” and “Tougher Than The Rest” as recorded in Pensacola. Mirage Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Cher's two concerts at the Mirage Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada were filmed as part of Cher's CBS special to be shown on television. These shows saw some of Cher's more conservative alternatives to her mainstream tour outfits, somewhat more suitable for a TV audience. Cher's outfit for 'If I Could Turn Back Time' is notably different as is Cher's opening outfit which seems more formal interpretation of the original. The stage shape was also altered for these shows, with runways forming two audience pits which joined at the centre. The TV Special was aired February 4, 1991." Jones Beach Amphitheater, Wantagh, New York, USA
This concert was filmed to be used in part with the 'Prime Time Live' Cher Tour special. The show featured interviews with Cher and backstage rehearsal footage. The program then cut live to the concert where 'If I Could Turn Back Time' was performed. There are copies in circulation of this uncut concert but nothing commercial. It is reasonably difficult to obtain a copy other than from fan trades etc. The show features fewer songs than Cher's Mirage Special, but does include the original tour outfits. Melbourne Tennis Center, Melbourne, Australia
This concert was broadcast live via satellite to Australia's Sky Channel members. The concert was shown in its entirety and uncut form, only once on television. Little is known about this show other than it features extra performances of Desperado and Love Hurts. Dallas, Texas, USA
Footage from this concert was shown during the April 3, 1990 episode of Entertainment Tonight. They labelled the tour as "Cher Tour 1990" and the Dallas show as opening night. The show also showed backstage rehearsals the night before the opening. Other Recordings
Other shows that haven't been identified were recorded on the tour which were used primarily for promotional use on programs such as Entertainment Tonight and Prime Time Live. The same footage shown on Prime Time Live has also been included as bonus features for some of the songs on the Mirage DVD release. The tour footage of the bonus songs on the Mirage DVD shows a different backing singer to any other footage.

Rehearsal footage

During the promotion of the tour, many television programs such as

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American first-run syndicated news broadcasting newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Paramount Streaming. ET also airs in Aus ...

went backstage showing the construction and rehearsal of the set. There is a fair amount of rehearsal footage considering the little amount of the tour that was filmed.Rehearsal footage is available as a second angle option in the 2005 release of her Mirage concert. The show was filmed on Cher's personal video camera in front of a small non-paying audience. The show at this stage is only in its development stages and the footage is used by Cher as a "work tape" for her to see where she can improve. During certain songs such as " I Found Someone" and " Takin' It to the Streets" in the original VHS and DVD releases, shots of Cher rehearsing for her Mirage shows were shown in black and white. Due to the fact the shots were shown over the concert, the original audio is not available although it does show Cher rehearsing her dance moves for the end track.In 1990 Prime Time Live did a special about Cher's upcoming tour. As well as showing clips from the tour and a satellite performance from the concert that night, footage of Cher rehearsing was also shown. It's not clear which show she was actually in sound check for, but during the rehearsal she requested the overall level of the band to be reduced.Footage from the Dallas, Texas rehearsals was shown with an ''

'' report on Cher's tour. It showed Cher practising her dance steps for her closing number and also miscues during the runthrough. The US TV show ''After Hours'' also showed rehearsal footage of songs such as "After All", "Hold On" and "I'll Be There For You" during an interview promoting the tour. The shots were possibly taken for her Atlantic City show as Cher mentions that that is where she is when being interview although this is not certain.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heart Of Stone Tour Cher concert tours 1989 concert tours 1990 concert tours