Stars Dance Tour

The Stars Dance Tour was the first concert tour by American recording solo artist Selena Gomez to promote her first solo studio album, Stars Dance (2013). Gomez performed songs from her solo debut album, as well as her releases with Selena Gomez & the Scene. The tour launched on August 14, 2013 and continued until November 26, 2013. It serves as the first tour of Gomez's career, visiting Europe and Dubai. Upon its launch, the tour received a positive critical and commercial reception.

Development

On April 15, 2013, Gomez announced that she would be touring North America and Europe from August to November in support of her album Stars Dance. When asked about the tour, Gomez stated:

"It's going to be a bigger show. I’m excited. I’ve been dancing a lot and I just want to entertain people and I’m super stoked." Gomez further added: "I kind of missed shows when it used to just be about the dancing and the performing as opposed to how big and elaborate the stage is so I kind of want to get back to that. My favorites were Britney Spears and Janet Jackson so I kind of want it to be a bit more dancing and make it about entertainment and about the show and the songs as opposed to how big the stage and effects are."^[2]

It was announced later that the tour would continue throughout Asia and Australia but in December 2013 Gomez released a statement saying that she decided to cancel the tour. Gomez stated:

"My fans are so important to me and I would never want to disappoint them. But it has become clear to me and those close to me that after many years of putting my work first, I need to spend some time on myself in order to be the best person I can be. To my fans, I sincerely apologize and I hope you guys know how much each and every one of you mean to me."^[3]

Concert Synopsis

The show begins with a video showing stars in outer space. The camera begins to zoom in on earth and down into a house where Selena has fallen asleep after looking at star charts. The video then fades out to white, enlarges Gomez's face and shows her looking around at 4 mysterious doors that have appeared around here. She enters one containing stairs that lead to the stage and the real Selena appears at the top of the real staircase in the center of the stage. She begins performing "Bang Bang Bang", dressed in white stretchy pants, a white crop top vest, and a long, sleeveless white coat. Next, she sings "Round & Round". Once the song is over, Selena welcomes everyone to the show and asks the audience for help singing the next song, "Like A Champion". Next, Selena and her dancers perform "B.E.A.T.", a high-power dance number, which is intermingled with Iggy Azalea's "Work". A video interlude then plays, showing her entering another door that contains a video projector that begins to countdown. Selena re-enters the stage wearing a sparkly, blue two-piece outfit with leather boots to perform "Stars Dance", which is full of beautiful, sensual dancing. "Write Your Name" is next, during which the dancers form a heart of neon glow sticks around Selena. After the song, she asks the audience if anyone is celebrating a birthday and celebrates her recent 21st birthday with the crowd by performing "Birthday". A brief segment of Rihanna's "Birthday Cake" is included at the end. A cover of "Roar" by Katy Perry is performed in the United States The lights go down as Selena slowly begins "Love You Like A Love Song" before the lights come up at the chorus and the song is performed at normal speed. Another video interlude shows Selena entering another door, this one containing potted trees and flowers, and a gift box at the end on a pedestal. She opens the gift box to reveal the sparkly microphone with her name on it that she always performs with. Camera flashes and news headlines appear, symbolizing the exposure and interest in Selena's personal life. She returns to the stage in a black dress to perform "Love Will Remember" under a spotlight on the s-shaped runway of the stage. Selena sings a cover of "Dream" by Priscilla Ahn, while playing the harmonica. Another cover, "Royals" by Lorde, is performed in the Canadian and European cities on the tour. After a speech telling the audience to accept themselves for who they are and not to change for anyone, Selena begins singing "Who Says". Another video interlude shows Selena opening the final door, which leads into a club. "Whiplash" begins to play before Selena re-enters the stage in a sparkly, gold one-piece outfit with fringy tassels, and knee-high boots. Her and her dancers dance and hang around on suspended ropes during the duration of the song. As the lights fade, they return to focus on Selena as she begins to sing "Naturally". "Save the Day" is performed in select cities. "Undercover" is next, another high-energy dance number with resonating sound waves displayed on the screen. A disco remix version of "A Year Without Rain" is also performed only in select cities. A final video clip displays Selena sleeping at the desk again after looking at star charts. She awakes to reveal that the whole thing was a just a dream. The instrumental music of "Come & Get It" begins to play before the real Selena enters the stage again wearing the same sparkly outfit with a silk, transparent skirt attached. The song features tribal dancing. After the song, Selena exits the stage again, only to re-enter without the silk skirt to perform "Slow Down" as the music video plays in the background on the screen. Pink confetti blows out into the audience during the final chorus. She runs out onto the runway to acknowledge and thank the fans for coming to the show. She acknowledges the band and dancers before running to the top of the staircase and falling backward offstage as the music ends.

Set list

This set list is representative of the show on November 6, 2013. It does not represent all concerts for the duration of the tour.^[4]

Shows

Cancelled shows

Notes

References