Which musician had the longest concert tour of all time?
Although the tangible benefits of touring are currently being questioned due to rising inflation and other costs – including the tax on mental health – it is still regarded as one of the most vital means for a musician to earn a salary and spread the word about their art. From The Beatles to modern favourites such as Boygenius, most established artists have maintained a fair share of extensive runs. As is well known, these tours can sometimes be so consequential that they can be either career-defining or career-ending.
Demonstrating just how long tours can run for, in April this year, Metallica kicked off a world tour supporting their latest album, 72 Seasons, which sees them play two nights in every city they visit on the ‘No Repeat Weekend’. This extensive run will last until August 2024.
Speaking to Revolver, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich outlined how Metallica still tour after all these years and clarified that veterans like Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen also head out on mammoth global runs. He said: “Obviously, there is a point where it’s maybe not going to function anymore at some level, where we can’t play ‘Battery’ or ‘Master Of Puppets’ or songs like that. I know there’s some people in the comments section that think that point has already come. But the only thing I can say is that it hasn’t happened yet. Hopefully, it won’t happen for a while. I mean, Paul McCartney’s out there past his 80th birthday. The Rolling Stones are still out there. Bruce Springsteen just started his tour.”
“None of them are playing ‘Battery’,” Ulrich continued. “But at the same time, Springsteen plays three-hour shows and just played 28 fucking songs on the opening night. He looks healthier and stronger than ever. I would say that if we stay healthy, hopefully, we’ve got another decade.”
Elsewhere, when things don’t go as planned, tours can be much shorter than expected. One prominent example that springs to mind is when Britpop heroes Oasis imploded in 2009. Famously, the band travelled non-stop worldwide for 12 months to support Dig Out Your Soul, but they capitulated and didn’t complete the run. Things were over after a backstage fight between frontman Liam Gallagher and his brother Noel in Paris just before taking the stage at Rock en Seine.
Guitarist Noel Gallagher said: “And it ended up on the floor, and I put it out of its misery. And then I said, well look, I mean, there were people who were in the band, looking the other way, it wasn’t even a big dressing room. And I was like, you know what? I’m fucking out of here. And at that point, someone came in and said five minutes!… I kind of got in the car and I sat there for five minutes, and I just said fuck it, I can’t do it anymore.”
Admittedly, eruptions such as when Oasis broke up are rare occurrences. Presenting the antithesis that exhibit is the longest concert tour in history. A remarkable feat by a somewhat unexpected artist, the world record for the most prolonged tour of all time – never mind in rock music – is by Jared Leto’s Thirty Seconds to Mars, which clocked in at a mind-blowing 309 concerts.
This Guinness World Record was confirmed at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom on December 7th, 2011.
