The 50th Anniversary Tour was the very last concert tour from Tina Turner, exactly 50 years after Anna Mae Bullock stepped on to an East St. Louis stage for her first professional performance.
After Tina’s performance at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2008, everybody wanted her back on stage, but Tina wasn’t sure. At a Giorgio Armani fashion show in Milan soon after the Grammys, Sophia Loren greeted Tina: „Why aren’t you working? You’ve had enough time off. You owe it to the people, go back to work!“ That was the moment Tina realised it was now or never. Eventually at a special Oprah Winfrey show in Las Vegas, Tina announced that she will embark once again on a world tour later that year.
The setlist included some of Tina's greatest solo hits as well as some classics from Ike & Tina Turner and a Rolling Stones medley. The concerts started with an updated version of the Beatles Get Back and was divided in two segments, with a video intermission showing the most memorable moments of Tina’s career with I Don’t Wanna Fight in the background. As special guests, the Ninjas, a group of four martial artists introduced some songs in a very artistic way.
Opening Night: October 1, 2008 / Kansas City (USA)
Closing Night: May 5, 2009 / Sheffield (UK)
Regions: North America, Europe
Concerts: 90+
Visitors: 1.2 Mio.
Home Video: TINA Live
The Band: Warren McRae: Bass / Laurie Wisefield: Guitars, Vocals / Euge Groove: Saxophone, Percussion, Keyboards / Jack Bruno: Drums / Joel Campbell: Keyboards, Vocals / Ollie Marland: Musical Director, Keyboards, Vocals / John Miles: Guitar, Vocals / Lisa Fisher: Vocals / Stacy Campbell: Vocals / Djeneba Aduayom: Dancer / Ferly Prado: Dancer / Solange Guenier: Dancer / Clare Turton: Dance Captain / Ninjas: Xin Wuku, Philip Sahagun, Jesse "Justice" Smith, Danny Sre
„I wasn’t ready to go back on stage. Then all of the acts of my time started to go out. All of my peers, so to speak, are out there. It just seemed like it was right that I should go now.“
Setlist
- Get Back
- Steamy Windows
- Typical Male
- River Deep, Mountain High
- What You Get Is What You See
- Better Be Good To Me
- Ninja Chase
- Acid Queen
- What’s Love Got To Do With It
- Private Dancer
- Weapons Sequence
- We Don’t Need Another Hero
- I Don’t Wanna Fight
- Help
- Let’s Stay Together
- Undercover Agent For The Blues
- I Can’t Stand The Rain
- Jumpin' Jack Flash
- It’s Only Rock’n Roll (But I Like It)
- Flamenco 007 Encounter
- Goldeneye
- Addicted To Love
- The Best
- Band Introduction
- Proud Mary
- Nutbush City Limits
- Be Tender With Me Baby
Tour Program
The tour program (42 pages) was available in two different versions. The first one from the beginning of the American leg contained no live pictures - only from the rehearsals and many wonderful promotional shoots. After the first concerts, most of the promo pictures were replaced with live pictures and the pictures with the dancers and Ninjas are totally different. The European version is the same as the second American version, but with the European tour dates.