Best of Both Worlds Tour was the debut concert tour by American singer Miley Cyrus. The tour was held in support of the double-disc Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus (2007), which consisted of the soundtrack to Hannah Montanas second season and her debut studio album. It initiated in October 2007 and concluded in January 2008, visiting cities in the United States and Canada. The tour was promoted by AEG Live and Buena Vista Concerts. Labelmates the Jonas Brothers, Aly & AJ, and Everlife each served as opening act during the tour. One dollar from each ticket sold was donated to the City of Hope National Medical Center, an organization devoted to the fight against cancer. The Best of Both Worlds Tour raised over US $2 million for the organization.
The Best of Both Worlds Tour was created by Kenny Ortega and Michael Cotten to be video intensive and was meant to differentiate Cyrus from Hannah Montana as a performer. The show had Cyrus performing first under character, as Hannah Montana. She then performed a duet with the opening act, which continued performing an interlude of songs. For the latter half of the duet, a body double was used to facilitate the transition from Hannah Montana to herself. Videos online caused many fans to become outraged and question whether Cyrus lip-synched on the tour. Her representatives later issued a statement that denied the allegations and stated the reasons for the body double's usage. The fast-paced concert had six segments, divided equally between each persona.
The tour received generally positive responses from critics, some who complimented Cyrus' vocal skills and onstage presence and preferred the Hannah Montana set over Cyrus'. The tour was commercially successful, grossing over $54 million. At the 2008 Billboard Touring Awards, it won the "Breakthrough Artist" award.
A three-dimensional film, Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert, was released to American cinema in February 2008. The film received an overwhelming commercial response, grossing a total of $70.6 million worldwide and setting numerous records, including once being the highest-grossing concert film of all time. Critical response was generally positive to mixed. When televised for the first time on Disney Channel, Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert was watched by over 5.9 million viewers. A live album was released as a soundtrack for the film, Best of Both Worlds Concert, with recordings from the same concerts was released in March 2008.
Background
In 2006, Cyrus served as opening act on twenty dates of The Cheetah Girls' concert tour The Party's Just Begun Tour, performing solely as Hannah Montana. In June 2007, the singer released the double-disc album Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus. The first disc, Hannah Montana 2, of the album was Hannah Montanas second season soundtrack, while the second disc, Meet Miley Cyrus, was Cyrus' debut studio album. In order to promote the album, Cyrus decided to embark on her first headlining concert tour, the Best of Both Worlds Tour, where she performed both under character, as Hannah Montana, and as herself for the first time.
The concert tour was being discussed by executives as early as January 2007. It was announced on August 8, 2007 via press release. It was confirmed that the tour would be promoted by AEG Live and Buena Vista Concerts, a division of The Walt Disney Company. It also featured American band and labelmates the Jonas Brothers as opening act. The tour would expand throughout North America, from October 18, 2007 in St. Louis, Missouri to January 9, 2008 in Albany, New York, with a total of fifty-four dates; fifty-three of which were in the United States and one which was in Canada. In October 2007, another date was annexed in order to meet demand. In December 2007, a fourteen-date extension of the tour was announced, with American duo Aly & A.J. opening seven of them; the opening act for the remaining dates was yet be announced. The extension featured new opening acts because the Jonas Brothers pulled out to record their then-forthcoming album A Little Bit Longer (2008). Subsequently, in the same month, one final date was annexed, and the American band Everlife was announced to as the final opening act. One dollar from each ticket purchased was donated to the City of Hope National Medical Center, a center dedicated to the prevention, treatment and research for the cure of cancer. In total, the Best of Both Worlds Tour raised over US $2 million for the center.
Development
The tour was titled Best of Both Worlds Tour after the song of the same name, which was the theme to Hannah Montana and was released on the series' first soundtrack. The title was chosen because of how the concert alternates between Cyrus performing as Hannah Montana and herself. She described the tour to differentiate the two according to their respective styles and depict how one girl was able to have two sides to her. She said the most notable difference between the two characters was the style of music, rather than physical appearance. According to her, Hannah Montana was direct pop music, while her own style was more rock music-oriented and included real-life scenarios set to tunes. Cyrus rehearsed for the tour simultaneous to filming the final episodes for the second season of Hannah Montana from September to October 2007.
Kenny Ortega, a common collaborator with The Walt Disney Company at the time, was hired as the tour's director and main choreographer. Ortega, along with set designer Michael Cotten, assembled an experienced personnel and developed the show, which was made fairly simple because Cyrus did not feel confident enough as a vocalist to perform stunts and use props while singing. Therefore, the focus was turned to video. Cotten envisioned the set to be "an interactive mobile kaleidoscope of flash and style", a conceptualization that involved a massive amount of video. Nineteen individual LED video screens were located throughout the stage. Four high definition V9 LED video screens served as walls surrounding the main stage. Five Barco MiTrix cubes, which consisted of three LED panels that faced towards the audience and one supporting panel that faced the stage, were suspended by rigs throughout the stage. Nocturne Productions partnered with equipment supplier Video Equipment Rentals (VER) to accomplish the design. The lightweight and adaptability of the V9 LED screens allowed for designers to add more lighting elements than in most shows at the time.
Video content director George Elizando and video engineer Steven Davis controlled the video surfaces using a Pinnacle i9000 switcher and an expanded Vista Systems Spyder system. Graphics on the LED walls were fed from a custom video playback system that incorporated three Green Hippo media servers; some of the video content was filmed during rehearsals and were meant for Cyrus to interact with onstage. Visual magnification was executed through the usage of Ikegami Tsushinki HL-45 cameras and multiple strategically located point-of-view cameras, in order to cover the show from every angle. Extensive amounts of teamwork was needed to set up the complex video system at each venue, particularly for weekend daytime performances, as they had less time. Mark Woody, Steve "Bone" Gray, Justin McLean, and Dane Mustola set up the video structures, while Evan Huff and crew chief Eric Geiger built the video thrust into the audience and installed the live cameras. "Thanks to these talented designers a show commensurate with Hannah's popularity has been created", said Paul Becher, co-CEO of Nocturne Productions. For audio, Cyrus used Sennheiser's MD 5235 dynamic capsule atop the SKM 5200 wireless handheld transmitter nightly. Sixteen channels of Sennheiser G2 wireless monitors were programmed to ensure that performers could hear what was being played amidst fervid screams from the audience. Sennheiser 500 series wireless guitar and bass systems were also used.
Concert synopsis
The main show started with Cyrus descending onto the stage in a neon pink cube that bore a digital image of her silhouette, as pink fireworks were fired behind her. Donning a long, sequined, cheetah and black-striped dress and cardigan, sparkling black leggings, black boots, and the blonde Hannah Montana wig, she began to perform the concert's opening number, "Rock Star". In continuation, Cyrus was joined by multiple backup dancers to perform dance routines for "Life's What You Make It". Removing the cardigan, she concluded the segment with "Just Like You". Still costumed as Hannah Montana, Cyrus reappeared from the back of the stage, wearing sparkly blue denim jeans, a white tank top, a blue denim vest, and shiny silver tie; she performed "Old Blue Jeans" among female backup dancers and "Nobody's Perfect" roaming the stage alone while scenes from her hit tv show, Hannah Montana, were played on the big screens. The next segment began with the performance of "Pumpin' Up the Party", where Cyrus dressed with a pink and purple sequined mini-dress, fuchsia ad violet leggings and maroon boots and dancers wore 1960s-inspired attires while performing calisthenics. The segment continued with "I Got Nerve", which required participation and elaborate routines on behalf of the dancers, and a duet with the opening act. While they served as opening act, "We Got the Party" was performed as a duet with the Jonas Brothers. She annexed a pink and purple trench coat to her attire and performed with the Jonas Brothers, who also played electric guitars. At one point of the performance, Cyrus disappeared to be replaced by a body double who completed the performance. While Aly & A.J. and Everlife served as opening acts, a postmodern cover of Kiss' "Rock and Roll All Nite" (1975) was performed by them and Cyrus wore a geometric-patterned cocktail dress. Afterwards, the opening act performed an interlude of several songs. Backup singer Kay Hanley then introduces Miley Cyrus.
After removing the wig, Cyrus then reappeared to perform eight more songs as herself. She emerged from the bottom of the runaway to perform "Start All Over". She was costumed by studded black jeans with chains attached to the waist, a white tank top, a black leather vest and a matching glove. She roamed throughout the stage, kicking over the microphone stand and banging her head. "Good and Broken" and "See You Again", where Cyrus removed the vest and was joined by multiple backup dancers, rounded off the show's fourth segment. She returned to the stage in a fuchsia bustier and short, black ruffled skirt to perform "Let's Dance", where she performed Latin-influenced choreography with backup dancers, and "Right Here". Prior to Cyrus re-entering the stage for the sixth segment, backup singers sang a reworked version of Toni Basil's "Mickey" (1982) that replaced the word "Mickey" with "Miley". Cyrus, costumed in a pink tank top, a plaid miniskirt and sneakers with high-knee socks, performed "East Northumberland High", amid backup dancers dressed as skateboarders and football players. Adding a black jacket, she sings "G.N.O. (Girl's Night Out)" with female dancers as her backup singers and concluded the main concert with the theme to Hannah Montana, "The Best of Both Worlds", a song credited to her alter ego. The latter had Cyrus interacting with video that depicted Hannah Montana and ended with the firing of confetti and fireworks. Sporadically throughout the Best Both Worlds Tour, Cyrus returned on stage wearing a white tank top and denim jeans for the performance of a one-song encore, which was either "I Miss You" or "Ready, Set, Don't Go", a duet with her father Billy Ray Cyrus. Both songs were performed in an acoustic setting, without dancers or special effects. The prior had Cyrus performing acoustic guitar herself, while the latter had her father doing so.
Critical reception