PopOdyssey was the fourth concert tour by American boy band NSYNC. Sponsored by Verizon Wireless and Chili's, the tour promoted the band's fourth studio album, Celebrity. The tour's name is defined as "an adventurous journey towards popularity, beginning as just a dream and ending in reality". The tour became the biggest production in pop music, beating U2's PopMart Tour. The tour, which visited stadiums, was NSYNC's first to include backup dancers, and is known for its elaborate audio and visual effects which included lasers, fireworks, animation, and suspension wires.
The 2001 tour earned over $90 million, becoming one of the biggest tours of the year. It was also nominated for "Most Creative Stage Production" for Pollstar's "Concert Industry Awards". The tour primarily visited North America.
Background While promoting their performance at Rock in Rio in 2001, the band stated production was underway on their forthcoming tour. Following the performance, SFX Entertainment announced the band was planning a summer concert tour to promote their upcoming album. Band member Lance Bass said the inspiration for the tour's concept was the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, saying, "We wanted to do 2001: A Pop Odyssey and pay tribute to pop icons. So the whole tour revolves around the meaning of pop and what was popular from the '40s til today." Initially, the tour was expected to begin May 12, 2001 at the Pro Player Stadium in Miami, with English pop group BBMak slated to be the opening act. PopOdyssey was considered "the largest production for a pop concert", as the stage was five stories tall and included three video screens and five mini-stages. The tour was then postponed to May 23, 2001, to ensure that the crew was able to complete the stage construction. NSYNC's third studio album Celebrity was initially planned to be released on June 26, 2001, but was moved to July 24, 2001. As a result, NSYNC decided to perform new songs from Celebrity on the tour before the album was released. Additional tour dates were cancelled due to weather conditions in the South. However, PopOdyssey was one of the most anticipated tours of 2001. Two months into the tour, the band expressed hopes of later bringing their shows back to Europe, where they first toured before their American breakthrough, in addition to Australia; this did not come to fruition.
The opening of PopOdyssey was held at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida to positive reviews. They were joined on tour by several pop acts including: Christina Milian, Samantha Mumba and Deborah Gibson. During the show, public service announcements were shown for an anti-drug campaign with the Office of National Drug Control Policy, along with promotional spots for On the Line, a film starring band members Bass and Fatone which was to be released theatrically in the fall of 2001. The band also partnered with the Candie's Foundation to help prevent teen pregnancy. The tour also opened the newly built Heinz Field. Celebrity peaked at number one on the Billboard 200, setting the second-highest record for first-week sales after their previous album No Strings Attached (2000). The tour ended in the Caribbean islands of Turks and Caicos.
Synopsis The show begins with a short film that spells out the definitions of the words Pop ("music popular with the general public") and Odyssey ("a long series of travels and adventures") on a typewriter. The words are combined to form PopOdyssey: "an adventurous journey towards popularity, beginning as just a dream and ending in reality." Joey Fatone, dressed as a professor in a classroom, appears in the video and plays a montage that details NSYNC's journey from their origins to the present. Fatone then scrawls the phrase Dirty pop on a chalkboard. Hooded figures appear on the main stage in a nod to NSYNC's previous tour entrances. This turns out to be a misdirection, as the band instead emerges from a midfield stage which connects to the main stage by a long ramp. After kicking off with "Pop," they perform a mash-up of old favorites from their debut album.
After performing newer song "The Two of Us", a film segment of Lance Bass and Chris Kirkpatrick in cowboy attire prefaces "Space Cowboy." The video directs the audience to look upwards, and the guys appear on the rafters of the stage. Harnesses take them flying above the crowds and to the midfield stage. They return to the main stage and each guy rides a futuristic-style mechanical bull.
The guys transition to the ballad "This I Promise You," accompanied only by guitar, piano, and saxophone, and ending with a new harmony by the guys. A 1920s-style film segment titled "There Was Once a Flower" has Justin Timberlake playing a Charlie Chaplin-esque figure (just like in the "Gone" music video) trying to give a flower to his love interest, only to be rejected. The camera zooms in on Timberlake with a tear rolling down his face, saying, "I just can't believe she's gone." The band, dressed in Prohibition era costumes, sing "Gone" while sitting on steps on the main stage. As Timberlake is the main singer in this song, he moves downstage solo to the catwalk and engages in theatrical displays of heartbrokenness.
As Timberlake concludes singing, bandmate Kirkpatrick joins him onstage and the two humorously fight. While both guys spar, the other band mates swarm the stage on go-karts, wagons, and an oversized teddy bear, accompanied by dancers. To the tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel", the guys spray silly string and squirt water guns at the audience. They perform "It's Gonna Be Me" with a toy theme, referencing their music video.
They segue into "See Right Through You," singing and dancing atop moving conveyor belts. For "Up Against the Wall," the guys are bounced onto Velcro walls brought onstage. A short film plays of JC Chasez stuck in a phone call with his gold-digging girlfriend, a phone call that is interrupted by his band mates. Chasez asks the girlfriend "Wait a minute. Do you want me, or what I can buy you?," and the band performs "Celebrity."
On the midfield stage, the guys shift into a downtempo segment as Fatone reads letters written by fans in the audience. The guys perform a trio of ballads, "Something Like You"/"Falling/"Selfish". They switch to the uptempo "No Strings Attached"; there is a gag at the beginning of Timberlake's verse about him "losing his touch." After his fruitless attempts to summon his touch, Timberlake finally joins his hands together to form a fireball effect that sets off a row of fireworks on stage.
The high-tech villain figure Mobius 8 appears midfield playing remixed snippets of NSYNC songs. The guys shoot out onto the main stage from unseen elevators and sing "The Game Is Over," with the screens showing video game effects. The group engages in a video-game "battle" with Mobius. The show ends with "Bye Bye Bye." Each band member goes inside a cage that is covered in drapes. The drapes are then dropped, revealing the cages to be now empty.
Personnel NSYNC JC Chasez – Lead Tenor Vocals Justin Timberlake – Lead Tenor Vocals Chris Kirkpatrick – Backing Countertenor Vocals Lance Bass – Backing Bass Vocals Joey Fatone – Backing Baritone Vocals
Band On this tour, all six accompanists returned from the No Strings Attached tour. Two new additions would join the ranks, however Kevin Antunes – Music Director, Keyboards Troy Antunes – Bass Billy Ashbaugh – Drums, Percussion Greg Howe – Lead Guitar Ruben Ruiz – Rhythm Guitar, Keyboards David Cook – Keyboards Paul Howards – Saxophone, Percussion, Keyboards Juan Sepulveda – Percussion
Dancers Kristin Denehy Chantal Robson Annalisia Simone Fergason Diana Carrendo Michele Martinez
Opening acts Not So Boy Band (North America—Leg 1,2, select dates) BBMak (North America—Leg 1, select dates) Christina Milian (North America—Leg 1, select dates) Dante Thomas (North America—Leg 1, select dates) Debbie Gibson (North America—Leg 1, select dates) Dream (North America—Leg 1, select dates) Eden's Crush (North America—Leg 1, select dates) Li'l Johnnie (North America—Leg 1, select dates) Meredith Edwards (North America—Leg 1, select dates) Samantha Mumba (North America—Leg 1, select dates) 3LW (Chicago, Jacksonville, Hershey) Tony Lucca (Jacksonville, Tampa) Lil' Romeo (Jacksonville, St. Louis, Houston) Amanda (Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Columbus, New Orleans, Jackson) Tonya Mitchell (Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, San Diego, Anaheim)
Setlist The following setlist was obtained from the concert held on May 23, 2001, at the Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. It does not represent all concerts for the duration of the tour. "Pop" "Tearin' Up My Heart" / "I Want You Back" "(God Must Have Spent) A Little More Time on You" (contains elements of "Music of My Heart") "The Two of Us" "Space Cowboy (Yippie-Yi-Yay)" (contains elements of "Wild Wild West") "This I Promise You" "Gone" "It's Gonna Be Me" "See Right Through You" "Up Against the Wall" "Celebrity" "Something Like You" / "Falling" / "Selfish" "No Strings Attached" Encore "The Game Is Over" (contains elements of "Can't Stop the Rocket", "Mars: The Bringer of War" from The Planets and "Bye Bye Bye") (featuring Mobius 8) "Bye Bye Bye"
Tour dates DateCityCountryVenueOpening Act May 23, 2001JacksonvilleUnited StatesAlltel StadiumBBMak 3LW Tony Lucca Lil' RomeoMay 26, 2001HersheyHersheypark StadiumBBMak 3LW Tonya MitchellMay 28, 2001May 31, 2001FoxboroughFoxboro StadiumBBMakChristina MilianDreamMeredith EdwardsJune 1, 2001June 3, 2001East RutherfordGiants StadiumJune 4, 2001June 5, 2001June 6, 2001CincinnatiCinergy FieldJune 10, 2001Orchard ParkRalph Wilson StadiumJune 13, 2001PhiladelphiaVeterans StadiumJune 16, 2001ChicagoSoldier FieldBBMakChristina MilianDreamMeredith Edwards3LWJune 17, 2001BBMakChristina MilianMeredith Edwards3LWJune 19, 2001TorontoCanadaSkyDomeBBMakEden's CrushMeredith EdwardsJune 21, 2001ClevelandUnited StatesBrowns StadiumJune 22, 2001June 24, 2001MinneapolisMetrodomeJune 26, 2001MilwaukeeMiller ParkJune 28, 2001DetroitComerica ParkJune 29, 2001July 2, 2001St. LouisTrans World DomeDante ThomasEden's CrushMeredith EdwardsSamantha MumbaLil' RomeoJuly 4, 2001Little RockWar Memorial StadiumDante ThomasEden's CrushMeredith EdwardsSamantha MumbaJuly 6, 2001HoustonReliant AstrodomeDante ThomasEden's CrushMeredith EdwardsSamantha MumbaLil' RomeoNot So Boy BandJuly 8, 2001IrvingTexas StadiumDante ThomasEden's CrushMeredith EdwardsSamantha MumbaNot So Boy BandJuly 10, 2001Kansas CityArrowhead StadiumDante ThomasEden's CrushMeredith EdwardsSamantha MumbaJuly 13, 2001DenverMile High StadiumJuly 16, 2001San DiegoQualcomm StadiumJuly 18, 2001PhoenixBank One BallparkJuly 21, 2001OaklandNetwork Associates StadiumDante ThomasEden's CrushMeredith EdwardsSamantha MumbaTonya MitchellJuly 22, 2001July 24, 2001PasadenaRose BowlNot So Boy BandSamantha MumbaEden's CrushMeredith EdwardsTonya MitchellJuly 27, 2001WhitneySam Boyd StadiumNot So Boy BandEden's CrushMeredith EdwardsTonya MitchellJuly 31, 2001TampaRaymond James StadiumNot So Boy BandSamantha MumbaEden's CrushMeredith EdwardsTony LuccaAugust 5, 2001San AntonioAlamodomeMeredith EdwardsAugust 10, 2001LouisvilleCardinal StadiumAugust 11, 2001AtlantaGeorgia DomeAugust 13, 2001Washington, D.C.RFK StadiumMeredith EdwardsAmandaAugust 16, 2001IndianapolisRCA DomeDebbie GibsonAmandaAugust 18, 2001PittsburghHeinz FieldAugust 20, 2001ColumbusColumbus Crew StadiumAugust 22, 2001New OrleansLouisiana SuperdomeDebbie GibsonAmandaLil' RomeoAugust 24, 2001JacksonMississippi Veterans Memorial StadiumDebbie GibsonAmandaAugust 27, 2001El PasoSun Bowl StadiumDebbie GibsonSeptember 1, 2001Mexico CityMexicoEstadio AztecaChristina Milian
Cancellations and rescheduled shows