Welcome 2 was a concert tour by American recording artistPrince. Playing over 80 shows, the tour reached North America, Europe and Australia. Each leg of the tour is branded by the "Welcome 2" title followed by the continent the leg is located in. The tour marks the singer's first performances in North America in over six years. The show is composed of the singer performing his hits with his band The New Power Generation. Alongside Prince, various musicians performed including Janelle Monáe, Esperanza Spalding and Cassandra Wilson. The title of the tour varied depending on the territory where it was performing. The tour placed 39th on Pollstar's "Top 50 Worldwide Tour", earning nearly $20 million.
Background
Prince announced the tour on October 14, 2010 at the famed Apollo Theater in New York City. He stated the tour would begin in Greater New York. He further explained to the audience each show would be different. "Come early, come often. I have a lot of hits... no two shows will be the same". For the tour, Prince will play a custom gold Fender Stratocaster, which will auctioned off at the end of the tour. The proceeds will benefit the Harlem Children's Zone. The concerts are staged in the round, with the stage shaped like the singer's iconic love symbol. During shows, Prince invited several celebrities to come onstage and "jam out" with him, including Naomi Campbell, Whoopi Goldberg, Jamie Foxx, Alicia Keys, Leighton Meester, Questlove, Sherri Shepherd and Cornel West. He also performed duets with specials guests throughout the shows in North America. For "The Beautiful Ones", Prince is joined onstage by ballet dancer Misty Copeland. During the concert at Madison Square Garden on December 29, 2010, Janelle Monáe performed "If I Was Your Girlfriend" with the singer. During the same show, Cyndi Lauper and Egypt Sherrod performed "Jungle Love". Following his shows in Greater New York, Prince expanded the tour to include the San Francisco Bay Area and The Carolinas. In April, he announced he would perform a twenty-one night residency show at The Forum in Inglewood, California, during an appearance on Lopez Tonight. Dubbed "Welcome 2 America: 21-Night Stands", the singer performed throughout the months of April and May, including stops in Fresno, San Jose and Sacramento. As the tour continued, Prince performed at several music festivals in Europe. In the fall of 2011, he announced he would bring his tour to Canada, his first performances in the territory in nearly ten years. In 2012, a tour of Australia received a warm response from spectators.
