The Jackson 5 First National Tour was the group's first tour of America. After having made 1969 appearances with Diana Ross & The Supremes at The Forum, and Yvonne Fair in Gary, Indiana, the tour began in Philadelphia with their first official full-length Motown concert. Two concerts were supported by Jerry Butler and Rare Earth in San Francisco and Los Angeles (Ike & Tina Turner had been scheduled to appear).
In an interview, Michael told Soul Magazine about the tour, "In San Francisco and Los Angeles, it looked like the walls were falling the way hundreds of them, the girls, came at the stage all together; but we have to practice getting away too, so we're ready to drop everything and run. Jermaine dropped his guitar and took off at the Forum concert. We can always get a new guitar for him, but he'd be kinda hard to replace. It's too bad really, 'cause we can't finish the show the way we rehearsed. We always have to run off stage, and we can't thank the audience and stuff, you know the way we'd really like too, we just have to run away."
Background[]
The tour was announced in April 1970 by Berry Gordy Jr. and Joe Jackson. During the group's May 10, 1970 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, Ed Sullivan announced the group would begin a summer tour of one-nighters at New York's Madison Square Garden on July 7. However, outside of the two June concerts in California, they would not appear there or at any venue until October.
They toured with only four band instruments, Ronnie Rancifer on the organ/keyboard, Johnny Jackson on drums, Tito on lead guitar, and Jermaine on bass.
Song repertoire[]
- Stand!
- I Want You Back
- ABC
- Feelin' Alright (cover of the Three Dog Night version)
- Who's Lovin' You
- I'll Be There
- Mama's Pearl
- Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah
- Yesterday
- Can You Remember?
- There Was a Time
- It's Your Thing
- I Found That Girl
- Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
- Walk On (an instrumental rendition of Isaac Hayes' "Walk On By")
- The Love You Save
These songs are found in the 1970 tour booklet as The Jackson 5's repertoire ("Songs that's expected to be performed in their performance") for the tour. The set list included songs from the albums Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5, ABC (album) and Third Album. They sang some songs that were not recorded in the studio, such as Hum A Song (From Your Heart), or ones that the group recorded but did not release, like Feelin' Alright.
Although these are the usual songs performed in their set, they often performed different songs. For example, at the concert in Jacksonville, they performed Darling Dear and I Want to Take You Higher. The first 5 songs were always the same, as listed above, and they always ended with Walk On and The Love You Save, except in their first 3 concerts in Philadelphia, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Tour dates[]
North America
| Date | City | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| May 2, 1970 | Philadelphia | Spectrum |
| June 19, 1970 | Daly City | Cow Palace |
| June 20, 1970 | Inglewood | The Forum |
| October 9, 1970 | Boston | Boston Garden |
| October 10, 1970 | Cincinnati | Cincinnati Gardens |
| October 11, 1970 | Memphis | Mid-South Coliseum |
| October 16, 1970 | New York City | Madison Square Garden |
| October 17, 1970 | Detroit | Olympia Stadium |
| October 18, 1970 | Chicago | International Amphitheatre |
| November 28, 1970 | Rochester | Rochester Community War Memorial |
| December 27, 1970 | Charlotte | Charlotte Coliseum |
| December 28, 1970 | Greensboro | Greensboro Coliseum Complex |
| December 29, 1970 | Nashville | Nashville Municipal Auditorium |
| December 30, 1970 | Jacksonville | Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Coliseum |
Cancellations[]
- 11/26/70: Buffalo, New York; Cancelled (Due to death threats being made against Michael Jackson)
| Tours | ||
|---|---|---|
| "Bad World Tour" • "Dangerous World Tour" • "HIStory World Tour" • "This Is It" | ||
|