The Cover to Cover tour was the second solo concert tour by English singer-songwriter George Michael.[1] The tour spanned 9 months between January and October 1991, comprising 29 shows across the United Kingdom, Brazil, Japan, Canada and the United States.[1]
A cover version of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", a 1974 song by Elton John, recorded during the tour, was released in November 1991, and became a massive hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Michael and John had performed the song together at the Live Aid concert in 1985, and again at Michael's concert at Wembley Arena on 23 March 1991, where the duet was recorded. In 1993, live performances of "Killer", "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" and "Calling You" from 22 March 1991 at Wembley Arena formed part of the Five Live EP which again topped the UK Singles Chart. His next tour happened only 15 years later.[2]
In September 1990, George Michael released his second solo studio album, Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1. Following his decision to be taken more seriously as a songwriter, Michael refused to do any promotion for the album.[3]
The North American portion of the tour was originally scheduled to begin on 6 February 1991 at the Massey Hall in Toronto, Ontario, concluding on 20 February in Los Angeles,[4] but was postponed until late 1991.[5] The tour finally began on 15 January 1991 at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England, and concluded on 31 October at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland.[6] The tour was not a proper promotion for Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1; rather, it was more about Michael singing covers of his favourite songs.[7]
On 25 and 27 January 1991, Michael headlined the Rock in Rio II festival. He was joined by his ex-Wham! bandmate, Andrew Ridgeley, the second night.[1]
In a review of the 5 October 1991 concert at the Forum in Inglewood, California, Richard Cromelin of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "[...] at the Forum on Saturday, everything was as charged as ever in Georgeland: a screaming, sellout crowd, a hard-working star and hit after hit (so what if they were mostly three years old and more?)." He noted, "When the curtain rose, Michael was posed as the moody pop icon sporting his trademark sunglasses and five-o'clock shadow. But in what might serve as a metaphor for his self-liberation, he soon scrapped the male-model attitude and spent the rest of the show smiling and chatting with unpretentious warmth."[8]
In a review of the concerts held at the Madison Square Garden in New York City for The New York Times, Stephen Holden opined that, "while the program's range and its taste in material showed Mr. Michael to be a dedicated student of contemporary pop-soul music, his performances rarely came close to matching the power of the original hit versions. [...] The show's better moments were Mr. Michael's performances of original songs that have the same mixture of traditional pop formality and soulful emotiveness as his singing. A version of the Wham! hit 'Everything She Wants', arranged in an early Motown style, and the evening's final encore, 'Freedom! '90', a proclamation of personal liberation, which became a spirited audience sing-along, proved to be the evening's peppy high points."[9]
The four Wembley Arena performances during 19–23 March 1991 were recorded for a commercial release of the tour. A cover version of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", a duet with Elton John, was recorded on 23 March,[10] and was later released as a single in December 1991. Performances of "Killer", "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" and "Calling You" from 22 March were released as part of the Five Live EP, released on 19 April 1993.[11] A performance of "Tonight" from the same concert was featured on the Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin compilation album.
According to David Austin, whom Michael called his best friend in the A Different Story documentary,[12] "There are 22 or 23 live tracks from the Cover to Cover tour that are simply amazing, finished and mixed and have never been heard before."[13]
As printed in the official Japanese tour programme:
A free exclusive cassette was given to audience members at the Wembley Arena concerts between 19–23 March. It contained one previously unreleased track, a cover of "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)", which was later released as a B-side to "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me".