Areíto World Tour is the second world tour by Dominican merengue superstar Juan Luis Guerra to promote his sixth studio album Areíto (1992). Consisting of three legs, covering the United States, South America and Europe, the tour started on July 3, 1993, at Radio City Music Hall in New York and ended on October 16, 1993, at Rotterdam Ahoy in the Netherlands. The tour marked Guerra's first concerts in Brazil, Portugal and the Netherlands.

Sponsored by soft drink Bitter Kas, it was Guerra's most intense tour at the time, performing over 40 shows on three months including nearly 30 shows in Spain. Following the end of the tour, Guerra announced his retirement from doing public presentations.

Background

On July 4, 1992, Guerra announced that he would cancel the last leg of his Bachata Rosa World Tour to focus on recording a new album and release something fresh to the fans. Guerra also suffered an eye affliction and had surgery to correct it. Areíto was released on December 8, 1992, in the US and over two million of copies were shipped worldwide, one of the largest initial shipments ever for a Spanish-language album. ^{[1] [2]}

John Lannert from the Artist & Music section of Billboard announced that the tour had 40 stops in the United States, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, England, and Germany. The tour was produced by Water Brother Productions. However, the concerts in England, Germany, Venezuela and Peru did not materialize for unknown reasons. ^[3] Guerra travelled with 18 musicians, 10 engineers, smoke machines and video screens. ^[4]

Reception

Critical reception

The tour received positive reviews by critics. Wilma Randle from the Chicago Tribune attended the concert at the Chicago Theater and wrote a positive review highlighting the setlist and energy on the stage. ^[5] Enrique Lopetegui from the Los Angeles Times praised the concert at the Greek Theater in an article titled "Guerra Gives Fans Satisfying Show". ^[6]

Commercial reception

Ticket prices for the US concerts ranged between $30 and $40. ^[7] However, for the concert in Los Angeles tickets were up to $47. The concerts in the United States reported great attendance. The concerts at New York's Radio City Music Hall were reported sold out. ^[8] The concert at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles was not sold out, however, a large crowd were reported in the venue. ^[9] However, attendance at 9 July show at the James L. Knight Center in Miami was disappointing, 4,000 of the 6,000 seats, significantly less than the sold-out show in Miami Arena on the Bachata Rosa Tour in December 1991. ^[10]

In Argentina, he performed at the Estadio Obras in Buenos Aires from 23 to 25 July, with three sold-out shows.

In Spain, the tour visited 20 cities. Some cities had a second show due the high demand. The Madrid concerts on 14 and 15 September at Las Vegas were sold out with attendance of 40,000 fans and 9,000 fans at Sevilla on 22 September concert. ^{[11] [12]} The two concerts in Barcelona at the Palau Sant Jordi on 5 and 6 October were sold out with 41,644 seats. A concert at the La Romareda in Zaragoza on 10 October had an attendance of 28,541 (of 30,000 seats) and the Las Palmas concert on 30 September at the Insular Stadium had attendance of 18,517 (of 20,000). Over 16,000 attended the concerts at Palacio de Conciertos y Granada. ^[13] In the Netherlands, the concert in the Ahoy in Rotterdam on 16 October was sold out, with over 10,000 tickets sold, becoming the first merengue artist to do so. ^[14]

Tour dates

Box office data

References