The Rapture Tour

The Rapture Tour was Anita Baker's first headlining tour in support of her second studio album "Rapture."

The tour began on March 16, 1987 and ended on December 1, 1987, visiting several cities throughout North America and Europe.

Tour Background

In 1987, Anita kicked off a North America second leg trek, which included seven dates in Los Angeles at the Beverly Theatre in January, including two and three-night dates in Merrillville, Indiana, New York City and Miami, Florida.

The outing included four sold-out shows scheduled in Washington D.C. and three consecutive dates for a second visit in Merrillville, Indiana.

Concert Synopsis

The tour consisted of a selection of songs from Anita's 1983 debut album, "The Songstress" and majority of the "Rapture" album.

For each performance, she would perform songs from both albums, and also include a song from another artist; for example, she performed "You've Changed" by Sarah Vaughan for one show, and Van Morrison's "Moondance" for another.

Anita performed several shows throughout the week in Los Angeles, with gospel/R&B group the Perri Sisters joining as background vocals and toured with her for the remainder of the tour.

Set List

1. "Mystery"
2. "Feel the Need" (performed only on select Europe and North America dates)
3. "You Bring Me Joy"
4. "Caught Up in the Rapture"
5. "Angel"
6. "Stop to Love" (performed only on select Europe and North America dates)
7. "Same Ole Love (365 Days a Year)"
8. "You're the Best Thing Yet"
9. "You've Changed" (performed only on select Europe and North America dates)
10. "Watch Your Step"
11. "Will You Be Mine"
12. "Sometimes" (performed on selected dates in Europe)
13. "No One in the World"
14. "No More Tears"

Encore

1. "Sweet Love"
2. "Been So Long"

Notes

• During the tour in select cities, Anita opened up the show with "Caught Up in the Rapture" followed by "Mystery."
• At the concert on July 16, in Montreux, Switzerland, Anita performed Van Morrison's song "Moondance."

Concert Dates

Date	City	Country	Venue
North America
March 16, 1986	Detroit	United States	State Theatre
March 17, 1986	Chicago		Auditorium Theatre
March 19, 1986	Merrillville		Holiday Star Theater
March 21, 1986	Cincinnati		Taft Theatre
March 22, 1986	Cleveland		State Theatre
March 24, 1986	Buffalo		Shea's Buffalo Theatre
March 25, 1986	Albany		Palace Theatre
June 17, 1986	Hyannis		Cape Cod Melody Tent
June 18, 1986	Cohasset		South Shore Music Circus
June 22, 1986	Westbury		Westbury Music Fair
June 23, 1986
June 25, 1986	New York City		Avery Fisher Hall
Europe
July 16, 1986	Montreux	Switzerland	Montreux Casino
July 17, 1986	Paris	France	Élysée Montmartre
July 18, 1986	Brussels	Belgium	Ancienne Belgique
July 19, 1986	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Melkweg
July 22, 1986	Cardiff	Wales	St David's Hall
July 23, 1986	Wolverhampton	England	Wolverhampton Civic Hall
July 24, 1986	Manchester		Manchester Apollo
July 26, 1986	London		Hammersmith Apollo
July 27, 1986
North America
August 16, 1986	Chicago	United States	Arie Crown Theater
August 29, 1987	San Carlos		Circle Star Theater
August 30, 1987
August 31, 1986
September 4, 1986	Sunrise		Sunrise Musical Theater
September 23, 1986	Chicago		Arie Crown Theater
September 26, 1986	Pittsburgh		Syria Mosque Theater
October 10, 1986	Washington, D.C.		DAR Constitution Hall
October 11, 1986
November 6, 1986	Buffalo		Kleinhans Music Hall
November 21, 1986	Chicago		Arie Crown Theater
November 22, 1986
November 24, 1986
January 4, 1987	Los Angeles		Beverly Theatre
January 5, 1987
January 7, 1987
January 8, 1987
January 10, 1987
January 11, 1987
January 13, 1987
February 4, 1987	Oakland		Paramount Theatre
February 5, 1987
February 6, 1987	San Carlos		Circle Star Theater
February 7, 1987
February 8, 1987
February 14, 1987	Sunrise		Sunrise Musical Theater
February 15, 1987
February 18, 1987	New Orleans		Saenger Performing Arts Center
February 20, 1987
February 21, 1987
February 22, 1987	Dallas		Dallas Convention Center
March 3, 1987	Toronto	Canada	O'Keefe Centre
March 5, 1987	Highland Heights	United States	Front Row Theatre
March 6, 1987
March 7, 1987
March 8, 1987
March 19, 1987	Merrillville		Holiday Star Theater
March 20, 1987
July 18, 1987	Columbia		Merriweather Post Pavilion
July 25, 1987	Clarkston		Pine Knob Music Theatre
July 26, 1987
July 31, 1987	Holmdel		Garden State Arts Center
August 1, 1987	Wantagh		Jones Beach Theater
August 4, 1987	Cuyahoga Falls		Blossom Music Center
August 5, 1987
August 7, 1987	Hoffman Estates		Poplar Creek Music Theater
August 8, 1987
August 16, 1987	Columbia		Merriweather Post Pavilion
September 3, 1987	Los Angeles		Greek Theatre
September 4, 1987
September 6, 1987
September 8, 1987
September 9, 1987	Mountain View		Shoreline Amphitheatre
September 11, 1987	San Diego		SDSU Open Air Theater
September 12, 1987
September 13, 1987	Irvine		Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre
September 17, 1987	Concord		Concord Pavilion
September 18, 1987	Sacramento		ARCO Arena
September 19, 1987	Las Vegas		Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts
October 14, 1987	New York City		Radio City Music Hall
October 15, 1987
October 16, 1987
October 18, 1987
October 22, 1987	Boston		Wang Theatre
October 23, 1987
October 24, 1987
October 25, 1987
October 31, 1987	Winston-Salem		LJVM Coliseum Annex
November 12, 1987	Detroit		Masonic Temple Theatre
November 13, 1987
November 14, 1987	Pittsburgh		Syria Mosque Theater
November 15, 1987
November 17, 1987	St. Louis		Fox Theatre
November 18, 1987
November 21, 1987	Washington, D.C.		DAR Constitution Hall
November 22, 1987
November 24, 1987
November 25, 1987
November 27, 1987	Merrillville		Holiday Star Theater
November 28, 1987
November 29, 1987

Personnel

• Music Director/Keyboards: Bobby Lyle
• Guitar: Donald Griffin
• Percussions: Garry Glenn
• Saxophone: Gerald Albright
• Bass: Nathan East
• Drums: James Bradley, Jr
• Background vocals: Tanya Boyd, Saundra Simmons & Natalie Jackson (1986 leg); Perri Sisters, Gina Taylor & Freida Williams (1987 leg)

Recordings

In 2004, a DVD\CD-live collection called "A Night Of Rapture: Live" was released by Rhino Records; it peaked at #35 on Billboard's Top R&B\Hip-Hop Albums chart.