FEARLESS

Fearless is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The album was released on November 11, 2008, by Big Machine Records. As with her debut, Swift wrote or co-wrote all thirteen tracks on Fearless. Most of the songs were written as the singer promoted Taylor Swift as opening act for numerous country artists. Because of the unavailability of collaborators on the road, Swift resulted in self-penning eight songs. Other songs were co-written with Liz Rose, Hillary Lindsey, Colbie Caillat, and John Rich. She also made her debut as a record producer, co-producing all songs on the album with Nathan Chapman. To promote the album, the singer embarked on her first headlining concert tour, the Fearless Tour, which expanded from April 2009 to June 2010. Fearless was an international breakthrough and commercial success for Swift. In the United States, it topped the Billboard 200 for eleven non-consecutive weeks, thus setting various records, including the longest chart-topper by a female country artist. On Billboard's Country Albums chart, the album logged a record 36 weeks at number one. With 5.2 million copies sold in 2009, the album became the year's best-seller, making Swift, 20 at the time, the youngest artist to have one. In addition to its weeks on top by January 2010, Fearless became only the 18th (of 19) albums to elapse a full year in the top ten of the Billboard 200. With 6.6 million copies sold in the United States, Fearless is the second biggest-selling album in the last five years (behind Adele's 21, with over 10 million copies sold as of late 2012). Elsewhere, Fearless topped charts in Canada and New Zealand and achieved multi-platinum status in six countries. In the Philippines, it was certified nine times platinum by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry (PARI), marking the album's highest certification. In all, Fearless has sold more than 8.6 million copies worldwide. Fearless is also the most awarded album in the history of country music. Five singles spawned from Fearless. The lead single, "Love Story" is Swift's best-selling effort to date, selling over five million copies in the United States alone. It was a crossover hit that became one of the best-selling singles of all time internationally and was once the best-selling country song of all time. The succeeding single, "White Horse", also performed well in the US. "You Belong with Me" fared better internationally, becoming Swift's second best-selling single and her highest position on the US Billboard Hot 100 at the time, peaking at number two. "Fifteen" and the title track followed; the latter became the first single certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) prior to its release. The album was later re-released on October 26, 2009, as Fearless: Platinum Edition with six additional new songs, photos from the Fearless Tour and a bonus DVD featuring behind the scenes of some of her previous music videos.

 

 TOUR 

Associated album	FEARLESS
Start date	April 23, 2009
End date	June 5, 2010
Legs	4
Shows	91 in North America 8 in Oceania 6 in Europe 1 in Asia 106 in total
Box office	US$172,705,590

The Fearless Tour was the debut concert tour by American country pop singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The tour was in support of her second studio album, Fearless. On the tour, she was joined by guests Kellie Pickler and Gloriana. Teen singer Justin Bieber joined her for the tour when she went to the UK. During the tour, Swift performed with guests such as John Mayer, Katy Perry (April 15, 2010) and Faith Hill (May 22, 2009). Taylor Swift's 2009-2010 "Fearless" World Tour, which spanned 15 months, grossed $172,705,590, with 2,269,248 in attendance, according to Billboard Boxscore statistics.

 PRE-TOUR ACTIVITY

Prior to the launch of the tour, Swift played several shows in the US, including two sold-out performances at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in early 2009. Swift also played several dates in the UK and Australia, including two shows at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London.
Also, in the midst of her own tour, Swift began opening shows in select cities for Keith Urban on his Escape Together World Tour 2009.

ABOUT

The tour was announced on January 29, 2009, via her official website. The initial press release announced that Swift would visit 54 cities in 39 states and provinces in the United State and Canada. Joining her on the tour would be a new country music group, Groliana, as well as former Amerika Idol contestant, Killie Pickler.
The tour kicked off in Evansville, Indiana on April 23, 2009 at Roberts Stadium. In honor of the kickoff of the sold-out tour, Swift was presented the key to the city of Evansville and the City Council President declared Wednesday, April 23, 2009 Taylor Swift Day.
The tour features a theatrical presentation of graphics, sets and visual elements all designed by Swift herself. The show runs more than 90 minutes and showcases Swift playing five different guitars as well as the piano. The show features multiple costume changes and a fairy-tale castle illuminated by more than a million lumens of light.
In late June, a new tour date was announced for November 23 at the Wembley Arena in London. However it become apparent that neither Kellie Pickler nor Gloriana would be joining her on the UK part of the tour. Taylor Swift announced another date in the UK at the Manchester Evening News Arena on November 24. This was the final and second tour date in the UK. The shows at Wembley and Manchester will be the only two concerts for the Fearless Tour in Europe. It was announced later that singer Justin Bieber would join Swift on the two UK dates. While performing at Wembley Arena, Bieber broke his foot while he performed the opening lines of "One Time", but still finished the song. Despite his injury, Bieber confirmed that he would still perform in Manchester with Swift the following day, although the Wembley concert was cut short as he could not perform the encore. Bieber then went on to perform at the Manchester performance with an encore, he sang "With You" a cover of the original version from Chris Brown. Following a 10 minute applause after she had sung "Tim McGraw", Swift told the Manchester audience "Everytime I hear the word Manchester, I won't be able to stop smiling...I love you!". According to a German magazine, Swift was supposed to play three shows in Germany. However, tickets for those concerts never went on sale.
On September 30, it was announced that Swift would return to Australia in February 2010 to play another series of concerts, but now in arenas. On October 8, it was announced that the tour would be extended through June 2, 2010 to include 37 additional shows in North America. It has been confirmed that Justin Bieber will be performing at the Gillette Stadium on June 5, 2010 with Swift.