Spirits Having Flown Tour (also known as the Spirits Tour and the North American Tour) was the eighth concert tour by the Bee Gees in support of their fifteenth studio album Spirits Having Flown (1979). The tour began on 28 June 1979 in Fort Worth, Texas reaching a total of 38 cities before coming to a close on 6 October 1979 in Miami, Florida. It was their most lavish and successful tour during the height of their popularity following two straight number-one albums and six number-one singles and grossed over $10 million from 49 shows, as reported by Billboard by the end of its run. The tour was organized and promoted by Jerry Weintraub and Concerts West.

Background After the release of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, The Bee Gees were unable to tour due to their commitment to the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie. Then from March to November 1978, they spent much of their time in the studio recording Spirits Having Flown, the follow-up album to Saturday Night Fever.

Prior to the kickoff of the tour, The Bee Gees popularity grew even further following Saturday Night Fever, when they were the headline act on the Music for UNICEF Concert in January. Then they won four Grammy awards in February for Fever and by June, they pulled off a feat only matched by The Beatles with six consecutive US number-one singles, when "Love You Inside Out" topped the charts in June, setting the stage for the hottest summer tour since The Beatles in 1964.

In addition, the Bee Gees' brother Andy Gibb took part in the tour, making a guest vocal appearance; he, too, was at the height of his popularity, having notched three US Billboard number-one singles and appearing at the Music for UNICEF Concert.

Considering the group's popularity was at an all-time high, stringent security precautions were taken, though The Bee Gees themselves set up base in only five cities. They would fly to the next venue and return to their home base immediately following the show. They leased a custom 55-seat Boeing 720 jet (previously used by Led Zeppelin) at a cost of over one million dollars with a specially designed logo on the exterior of the plane. The Bee Gees were accompanied on the tour by a film crew capturing highlights of the shows, for use in an NBC-TV special which aired in November, hosted by David Frost.

The Bee Gees were joined on stage with their usual band featuring Alan Kendall on guitar, Blue Weaver on keyboards and Dennis Bryon on drums, as well as Boonero Horns, a 6-piece brass section and Sweet Inspirations, which provided backing vocals.

The show Given that this was the most ambitious tour The Bee Gees ever embarked on, there was a lot of preparation that went into the tour, from an extensive rehearsal schedule (in which The Bee Gees missed that year's Billboard music awards, where they won an astonishing 11 awards), staging and special effects, merchandising and tight security. The tour consisted of a 41-date schedule starting in Fort Worth, Texas and ending in their hometown of Miami, Florida. The 3 Gibb brothers were identically dressed in incredibly skin-tight, white satin trousers and dazzling white spangled jackets throughout the tour. During the Houston show on June 30, a bearded John Travolta joined the Bee Gees on stage during "You Should Be Dancing" to reprise some of his footwork from Saturday Night Fever. Travolta was in Houston shooting the film Urban Cowboy. Besides the surprise appearance by Travolta at the Houston concert, many celebrities were in attendance at many of the concerts. Among the 60,000 fans at L.A.'s Dodger Stadium were Cary Grant, Barbra Streisand, Rod Stewart, Olivia Newton-John, Karen Carpenter, Jack Nicholson and Harry Wayne Casey of KC & The Sunshine Band. Prior to their September 24 concert in Landover, the Bee Gees were invited to the White House where President Carter congratulated them for their efforts with UNICEF.

A scheduled concert in Kansas City, Missouri had to be cancelled due to severe damage to the roof of Kemper Arena during a violent storm on June 4.

Personnel Barry Gibb – Lead vocal, guitar Robin Gibb – Vocals Maurice Gibb – Backing vocal, guitar Andy Gibb - Special Participation in Houston, Texas singing "You Should Be Dancing" Alan Kendall – Guitar Joey Murcia – Guitar Russell Powell - Guitar Blue Weaver – keyboards George Bitzer – Keyboards Harold Cowart – Bass Dennis Bryon – Drums Joe Lala – Percussion Boneroo Horns – Trumpets, Trombones, Saxophones Sweet Inspirations – Backing vocalists

Setlist "Tragedy" "Edge of the Universe" "Night Fever" "Love So Right" "Stayin' Alive" "New York Mining Disaster 1941" "Run to Me" "Too Much Heaven" "Holiday" "I Can't See Nobody" "Lonely Days" "I Started a Joke" "Massachusetts" "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" "Nights on Broadway" "To Love Somebody" "Words" "Wind of Change" "How Deep Is Your Love" "Jive Talkin'" Encore "You Should Be Dancing"

Tour dates + List of 1979 concerts, showing date, city, country, venue, the opening act, tickets sold, number of available tickets and amount of gross revenueSources for box office score data:Sources for tour dates in North America:DateCityCountryVenueOpening actAttendanceRevenue28 June 1979Fort WorthUnited StatesTarrant County Convention CenterSweet Inspirations13,901 / 13,901$202,48029 June 1979AustinSpecial Events Center17,440 / 17,440$231,41030 June 1979HoustonThe Summit16,654 / 16,654$231,2852 July 1979DenverMcNichols Sports Arena3 July 1979Salt Lake CitySalt Palace12,920 / 12,920$177,7485 July 1979San DiegoSan Diego Sports Arena12,714 / 12,714$175,8537 July 1979Los AngelesDodger Stadium56,000 / 56,000$700,0009 July 1979OaklandOakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena38,078 / 38,078$530,30510 July 197911 July 197913 July 1979SeattleSeattle Center Coliseum26,707 / 26,707$369,44314 July 197915 July 1979VancouverCanadaPacific Coliseum15,158 / 15,158$215,82817 July 1979PortlandUnited StatesMemorial Coliseum22,769 / 22,769$320,45818 July 197921 July 1979Saint PaulSt. Paul Civic Center31,040 / 31,040$434,44522 July 197924 July 1979AmesHilton Coliseum14,685 / 14,685$204,22025 July 1979MadisonDane County Coliseum9,883 / 9,883$144,57326 July 1979IndianapolisMarket Square Arena17,730 / 17,730$245,32828 July 1979PontiacPontiac Silverdome36,270 / 36,270$453,37530 July 1979ChicagoChicago Stadium36,196 / 36,196$507,57331 July 19791 August 1979St. LouisCheckerdome16,834 / 16,834$238,2903 August 1979TulsaMabee Center10,586 / 10,586$151,2504 August 1979Oklahoma CityMyriad Convention Center15,477 / 15,477$217,92027 August 1979New HavenNew Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum10,880 / 10,880$157,76828 August 1979ProvidenceProvidence Civic Center26,139 / 26,139$371,36829 August 197931 August 1979TorontoCanadaMaple Leaf Gardens18,249 / 18,249$264,2651 September 1979MontrealMontreal Forum Burton Cummings34,733 / 34,733$484,9842 September 19794 September 1979PittsburghUnited StatesCivic ArenaSweet Inspirationsrowspan="5" rowspan="5" 5 September 19797 September 1979New York CityMadison Square Garden8 September 19799 September 197911 September 197939,364 / 39,364$376,00012 September 197914 September 1979BuffaloBuffalo Memorial Auditorium16,800 / 16,800$236,49215 September 1979CincinnatiRiverfront Coliseum33,334 / 33,334$469,54516 September 197918 September 1979RichfieldRichfield Coliseum35,000 / 35,000$496,00019 September 197921 September 1979PhiladelphiaThe Spectrum29,056 / 29,056$399,01522 September 197924 September 1979LandoverCapital Centre36,674 / 36,674$515,56825 September 197926 September 1979NorfolkNorfolk Scope Arena11,854 / 11,854$163,78328 September 1979BirminghamBJCC Coliseum17,901 / 17,901$243,58329 September 1979AtlantaOmni Coliseum31,951 / 31,951$455,31530 September 19792 October 1979GreensboroGreensboro Coliseum18,299 / 18,299$213,9803 October 1979ColumbiaCarolina Coliseum12,151 / 12,151$171,0654 October 1979JacksonvilleJacksonville Veterans Memorial Coliseum10,117 / 10,117$140,5806 October 1979MiamiMiami StadiumTotal803,544 / 803,544$10,911,095

Cancellations and rescheduled shows 2 August 1979Kansas City, MissouriKemper ArenaCancelled3 August 1979Kansas City, MissouriKemper ArenaCancelled26 August 1979Boston, MassachusettsBoston GardenCancelled7 October 1979St. Petersburg, FloridaBayfront CenterCancelled

References