A Conspiracy of Hope Tour was a short series of six benefit concerts in behalf of Amnesty International that took place in the United States during June 1986. Held not to raise funds but to increase awareness of Amnesty on its 25th anniversary of working for human rights, the shows were headlined by The Police and U2, and also featured Bryan Adams, Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Joan Baez, and The Neville Brothers. June 4 is the 155th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (156th in leap years), with 210 days remaining. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... June 15 is the 166th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (167th in leap years), with 199 days remaining. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A benefit concert is a concert featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. ... Amnesty International (commonly known as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization with the stated purpose of promoting all the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international standards. ... The Police was a three-piece British new wave band which was strongly influenced by reggae. ... U2 is an Irish rock band featuring Bono (Paul David Hewson) on vocals, guitar and harmonica, The Edge (David Howell Evans) on guitar and pianos and vocals, Adam Clayton on bass, and Larry Mullen, Jr. ... This article is about the singer. ... Cover art from the album So, Gabriels biggest commercial success Peter Brian Gabriel (born February 13, 1950, in Cobham, Surrey) is an English musician. ... Lou Reed Lou Reed, born on March 2 1942 in Brooklyn, New York, is an American rock and roll singer-songwriter. ... Joan Baezs 1975 bestseller Diamonds & Rust. ... The Neville Brothers, an R&B, Soul and a Jazz group, was formed in 1976 in New Orleans, LA. Group Members Aaron Neville Art Neville Charles Neville Cyril Neville Ivan Neville Discography The Neville Brothers (March 1978) Fiyo on the Bayou (April 1981) Nevillization I (September 1982) Nevillization II (February...

Background

The tour was conceived by the Executive Director of Amnesty International's U.S. section, Jack Healey, and producer Martin Lewis, who had first recruited musicians to work with Amnesty several years before for The Secret Policeman's Balls series. The tour was run by famed rock promotor Bill Graham. The Secret Policemans Balls is the collective name for a series of fund raising performances featuring big-name comedians and musicians and other celebrities, held at various London venues, and once at a Nottingham television studio, to raise money for (and awareness of) Amnesty International. ... Bill Graham (January 8, 1931 – October 25, 1991) was a well-known concert promoter, beginning in the 1960s. ...

Tickets were sold by mail-order lottery, a method popular in the 1970s for high-demand shows but here used for pretty much the last time, with computerized services such as Ticketron rapidly taking over.

Performances

• June 4, Cow Palace, San Francisco
• June 6, The Forum, Los Angeles
• June 8, McNichols Sports Arena, Denver
• June 11, The Omni, Atlanta
• June 13, Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, Illinois (outside Chicago)
• June 15, Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey (outside New York)

The final Giants Stadium show was an all-day affair, running from noon until 11 p.m., broadcast on MTV, and at an outdoor stadium rather than the indoor arenas used for the first five stops. As such, these additional artists played there: John Eddie with Max Weinberg, Third World, The Hooters, Peter Paul & Mary, Little Steven with Bob Geldof, Stanley Jordan, Joan Armatrading, Jackson Browne, Rubén Blades with Fela and Carlos Santana, Yoko Ono, Howard Jones, Miles Davis, and Joni Mitchell. Spoken introductions were made by Bill Graham, Bill Bradley, Darryl Hannah, and Muhammed Ali. The Cow Palace (originally known as the California State Livestock Pavilion) is an indoor arena that straddles the border between Daly City, California and San Francisco. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... The Great Western Forum, known in Los Angeles simply as The Forum, is an indoor arena in Inglewood, California. ... This article is about the largest city in California. ... McNichols Sports Arena was an indoor arena in Denver, Colorado. ... This article refers to the state capital of Colorado. ... The Omni Coliseum was an indoor arena located in Atlanta, Georgia. ... This article is about the state capital of Georgia. ... The Allstate Arena is a sports stadium in Rosemont, Illinois, which is home to the Chicago Wolves hockey club, DePaul University mens basketball, and the Chicago Rush arena football team. ... Rosemont is a village located in Cook County, Illinois, founded in 1956. ... Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ... Giants Stadium Giants Stadium is the home stadium for the New York Giants and New York Jets NFL football teams, and the MetroStars of Major League Soccer. ... Map highlighting East Rutherfords location within Bergen County. ... The Empire State Building (right) and the Chrysler Building (left) are easily recognized symbols of New York City to the world. ... .mtv may also refer to a basic video format used on MP4 players coming out of China MTV: Music Television is a young adult cable television network headquartered in New York City. ... Montreals Olympic Stadium The Athens Olympic Stadium Most stadiums are open-air, such as this football (soccer) stadium in the Netherlands. ... An arena is a circular or oval shaped (or sometimes rectangular) public space (akin to a classical amphitheatre), designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. ... Max Weinberg (born April 13, 1951 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American drummer and television personality. ... Third World is a Jamaican reggae band formed in 1973. ... The Hooters are an American band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... The trio Peter, Paul and Mary (often PP&M) is one of the most successful folk-singing groups of the 1960s. ... Steven van Zandt (born November 22, 1950 as Steven Lento in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American musician, actor, and radio disc jockey. ... Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Xenon Geldof, KBE (born October 5, 1951 in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin) is an Irish singer, songwriter, actor and political activist, known simply as Bob Geldof. ... Stanley Jordan Stanley Jordan is a jazz/jazz fusion guitarist, best known for his development of the touch technique for playing guitar. ... Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading (born in Basseterre, Saint Kitts on December 9, 1950) and brought up in Birmingham, England is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist. ... Jackson Browne Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an influential American singer-songwriter. ... Rubén Blades Rubén Blades (born July 16, 1948) is a Panamanian salsa singer, songwriter, actor and politician. ... Fela Anikulapo Kuti (b. ... Carlos Santana in concert, Barcelona 2003 Carlos Augusto Alves Santana (born 20 July 1947 in Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico) is a Mexican–American Grammy Award-winning musician and Latin-rock guitarist. ... Yoko Ono. ... Howard Jones (born John Howard Jones on February 23, 1955) is a British singer and songwriter. ... Davis 1959 album Kind of Blue, likely the best-selling jazz album ever. ... Joni Mitchell, CC (born Roberta Joan Anderson on November 7, 1943, in Fort Macleod, Alberta), is a legendary Canadian musician and painter. ... This article is about the basketball player and politician. ... Daryl Christine Hannah (born December 3, 1960) is a popular American actress. ... Other people with this name: Muhammad Ali of Egypt, Mehemet Ali (Turkey) Muhammad Ali-Haj (born January 17, 1942 as Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. ...

Jackson Browne had also played at the San Francisco and Los Angeles shows.

Musical themes

The tour artists generally arranged their sets around themes of politics, freedom, and courage. Multiple performers joined U2 for Little Steven's "Sun City", while the assembled multitude sang Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" at the end. Bono sometimes joined The Police for the Troubles-flavored "Invisible Sun", while Fela and Santana joined the Neville Brothers as well. Some of the less rock-oriented acts lost crowd attention during the long Giants Stadium event, although Baez was well received with a diverse set that included Fela and the Nevilles assisting on Tears for Fears' "Shout". Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman on 24 May 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and poet. ... Bono Paul David Hewson (born May 10, 1960), nicknamed Bono Vox, stage name Bono, is the lead singer of the Irish rock band, U2. ... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... Tears for Fears are a British pop band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, which emerged after the dissolution of their first band the mod influenced Graduate. ...

The tour benefited the careers of both Peter Gabriel and U2, who were on upswings of popularity and whose "Shock the Monkey" and "Bad" respectively showed percussive, hypnotic power in large settings. Sting was originally billed for the tour, but a reunion of The Police occured instead. The band's interpersonal problems remained in place, and it was a last go-around for the group. Sting in Budapest, 2000 Sting redirects here. ...