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The FanMail Tour is the debut headlining tour by American group TLC. The tour support their third studio album, FanMail. The tour visited North America with dates later planned for Japan and Europe. However, the international dates after the second North American leg were cancelled.
At the time, TLC had to address the incessant rumors that they were breaking up. Lisa Lopes told the New York Daily News, "A lot of people are under the impression that I'm leaving the group. That's not the case..." She also added, "The magic of the group has everything to do with the chemistry between myself, The tour wrapped up in their hometown of Atlanta, a day prior to Super Bowl XXXIV. Mayor Bill Campbell gave the group a key to the city and declared January 29, "TLC Day". On March 18, 2000, the group had a PayPerView special of the full live show in Atlanta, called TLC: Sold Out.
Shortly after the Atlanta show, all three members were offered $25 million to extend the tour into Europe and Japan, but backed out of it when Lopes instead requested time off to visit Honduras and to work on her debut solo album, Supernova. Even though Watkins and Thomas were unhappy with her decision, they reluctantly agreed to pass on the extension.
A few performances from their concert at MCI Center, Washington, D.C., on January 23, 2000, have later been included on their Japanese compilation TLC 20: 20th Anniversary Hits (2013).
The show continued with the Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip era, in which the members performed "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg", "What About Your Friends" and "Baby-Baby-Baby", dressed in white overalls surrounded with multi-colored spray paint in homage to their early image. Lopes also wore large pink sunglasses and a pacifier around her neck.
Shortly before the beginning of the CrazySexyCool era, Vic-E detected an intruder backstage. The intruder, a man in a black hooded costume, revealed himself as an evil villain. He spotted the bag of fanmail and proceeded to steal it, leaving the band and the backup dancers too later to stop him. However, they barely had any time to mull it over, when TLC returned to perform "Creep" shortly after, unaware of the theft, with Lopes, Watkins and Thomas wearing silk pajamas, very similar to the ones they wore in the "Creep" music video. The backup dancers also wore pajamas. Lopes and Thomas each had their own platform on both ends of the stage, while Watkins was in the middle of the main stage. All girls were eventually on the main stage to perform Lopes' rap. Right after the song, "Red Light Special" followed, which again featured Lopes and Thomas on their separate platforms, but instead sitting on a chair and Watkins on the main stage. Several female dancers also sat on chairs, dancing seductively.
The solos of each member followed shortly after the dance interlude of "Housequake", starting with Lisa Lopes, performing an unreleased rap entitled "Crazy". She also did several magic tricks and played the keyboard. Then followed Rozonda Thomas's solo, dressed as a cowgirl to perform "Come on Down". She was also accompanied by several female dancers also dressed as cowgirls. After the song, she was then lowered down the main stage. She re-emerged wearing a new costume which she, along with the rest of the members, then wore until the end of the concert. She would then pick a man from the audience and begin to perform "I Miss You So Much" with the man sitting on a chair and Chilli singing to him. Tionne Watkins was last to perform her solo, appearing on stage dressed in a purple suit with a wooden cane to sing the first lines of the famous military march chant, "I Don't Know (But I Been Told)". She would then remove her suit to reveal a costume similar to Chilli's during the performance of "I Miss You So Much", to sing "If I Was Your Girlfriend", "Touch Myself" and" Dear Lie".
After the girls' solos was Act 4, entitled Rain. "Unpretty" was the first song of the act, which featured many children from the audience who came up to sing with them. "I'm Good at Being Bad", "My Life" and a salsa version of "Shout" were performed after.
Act 5 commenced with Lopes finally noticing the missing bag of fanmail, and the group were informed by the band and the audience that the evil villain took it. Disappointed, the girls would turn to Vic-E, who would explain that the letters would not reveal the full strength of the bond between TLC and the fans, and assure the audience that TLC loves them. The girls then performed their signature song, "Waterfalls". The giant screen showed clips from the music video and water running. Backup dancers wore different colored shirts.
During the last show of the tour in Atlanta, Goodie Mob made a special appearance to perform their song with TLC, "What It Ain't (Ghetto Enuff)". "No Scrubs" was the final song of the show, which had Watkins and Lopes on the end platforms of the stage and Thomas on the main stage, with a dancer trying to give his number to her. They would all eventually end up back on the main stage together to perform Left Eye's rap on the song. Just as the song was ending, the bag of fanmail returned. There was a note attached to it from the evil villain, apologising for the theft, and explaining that he had written to them hundreds of times and they never wrote back. He reveals that he bought some T-shirts as an apology gift and placed them in the bag. The girls proceeded to hand out the T-shirts to the audience and to thank the crowd. All backup dancers then joined hands with Lopes, Watkins and Thomas to end the show.
Darryl Morden of The Hollywood Reporter described the New York City show as "smart, sexy, stylish, sweet, daring, dazzling and diverse, the 100-minute performance Friday night was full of flash but grounded in personal charisma. Effects and gimmickry took a back seat to old-fashioned, engaging showmanship".
Variety's Troy Augusto described it as "an exciting evening of singing and dancing that delivered all of their hit songs in charming fashion".
Gene Stout of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer added, "Pent-up demand for the Atlanta-based trio's incendiary blend of pop, hip-hop and R&B made the evening a celebration."
However, Craig Seymour of Entertainment Weekly states, "...there were occasional signs of the strife that has divided Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes from her band mates Rozonda 'Chilli' Thomas and Tionne 'T-Boz' Watkins. At various points during the show, Chilli and T-Boz high-fived each other while ignoring Left Eye. Left Eye, in turn, strutted past the other two as if they were merely set pieces to avoid. Things heated up during a particularly aggressive rendition of 'What About Your Friends' when T-Boz appeared to glare at Left Eye while singing the lyrics, What about your friends/Will they let you down/Will they be around? NO!".
Encore
| North America | |||
| October 22, 1999 | Toronto | Canada | Air Canada Centre |
| October 23, 1999 | Montreal | Molson Centre | |
| October 25, 1999 | Ottawa | Corel Centre | |
| October 27, 1999 | Grand Rapids | United States | Van Andel Arena |
| October 29, 1999 | Fairborn | Nutter Center | |
| October 31, 1999 | Baltimore | Baltimore Arena | |
| November 2, 1999 | Greenville | BI-LO Center | |
| November 5, 1999 | Raleigh | Raleigh Entertainment & Sports Arena | |
| November 7, 1999 | Hampton | Hampton Coliseum | |
| November 9, 1999 | Toledo | Savage Hall | |
| November 12, 1999 | Hartford | Hartford Civic Center | |
| November 13, 1999 | Providence | Providence Civic Center | |
| November 15, 1999 | Albany | MVP Arena | |
| November 16, 1999 | Cleveland | Gund Arena | |
| November 18, 1999 | Cleveland | CSU Convocation Center | |
| November 20, 1999 | Pittsburgh | Civic Arena | |
| November 22, 1999 | Milwaukee | Bradley Center | |
| November 26, 1999 | Minneapolis | Target Center | |
| November 28, 1999 | St. Louis | Kiel Center | |
| December 1, 1999 | Houston | Compaq Center | |
| December 3, 1999 | Phoenix | America West Arena | |
| January 3, 2000 | San Diego | San Diego Sports Arena | |
| January 5, 2000 | Oakland | The Arena in Oakland | |
| January 7, 2000 | Anaheim | Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim | |
| January 8, 2000 | Oakland | The Arena in Oakland | |
| January 10, 2000 | Seattle | KeyArena | |
| January 11, 2000 | Portland | Rose Garden | |
| January 16, 2000 | Auburn Hills | The Palace of Auburn Hills | |
| January 20, 2000 | Boston | FleetCenter | |
| January 21, 2000 | New York City | Madison Square Garden | |
| January 23, 2000 | Washington, D.C. | MCI Center | |
| January 25, 2000 | Philadelphia | First Union Center | |
| January 27, 2000 | Sunrise | National Car Rental Center | |
| January 29, 2000 | Atlanta | Philips Arena | |
| October 12, 1999 | Winnipeg, Canada | Winnipeg Arena | Cancelled |
| October 15, 1999 | Montreal, Canada | Molson Centre | Rescheduled to October 23, 1999 |
| October 16, 1999 | Toronto, Canada | Air Canada Centre | Rescheduled to October 22, 1999 |
| October 21, 1999 | Greenville, South Carolina | BI-LO Center | Rescheduled to November 2, 1999 |
| October 23, 1999 | Sunrise, Florida | National Car Rental Center | Cancelled |
| October 27, 1999 | Raleigh, North Carolina | Dorton Arena | Rescheduled to November 5, 1999 and moved to the Raleigh Entertainment & Sports Arena |
| October 29, 1999 | Auburn Hills, Michigan | The Palace of Auburn Hills | Cancelled |
| October 31, 1999 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | First Union Center | Cancelled |
| November 3, 1999 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Civic Arena | Rescheduled to November 20, 1999 |
| November 5, 1999 | Uniondale, New York | Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum | Cancelled |
| November 7, 1999 | Cleveland, Ohio | Gund Arena | Rescheduled to November 18, 1999 and moved to the CSU Convocation Center |
| November 9, 1999 | Boston, Massachusetts | TD Garden | Cancelled |
| November 14, 1999 | Washington, D.C. | MCI Center | Cancelled |
| November 18, 1999 | Cincinnati | Firstar Center | Cancelled |
| November 20, 1999 | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Bradley Center | Rescheduled to November 26, 1999 |
| November 24, 1999 | Indianapolis, Indiana | Market Square Arena | Moved to the Conseco Fieldhouse |
| November 24, 1999 | Indianapolis, Indiana | Conseco Fieldhouse | Cancelled |
| November 26, 1999 | Rosemont, Illinois | Allstate Arena | Cancelled |
| November 30, 1999 | St. Charles, Missouri | Family Arena | Cancelled |
| December 4, 1999 | Las Vegas, Nevada | MGM Grand Garden Arena | Rescheduled to December 5, 1999 |
| December 5, 1999 | Las Vegas, Nevada | MGM Grand Garden Arena | Cancelled |
| December 6, 1999 | Tacoma, Washington | Tacoma Dome | Cancelled |
| December 9, 1999 | Los Angeles | Staples Center | Cancelled |
| December 11, 1999 | Oakland, California | The Arena in Oakland | Cancelled |
| December 15, 1999 | Houston, Texas | Compaq Center | Rescheduled to December 1, 1999 |
| December 16, 1999 | New Orleans, Louisiana | New Orleans Arena | Cancelled |
| December 18, 1999 | Charlotte, North Carolina | Charlotte Coliseum | Cancelled |
| December 19, 1999 | Atlanta, Georgia | Philips Arena | Cancelled |
| January 14, 2000 | Rosemont, Illinois | Allstate Arena | Cancelled |
| January 18, 2000 | Cleveland, Ohio | Wolstein Center | Cancelled |
| February 27, 2000 | Nagoya, Japan | Nagoya Rainbow Hall | Cancelled |
| March 1, 2000 | Osaka, Japan | Osaka-jō Hall | Cancelled |
| March 2, 2000 | Osaka | Osaka-jō Hall | Cancelled |
| March 4, 2000 | Yokohama, Japan | Yokohama Arena | Cancelled |
| March 6, 2000 | Tokyo, Japan | Yoyogi National Gymnasium | Cancelled |
| March 8, 2000 | Tokyo, Japan | Yoyogi National Gymnasium | Cancelled |
| March 12, 2000 | Cologne, Germany | Kölnarena | Cancelled |
| March 13, 2000 | Rotterdam, Netherlands | Rotterdam Ahoy | Cancelled |
| March 15, 2000 | Birmingham, England | National Indoor Arena | Cancelled |
| March 16, 2000 | London, England | Wembley Arena | Cancelled |
| March 18, 2000 | Dublin, Ireland | Point Theatre | Cancelled |
Choreographer
Dancers
Production manager
Wardrobe and stylist
Tour production manager
Stage designer
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