. Houston launched the tour in
Yokohama, Japan at the
Yokohama Arena on March 14, 1991. Following a March 15 date at the same venue, it would serve to be the only two Asian shows for the tour as Houston began negotiations with
HBO for a televised concert for American troops stationed at
Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War. Though by the end of her Japanese concerts, the war had ended and troops were returning home. Instead, the plan changed to holding a concert at the
Norfolk Naval Air Base on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1991, with the concert proceeds going directly to the Red Cross. The singer and the network agreed to give a free, unscrambled concert so everyone could watch. That special,
Welcome Home Heroes with Whitney Houston, became HBO's most viewed concert in history at the time with over 50 million viewers watching. The tour wasn't without controversy: a night prior to her performance at the
Rupp Arena in
Lexington, Kentucky on April 20, Houston made headlines after she reportedly was involved in an altercation at a Lexington hotel involving her brother Michael and three autograph seekers, who verbally attacked Houston with
racial slurs, leading to a physical fight, which ended when Houston jumped on one of the men for attacking her brother and punching him. Initially charged with fourth degree assault, charges were dropped on the singer in May when prosecutors were confronted with "contradictory evidence" to claims made against her by Ransom Brotherton, one of the men involved in the melee, and for struggle to prove Houston guilty. Mid-1991 was considered one of the worst touring seasons ever. Many big names in pop and rock music were cancelling dates and playing to low capacities. Houston was no exception. The singer played to low attendances and even cancelled some dates due to poor ticket sales. Experts cited the ongoing recession and financial crisis as the main reason. In August, Houston also developed a throat ailment. As a result, the singer was forced to cancel the end of her Canadian tour to rest her voice. The tour resumed in late August when Houston reached the
UK. She played ten consecutive sold-out dates at Wembley Arena in London, surpassing her own record of nine straight dates at the same arena during the
Moment of Truth World Tour, in 1988. The ten-date residence remains the most performances in a single year by a female artist in the history of the arena. Following the historic UK performances, Houston continued the European leg of the tour with dates in Spain, Germany and France before ending the tour in Paris on October 2. A month and a half after the tour concluded, Houston would begin production on her first feature film,
The Bodyguard, which had been announced that April but postponed to November by
Kevin Costner. ==The show==