The tour was officially announced on 11 May 2011. Due to high demand for tickets, extra shows were added in Dublin, London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff, Rotterdam, Herning and Verona. A Brussels show was later announced on 3 June. Milan and Copenhagen shows were later announced. Many of the shows had already sold out completely. Prague, Antwerp, Rotterdam, London (Royal Albert Hall and Royal Opera House), Dublin, Cardiff, Sheffield and Newcastle had all sold out. The show included four new core band members who were selected by producer
Phil Ramone and George Michael. These new members included musical director and pianist
Henry Hey, guitarist Ben Butler, bassist
David Finck, and drummer
Mark McLean. In addition, percussionist Lea Mullen and guitarist
Phil Palmer completed the band, along with Michael's long-time background vocalists Shirley Lewis, Lucy Jules,
Lincoln Jean-Marie and Jay Henry. The stage had a semi-oval shape with a huge screen projecting different visual effects, sometimes featuring Michael himself. Some visuals were taken from the previous tour. On 25 November, it was announced that all further concerts in 2011 had been cancelled due to Michael's illness. Eventually, it took longer time for Michael to recover, resulting in all concerts postponed and scheduled for April and May being postponed to October and November 2012. On 3 May 2012, it was announced that shows in Australia scheduled for early April would be postponed to November 2012. His performance in
Perth on 10 November would have been the headline act for the
Perth Arena Gala Opening. Due to recovery restrictions from the illness, Michael was eventually forced to cancel all Australian dates. It was announced on Michael's website that his album
Symphonica, released on 17 March 2014, would consist of studio material initially rehearsed for this tour including some live recordings. == Opening acts ==