
The "Sleeping with the Past Tour" was a global concert series by the English musician Elton John, promoting his 22nd studio album of the same name. Spanning three legs across North America and Oceania, it comprised a total of 74 shows. While Elton John's album "Sleeping with the Past" received lukewarm reviews upon its 1989 release, it surprisingly became his highest-selling studio album in the UK, earning a triple-platinum certification and yielding his first solo number-one hit in his home country. During many shows, Elton performed three or four tracks from the yet-unreleased "Sleeping with the Past" – an unusual move, as audiences were hearing this material for the first time. Additionally, a two-minute intro, conceptualized and recorded by Davey Johnstone and Guy Babylon, played as the band took the stage, featuring an alternate arrangement of "Bennie and the Jets" to introduce the opening song – a technique employed on subsequent tours. By the final leg's end, Elton and his band, now featuring Charlie Morgan on drums, had been touring incessantly for two years. Elton played 20 dates across six Australian cities, starting at the Perth Entertainment Centre on January 27, 1990, and concluding three weeks later with seven nights at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Next were shows in New Zealand on February 28 and March 3, before moving to America for three shows at the Mark G. Etess Arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on May 18–20. The setlist featured the premiere of "Made for Me," one of four new songs recorded for his then-upcoming box set, "To Be Continued..." Two months later, Elton checked himself into a Chicago-area hospital for addiction treatment and didn't tour again for two years.