Tina Turner

A little over 20 years ago today, Tina Turner opened her 1993 ‘What’s Love…?’ tour in Reno, NV. The tour was in many ways a copy of Tina’s 1990 Foreign Affair tour, which never reached North America. It featured a similar set list, stage design, and outfits. The opening show in Reno was slightly different from the rest of the tour, since both I Might Have Been Queen (not performed since 1985) and Disco Inferno (not performed since 1979) were included in the set list. Continue reading for more information on this show, as well as audio tracks of these two rare songs. Special thanks to Florian for providing the recording!

In 1993, the movie What’s Love Got To Do With It?, based on Tina’s autobiography, was released. While Tina was not involved in the actual filming process, she did record the soundtrack. The soundtrack consisted of a couple of new songs, including the hit single I Don’t Wanna Fight, re-recordings of old Ike & Tina classics, and a couple of old solo hits.

During Tina’s massive 1990 Foreign Affair tour, she skipped the North-American continent all together, only touring Europe. The movie and soundtrack album were an opportunity for Tina to make up for this miss. The 1993 tour ran from June until November, with shows in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and a couple of festivals in Europe. The concert itself was very similar to the Foreign Affair tour, in terms of set list, stage design and outfits. The only new addition to the set list being the single I Don’t Wanna Fight. The show in Reno was however more ‘special’, as it included I Might Have Been Queen (the first time performed live since 1985) and Disco Inferno (the first time performed live since 1979). These songs were later dropped from the running order.

The German magazine Popcorn featured a report with many photos from the opening night in Reno – see the scans below.

Popcorn - Germany - 1993 - 01 Popcorn - Germany - 1993 - 02

We were very happy when a recording of this show recently surfaced. This is the first time we can hear Disco Inferno and I Might Have Been Queen performed live in 1993. Our thanks go out to Florian for providing this recording. While the quality is only average, it is too rare not to share it with you. From what we hear, the arrangements of both songs were very rock-oriented, and it is a shame Tina dropped them from the show so quickly. Click the music player below to hear both songs!

I Might Have Been Queen

Disco Inferno

Set list

1. Steamy Windows
2. Typical Male
3. Foreign Affair
4. Undercover Agent For The Blues
5. I Can’t Stand The Rain
6. I Might Have Been Queen
7. We Don’t Need Another Hero
8. Nutbush City Limits
9. Addicted To Love
10. The Best
11. I Don’t Wanna Fight (No More)
12. Let’s Stay Together
13. What’s Love Got To Do With It?
14. Private Dancer
– Introduction of the band –
15. Proud Mary
16. Disco Inferno
17. Better Be Good To Me

30 Replies to “Burn, baby, burn! Disco in Reno”

  1. Thanks for sharing another rare treat with us. I’ve never card much for Disco Inferno but it’s always nice to hear I Might Have Been Queen live (I got a chance to hear it during the Private Dancer tour).

    I remember seeing this tour (Chris Isaak opened for her). One of the other changes was instead of Lejeune Richard and Ann Behringer, she had the twins Karen and Sharon Owens as her dancers.

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    1. You’re welcome milkyaqua, glad you enjoy them! You’re really lucky to have witness Tina Turner performing during her Private Dancer Tour.
      I Might Have Been Queen is one of Tina’s best song in my opinion, the lyrics couldn’t be better!

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  2. Que lástima que no hay ningún video de Disco Inferno de aquella época, me encantaría ver cómo bailaría esta canción. Saludos desde Argentina

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  3. Thanks a lot for the great article and the rare recordings!! I think Disco Inferno was nice for the movie as a special, but I also never cared much about it. Though it was sung really brilliant here. But I love so much IMHBQ! 🙂 This “news” about another version in 1993 is amazing. It’s nice how they changed the end of it in comparison to the PD Tour version. 🙂

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  4. Nothing like hearing Tina sing live. Even if the quality of the audio is “not so good”, hearing the power of her voice, feeling the electricity of her emotions, especially in IMHBQ, and the response of her adoring fans is simply soul searing. Thank you Ben for sharing!

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  5. This is not the entire set list for this show–her encore included–for this night only, “Darling You Know I Love You” performed live for the first time since the late 1950’s.–I think right after Disco Inferno.

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  6. The videoclip of Disco Inferno was filmed at a concert situation.

    Is it nor possible that the clip filming was here at the Reno show (1st concert of the tour)? And probably that’s why the song was performed only once during that tour?

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