State of the World Tour

On May 1, 2017, Jackson announced a massive North American trek to reschedule her Unbreakable World Tour that was postponed due to the singer's pregnancy, with Jackson set to embark on a rebranded trek starting in September. Tickets from the postponed Unbreakable Tour gigs will be honored at the new dates, while newly scheduled stops going on sale, beginning May 5, 2017, at Live Nation.

The concert opens with a video reel denouncing white supremacy, right-wing extremism, domestic terrorism and police brutality. Names of unarmed black men killed by police which drew national attention with the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as the deadly violence surrounding the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia were depicted in the video.^[5] As Jordan Darville of The Fader observes: "The one-minute video introduction starts by naming unarmed black men who were killed by police officers: Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and Jonathan Ferrell. Then, we hear audio clips of television personalities and protestors explaining the threats of white supremacy, privilege, and inequality. The message is a vital one: The Center for Investigative reporting has shared an analysis of domestic terrorism in the United States spanning nine years, and found that right-wing extremists were responsible for twice as many violent attacks compared to Islamic extremists."^[6]

The tour marks the first time non-single songs from earlier albums such as "The Body That Loves You" (from the Janet album), "Spending Time With You", and "Island Life" (both from the Damita Jo album) were performed live, alongside the first performance of 1995 single "Twenty Foreplay" (from the Design of a Decade: 1986–1996 album) and the first time "Where Are You Now", "New Agenda", "What About", "The Knowledge", "State of the World", and "Someone To Call My Lover" were performed since their respective album's tours. Also, songs from the "Unbreakable" album were performed for the first time, such as "Black Eagle", "Dammn Baby", and "Well Travelled". On October 8, 2017, Jackson welcomed back several former dancers to appear during the performance of "Rhythm Nation" at the Hollywood Bowl.^[7][8]

The 2018 leg of the show also saw another revision to the setlist, adding first-ever performances of "The Skin Game (Part 1)" (a B-side to the "Come Back To Me" single), "Feels So Right" and "Truth" (from All for You), and her 1998 collaboration with Busta Rhymes, "What It's Gonna Be". Additionally, songs Jackson left out of her shows for years, such as "Runaway", "When We Oooo", "Doesn't Really Matter", "Funny How Time Flies (When You're Having Fun)", "So Much Betta", and "You Ain't Right", are part of the setlist.

According to StubHub, the State of the World Tour ranks as one of the top 10 most in-demand concert tours for the fall of 2017.^[9]

At the end of 2017, the tour placed at number 62 on Pollstar's "2017 Year-End Top 100 Worldwide Tours" list, grossing $33.4 million from 56 shows with a total attendance of 456,633.^[10] At the end of 2018, the tour placed at number 108 on Pollstar's "2018 Year-End Top 200 North American Tours" list, grossing $11.2 million from 14 shows (not including her festival appearances) with an average gross of $448,030.^[11] Also, Jackson co-headlined Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco, California, it was the highest grossing music festival of 2018, grossing over $27.7 million.^[12]

The tour opened to positive critical reception, with several commentators praising Jackson's post-pregnancy physical fitness, showmanship and socially conscious messages.^[13] Her emotional rendition of "What About", a song concerning domestic violence originally recorded for The Velvet Rope, drew media attention highlighting her recent separation from her third husband Wissam Al Mana; Jackson's brother Randy alleges she suffered verbal abuse by Al Mana which contributed to the breakdown of their marriage.^[14][15]

In his review for the Houston Chronicle, Joey Guerra wrote that "Janet Jackson is at her absolute best, and largely unparalleled in pop music, when she funnels direct, declarative messages into her songs", citing numerous hits from her catalog. He considered "Rhythm Nation" a highlight of the show, which "resonates even more today in a world seemingly gone mad[.]"^[5] Brandon Caldwell of the Houston Press reported that Jackson's denouncement of police brutality and white supremacy, as well as her dance-driven classic hits elated the crowd. "For two hours on Saturday night," he wrote, "it felt right to go through the eras with Janet. The liberating janet. years, the rhythm-driven arcs of Control and even the current Unbreakable album."^[16]

This set list is representative of the show on September 7, 2017, in Lafayette, Louisiana.^[17] It does not represent all concerts for the duration of the tour.