r kelly tour

R. Kelly Verified

Similar artists on tour, r. kelly merch.

Live Photos of R. Kelly

concerts and tour dates

Fan reviews.

About R. Kelly

• Moscow concerts Moscow concerts Moscow concerts See all Moscow concerts ( Change location ) Today · Next 7 days · Next 30 days
• Most popular artists worldwide
• Trending artists worldwide

• Tourbox for artists

Search for events or artists

• Sign up Log in

• Get the app
• Moscow concerts
• Change location
• Popular Artists
• Live streams
• Deutsch Português
• Popular artists

R. Kelly  

• No longer touring
• 428 past concerts

Join Songkick to track your favorite artists and never miss them live.

Tours most with

Past concerts.

Mississippi Coliseum

Yuengling Center

Arena Theatre

View all past concerts

Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8th, 1967), better known by his stage name R. Kelly, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, actor and rapper from Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Over the course of a twenty-five year career that’s been marked by controversy off stage, Kelly has amassed a slew of hit records, awards and accolades - not to mention huge personal worth. He’s demonstrated an impressive penchant for being able to reinvent himself over the years; his early successes in the first part of the nineties saw him make a name for himself with his debut solo record, “12 Play”, and especially the smash hit single “Bump ‘N Grind”, which spent twelve weeks at the top of the charts in his native U.S in 1993. The following year, Kelly would court notoriety offstage by producing Aaliyah’s debut album “Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number” amid a flurry of speculation that the pair had wed despite Aaliyah apparently being underage - the first of many controversial incidents in Kelly’s career. In 1996, he had arguably his biggest success to date with the anthemic “I Believe I Can Fly” from the movie “Space Jam”; it scooped him three Grammy Awards and remains his signature song.

In the early noughties, Kelly went on to both prove his hip hop credentials by collaborating with the likes of Jay-Z and remain a major pop force, too, with “Ignition (Remix)” topping the charts the world over in 2003. He’d use that as a springboard for his highly-theatrical - and much-mocked - “Trapped in the Closet” series in 2005, something he’d revisit years later. He also made a brief foray into gospel, too, but returned to his thematic instincts with his “Black Panties” record in 2013; both the record and the subsequent live shows were highly sexually-charged, and you’d expect nothing less from one of the most divisive artists of recent times.

Live reviews

I have been to alot of concerts, and I must say R. Kelly was the best lyrical concert I have ever been too. Kels is so good live that you will get goose bumps; you would think that he is lip syncing, but it is obvious from the amount of effort and passion that he puts into each song that he is not. His song selection was very diverse, ranging from his earlier works, to featured songs, to his new releases. His stage was set very simplistically yet classy. Kels also had two background singers that were just as talented as he. He performed for a solid 2 hours, with very little breaks and also engaged the audience. There was a segment of the show where the stage was dark and there were lights flashing around the entire venue and you had to “find” R.Kelly which was so incredibly unique. I must warn you that his concert is quite raunchy... I have never seen an audience member reach up and grab the private parts of a performer, and the performer actually allow it. But hey, it's R. Kelly, you should expect at least some amount of raunchiness. I highly recommend seeing the King of R&B live, you won't regret it.

Report as inappropriate

R. Kelly, or Robert Sylvester Kelly has been one of the most consistent R & B singer/songwriters appearing on the US charts over the last fifteen years. From his breakout single 'Bump 'N Grind' he has become a household name and has collaborated with some of the biggest artists globally. Still touring to this day, he continues to please fans with extensive set lists featuring hits from throughout his career.

Often starting with a 00's party anthem 'Ignition' the crowd know they are in for a huge night as the charismatic frontman dances onstage with his selection of dancers. Huge hits such as 'Down Low' and 'You Remind Me Of Something' evoke fantastic reactions and R. Kelly capitalises as he throws himself into the performance to massive dance-alongs within the audience.

The deafening sing-along to 'I Believe I Can Fly' is a poignant moment for the star as a track that is over fifteen years old is still clearly adored as a modern classic. Huge applause echoes around the arena and R. Kelly leaves cementing his reputation as an R & B icon.

It was AMAZING from beginning to ending Kel's, Viv, & June's Diary did there thang last night @ the North Charleston Coliseum LOVED ALL 3 acts performances. Kelly took me back 2 bn a child teenage year's and 2 the adult I am today timeline down Memory Lane. Vivian Green & her crew did an awesome job performing their album hits & having a dance party while doing it. And as far as June's Diary I think I'm going to start listening to and downloading their music. Never heard a new girl group in this day & age 2 sing + harmonize with their lyrics and vocals.

Plus ALL acts sing their HITZ that had the WHOLE ENTIRE​ audience dancing, singing and grooving together with songs like Half on a Baby, Get Back 2 my Baby, L.A.N.C.E, Feeling on ur Booty, Emotional Rollercoaster Cookie Monster, Contagious, and so on & son on etc... GREAT EXPERIENCE go see it 4 urself

Absolutely Amazing!!!! He did a wonderful job with keeping the audience engaged. There were props and short videos. Never a dull or quiet moment even during wardrobe changes. He sang all the greats! Hands down one of the best concerts I have attended. I would definitely pay to see him if he comes to OKC again!! I believe there was another function going on the day of his concert so unfortunately the venue was not sold out. This did not take away from his performance or attitude. He preformed as if he had an audience of one hundred thousand rather than the several hundred that showed. Kudos to R Kelly!!!! My advice, don't miss out on his next show!

The R Kelly concert was very disappointing to me as a fan who grew up on his music from day 1. First of Jazmine Sullivan was a no show and nobody gave an explanation for that besides a sign on the front door saying she couldn't make it due to inclement weather which was a huge lie and then R Keely sang of a track and didn't bring a live band which to me for a artist of his stature is a cardinal sin in the music industry. I think the promoters charged way too much for that performance and it was a horrible show.

Awesome. Im his number 1 fan.. I love him. I NEVER EVER MISS A SHOW... He is a great performer & his music tells a freaky side of him that every woman of all ages wants to know...i would love to meet him & hang out with him for a day.. I would love if he could come visit my bar... Bluestar lounge in Detroit & have a wonderful time...R.Kelly just feels my heart with so much love & happiness. I love to hear R.Kelly sing to me...

Please do your research thoroughly and carefully before deciding to purchase tickets to see R Kelly. The evidence accusing him of pedophilia, sexual assault, physical/domestic abuse, and more are undisputable. The man is a psychotic pervert with a god complex. There are many other great and talented singers out there that you can support and spend money on concert tickets for. Please please please do not support R Kelly.

R Kelly put on an awesome show last night in Tuscaloosa. His interaction with his fans was off the hook!!!! The show started late but it was definitely worth the wait and I would definitely go see him again. Of course you know I am his number one fan ? from his Public Announcement days so I could be just a little partial. You have to see him for yourself.

R Kelley is an amazing singer and song writer. The live concert brought back so many memories of past loves and past lives.

My wife both felt his show should been a little longer, and I would have appreciated more from the stage set. It was just him on stage. Dancers and stage props would have taken it to another level.

The show was beyond epic. He showed up and showed out. Out of all the concerts I've been too, so far this one was the best. From his extravagant entrance with the bird to his R. Bot exit kept me on my feet the whole time. Love the gold mic and the selfie backstage. I've always loved his music and the concert was awesome.

Photos (18)

Posters (11)

Touring history:

Last event:

Popularity ranking:

• Milky Chance (326)
• R. Kelly (327)
• Maluma (328)

Concerts played in 2024:

Most played:

• Los Angeles (LA) (22)
• Chicago (19)
• Detroit (16)
• Houston (14)
• Memphis (12)

Appears most with:

• Keyshia Cole (54)
• K. Michelle (24)
• J. Holiday (21)
• Tamar Braxton (11)

Distance travelled:

• Most popular charts
• API information
• Brand guidelines
• Community guidelines
• Terms of use
• Privacy policy
• Cookies settings
• Cookies policy

Get your tour dates seen everywhere.

• But we really hope you love us.

• Manage Account

R. Kelly to Embark on Buffet Tour (Exclusive)

R. Kelly fans will be feasting on the Pied Piper's musical catalog for his forthcoming Buffet tour.

By Adelle Platon

Adelle Platon

• Share this article on Facebook
• Share this article on Twitter
• Share this article on Flipboard
• Share this article on Pinit
• + additional share options added
• Share this article on Reddit
• Share this article on Linkedin
• Share this article on Whatsapp
• Share this article on Email
• Print this article
• Share this article on Comment
• Share this article on Tumblr

R. Kelly fans will be feasting on the Pied Piper’s musical catalog for his forthcoming Buffet tour.

In support of his 12th No. 1 and 13th studio album  The Buffet,  the singer will head out on a 40-city trek kicking off Thursday, April 21 in Cincinnati and stopping at major cities like Chicago, Miami, Dallas and Atlanta.

R. Kelly’s ‘Buffet’ Debuts at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart

See latest videos, charts and news

“I’m extremely excited to head back on tour and see all of my amazing fans,” Kellz says in a statement sent to  Billboard .   “‘The Buffet’ tour is one you don’t want to miss, I’ve changed everything for this tour including the stage setup — plus the production is crazy!”

'American Idol': Jack Blocker Impresses With Country Cover of 'Believe' For Top 8 Spot

The Buffet  carried the recent jams “Backyard Party” and “Marching Band.” It also featured collaborations with Lil Wayne, Juicy J, Ty Dolla $ign, Jhene Aiko, Tinashe and Jeremih. 

R. Kelly Dedicates ‘She Deserve’ to the Ladies for Valentine’s Day (Premiere)

Trending on Billboard

Tickets for the Buffet tour will be available for purchase on Ticketmaster Friday, March 25. Pre-sale tickets will go live on Wednesday, March 23. 

Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox

Want to know what everyone in the music business is talking about?

Get in the know on.

Billboard is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Billboard Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

optional screen reader

Charts expand charts menu.

• Billboard Hot 100™
• Billboard 200™
• Hits Of The World™
• TikTok Billboard Top 50
• Song Breaker
• Year-End Charts
• Decade-End Charts

Music Expand music menu

• R&B/Hip-Hop

Culture Expand culture menu

Media expand media menu, business expand business menu.

• Business News
• Record Labels
• View All Pro

Pro Tools Expand pro-tools menu

• Songwriters & Producers
• Artist Index
• Royalty Calculator
• Market Watch
• Industry Events Calendar

Billboard Español Expand billboard-espanol menu

• Cultura y Entretenimiento

Honda Music Expand honda-music menu

R. Kelly Trial Updates What Happened During Closing Arguments at the R. Kelly Trial

• Share full article

Jurors reach verdict in trial of R. Kelly. Follow our live coverage.

R. Kelly ‘used lies, manipulation, threats and physical abuse,’ prosecutors say.

R. Kelly was a predator who destroyed the lives of the people around him and capitalized on his fame to prey on underage girls and boys and on women, a federal prosector said on Wednesday, as Mr. Kelly’s long-awaited criminal trial in Brooklyn neared its conclusion.

The prosecution’s closing argument, delivered by Elizabeth Geddes, will continue Thursday as the government seeks to convince the jury that Mr. Kelly was not only sexually and physically abusive, but used an extensive system of control and a network of associates to entrap people for sex and keep them from speaking out or going public with their accusations.

Mr. Kelly, once one of the brightest stars in R&B music, “used lies, manipulation, threats and physical abuse to dominate his victims,” Ms. Geddes said, adding that his immense wealth and fame allowed him to “hide in plain sight.”

Ms. Geddes’s closing arguments on Wednesday spanned three hours and illustrated the expansive breadth of the prosecution’s case against the singer — and the steep challenge his defense team has faced in the trial.

Mr. Kelly faces one count of racketeering, a charge that is built around 14 underlying crimes that prosecutors say he committed as part of the criminal scheme he led for decades. But the charge itself only requires that two of those crimes be proven.

In addition to the racketeering charge, Mr. Kelly is accused of eight violations of the Mann Act, a law barring sex trafficking across state lines. Mr. Kelly, 54, has pleaded not guilty and has long denied the accusations against him.

Armed with a large blackboard that showed Mr. Kelly near the center, surrounded by a network of associates, Ms. Geddes said that the singer’s inner circle and employees “served as enablers for his criminal conduct.”

She portrayed the people behind the music business that propelled Mr. Kelly to multiplatinum international stardom as the same group that offered condoms to his visitors and concocted a plot to marry Mr. Kelly to the singer Aaliyah when she was 15 and he feared she was pregnant.

“When someone commits a crime as part of a group, he’s more powerful — more dangerous,” Ms. Geddes said. “Without his inner circle, the defendant could not have carried out the crimes he carried out for as long as he did.”

Mr. Kelly’s trial has been years in the making. Allegations of sexual misconduct trailed the singer for years, even at the peak of his stardom. After he was finally arrested in 2019, the pandemic delayed his trial for more than a year. During that time, some of the singer’s allies were accused of using arson, bribery and other intimidation tactics to silence potential witnesses .

During the first portion of her closing arguments, Ms. Geddes walked through allegations related to three of the six women at the center of the case. Many of Mr. Kelly’s accusers over the years have been aspiring singers, lured by his fame and the promise of career boosts, but then exploited by the superstar, she said.

They included one woman who worked at a radio station and testified that she was thrilled when she was offered the opportunity to interview Mr. Kelly. But Ms. Geddes revisited her accounts with jurors, recalling that she said she was imprisoned at his Chicago home and raped in her sleep.

“When she arrived in Chicago, it wasn’t at all like she imagined,” Ms. Geddes told jurors. “Her big break had turned into her nightmare.”

— Troy Closson

As R. Kelly’s trial nears its end, prosecutors describe a secretive world.

R. Kelly manipulated not only the women and girls in his orbit, but his own employees as well for more than two decades, prosecutors told jurors at the start of their closing arguments in Mr. Kelly’s criminal trial in New York.

“For many years, what happened in the defendant’s world stayed in the defendant’s world,” Elizabeth Geddes, an assistant U.S. attorney, said in her final arguments to jurors at Federal District Court in Brooklyn. “But no longer.”

The portrayal came at the end of a five-week trial that featured nearly a dozen accusations of physical and sexual abuse of women and underage girls and boys.

Ms. Geddes homed in early in her summation on the vast circle of employees, entourage members and managers who surrounded the singer across his career. She used a large blackboard with the photos of his accusers on one side and Mr. Kelly on the other, with a network of associates surrounding him, showing jurors that they played critical roles in enabling his abuse and allowing it to persist.

“Over the past two decades, the names of the individuals have changed. But their roles have remained the same,” Ms. Geddes said. “And from the beginning, the defendant has been the leader.”

She also described a system of control that entrapped his accusers and blocked them from speaking out.

Ms. Geddes said that system included letters written by Mr. Kelly’s accusers that she said were filled with lies absolving him of crimes. The letters were locked away because he intended to use them in the future, Ms. Geddes said.

When women “crossed him” and opted to go public with their allegations, Ms. Geddes said, Mr. Kelly “used his henchmen to lodge threats and exact revenge.”

Referencing a slide show playing in the courtroom for jurors, she directed their attention to the transcript of an audio clip they had heard during the trial. In the snippet, Mr. Kelly warned any accusers who he believed had stolen from him, saying “people get murdered” for that behavior, using an expletive.

“That was a threat,” Ms. Geddes said.

The racketeering charge itself and the unusual nature of the case against Mr. Kelly, once one of pop music’s biggest stars, has been a key target for his defense team.

Ms. Geddes painstakingly broke down the racketeering charge the singer faces for jurors. “The law recognizes when someone commits a crime as part of a group, he’s more powerful — more dangerous,” she explained, later adding that “without his inner circle, the defendant could not have carried out the crimes he carried out for as long as he did.”

Advertisement

27 years later, R. Kelly’s illegal marriage to Aaliyah is at the center of the case against him.

Aaliyah , the R&B star whom R. Kelly married when she was just 15, figured prominently in the government’s closing argument against Mr. Kelly on Wednesday, as a federal prosecutor presented the pair’s illegal union as a criminal act underlying the racketeering charge.

The prosecutor, Elizabeth Geddes, an assistant U.S. attorney, revisited trial testimony about how Mr. Kelly took a hastily planned flight back to Chicago in August 1994 to deal with an emergency: He thought Aaliyah was pregnant with his child. His solution was to marry her to escape prosecution, and he needed his associates to bribe an Illinois employee to create fake identification for her.

That payment, Ms. Geddes said, is the first act in the racketeering charge. But Ms. Geddes also walked the jury through trial testimony about Mr. Kelly’s sexual abuse of the young singer, which she said was “part of the defendant’s pattern of racketeering.”

Aaliyah, whose full name was Aaliyah Dana Haughton, died in a plane crash in 2001. She and Mr. Kelly were introduced in 1992, when she was 13 years old, and she was the youngest girl that Mr. Kelly has been accused of abusing.

A former teenage backup performer for Mr. Kelly testified at trial that she saw Mr. Kelly, then in his mid-20s, performing oral sex on Aaliyah while on tour sometime around 1993. The backup performer testified that she, too, was sexually abused by Mr. Kelly as a teenager, and that he had wanted her to become Aaliyah’s friend.

Ms. Geddes described the circumstances leading to the 1994 marriage, and Mr. Kelly’s reasoning for the union: he wanted to compel Aaliyah to get an abortion. “No baby, no jail,” Ms. Geddes said.

She argued that Mr. Kelly was not an unaware bystander in the marriage plot carried out by his loyal staff, but rather the active force driving the criminal enterprise.

“Just because you have one of your henchmen do your dirty work doesn’t make you any less responsible,” she said. The marriage was annulled in 1995.

She also used the testimony about Aaliyah to show how teenage girls and Mr. Kelly’s staff and entourage had to behave in order to stay in his “inner circle.” Ms. Geddes cited trial testimony in which Mr. Kelly reportedly told witnesses that they had to “pick a team.”

Demetrius Smith, a former tour manager who accompanied Mr. Kelly to Chicago and took part in arranging for the marriage to go forward, testified that he was uneasy about Mr. Kelly’s relationship with the young singer. But Mr. Smith picked a team, Ms. Geddes said: “He wanted to stay in that inner circle, in that enterprise.”

— Rebecca Davis O’Brien

She wanted her big break, but R. Kelly made it a ‘nightmare,’ a prosecutor says.

Many of R. Kelly’s accusers over the years have been aspiring singers, lured by Mr. Kelly’s fame and the promise of career boosts, but then exploited by the superstar, a federal prosecutor said on Wednesday.

When one of Mr. Kelly’s accusers was given an opportunity to travel to Chicago to interview the multiplatinum superstar, she was thrilled, the prosecutor, Elizabeth Geddes, an assistant U.S. attorney, told jurors during her closing arguments.

The woman, Sonja, is one of the six women at the center of the case against the R&B singer. Ms. Geddes described the woman’s testimony earlier in the trial: Sonja had described being imprisoned at R. Kelly’s Chicago home and raped in her sleep.

“Her memory of what happened to her is seared into her mind,” Ms. Geddes said.

Ms. Geddes portrayed Sonja’s accounts as representative of a darker pattern in the singer’s behavior.

When Sonja first arrived at the singer’s studio, she testified that one of his associates offered her a condom. “This caught her totally off guard,” Ms. Geddes said. But, she added, that was “typical” for many girls who came to the studio.

Five key moments in the prosecution of R. Kelly.

After a five-week trial that included searing accusations of physical, sexual and emotional abuse against the superstar R&B singer R. Kelly, prosecutors began to offer their closing argument on Wednesday.

Although accusations of sexual misconduct have trailed Mr. Kelly for decades, the New York case is only the second to result in a criminal trial. (He was acquitted of a child pornography charge in 2008.)

The federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have constructed a sweeping racketeering case, with evidence that extends from recent years back to the early 1990s that seeks to portray the singer as the kingpin of a decades-long criminal enterprise that recruited women and girls for sex. Mr. Kelly is also charged with eight violations of the Mann Act, an interstate anti-sex trafficking law.

Mr. Kelly has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Here are some of the most significant moments in the case and the trial:

Federal charges were first brought against Mr. Kelly in July 2019 : More charges were filed within months, including allegations by a woman who had previously defended the singer. She testified under a pseudonym at the trial.

The pandemic delayed the trial for more than a year : Amid the wait, some of the singer’s allies were accused of using arson, bribery and other intimidation tactics to silence witnesses who were expected to testify.

The trial began on Aug. 18 with opening statements : Prosecutors said the singer “ used every trick in the predator handbook ” to mislead his accusers and their families. His lawyers argued that the accusers’ accounts would fall apart under scrutiny.

The 20th anniversary of the death of the R&B singer Aaliyah fell during the trial’s second week : Mr. Kelly’s illegal marriage to Aaliyah when she was 15 is central to the government’s case. Among the girls that prosecutors say he abused, she was the youngest.

The prosecution rested this week : After 45 witnesses testified for the government, Mr. Kelly’s lawyers offered their own smaller group of witnesses over two days. Observers watched closely to see whether a girlfriend of the singer who has recently expressed support for him would testify, but she was not called to the stand.

R. Kelly will not testify in his own defense.

R. Kelly will not testify in his own defense at his trial in Brooklyn, the singer told the judge Wednesday morning.

For Mr. Kelly, whose long-awaited trial on racketeering and sex trafficking charges is nearing its end, taking the stand could have been perilous. After facing legal scrutiny in 2019, he lost his composure in a widely viewed interview with Gayle King of “CBS This Morning,” jumping out of his chair and pounding his chest on camera.

When asked if he understood the consequences of his decision, Mr. Kelly said: “Correct.”

Earlier on Wednesday, the 50th and final witness of the trial , Julius Darrington, who consulted on Mr. Kelly’s final, failed music project, testified for about 15 minutes. During his testimony, Mr. Darrington first told the jury he had worked with Mr. Kelly for about 10 to 12 hours “every day, almost,” starting in 2016 and lasting for about four years (Mr. Kelly was taken into custody in 2019 and has largely been detained ever since).

Mr. Darrington, who took the stand for the defense, said he had never seen Mr. Kelly abuse his girlfriends. But on cross-examination he admitted he knew little about Mr. Kelly’s personal life.

“In fact, you have no knowledge of what happened behind closed doors when you weren’t there, correct?” asked Nadia Shihata, an assistant U.S. attorney.

“Correct,” Mr. Darrington said.

Mr. Darrington’s testimony underscored the precipitous downfall of Mr. Kelly’s music career. Earlier testimony suggested that by January 2018, Mr. Kelly was in $12 million of debt. Prosecutors said in his final 18 months of freedom, he performed just three shows.

— Emily Palmer

How prosecutors used a racketeering charge to dig into R. Kelly’s past.

Many of the accusations of sexual misconduct and violence against R. Kelly would normally be too old to prosecute under the statute of limitations.

But because Mr. Kelly is charged with racketeering, prosecutors have been able to present evidence of uncharged criminal activity dating back decades, including Mr. Kelly’s illegal marriage to the singer Aaliyah when she was 15.

But the racketeering charge also requires prosecutors to show that Mr. Kelly was at the center of a criminal enterprise , and over the course of the trial, eight of his former employees have testified against him, including some under subpoena.

Working for the singer’s company, RSK Enterprises, a name that borrows from Mr. Kelly’s initials, the employees helped the singer turn his fame into an organized effort to solicit young girls for sex, prosecutors said.

To illustrate that enterprise, prosecutors introduced into evidence a document created by one of Mr. Kelly’s former accountants, John Holder. The document depicted a red octopus with “Robert S. Kelly” as the head, with his security and other associates as individual tentacles.

Diana Copeland, a former assistant to Mr. Kelly who worked for him on and off for about 15 years, said he would not allow his live-in girlfriends to get into an Uber if a man was driving. She told the jury that if a male driver pulled up, “I would have to call another one” — and keep calling until a female driver appeared.

Ms. Copeland also said her pay had been docked once after she scheduled appointments for two of Mr. Kelly’s live-in girlfriends at a nail salon where a man happened to work.

Tom Arnold, who worked for Mr. Kelly from 2003 to 2011 and sometimes drove female visitors to see the singer, testified that he had been told to “turn the rearview mirror up” to avoid accidentally getting a glimpse of his passengers.

He also described his attempts and those of other employees to procure women for Mr. Kelly by passing out the singer’s phone number so often that they sometimes typed up the digits and printed them in bulk.

A former assistant, Anthony Navarro, testified that when he had started working for Mr. Kelly in 2007, he was given a list of rules.

Among the most prominent: “I wasn’t supposed to be talking to any of the girls — the guests — who were coming into the house,” he said.

“It was almost like ‘The Twilight Zone,’” he recalled of the more than two years he spent working out of Mr. Kelly’s home. “You went into the gate, and it was like a different world, just a strange place.”

When will there be a verdict in the R. Kelly trial?

R. Kelly’s defense team rested its case Wednesday morning, but it remains unknown when a verdict might be reached in the singer’s long-awaited sex-trafficking and racketeering trial.

Closing arguments began Wednesday afternoon, starting with the prosecution team from the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, but it could be at least another day before the jury begins deliberations. Closing arguments in federal trials can run long; neither side has offered a ballpark estimate of how much time they need, but each could take hours, followed by rebuttals.

For prosecutors, closings are a chance to pull together weeks of witness testimony into a coherent narrative, and to argue that the evidence they have presented points in only one logical direction: guilt.

Mr. Kelly’s lawyers, in turn, will present their own narrative, revisiting apparent holes and inconsistencies in witness testimony, casting doubt on Mr. Kelly’s accusers’ motives, and trying to undermine the government’s case.

After the closings, U.S. District Judge Ann M. Donnelly will instruct the jury in how they are to deliberate on the nine counts Mr. Kelly is charged with — one racketeering count and eight counts of violating the Mann Act, an anti-sex trafficking statute.

Jury instructions may seem dry, but the judge’s words to the jury as she gives them the case are important, and they are often carefully litigated. For example, in recent days, R. Kelly’s lawyers and federal prosecutors have gone back and forth in court filings about how they would like Judge Donnelly to explain the nuances of the racketeering charge, and possible defenses to claims of Mr. Kelly’s abuse of underage girls.

Judge Donnelly has said she expects the jury to have the case by the end of the week.

After that, it is anybody’s guess. Old courthouse “wisdom” sometimes holds that long trials lead to long jury deliberations, but in at least one recent case in Brooklyn federal court, that did not happen: The 2019 racketeering and sex-trafficking trial of Keith Raniere, founder of the Nxivm sex cult, lasted six weeks — and the jury found him guilty in less than a day.

Courthouse gadflies also like to say that the longer deliberations stretch out, the better the outlook for defendants.

Even if he is acquitted in New York, R. Kelly will face more charges elsewhere.

No matter the outcome of his federal trial in Brooklyn , R. Kelly still faces state and federal indictments in two other states, all stemming from what prosecutors describe as the R&B star’s sexual abuse of women and underage girls.

Federal prosecutors in Chicago hit Mr. Kelly in July 2019 with child pornography and obstruction charges. That trial has been pushed back several times because of the pandemic, and to allow Mr. Kelly ’s Brooklyn trial to go first.

In February 2019, months before federal charges were announced, the Cook County state’s attorney indicted Mr. Kelly on aggravated criminal sexual abuse charges involving four victims, three of whom were underage at the time. Mr. Kelly has denied the allegations.

The state trial, a date for which has not been set, would be Mr. Kelly’s second criminal trial in Cook County — in 2008, he was acquitted on 14 counts of child pornography charges.

In Minnesota, Mr. Kelly was charged in August 2019 with engaging in prostitution with a minor. The following month, a Minneapolis judge issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Kelly after he failed to show up for a court hearing there. Prosecutors there said at the time that they weren’t likely to get access to Mr. Kelly until the Chicago charges were resolved, according to local news reports .

A former tour manager detailed a scheme that enabled R. Kelly to marry Aaliyah when she was 15.

One of the key figures at the center of R. Kelly’s trial in Brooklyn is another R&B star: Aaliyah, whom Mr. Kelly married when she was 15 years old.

Several witnesses during the trial have testified about the singers’ time together. Demetrius Smith, Mr. Kelly’s former tour manager, said he watched Mr. Kelly and Aaliyah make music together at her parents’ Detroit home in 1992, and the singers soon began to work together closely.

Mr. Smith testified that he had soon become concerned about the tone of Mr. Kelly’s public encounters with the girl, which he called “overplayful.”

“Robert, you ain’t messing with Aaliyah?” he recalled asking Mr. Kelly one day.

He got his answer when Mr. Kelly approached him shortly before taking the stage one night during a 1994 tour.

“Aaliyah is in trouble, man,” Mr. Smith testified that Mr. Kelly told him, and the two men arranged a flight back to Illinois. Later, on the plane, Mr. Smith said, Mr. Kelly explained the problem: “She thinks she’s pregnant.”

Mr. Smith testified that Mr. Kelly and another member of his staff hatched a plan for the two singers to get married so that Mr. Kelly could avoid potential prosecution for having sex with a minor.

Mr. Smith said he objected to the plan but eventually helped enable it by securing a fake ID for Aaliyah that listed her as 18, opening the door to the marriage. After obtaining a marriage license, Mr. Kelly and the group made their way to a hotel and called a minister.

The minister who married R. Kelly and Aaliyah in 1994 testified virtually about the 10-minute ceremony, which was held at a Sheraton Hotel in the Chicago area.

The minister, the Rev. Nathan J. Edmond, said that his testimony was the first time he had talked publicly about the illegal marriage.

“I looked at the marriage license,” Mr. Edmond told the jury. “It was an official marriage license from Cook County.”

The marriage was annulled the next year. Aaliyah, whose full legal name was Aaliyah Dana Haughton, died in a plane crash in 2001. She is known in court documents as Jane Doe No. 1.

This is how the first case against R. Kelly fell apart.

For close to three decades, R. Kelly has been trailed by a steady stream of sexual abuse accusations shared widely within the music industry. Those allegations became public at his 2008 trial in Chicago, when Mr. Kelly faced 14 counts in a high-profile child pornography case that centered on a videotape that prosecutors said showed him having sex with a 14-year-old girl .

Mr. Kelly, who pleaded not guilty, faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

But the girl in the case refused to testify, and after seven and a half hours of deliberation, the jury acquitted Mr. Kelly of all charges. In that case, five jurors told reporters that the absence of testimony from the girl in the video was impossible to overcome.

“All of us felt the grayness of the case,” one juror said .

That trial excluded accusations made by other girls and their parents, who said Mr. Kelly had used his fame to lure them into his sphere to have sex with them.

But Mr. Kelly’s trial in Brooklyn has included testimony from several of the women at the center of the charges against him. They took the stand — the first time Mr. Kelly’s accusers have testified against him in a criminal case — and shared searing accounts of physical, emotional and sexual abuse by the singer.

Prosecutors were also able to make a broader case against Mr. Kelly through a racketeering charge, a tactic that’s also been used in other high-profile trials, including the case against the leader of the Nxivm sex cult, Keith Raniere.

And the rise of the Me Too movement in the years before Mr. Kelly’s trial changed public perceptions about allegations of sexual assault.

— Alexandra E. Petri and Precious Fondren

Closing arguments delve into a culture of fear and control.

R. Kelly inspired intense fear in many of his accusers, including a woman who said he abused her after she broke one of his strict rules, Elizabeth Geddes, an assistant U.S. attorney, told jurors during her closing arguments on Thursday.

Ms. Geddes revisited the testimony of the woman, Jerhonda Pace , who said Mr. Kelly physically and sexually assaulted her as a teenager after she once failed to acknowledge him when he entered a room.

“The defendant was livid,” Ms. Geddes said. “He attacked her. He slapped her. He choked her until she passed out.”

She added: “Jerhonda violated one of the defendant’s cardinal rules” — and “he reminded her of everything he was capable of doing.”

The descriptions came on the second day of Ms. Geddes’s closing arguments at the end of Mr. Kelly’s five-week trial in New York. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.

Ms. Pace had told jurors that Mr. Kelly forced her to perform a sex act on him, after spitting in her and directing her to bow her head “in shame.” Ms. Geddes said there was no possible way for jurors to determine her behavior was not coerced, and that Ms. Pace “understood exactly what would happen” if she broke Mr. Kelly’s instructions again.

Ms. Pace said Mr. Kelly had begun having sex with her in 2009, when she was 16. She said that she initially told him she was 19 and that when she revealed her true age, it did not lessen Mr. Kelly’s interest in her.

Mr. Kelly’s lawyers have tried to portray Ms. Pace as a jealous “superfan” who concocted lies about him as he lost interest in her. “You were, in fact, stalking him, weren’t you?” Deveraux L. Cannick, one of the singer’s lawyers, said during cross-examination.

Ms. Pace said she was not.

Ms. Geddes drew attention to Ms. Pace’s composure throughout her time on the stand — and the emotion that was evident when she described Mr. Kelly slapping and beating her — to argue her accounts were truthful.

“For the first time during all of her testimony, she choked up,” Ms. Geddes said. “She broke down because it was painful for her to relive what happened to her that day.”

— Troy Closson and Emily Palmer

R. Kelly made his victims write letters exonerating him. Instead, they helped convict him.

Much of the evidence that prosecutors used to convict R. Kelly came from the singer himself .

He obsessively collected message slips and letters written by the women he interacted with — some of them underage — according to Ryan Chabot, the lead federal investigator in the case. Mr. Chabot said he sifted through the evidence recovered from several searches of the singer’s Chicago apartment and storage facility.

Mr. Kelly kept some of the evidence in FedEx folders, with labels like “Old Messages,” and other pieces — like a seven-page, front-and-back, handwritten letter from a woman who testified for three days early in the trial — in protective sleeves in a locked safe.

Calling Mr. Kelly a “great man,” the woman wrote: “At the age of 17 I never had sex with Robert Kelly,” then proceeded to tick off a list of specific sex acts that she said she had not participated in with the R&B superstar.

Less than two years later, when the woman who had written the letter testified under a pseudonym, she said she had experienced coerced and recorded sexual encounters with the singer starting when she was 17. He hit her often, she said, and forced her to get an abortion .

Every letter that prosecutors introduced at trial came from Mr. Kelly’s personal collection in what appeared to be a yearslong attempt to build his defense even before the indictment in Brooklyn was unsealed . They were all signed by accusers who were at the forefront of the case against the singer.

Those accusers now say he forced them to write the letters, including a man who testified that the singer told him what to write “word for word.”

The material, known as “collateral,” makes it difficult for victims to escape, said Dawn M. Hughes , a clinical and forensic psychologist who provided expert testimony for the prosecution. (She also testified as an expert at the trial of Keith Raniere , the Nxivm cult leader , who also relied on such collateral to intimidate women he was abusing.)

Creating collateral keeps adolescents “captive,” she said, and creates a power dynamic she likened to “slowly sucking the oxygen out of the room and once you realize it, you can’t get out.”

12 anonymous jurors decided the R. Kelly case.

A 12-member anonymous jury decided the fate of R. Kelly , who faces a sprawling racketeering case and eight violations of the Mann Act, a law banning interstate sex trafficking.

The group, which consisted of seven men and five women, was semi-sequestered, meaning they were able to go home at the end of each day.

Several members shared details about themselves during the in-person selection process. There is a mother of two school-aged children; a fraud investigator who said she was active in her church; a woman with several incarcerated family members; and a man who works at a hotel.

One of the jurors, a longtime flight attendant, said he believed “trial by the media is worse than a trial by jury.” The man told the judge that he has a friend in the family of Bill Cosby, whose 2018 conviction for sexual assault was recently overturned, but that he did not question the jury’s verdict. He said he had heard only minor bits of information about R. Kelly in the news.

The selection process began last month and took place over three days. Judge Ann M. Donnelly, who presided over the case, questioned prospective members to gauge their awareness of Mr. Kelly and the accusations against him, their views and personal experience on matters of sexual misconduct and their opinion of the #MeToo movement.

Here’s a breakdown of the charges R. Kelly faced.

The criminal charges R. Kelly was convicted of included one count of racketeering based on sexual exploitation of children, kidnapping, forced labor and eight violations of the Mann Act , a sex-trafficking statute.

Racketeering is a charge often associated with organized crime, but it can be applied to any ongoing coordinated illegal scheme or criminal enterprise to carry out a common purpose. In this case, prosecutors said Mr. Kelly and his “inner circle” worked for more than two decades, in multiple states, to promote the singer’s brand, to recruit girls and young women for sexual exploitation, and to produce pornography.

Within that single racketeering count were 14 individual acts, some of which themselves had separate parts — and some of those parts had additional questions — each of which the jury had to consider in turn. Those acts included bribery, kidnapping, forced labor and violations of the Mann Act. The racketeering count carried a sentence of up to 20 years.

The jury separately considered eight Mann Act counts, related to transportation and coercion of two women, including a minor. Each of the Mann Act counts carried up to 10 years’ imprisonment.

Mr. Kelly, who pleaded not guilty, was convicted on all counts and could face up to life in prison.

This was not the first criminal trial against the R&B singer, who has been trailed by a steady stream of abuse accusations that span much of his career. In 2008, Mr. Kelly was the defendant in a high-profile child pornography case that was tried in Chicago. In that case, Mr. Kelly, who pleaded not guilty, was acquitted of all the charges.

— Alexandra E. Petri and Rebecca Davis O’Brien

A key witness against R. Kelly was once his vocal defender.

Even as new accusers began to speak out against Mr. Kelly at the height of the MeToo movement, several women continued to stand alongside him.

But one who publicly defended Mr. Kelly in a widely viewed 2019 television interview has since joined the case against him. On Thursday, Elizabeth Geddes, an assistant U.S. attorney delivering the government’s closing argument at Mr. Kelly’s trial, told jurors that the woman’s earlier defense of Mr. Kelly demonstrated the dominance he held over her life.

“The defendant started to indoctrinate her when she was just 17,” Ms. Geddes said.

She said Mr. Kelly used several methods to control the woman, who testified under a pseudonym: physical abuse; threats of long term confinement; and brainwashing her into following his strict rules. Ms. Geddes recalled the woman’s testimony that she was underage and an aspiring singer when Mr. Kelly began sexually abusing her.

The woman’s testimony included some of the most graphic accounts of any accusers and lasted longer than any witness, including that she was once instructed to eat feces as discipline for not following his commands.

“The defendant’s way in his world is the right way — and the only way,” Ms. Geddes said.

She added that Mr. Kelly cut off the woman from other people in her personal life, telling her to delete social media and email accounts. “He was trying to isolate her and so many others,” Ms. Geddes said, “making it less likely that they would have the strength to walk away.”

The woman’s testimony is likely to be among the most crucial to the case’s outcome. Four counts of violations of the Mann Act, an anti-sex-trafficking law that the singer faces, center on her, and several of the underlying accusations in the racketeering charge also involve her.

But jurors will have to reconcile the woman’s disturbing testimony with the extensive cross-examination she faced from Mr. Kelly’s lawyers.

The singer’s defense team homed in on several discrepancies between her testimony and interviews she gave to federal officials beginning in January 2020, including that she named two different California cities as where she and the singer first had sexual intercourse.

The defense lawyers tried to cast her involvement with Mr. Kelly as an elaborate plot by her parents to lure the singer into sex with an underage girl and then blackmail and “exploit” him.

R. Kelly tour dates

• On tour: No
• Concertful ranking: #168
• Category: Soul / R&B

Similar artists on tour

R. kelly past concerts.

Top Tours · Just Announced · USA · Europe · 2025 Tours

Terms of Service · Privacy and Cookie Policy · Contact © Concertful

• Rent or buy
• Categories Categories
• Getting Started

R. Kelly: Live! The Light It Up Tour

219 global ratings

How are ratings calculated? Toggle Expand Toggle Expand

• Amazon Newsletter
• About Amazon
• Accessibility
• Sustainability
• Press Center
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect & Build Your Brand
• Become an Affiliate
• Become a Delivery Driver
• Start a Package Delivery Business
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Become an Amazon Hub Partner
• › See More Ways to Make Money
• Amazon Visa
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Credit Card Marketplace
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

• Social Media
• Live from the Shed

SEE ME LIVE

Click a location and get your tickets now

Subscribe: RSS | iCal

Tyler Hubbard Teases Additional World Tour Dates On The Way

Tyler Hubbard posted his list of world tour destinations after releasing his sophomore solo album, Strong , earlier this month. The “Back Then Right Now” hitmaker is gearing up for more than a dozen performance dates with special guest Alana Springsteen .

Hubbard followed last year’s self-titled solo debut with Strong , a 13-track album that includes “Wish You Would,” “A Lot With A Little,” “Vegas” and other highlights. The Georgia-born singer-songwriter co-wrote each track — with one solo writing credit on “'73 Beetle” — and co-produced the album with Jordan Schmidt. Hubbard is currently performing on Kane Brown ’s headlining “In The Air Tour,” with festival performances on the horizon before the “Strong World Tour” kicks off this fall.

“I think with any album, I think my hope is that they get to know me a better through the songs, but also get to know theirselves a bit better,” Hubbard said via his record label when Strong made its debut earlier this month. “You know, a lot of these songs for me were very self-discovery, if you will. A lot of self-discovery going on when you’re opening yourself up and you’re being vulnerable. And yes, some of these songs are fun and some of these songs are less vulnerable and just sort of like lighthearted and not anything we need to overthink, but then some of these songs are super real, super vulnerable, super authentic, and I think that’s a fun place to kind of go as a creative and I think it’s fun to challenge my fans to kind of do the same thing and look a little deeper into who they are and explore what makes ‘em tick a little bit, what makes ‘em go. So, I hope it does that for them. I also just hope brings people joy. I think there’s a lot of fun on this album. I think there’s a lot of joy in my heart, in my spirit, for my life and for my family, and I hope that it overflows into my music and I hope people hear the album or come to a live show, I hope they leave feeling kind of filled up with joy and just made a good memory that they can take with them.”

Hubbard will kick off his world tour on September 6 with a show in Indianapolis, Indiana. The tour includes stops across the U.S. and in Canada, with the final show set for November 21 in Nashville, Tennessee, hosted at the historic Ryman Auditorium. Additional dates will be announced in the coming months, per Hubbard's record label. See the full list of tour dates below .

Fri., Sept. 6 | 8 Seconds Saloon | Indianapolis, IN+

Sat., Sept. 7 | The Sylvee | Madison, WI+

Thurs., Sept. 12 | The Signal | Chattanooga, TN+

Fri., Sept. 13 | The Blue Room (Outdoor Show) | Statesboro, GA+

Thurs., Sept. 19 | Avondale Brewing Company | Birmingham, AL+

Fri., Sept. 20 | Blind Horse Saloon | Greenville, SC+

Sat., Sept. 21 | Coyote Joe’s | Charlotte, NC+

Thurs., Oct. 24 | Haute Spot | Cedar Park, TX+

Sat., Oct. 26 | House Of Blues Houston | Houston, TX+

Thurs., Oct. 31 | GLC Live at 20 Monroe | Grand Rapids, MI*

Fri., Nov. 1 | History | Toronto, ON, CA+

Sat., Nov. 2 | Roxian Theatre | Pittsburgh, PA+

Thurs., Nov. 7 | Citizens House of Blues | Boston, MA+

Fri., Nov. 8 | The Fillmore Philadelphia | Philadelphia, PA+

Sat., Nov. 9 | The Fillmore Silver Spring | Silver Spring, MD+

Thurs., Nov. 14 | The Moon | Tallahassee, FL+

Fri., Nov. 15 | Abacoa Amphitheater | Jupiter, FL+

Thurs., Nov. 21 | The Ryman | Nashville, TN+

+support from Alana Springsteen

*support TBA

• Preplanned tours
• Daytrips out of Moscow
• Themed tours
• Customized tours
• St. Petersburg

Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro Tour is included in most guided tours’ itineraries. Opened in 1935, under Stalin’s regime, the metro was not only meant to solve transport problems, but also was hailed as “a people’s palace”. Every station you will see during your Moscow metro tour looks like a palace room. There are bright paintings, mosaics, stained glass, bronze statues… Our Moscow metro tour includes the most impressive stations best architects and designers worked at - Ploshchad Revolutsii, Mayakovskaya, Komsomolskaya, Kievskaya, Novoslobodskaya and some others.

What is the kremlin in russia?

The guide will not only help you navigate the metro, but will also provide you with fascinating background tales for the images you see and a history of each station.

And there some stories to be told during the Moscow metro tour! The deepest station - Park Pobedy - is 84 metres under the ground with the world longest escalator of 140 meters. Parts of the so-called Metro-2, a secret strategic system of underground tunnels, was used for its construction.

During the Second World War the metro itself became a strategic asset: it was turned into the city's biggest bomb-shelter and one of the stations even became a library. 217 children were born here in 1941-1942! The metro is the most effective means of transport in the capital.

There are almost 200 stations 196 at the moment and trains run every 90 seconds! The guide of your Moscow metro tour can explain to you how to buy tickets and find your way if you plan to get around by yourself.

• Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Best of Moscow by high speed train

By shuguley , February 15, 2014 in Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Recommended Posts

Sure would appreciate someone who has taken "Best of Moscow by high speed train" from St. Petersburg could please share their impressions of this shore excursion. From the description this sounds like a very long day.

Wondering how the 4 hour train trip was in terms of accommodations, etc. Also what time did you leave the ship and what time at night did you return? Were both legs of the trip on the high speed rail (I read that slower trains also travel the same tracks)?

My wife and I are considering this excursion. We thought that if we are making all the effort to go to Russia then how could we pass up going to Moscow, walking in Red Square, seeing St. Basil, etc.

Link to comment

Share on other sites.

If you are considering this on the 2015 June Baltic cruise on Voyager; my suggestion is don't. There is so much to do in St. Petersburg and although a train is one of my favorite ways to travel the time would be far better spent in St. P.

Thanks for the advice. Yes, this would be on the Voyager during the 2015 season but not yet sure exactly which cruise.

We did the Moscow excursion "on a different luxury line", but from your brief description it sounds very much like the same trip, so I will operate on that assumption. It is a VERY long day! We left the ship at 5:30 AM and returned at 12:30 AM. The highspeed train trip is comfortable, and while they call it "Business Class" it does not compare well to the equivalent class on say Rail Europe. When we did it in 2011, we did have highspeed both ways, and the trip back seemed much longer as the adrenaline and excitement had worn off!:D

Moscow itself is not that terribly different from any other big city in the world, but this Cold War kid never thought he would ever stand in Red Square, never mind walk the grounds of The Kremlin, or tour The Kremlin Palace, or see (but not visit) Lenin's Tomb, or visit The Armoury. But he did, and he loved every minute of it! Yes, it is a long day, and you barely scratch a scratch on the surface, but it is worth it. There is a tremendous amount to see in St. Petersburg, but every Baltic cruise goes to St. Petersburg, so you can go back if you choose to. Not every cruiseline offers you the chance to see Moscow.

I have not personally done this tour, but our last time in St Petersburg, the private guide that we hired for a day was leading the regent tour to Moscow on the high speed train the next day. He said it was way better than the previous alternative, which was flying to Moscow and back. He said that you actually got to Moscow faster because you didn't have to deal with airline checkin etc. it did seem like a very long day to me, and there is so much to see and do in st. Petersburg that I didn't consider doing it.

countflorida

We toured to Moscow from St. Petersburg via the hi-speed SAPSAN train last September, from a Baltic cruise on the Oceania Marina. You need to have a two-night, three day port call in St. Petersburg to take this tour because the tour typically leaves the ship around 5:00 - 5:30 AM and doesn't return until after midnight the next day. We didn't take the ship's tour; we made private arrangements with TravelAllRussia for three days of touring, the first and third days in St. Petersburg and the second day the tour to Moscow by train. Our cost for the private tour for three days was about the same as what the ship charged for the excursion to Moscow alone. There are a number of private tour agencies that operate in St. Petersburg and offer the Moscow train tours; we would strongly recommend them over the ship's tours.

All three days had private guides with car and driver. The second day, the driver picked us up at the ship and took us to the train, but we were alone on the train, and met in Moscow by the guide on the station platform. After our tour and dinner, we were brought back to the train and after the return train trip met by the driver and taken back to the ship. Because you are alone on the train you must have your own Russian visas.

If this is your first visit to St. Petersburg, I would agree there is much more to see there. We found Moscow somewhat a disappointment, particularly Red Square. The Kremlin and the cathedral in Red Square were also worth seeing. But the best thing we saw was the Moscow subway! I worked for the Washington Metro system back in the 1980s as it grew from 40 to 80 miles and although I was in the computer area, I learned a lot about the challenges of running a subway system. We used the Moscow system to get across the city from where we had dinner to the train station, and I was amazed at the cleanliness', speed of operation, the short headways maintained, and the courtesy of everyone involved. A very impressive experience!

We had been to St. Petersburg before, and so had the time to take a day and go to Moscow. Also, I really like trains, and the SAPSAN is a German train set running on Russian rails. Seats are like first class domestic air, spacious but not too plush or comfortable, but with enough room. Not too much recline, and almost 8 hours on the train in two shots is a lot for an old man. They come through and sell drinks, candy, etc. but the sellers don't speak English and no one around us helped, so we had just poor coffee once coming, and brought stuff with us for the trip back. Not too much to see from the train either, particularly on the return when it is night the whole way.

If you decide to go, take a private tour and avoid the overly expensive ship's tour. I'm glad we did it, but wouldn't bother to repeat the tour; we've seen Moscow.

Thanks so much to all of you for the thorough and thought insight. Yhe information you have provided is most helpful.

countflorida: Your detailed post is very helpful. We are not quite ready for a Baltic cruise but should do so within a year. Time enough to do our pre travel research, bookings and visa gathering.:) Thank you!

Emperor Norton

Sure would appreciate someone who has taken "Best of Moscow by high speed train" from St. Petersburg could please share their impressions of this shore excursion. From the description this sounds like a very long day.   Wondering how the 4 hour train trip was in terms of accommodations, etc. Also what time did you leave the ship and what time at night did you return? Were both legs of the trip on the high speed rail (I read that slower trains also travel the same tracks)?   My wife and I are considering this excursion. We thought that if we are making all the effort to go to Russia then how could we pass up going to Moscow, walking in Red Square, seeing St. Basil, etc.

I did this on Seabourn. IMO DONT. Take Aeroflop (er Aeroflot). The train has non folding seats where you are literally knee to knee with your fellow passenger (facing each other). Further they don't believe in air conditioning. It's also the worlds slowed bullet train. I think I would have found more enjoyment wandering around the St. Petersburg and Moscow airports.

Countflorida,

This is a little off topic,, however we had planned a river cruise in Russia but decided we would rather stay on land and have booked about two weeks with Travel-All-Russia using the private guide and driver. I'm curious as to how you found them as a tour company.

The guides they provided were fine. We had a different guide each of the days in St. Petersburg, but both were flexible, pleasant, knowledgeable and spoke English very well, as did the guide in Moscow, incidentally. She was a bit aloof, distant, not too friendly, but otherwise fine. In fact, she was the one who suggested taking the Metro, which unexpectedly became one of the highlights of the Moscow excursion. If I have a complaint with AllTravelRussia, it is with their plan and its execution (more later).

I had requested emphasis on World War II (in Russia, the Great Patriotic War) sites and info. In scheduling us, they weren't careful about dates and a couple of the sites we wanted to see were scheduled on the third day, after we'd been to Moscow. But both sites were closed that day of the week, and that info was readily available, right on web sites describing them. Also, the included meals (lunches in St. Pete, dinner in Moscow) were not what we asked for: light meals with some choices, so we could avoid things we didn't like and choose things we did like. My request was ignored; we were given full Russian meals with a fixed menu, no choice. On the first day, a fish dish was the entre, but I am allergic to fish. Fortunately, I had the e-mail I'd sent with me and showed it to the guide, and she was able to change my entre to chicken, which was very good actually. But we didn't want a 3-4 course lunches or dinner (in Moscow). We had the guide drop the lunch the third day, although we never got any credit or refund. But, particularly in contrast to the ship's tours, the prices were so reasonable we didn't worry too much about it.

The people who were on the ship's tour to Moscow saw us boarding the same train for which they were forced to queue up and wait on the way back, and asked us what we had done. I was candid and open so they were not happy when I explained what we had arranged and particularly what it had cost. Also, when we returned to the ship, we found they had laid on a late supper for those who had gone to Moscow, so up we went and had something. Well, it turns out the late supper was supposed to be just for those on the ship's tour, but we and others on 'independent' tours, there were a dozen or more of us, crashed the party, actually got there first, and they didn't realize it until the larger group arrived and there weren't enough tables/places set. By that time, the 'independents' had all gotten served and were eating; what could they do?

A couple from the larger group sat down with us and asked us about our tour, and they were the ones I told about our arrangement and its cost. They turned to others who’d been with them and announced the details, loudly enough so the whole room heard, which started a lot of bitching and complaining. I gathered they weren't very happy with the ship's tour to begin with, and this was the straw that broke the camel's back. We finished up and beat it out of there, but overheard later that one of the excursion staff came to check on something and ran into a real mess. I caught a cold on the trip, which forced me to bed the second day following in Tallinn, so by the time we reappeared we heard about the contretemps' but apparently no one recalled who started it, thankfully.

Because of what happened to us, I would probably not use AllTravelRussia if I were to go again, or if I did, I would be sure to get confirmation of every detail of the tour. They do have good reviews generally, and we were certainly helped by their visa department and liked the guides and drivers. Their weakness, I say now with full 20:20 hindsight, is that once the sales person who plans the tour, sells it to you and collects your money, he (or she) transfers the plan to their Russia office for implementation; there is no follow-up to make sure it gets done right. And that is where our problems arose; we paid for a custom tour but got a standard package with a few destinations switched, and no one checked them out, even to see when they were open the day we were scheduled to go. If you check every detail that’s important to you, it should be OK, but that’s a hell of a way to have to do business, in my opinion.

Thank you for the 20/20 hindsight observation on your Russian tour operator, and better priced than the ship's excursion cost.

Thanks very much for the feedback.

We had the same experience as you so far as price. We originally booked a Viking Cruise but, hearing some things about the river cruises that made us unhappy, looked into other options. T-A-R cost the same or less than a cruise and had us in hotels for 11 days. We opted for the private tour. They have three tour levels, based on hotels. We originally opted for the four star as it did not cost much more than the three star hotels. Finally we decided to throw it all in and upgraded to five star. In Moscow we will be at the newly opened Kempinsky which is two blocks from Red Square. In St. Petersburg it is the Grand Hotel Europe, one of the most vaunted luxury hotels in Russia. Location is important for us as the tours use up only part of the day so being in the center of everything for our independent touring is important. As with many other cities, the less you pay, the farther out of the center of town you are.

We have been working with our salesman in D.C. and he seems to get back to us with the changes we want. He recently returned from Russia so is up on everything. When I asked they said they paid the full TA commission if I wanted so I got my usual TA on board so he is watching our back and giving us that extra level of comfort. He also set up our air, which I know pays him little or nothing, and got us business class for much less than T-A-R wanted for economy, though it took working for a while with a consolidator. He's happy to get his 10 percent on this trip without having booked it. He also took care of the trip insurance. We've been doing a lot of research on the CC sister site Trip Advisor and will write a report there. We will, I guess, become a source of info for CC members after having spent 5 days in Moscow and 6 in SP.

• 4 months later...

scubacruiserx2

Anybody considering a day trip to Moscow from St. Petersburg on the Sapsan may want to look at our travelogue filled with pictures.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1927687

Very informative. Thanks dor sharing. Jeff

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in

• Welcome to Cruise Critic
• New Cruisers
• Cruise Lines “A – O”
• Cruise Lines “P – Z”
• River Cruising
• Cruise Critic News & Features
• Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
• Special Interest Cruising
• Cruise Discussion Topics
• UK Cruising
• Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
• Canadian Cruisers
• North American Homeports
• Ports of Call
• Cruise Conversations

Announcements

• New to Cruise Critic? Join our Community!

Write Your Own Amazing Review !

Click this gorgeous photo by member SUPERstar777 to share your review!

Features & News

LauraS · Started Friday at 07:21 PM

LauraS · Started Friday at 03:17 PM

LauraS · Started Thursday at 04:15 PM

LauraS · Started Thursday at 03:00 PM

LauraS · Started Thursday at 10:41 AM

• Existing user? Sign in OR Create an Account
• Find Your Roll Call
• Meet & Mingle
• Community Help Center
• All Activity
• Member Photo Albums
• Meet & Mingle Photos
• Favorite Cruise Memories
• Cruise Food Photos
• Cruise Ship Photos
• Ports of Call Photos
• Towel Animal Photos
• Amazing, Funny & Totally Awesome Cruise Photos
• Write a Review
• Live Cruise Reports
• Member Cruise Reviews
• Create New...

• Yekaterinburg
• Novosibirsk
• Vladivostok

• Moscow, St Petersburg and the Golden Ring

• Tours to Russia
• Practicalities
• Russia in Lists

Rusmania • Deep into Russia

MSC and SPB via Golden Ring tours

Moscow, St Petersburg and the Golden Ring / 12D

►  Tours    ►  St Petersburg and Moscow tours   ► Moscow, St Petersburg and the Golden Ring

  1 DAY /  ARRIVAL IN MOSCOW

Free time in the city, although if you arrive in the morning we can organise an excursion on this day.

2 DAY / MOSCOW - CITY TOUR - KREMLIN

• Red Square – one of the most famous squares in the world, famous for St Basil’s Cathedral which is one of the most recognisable symbols of Russia.
• Lenin’s Mausoleum – where the body of Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the World Proletariat, still lies, embalmed in a glass box.
• GUM – a famous shopping centre located on Red Square.
• Aleksandrovsky Gardens – gardens which run along the northern wall of the Kremlin.
• Lubyanka KGB Building – an impressive building once home to the KGB; it is now the headquarters of the Federal Security Bureau.
• Zaryadye Park - a unique park built where the massive Soviet-Style Hotel Rossia once stood. It contains representations of various natural landscapes found in Russia.
• Christ the Saviour Cathedral – the largest place of worship in Russia, it was rebuilt in the 1990s after the original was destroyed on the orders of Stalin.
• Ulitsa Arbat – a popular pedestrian street which has souvenir shops and many bars and restaurants.

You will also have the following excursions around:

• Moscow Kremlin - you will go inside the famous fortress which is now home to the Russian president and will see the Tsar Canon, Tsar Bell and go inside the Kremlin’s cathedrals.
• Moscow Metro – you will go to the most beautiful stations of the metro system which is often said to be the most beautiful in the world.

3 DAY / TRETYAKOV GALLERY - ZAMOSKVORECHIE DISTRICT

4 DAY / FREE DAY IN MOSCOW

5 DAY / VLADIMIR - SUZDAL

Arrival in Vladimir and transfer to the starting point of the excursion. 

• Dormition Cathedral - the main cathedral of the city. For over 200 years this cathedral held the revered Our Lady of Vladimir Icon, which Prince Andrey Bogolyubsky brought from Vyshgorod in Ukraine to Vladimir. The icon was later transferred to Moscow and can now be seen in the Tretyakov Gallery. According to legend, the icon was created by Luke the Evangelist.
• Golden Gates - a rare monument of Russian 12th century defensive architecture and all that remains of the walls which once surrounded Vladimir.
• St Demetrius’ Cathedral - one of the most remarkable monuments of mediaeval Rus. It was built in the 1190s as a palace temple of Grand Prince Vsevolod the Big Nest of Vladimir and is decorated on the outside with engravings of plants and animals, while the interior still retains fragments of frescos by Andrey Rublev.

6 DAY / SUZDAL 

• Suzdal Kremlin - this is the oldest part and historical core of the city. Although the kremlin's walls no longer stand, parts of the earthen mound fortifications do remain. The buildings inside the kremlin are now used as museums.
• Nativity Cathedral (1222) – the kremlin’s cathedral is the Nativity Cathedral and the current version stands on the place of an 11th century version which was built on the orders of Vladimir Monomakh. The interior features stunning frescos as well as a necropolis where the sons of Yury Dolgoruky have been interred along with several members of various noble families from Suzdal.
• Spaso-Yefimiev Monastery (1352) – this is the largest monastery in Suzdal and with its large fortified walls it is often mistaken for being the Suzdal Kremlin. Today it is a museum with various exhibitions including its main cathedral with its amazing frescos.
• Museum of the Wooden Architecture and Peasant life – this collection of wooden buildings, including churches and windmills, from various parts of European Russia is one of the best of architectural museums in Russia. It now resembles a village in itself made up of beautiful examples of 17th - 19th century wooden buildings which have been brought here to protect them from fire or from being dismantled.
• Trading Rows (1812) – Suzdal’s set of trading rows are still used for their original purpose and a souvenir market is held outside where you can buy a whole range of souvenirs, including bottles of the mead for which Suzdal is famed.

During the transfer you will pass through the territory known as Opolye where the landscape is not at all typical for the north-eastern part of European Russia and characterised by its open fields and wide open spaces.

7 DAY / ROSTOV VELIKY

• Rostov Kremlin  – the former residence of the metropolitan of the Rostov Eparchy which is called a kremlin due to its large, fortified walls which were built more to look impressive rather than to provide a defensive function. The white stone kremlin is a monument of pre-Petrine Russian architecture.
• Dormition Cathedral  – the main cathedral in the kremlin which dates from the 16th century and was modelled of the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. It is 60 metres in height. Next to the cathedral is a belfry containing 15 unique bells, whose sound is widely celebrated across Russia.
• Museum of Rostov Finift  – Rostov finift enamel painting has been a famous local handicraft since the 18th century. This museum has over 3000 examples on display.
• Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery  – Rostov’s Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery was founded in approximately 1390 by Bishop Jacob (Yakov) of Rostov, after whom it is now named. After the Kremlin it is the most beautiful sight in the city with its eclectic Conception of Anna Church and St Jacob of Rostov's Church.

8 DAY / YAROSLAVL

• Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery  – one of the largest, richest and best fortified monasteries of the 16th century. It is closely associated with the volunteer army of Minin and Pozharsky which was based here while it prepared to liberate Moscow from the Poles in the early 17th century. Inside the monastery is the Transfiguration Cathedral which is the oldest surviving building in Yaroslavl and was built on the site of an even older church between 1506 and 1516. It interior is decorated with spectacular frescos. To protect these unique frescos it can only be visited between May and October.
• Volga Embankment  - this embankment running along the River Volga is one of the prettiest places in Yaroslavl and several historical churches and other buildings are located here. From here you can enjoy great views of the largest river in Europe. 
• St Elijah the Prophet’s Church  (17th Century) - this church is a masterpiece of ancient Russian architecture which is stunningly beautiful on the outside and on the inside thanks to its detailed frescos and amazing iconostasis. To protect these unique frescos it can only be visited between May and October.

9 DAY / ARRIVAL IN ST PETERSBURG 

10 DAY / CITY TOUR - HERMITAGE - PETER AND PAUL FORTRESS

• Our Lady of Kazan Cathedral - one of the city's most famous landmarks with its instantly recognisable semi-circular colonnade with 96 columns.
• Peter the Great Monument (The Bronze Horseman) - the most famous monument in St Petersburg and one of its most recognisable symbols. It was a gift from Catherine the Great to the city.
• Field of Mars - a memorial field where many revolutionaries were buried and also where the first eternal flame in Russia was ignited.
• Rostral columns  - symbols of the city which were used as lighthouses up until 1885.
• Guided Tour of the  Peter and Paul Fortress – the original point of foundation of St Petersburg which later served as a prison for political prisoners. Its cathedral is the resting place for almost all Russian monarchs after Peter the Great. 
• Guided Tour of the State Hermitage - one of the most famous art galleries in the world which receives over 3.5 million visitors a year. It is located inside the Winter Palace which was once the official residence of the Russian emperors and empresses. Many of the palace's 365 rooms are filled with sculptures and paintings of world-renowned artists of all ages, although quite often the interiors of the palace outshine even these masterpieces. It is said that if you stand next to each of the exhibits or pictures for a minute, it will take eight years of your life to see everything. Our guide though knows shortcuts and will take you to the must-see exhibitions and rooms so you won’t need to stay there that long!

11 DAY / SAVIOUR CATHEDRAL - CATHERINE PALACE

  Breakfast in the hotel.

• The collection of mosaics of this cathedral is one of the largest in Europe. The mosaics cover the whole interior of the cathedral, and the production of these masterpieces delayed the completion of the cathedral by ten years! Famous Russian masters - Vasnetsov, Nesterov, Belyaev, Kharlamov, Zhuravlev, Ryabushkin - took part in the work. Even the iconostasis features mosaics .
• Pushkin (formerly known as Tsarskoe Selo) is located in 25km from St Petersburg. The Catherine Palace here is among the top five most beautiful palaces in Russia and its Amber Room is often called as the most beautiful palace hall in the world. About 100kg of gold was used to decorate the palace .

12 DAY | DEPARTURE 

• The tour is available the whole year round starting on any day, but please take into account that the museum’s working hours and days-off vary so we reserve the right to change the itinerary while trying to save the excursion programme.
• Optional excursions should be booked before the start of the tour to schedule the itinerary.
• Transportation in Moscow, where travel by metro is designated, can be changed to a car upon request, but please note that the transport situation in Moscow is not very good, so you could get stuck in a traffic jam.
• Tickets to museums cannot be sold without an excursion with a guide.
• During state holidays and celebrations, Red Square may be closed (either partially blocked off or completely closed).
• The price of the tour may be increased during the period of the White Nights (11JUN-10JUL) and when the International Economic Forum (end of May or beginning of June) is being held in St Petersburg. Please check the price when booking.
• In cities of the Golden Ring where there are no 4 or 5-star hotels, the cost includes hotels of 3 or 4 stars.
• All excursions/guided tours included in the itinerary are private which means private guides and private transport along with the programme - unless otherwise stated.
• Best time to travel on this route: from the end of April to mid-October and from December to mid-March.

•  CANCELLATION POLICY  •

Date of the tour

Number of travellers, accommodation:.

• Individual excursions according to the programme.
• Entrance tickets to the museums
• Transfers in a private car according to the programme.
• Second class tickets for the high-speed train from Moscow to Vladimir
• Second class tickets for the Premium train from Yaroslavl to St Petersburg
• Accommodation in a hotel of a category of your choice, central location, standard DBL rooms with breakfast.
• 24h emergency support during the tour
• Visa support documents

• Meals (except for breakfast where stated).
• Tips for the guides and drivers.
• Optional excursions.

Plan your next trip to Russia

Ready-to-book tours.

Your holiday in Russia starts here. Choose and book your tour to Russia.

REQUEST A CUSTOMISED TRIP

Looking for something unique? Create the trip of your dreams with the help of our experts.