[1] The 23-date North American leg of the tour, which featured opening acts Miguel and AlunaGeorge, began at Seattle, Washington's KeyArena on 29 September 2016 and concluded on 6 November 2016 at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.

[13][14] In 2014, she released the album 1000 Forms of Fear, which, together with its singles and videos like "Chandelier" that featured Maddie Ziegler,[15] achieved considerable success, gaining Sia wider public notice.

[16] When Sia performed at various award ceremonies, television shows and other events to promote the album, she wore a wig covering part of her face in an effort to retain some privacy and control over her image.

[17] In April 2016, after Sia released her seventh album, This Is Acting, she performed a live concert for the first time in five years at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Their collaborations, beginning with the "Chandelier" video in 2014, for which he won a VMA Award,[24] have "done more to raise the standards of dance in pop music than nearly any current artist integrating the forms.

[10] The concerts in the first leg of the tour opened with AlunaGeorge,[26] followed by Miguel, backed by video screens and "playing a guitar which he eventually ditched to pull off some fluid dance moves, even some knee sliding, during his solid 50-minute set.

[29][30] The videos included cameos by comic Tig Notaro in the song "Diamonds" and actors Paul Dano in "Bird Set Free", Kristen Wiig in "One Million Bullets", Gaby Hoffmann in "Unstoppable" and Ben Mendelsohn in "Breathe Me",[27] each "paired with the dancers onstage to create memorable pieces of performance art.

Reviewing the opening night of the tour, Owen R. Smith wrote for The Seattle Times: Sia used songs from her 2016 hit album This Is Acting to craft powerful visual vignettes.

... [Sia relegated] herself to the far side of the white performance space ... it was an odd but not unexpected arrangement that put the focus squarely on the visual aspect of the show.

It defied all the regular rules of pop concerts, which are usually designed to focus every ounce of the audience's attention on the star of the show.

"[34] Azucena Rasilla for KRON-TV noted: "The magnificent theatrical production had concert-goers in awe with just how beautiful, though rather short (roughly an hour and fifteen minutes,) and visually delightful the concert was.

[30] Leslie Ventura wrote for Las Vegas Weekly: "Sia engaged us in a conversation on the human condition ... through intense visuals, song and dance.

... [H]er immaculately produced and evocative show ... [commented] on a wide range of situations and emotions – depression, panic, exhaustion, heartache, innocence and strength.

"[35] Jason Lipshutz of Billboard noted that Sia's show drew a "frenzied response" from the New York crowd, commenting: There was no stage banter, false movements or deviations from the well-worn setlist ... each pre-planned detail is breathtaking.

... Ziegler's presence adds a mischievous energy, as if replicated movements can't capture the heart behind those wide eyes and deranged smiles.

[8]At the last concert of the first leg of the tour, Alejandra Ramirez of The Austin Chronicle judged that Sia's performances was "one of the most innovative" at the Frank Erwin Center, and that her lack of movement and avoidance of the usual "pop-glitz vanity show ... magnified her sheer vocal power, ricocheting from gasping-for-air croons on 'Elastic Heart', soaring rasped shrieks in 'Chandelier', and slip-sliding cadences for 'The Greatest'.