I hope D'Angelo doesn't let the negative reaction of the crowd discourage him from performing. I would hate to see him retreat and go back to being a recluse. It seems like Jesse Johnson would make a great mentor and would encourage him to keep going.

Review from the NY Times of last night's show

http://artsbeat.blogs.nyt...l-dangelo/

RnBAmbassador said:

Since when does Roland Martin's opinion about ANY musical act matter?

missfee said:

meltwithu said:

missfee said:

Since when does Roland Martin's opinion about ANY musical act matter?

By no means is he a music critic, but I follow him on Facebook and he does talk about a LOT about old school/70's music. Most of the folks who posted on that stays agreed with him, so it's not like he was picking on Dangelo. If Janet Jackson showed up and did the entire damita jo album folks would be pissed off too 🐻

Sounds like a typical orger.

Timmy84 said:

meltwithu said:

Timmy84 said:

Sounds like a typical orger.

So what exactly does that mean?🐯

Because about 3/5ths of folks posting here like '70s (and way early '80s) music...only.

meltwithu said:

RnBAmbassador said:

Review from the NY Times of last night's show

http://artsbeat.blogs.nyt...l-dangelo/

Fair review -- sounds like he performed what he wanted, not what the crowd wanted. I know Prince wishes he could retire purple rain, but he can't. 15-minute vamps and quirky cover songs are for small clubs, not festivals. Sounds like the comeback is off to a shaky start 😱

D'Angelo broke rule number 1 of public appearance: Know your audience. The insults in this thread about the patrons of EMF are way off base and unnecessary. It was D's job to know this audience and give them what they wanted. Sure as an artist he he may offer up some new stuff to the crowd, too. But know your audience and give them what they want also.

Adisa said:

meltwithu said:

RnBAmbassador said: Fair review -- sounds like he performed what he wanted, not what the crowd wanted. I know Prince wishes he could retire purple rain, but he can't. 15-minute vamps and quirky cover songs are for small clubs, not festivals. Sounds like the comeback is off to a shaky start 😱

D'Angelo broke rule number 1 of public appearance: Know your audience. The insults in this thread about the patrons of EMF are way off base and unnecessary. It was D's job to know this audience and give them what they wanted. Sure as an artist he he may offer up some new stuff to the crowd, too. But know your audience and give them what they want also.

That's why I asked that question earlier about did his people knew what they were in for when they decided to book him on the Essence festival? That type of crowd wasn't interesting in hearing someone go into funk-jazz vamps, they wanted "the old shit" and if you don't do it, they'll let you know. The crowd is the type that loves to hear old songs "because it reminds them of times gone by". That's why some artists, who used to play newer songs to unsuspecting people in public (I'm not naming names by the way), go back to simply playing old stuff because people would "prefer that" nowadays whereas in the days of the Motown artists of old, according to one legend (Marvin), if you played the older songs, that's time for them to leave the place to get snacks.

Timmy84 said:

Timmy84 said:

Adisa said:

D'Angelo broke rule number 1 of public appearance: Know your audience. The insults in this thread about the patrons of EMF are way off base and unnecessary. It was D's job to know this audience and give them what they wanted. Sure as an artist he he may offer up some new stuff to the crowd, too. But know your audience and give them what they want also.

That's why I asked that question earlier about did his people knew what they were in for when they decided to book him on the Essence festival? That type of crowd wasn't interesting in hearing someone go into funk-jazz vamps, they wanted "the old shit" and if you don't do it, they'll let you know. The crowd is the type that loves to hear old songs "because it reminds them of times gone by". That's why some artists, who used to play newer songs to unsuspecting people in public (I'm not naming names by the way), go back to simply playing old stuff because people would "prefer that" nowadays whereas in the days of the Motown artists of old, according to one legend (Marvin), if you played the older songs, that's time for them to leave the place to get snacks.

I'm sure that other artists there play new songs. This is the EMF, not the Soul Food Festival (which happens to come through my town tonight, I think). But I think we are in agreement that this audience and this event is catered to R&B/pop-soul...not the stuff that D was was trying to serve them. But again, he could have given them the new stuff also as I would have if I was in his shoes.

meltwithu said:

Timmy84 said:

Because about 3/5ths of folks posting here like '70s (and way early '80s) music...only.

What's wrong with that? I'd be worried if Roland was saying how great Drake is compared to Rakim. He talks about what he knows about and if I want to know who played piano on buddy Holly's third album, I'll come to the org 🎶

Nothing (for him). Just saying.

Adisa said:

Timmy84 said:

That's why I asked that question earlier about did his people knew what they were in for when they decided to book him on the Essence festival? That type of crowd wasn't interesting in hearing someone go into funk-jazz vamps, they wanted "the old shit" and if you don't do it, they'll let you know. The crowd is the type that loves to hear old songs "because it reminds them of times gone by". That's why some artists, who used to play newer songs to unsuspecting people in public (I'm not naming names by the way), go back to simply playing old stuff because people would "prefer that" nowadays whereas in the days of the Motown artists of old, according to one legend (Marvin), if you played the older songs, that's time for them to leave the place to get snacks.

I'm sure that other artists there play new songs. This is the EMF, not the Soul Food Festival (which happens to come through my town tonight, I think). But I think we are in agreement that this audience and this event is catered to R&B/pop-soul...not the stuff that D was was trying to serve them. But again, he could have given them the new stuff also as I would have if I was in his shoes.

Mary J. probably but I don't know about anyone else. D's new stuff seems far removed from what Essence is used to though.

meltwithu said:

RnBAmbassador said:

Review from the NY Times of last night's show

http://artsbeat.blogs.nyt...l-dangelo/

Fair review -- sounds like he performed what he wanted, not what the crowd wanted. I know Prince wishes he could retire purple rain, but he can't. 15-minute vamps and quirky cover songs are for small clubs, not festivals. Sounds like the comeback is off to a shaky start 😱

Exactly. I remember hearing Sting say he would be happy to never play Every Breath You Take again, but he knows that people have paid their money/traveled to see him and they expect it, so it will be played.Everyone has to make their choices and live with the consequences. Im sure Sting has done the analysis and knows the consequences for not playing that song would be harmful to his tours.

I don't know what goal D'Angelo has for this "comeback", so its unclear if the choices he is making right now will lead to his deisred end.

Additionally, if D'Angelo is not interested in the crowd that wants to hear "Brown Sugar" or frequents Essence Music Festvial, that is fine. Then he should try to stage his "comeback" with some other audience. Perhaps there are other audiences that want to spend 100/ticket to hear his new grooves. His people should look into it.

[Edited 7/7/12 8:52am]

119 said:

But why is it the status quo that folks want to hear the "old stuff" all the time? I, for one look forward to hearing new stuff live. I've already played the old songs to death at home and in my car on cd or on my mp3 player, etc., to me it's a waste of money for me to pay to see an artist who will play only one or two new songs while the majority the performance includes the old stuff that I'm already familiar with....and don't get me started on the ones who are lazy live and gets the audience to sing the majority of their songs. Urgh. I look at live shows/concerts as a way to do NEW things. Maybe I don't fit with this particular crowd at the Essence festival, if it's really like that. Yes I do understand that people want to hear some familiar songs here and there, but I think it's ridiculous to expect an artist to play nothing but their old hits during their set in order for the crowd to "get into" his performance. Maybe he should had skipped this festival. Shucks, it's obvious that folks weren't into his performance at the EBT awards last week, but I totally understood it, enjoyed it and felt it was the best performance on the whole show aside from the tributes.

[Edited 7/7/12 9:50am]

Paris9748430 said:

bashraka said:

Roland Martin is a funny dude, if he thinks that Charlie Wilson is a better act than D'Angelo. I've seen some clips of his performances lately and there is no way that he compares to Lauryn Hill at this stage in his career. D'Angelo is touring regularly and he may not be playing all of his hits, his growth as a musician is transparent which is more than I can say about "Ms. Can Barely Play A Chord On Her Guitar".

1st off, Roland Martin is as country as a syrup sandwich and his ascot is on too tight. He's the same man that got suspended from CNN because he said that if a dude is "soft", you need to whup his ass.

So, you can tell he's not comfortable with anything other than what he's used to.

He has all these sayings on Twitter about what "real bruhs" do and don't do like they don't wear Pink.

Sounds like closemindedness.

meltwithu said:

119 said:

Exactly. I remember hearing Sting say he would be happy to never play Every Breath You Take again, but he knows that people have paid their money/traveled to see him and they expect it, so it will be played.Everyone has to make their choices and live with the consequences. Im sure Sting has done the analysis and knows the consequences for not playing that song would be harmful to his tours.

I don't know what goal D'Angelo has for this "comeback", so its unclear if the choices he is making right now will lead to his deisred end.

Additionally, if D'Angelo is not interested in the crowd that wants to hear "Brown Sugar" or frequents Essence Music Festvial, that is fine. Then he should try to stage his "comeback" with some other audience. Perhaps there are other audiences that want to spend 100/ticket to hear his new grooves. His people should look into it.

[Edited 7/7/12 8:46am]

[Edited 7/7/12 8:48am]

He should ask Jesse if he still wants to play 777-9311 to a big crowd, or one of his solo songs to a cafe crowd

I totally disagree. That's like Prince askiing Morris to come on stage and sing "Jungle Love" because the audience wasn't feeling his set of new songs. It doesn't make any sense at all.

meltwithu said:

missfee said:

Since when does Roland Martin's opinion about ANY musical act matter?

By no means is he a music critic, but I follow him on Facebook and he does talk about a LOT about old school/70's music. Most of the folks who posted on that stays agreed with him, so it's not like he was picking on Dangelo. If Janet Jackson showed up and did the entire damita jo album folks would be pissed off too 🐻

So what if most folks agreed with him, it doesn't mean that his opinion holds weight. That's just like saying if he said it's okay to jump off cliffs and set bombs off on airplanes that it must be okay since most folks on his page agreed with him. Again, he's just stating an opinion, but he's definitely not a music critic...it's just like listening to Tom Joyner dog all the folks he talks about his radio show and naively believing it to be true.

missfee said:

meltwithu said:

missfee said:

Sounds like closemindedness.

I don't think he's really closed- minded. A lot of what he talks a out is in a joking manner. The stuff he got suspended for from CNN wasn't even bad if it was taken in the context of all his tweets/ posts that day. That being said, his post on Dangelo basically confirmed what apparently most of the crowd was feeling -- it was an unfocused meandering set. I'm sure Roland wasn't trying to diss Dangelo

We'll just have to agree to disagree on the matter.

missfee said:

But why is it the status quo that folks want to hear the "old stuff" all the time? I, for one look forward to hearing new stuff live. I've already played the old songs to death at home and in my car on cd or on my mp3 player, etc., to me it's a waste of money for me to pay to see an artist who will play only one or two new songs while the majority the performance includes the old stuff that I'm already familiar with....and don't get me started on the ones who are lazy live and gets the audience to sing the majority of their songs. Urgh. I look at live shows/concerts as a way to do NEW things. Maybe I don't fit with this particular crowd at the Essence festival, if it's really like that. Yes I do understand that people want to hear some familiar songs here and there, but I think it's ridiculous to expect an artist to play nothing but their old hits during their set in order for the crowd to "get into" his performance. Maybe he should had skipped this festival. Shucks, it's obvious that folks weren't into his performance at the EBT awards last week, but I totally understood it, enjoyed it and felt it was the best performance on the whole show aside from the tributes.

[Edited 7/7/12 9:50am]

Because people love to be too comfortable. Folks like that you can't take seriously anyways. And then they wanna complain that music's dying yet ignoring anyone trying to bring new ideas. People are so lazy. And that's just not with D'Angelo.

from USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/l...56080264/1

RnBAmbassador said:

Review from the NY Times of last night's show

http://artsbeat.blogs.nyt...l-dangelo/

RnBAmbassador said:

The snobbery of these comments towards the Essence crowd is laughable, given that this is a prince message board. You all do know that there are many who would turn their noses up at those with that music taste, right? I guess everyone can be a snob about something...It appears that here, the snobbery is aimed at those who do not share the exact same perspective on concertgoing. Bizarre.

It is amazing that some folks are so concerned with what type of concert/musical experience others want to have when they spend their own darn money. Are you so concerned D'Angelo is getting his feelings hurt?

I don't get it. At all.

[Edited 7/7/12 13:32pm]

Timmy84 said:

meltwithu said:

missfee said: By no means is he a music critic, but I follow him on Facebook and he does talk about a LOT about old school/70's music. Most of the folks who posted on that stays agreed with him, so it's not like he was picking on Dangelo. If Janet Jackson showed up and did the entire damita jo album folks would be pissed off too 🐻

Sounds like a typical orger.

Don't open that can of worms.