It was a good show. I give it a B+. Definitely NOT the best Janet show I've ever seen, but it wasn't bad.

Well, LL didn't show and I was upset about that. They ended up getting some guy to come on and mix for almost an hour. He was ok, but with the sound being jacked, he was unable to get the crowd involved. He sounded like he may have come from KNON or some other small/local station. He was a P fan, because he played IWBYL and Sex Shooter from Apollonia 6. He managed to throw in some Chubb Rock, Mary J, and Daddy Yankee.

Janet's setup was nothing but a big stage. There were a few moving staircases. There was a catwalk that encompassed the first section. I sat in the middle section about 20ft from the edge of the catwalk....DEAD CENTER! I know J was watching me when I came up there (so were some of the dancers) because I was singing every lyric and doing some of the dance moves.

The dancers, for the most part, were good. There were about 6 or 8 of them. What bothered me about them was that it looked like she went to all of the gay clubs between NYC and Hawaii and found the biggest set of twinks ever. Not that I'm against twinks, but there wasn't one masculine dude in the bunch (which is definitely different for a Janet show). The girls were pasty looking 20 year olds that weren't that attractive. I'm used to seeing people like Tish and Tina Landon that were fine as hell and KNOW how to dance. These girls were just there for the moves.

On to the band. The band sucked. There were only 4 people in the band. 2 keyboard players, 1 drummer and 1 bass/guitar player. No background singers or anything. It really sucked. When she did Black Cat, I usually enjoy hearing a LIVE solo, but they had Dave Navarro record the guitar parts for the song. They even had Q-Tip, Jermaine Dupri and Nelly all pre-recorded for their songs.

The choreography was pretty good, overall. I enjoyed some of the newer routines for Luv and Nasty. Most of the other choreography was straight from the videos, though. Not a lot of surprises.

Set list as far as I can remember:
Pleasure Principle
Control
What Have U Done 4 Me Lately
Feedback
U Want This (which was an interlude)
Alright
Miss You Much
Never Letchu Go
Come Back To Me (which she sounded great singing this one)
Let’s Wait Awhile
Again
Old Skool/Break Dance set
So Excited (remix version with Fatman Scoop)
So Much Betta (kinda dull)
Nasty (great)
All Nite (Don’t Stop) (WOW!!! I had forgotten how much I like that song)
Rock Wit U (good choreography)
Together Again (my favorite song of the night)
Young Love (good to hear that live)
Say You Do (good to hear that live also)
Don’t Stand Another Chance (my favorite song from the pre-control years)
Doesn’t Really Matter (it was alright)
Escapade confused
Love Will Never Do (Without You)
When I Think Of You
All For You (my 2nd favorite performance from the night)
Got ‘Til It’s Gone (this was nice too. They actually remixed the song with mostly a hip-hop style beat)
Call On Me (Uh...ok)
That’s The Way Love Goes
I Get Lonely (Good performance. Reminded me of the Soul Train Award performance she did of this song.)
Funny How Time Flies (When You’re Having Fun) (FINALLY....I heard one of my favorite Control songs LIVE...it was good)
Any Time, Any Place (short interlude)
Discipline (humping a guy on stage in a cage. Not as good as the sex scene from the previous show, but it was good).
Black Cat
If
Rhythm Nation
Luv (my 2nd favorite Discipline track. They just kind of had fun with this one).
Band/Dancer Introductions
Runaway (pretty dull)

Overall, it was decent. I give it a B+. After seeing the show, I think Gil should be fired and Jermaine needs to do his own thing and leave Janet's professional career alone.
[Edited 10/23/08 8:20am]

You noticed a lot of the same stuff my friend and I noticed.

Here's what the Dallas Morning News had to say:

http://www.guidelive.com/...ba029.html
Janet Jackson not the showstopper she once was

08:36 AM CDT on Thursday, October 23, 2008

By THOR CHRISTENSEN / The Dallas Morning News
tchristensen@dallasnews.com

To gauge just how far Janet Jackson's career has fallen, you need only have looked to the rafters Wednesday night.

In years past, the upper deck at American Airlines Center would have been packed with fans. This time it was closed, with black curtains hiding all the empty seats.

Ms. Jackson isn't the first superstar to see her popularity plummet. But in some ways, she's the most logical.

Her voice is so wispy she's long relied on taped backing vocals in concert, and Wednesday, the trickery was more obvious than usual. Between lyrics, her voice was noticeably softer and raspier than her "singing" voice.

Even stranger was her decision to hide her band offstage, giving the concert the feel of a Broadway karaoke musical. Then again, maybe that was what she was aiming for.

The show emphasized spectacle over artistry, with 10 costume changes, fireworks galore and a dazzling nine-piece dance troupe. Ms. Jackson danced ably, too, having apparently recovered from the vertigo that caused her to postpone a string of recent shows.

But at times, she seemed trapped in a bygone era. She still plays a sex kitten, complete with a goofy S&M sequence. But at 42, the role didn't fit her any better than some of her garish '80s-style costumes or her Phyllis Diller-in-a-mohawk wig (let's hope that isn't her real hair).

The set list included several songs from Discipline – her latest in a string of disappointing CDs – but mostly she stuck to the hits in a nearly two-and-a-half hour show that tested some fans' patience: When she left the stage to get ready for an encore, the applause quickly waned as if the audience wasn't quite sure they even wanted her back.

I was this close to buying tix yesterday and was trying for floor seats up until 4 pm. I'm sooooo glad I missed this cuz I woulda been if I didn't get to see LL too. I'm not a huge Janet fan but I know she does good shows, usually, but really a 4-piece band???

On a good note, yesterday I got 10th row tix for Tina Turner this Sunday. Dallas has been jumping this fall. Maxwell's on the Nov. 8th and I've got my panties READY!

SCNDLS said:

I'm thinking about buying tickets 2 that show. I've seen him once and he was good, but I don't know if I could sit through another one of his shows.

As for tickets, if you had gotten any of the 100 section seats, you would have been pleased. I was on the floor in the middle section (14) in seat 10 (which was about 20ft from the catwalk and dead center). I know Janet and some of the dancers were staring me dead in my eyes while I was singing and doing the moves
[Edited 10/23/08 9:04am]

daPrettyman, thanks 4 sharing your overall review of the concert . Hopefully, the next time J decide 2 tour, she’ll pick smaller venues 2 perform in. She needs 2 revise her act 4 sure. Once she remembers 2 act her age and not her shoe size she'll be alright

Reading the review from Dallas News doesn't help anyone who is thinking about going 2 see her

daPrettyman said:

My friend and I picked our tickets up from will call. Since we were at the window we asked about tickets on the floor and there were a nice range to choose from. He thought he could trade in his tickets and pay the difference for floor seats. In our section there were several people who were moved up from the upper levels. The upper level except for scattered ticket holders in 2 or 3 sections were empty. We couldn’t believe it. When Janet looked out at the crowd someone said they hoped she didn’t look up top.

I can not wait to see Tina Turner in just a few more weeks. I highly recommend seeing her if possible. You won't regret it!

daPrettyman said:

Yeah, I knew those were good seats. TM had seats in Row A of 105 which is right next to the stage. But I couldn't bring myself to do it after I just bought Tina tix for $185 and tix for a play tomorrow night. Plus no LL, nah wasn't doing it.

As for Maxwell, I've never seen him but the show has been sold out for awhile. The Majestic is really small.
[Edited 10/23/08 9:57am]

pennylover said:

Yeah, Thor Christiansen is very mean-spirited when it comes to concert reviews...especially the r&b/pop artists. He rips Prince to pieces in almost all of his reviews.

JackieBlue said:

I noticed that there were several seats that were empty at the top. Even in the lower balcony, (toward the back of the arena), it was kind of empty also. Maybe it was because it was on a Wednesday night. This was the first Janet show that I didn't see any children in the audience. Most times, I see some 10 and 11 year olds. Not this time, I think the average age was about 40 in the audience.

I also noticed that the audience was mostly adults in the 20's to 50's range and the majority were casual fans and not diehards.

SCNDLS said:

Did u hit up Craigslist? That's where I ended up getting my ticket. There were so many people damn-near giving away their tickets. I bought mine from a lady that got overcharged by Ticketmaster and they wouldn't take the tickets back.

daPrettyman said:

What???? No, I didn't even think of Craiglist. Good to know.

I know I'm biased but I loooooved the show and was so into it

I think she sounded really good during it, lipsynched or not. Her voice sounded stronger than on the other tours, whether lipsynched or not. She sounded like she had a little more weight when singing, but it enhanced her voice.

alphastreet said:

I don't think she sang anything but the slow songs.

I do think the sound was good, and it was a good show, just not as good as it could have been. The good parts of the show were overshadowed by the horrible band setup and arrangements of the songs.

I thought she sang the slow songs well.

I loved the stage and setup and it didn't bother me that there were less dancers, I think it just made janet stand out and look like she's jamming naturally for once. I felt that during Black Cat and some other songs.

daPrettyman said:

Forget several seats. I'm talking damn near the entire top level. Just purple seats for days. At first we thought people were late but they never filled up.

I didn't see any kids either. Just as well 'cause the Discipline portion may have been a bit much for the youngsters. I guess the 10 and 11 year olds are all 17 and 18 now.

I did see a lot of women wearing hats. What that was about I have no idea.

JackieBlue said:

Well, you know it was the first cool night of the Fall and a lot of women didn't want to get sick....either that or they needed their weave freshened up.

daPrettyman said:

OMG, you're probably right!

daPrettyman said:

Yeah, a Wednesday typically means sistas ain't had a chance to get their hair did yet.

Wow....tthat is 2 bad. I feel bad 4 Janet.

I was at the Dallas show...

I won the Front Row upgrade so I went right on up to Row A. It really was a dream come true being up there.

Personally, I didn't see this tragically empty stadium that some of y'all are talking about. I'm not blind: I did see a good number of gaps in the Lower Section (100s) and more still in the Middle Section (200s). That said, they were gaps and nothing more than that. The Dallas Morning New critic used the fact that Upper Section was empty and applied that to the entire audience. He sucks. To people that have heard that this tour is bombing, it's not true. Period.

soul4thought said:

I don't know if u looked behind you during the show, but the upper balcony along the south side of the arena was damn-near empty. The 100 and 200 level seats were pretty full, though.

I don't think the tour is "bombing", but I do think that it is not selling as well as they expected.

I think Janet needs to take time to re-vamp her career path. This is something that all acts have to do every now and then. She has used the same formula since the "Janet" project. The market has changed since 1993. People absorb music and entertainment differently. She should do like Prince and creatively market her music to the masses and make her money at the same time. I think if she would receive a major industry award for career achievement, that might add some validity to the award. When is she eligible for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?

daPrettyman said:

She was eligible in 2007.

daPrettyman said:

I have to give all the pictures I took another look and I'll back to you.

If you compare her to Madonna (or Celine apparently), then No she's not. If you compare her to Tina (or any Black artist it looks like), I don't see any reason to think she's not selling any worse than anybody else. There are only a handful of individuals who do sell outs and many of the ones who do don't perform in arenas. It's all relative.

Of course, even us obsessive stans should be able to admit that she needs to rethink her direction in the music area of her career. I wholeheartedly agree with you there. "Discipline" is her worst album ever and it hurts every time to see the bar drop a little more instead of rise with every new project. She needs to do some soul searching I think. The (pedestrian) buying public expect breakthroughs when artists past the age 40 and she needs to go on and have hers I guess.

If Madonna got hers last year, Janet should be eligible as well. Her first album came out in 1982 (which makes her eligible according to the 25 year rule), but if the R&R Hall of Fame wants to be technical about it, she may have to wait a couple more years..."Control" came out in 1986. "Madonna" was released in 1983.
[Edited 10/23/08 20:28pm]

daPrettyman said:

When her tour ends,she should sit down and re-think her strategy.Get a new manager and explore her options.I agree,she has used the same formula since 1993.It's time to shake things up a little.

daPrettyman said:

Well.... it's actually only a 3 piece band... one of the Keyboard player switches to bass on a couple of songs! There is no guitar player!

JackieBlue said:

They would have been willing to upgrade your tickets?? That's so strange... some venues do and some don't... that sucks!


And regarding the arenas not being very full... it's kinda strange... on both shows I've seen, the upper level with the cheapest seats were almost empty! It seems like, the people who go, really want to see her and have a good seat and the people who previously just wanted to be there, since it's the hot thing to see Janet, are staying away this time around!

soul4thought said:

I thought discipline was good - a vast improvement on 20.y.o which was just an absolute nadir for her. Id say she's gotta stop putting albums out with all these damn interludes on there - soooo 90's. Just put out a record of 10 great pop/dance/rnb tracks. Discipline had about 4 trakcs that i really loved on there, which is a 100% improvement on the dreadful 20 YO. But more importantly it was geared in the right direction - dance pop with just enough r'n'b groove in there.

My feeling is that Janet doesnt care enough anymore to want to make a big big record.

PatrickS77 said:

Thats awful. I've been frustrated with Madonna cutting her band back with each tour - first thing to go was the bass player and the percussionist. I didnt realise janet had done the same as my recollection of her live sound was always that it was very bass / drum heavy.

Nothing ever substitutes having a good band. I guess as these ladies have gone more with the synths and electro sounds - the bass player becomes obselete. Everything can be programmed- its cheaper. its also sad.

PatrickS77 said:

Well, you know, Ticketmaster tries to force you to take the more expensive seats first...then selling you the cheap seats last. You have to request the cheap seats if you really want them.

As for the seating upgrades, I know the AAC does it. When I went to see Mariah last year, I bought a cheap seat in the 300 section and got upgraded to the 200 section. That was only because the ticket sales were low. As a matter of fact, the entire 300 section was upgraded to the 200 section.

I also think the economy has a lot to do with the poor ticket sales. I heard so many people in the audience saying how they wanted to see Tina Turner, Neil Diamond, Celine, etc., but they have to pick and choose the shows they see because of the cost of living.
[Edited 10/24/08 7:49am]