As far as I can remember very few black artists have played stadiums in The United States. Janet Tina,Mariah,and WHitney have all played stadiums around the world but Prince and Michael are the only ones in The US.

Sales are usuualy higher around the world so to be able to play stadiums in The States is abig accomplishment. Michael Played then in The US on The'84 Victory Tour but went to arenas on The Bad Tour in '88 which sadly was his last US. Prince Played one stadium date ,the last on The Purple Rain Tour.

This show was made larger since he'd just canceled The Purple Rain European Tour. I do believe like Michael he does stadiums everywhere else in The World.
Prince probrably like doing arenas in The US since he like intement shows. He'd do clubs and theaters the rest of his life if he could.

So there are very few black artists whom can do stadiiums. They being mostly 80s artists whom are Pop artists mixing Sould with Rock and Dance. Janet may not anymore but I know she opened the 1990 Rythm Nation tour at The Tokyodome and has ended 2 of her's at Honalulu's ALoha Stadium(sorta nonUS).But have any artists latley climbed to the status of Michael or even Prince. Rihanna,Beyonce.Chris Brown,Neyo,Ciara,and even Usher may be big but I don't think any of them have done stadiums outside or definetly inside The US.

I'm sorry what was the question again?

Maybe Beyoncé can, but the others u mention... I don't think so...


Just one artist that popped up in my head was ; Lenny Kravitz. He has done Stadiums in the US. Probably some more artist...

lotusflower said:

Usjrt would be the most likely of that last. ANd Lenny isn't really a blacka artists. Not because he's half white but I don't know too many blacks PPL who listen to him. At his concert in Houston I saw whites, hispanics, even asians but not one black soul.

WHAT?!!!


Maybe they were all at a BBQparty or something, but I've been to a couple of shows... and there were always Black people there


I don't understand the q. that u want a answer on though... Lenny is a BLACK artist!
[Edited 8/25/09 15:54pm]

Usjrt is Usher and I said Lenny is not really a black artist.

Kind of like Techno I live in The South. Most blacks in The South don't listen to Dance or even know what it is/ The basically do Rap,R&B, and Gospel. FUnk Rock like Lenny is hardly listened to.

fluid said:

Doesn't matter what kind of music you play, if your black and play music, you're a black artist, period.

Is this thread racist?

MajesticOne89 said:

Exactly! The problem in this case has been an issue since rock n' roll was born, particularly with African-American Artists who play rock like Jimi Hendrix, Arthur Lee, Bob Marley, Lenny, even Sly and P to a certain extent when they 1st came out. The issue has been with programming directors, most of whom were and still to this day narrow-minded in dictating what can b played and what not. But that's another issue 4 another thread 2 discuss.

They're black DUH!! But you don't hear Hendrix or Lenny on black radio.

fluid said:

Thanks U've just helped 2 explain my point regarding the programming directors' roles in all of this as I've mentioned b4. Now over the years, I have played Jimi, particularly Band of Gypsies 4 several of my African-American friends - some have shied away from it whereas others loved it. Now Jimi was b4 my time, but I've had several from that era ask me how did I know about this, yet while they were growing up during that time, hardly or no Jimi was being played on black stations. Now U have a mixture of Whites, Hispanics and Blacks who dig him and buy his music, as opposed 2 just Whites buying his stuff during his lifetime. The same goes 4 Bob Marley. A lot of that is due 2 greater awareness thanks 2 such tools as the Internet.

A typical teenaged kid then as well as now will take what is fed 2 him/her. No fault 2 that person, it's reality. They wouldn't know nor would they care what is played other than what's within that realm. There r a few mind u, particularly young musicians (like P listening to Sly, Santana, Jimi) and music lovers (like myself listening to a wide variety of music) who wanted 2 learn more growing up.

Now that's not 2 knock those who only dig 1 style or genre of music. That's cool. Just creating awareness that's all.

Smittyrock70 said:

This thread is mind boggling. Why would non-RnB music be played on RnB radio? Programmers program based on format, so they don't program Rock on RnB stations anymore than they program RnB on Rock stations. The fact that a black artist makes music that does not "fit" into the the RnB format does not negate in any way his or her blackness. Are Robin Thicke or Teena Marie not really white artists?

Also, many blacks listened to and still listen to Bob Marley, Lenny and Hendrix. You can't judge their listening audience solely on who could afford to buy concert tickets. Just because they are not at the shows doesn't mean they aren't at home listening. Another thing is that some of Lenny's more RnB songs have received RnB radio play in Chicago. Offhand, I remember Thinking of You received heavy play.

Finally, back to the original "question," Parliament Funkadelic had a stadium tour. If I am not mistaken, I think Earth, Wind & Fire did too.

I think a better question is why wasn't Purple Rain or Let's Go Crazy played on any rock stations.

I blieve Prince was played on ROck stations. And ROck stations play black artists. Well EMinem and The Beastie Boys get played on Alternative stations. Not suprising since they are white but when Andre 3000 got played that was weird. I knew Heya was going to be a big hit but I didn't know it was going to be played on Alternative Rock stations.

Dayclear said:

It's worse than that -- it's stadiumist.

I demand that the Mods take immediate action!

Stevie Wonder, Earth,Wind & Fire and P Funk have all played stadiums!!

muleFunk said:

"Let's Go Crazy", "Purple Rain" and "When Doves Cry" were all played on rock stations in the states. Peak positions on Billboard's rock airplay chart:

Little Red Corvette - 17
When Doves Cry - 31
Let's Go Crazy - 19
Purple Rain - 18
Raspberry Beret - 40

.
[Edited 8/25/09 22:26pm]

bellanoche said:

When did Prince do a full stadium show in the states? I wouldn't count Superbowl.

In the states, there are very few acts that have done a stadium tour. I can only think of U2, The Jacksons, George Strait, Garth Brooks and maybe a couple of others that have played stadium tours.

Most acts don't do stadium tours because of the cost. Arena shows tend to be more economical.

fluid said:

Since when? He's not an r&b or hip-hop artist, but he's black.

fluid said:

Not in my area. That was also the case in most of the states.

sextonseven said:

To be fair, at that time "rock" stations tended to play more "pop" music at the time. It wasn't a rarity to find a station playing Bon Jovi, Def Leopard, Prince, Van Morrison and The Beastie Boys all on the same rock format.

daPrettyman said:

Thank you.

Let me say this because some don't know maybe have forgotten. In the states up untill the late 70's early 80's even, not all arenas, stadium, music venues were open to black performers to play. Or, some of those performers nor their auidence felt comfortable going to previous music venues or sections of a city that had been off limits. So, Black artists went where their audiences were and lived. The first time I saw Parliament/Funkadelic/Slave/Earth Wind & Fire/Maze was in Gary Indiana at Gary West High School, I think it was '73. You ask an artist to preform at high school auditorium (though it seats over 5,000 and was state of the art) today. Hell, Prince did a concert in Gary in '82/'83, I'm not sure he would do one now though.



_____
[Edited 8/26/09 8:58am]

I think the whole playing in stadiums thing is overrated.
What matters to me is the talent that's performing.
It doesn't matter if it's a huge arena, your smaller auditorium,
or an outdoor music festival which i generally prefer.

SLASH.

Of course black artists have played stadiums before.

James Brown
Sly & Family Stone
Mandrill
Parliament/Funkadelic
Earth, Wind & Fire
Jimmy Castor Bunch
The New Birth

and more.

Dayclear said:

This guy has been starting ignorant ass threads with "black" in the title. One called "Black Suburbanites" which was definitely racist was deleted yesterday..
[Edited 8/26/09 9:16am]

MrSoulpower said:

... Mandrill?