janet. tour ...

[janetDAYZ]

I notice we havent really talked about the janet. tour much. In comparison to her other tours..where do u rank it? What is your overall opinion about this tour? Her stage presence,choreo,stage etc.

[Bailey]

for ME IMO it's her second best next to VR. This show was all the bells and whistles and Janet at the height of her career. It went from 1993-1995 and she was all over the world with it. I love the intro, I love the whimsical which was new at the time. The amount of effort and detail placed into this show was HUGE

[janetDAYZ]

It use to be my FAV Janet tour cus of the intro alone. I still feel that is the BEST intro she has ever done it had that larger than life megastar type of quality and i lowkey wish she would replicate that same type of over the top intro but in a different way. The thing I think is unique about this tour is ..the look of the staging and costumes. The album was sexy and that tour followed suit. She had this sassy sexy attitude that juss oozed that she knew she was a BAD BITCH that i LOVEDDDDDDDDDDDDDD. If we could say Janet ever had a "cocky" moment...i would mos def say that tour was it. She juss knew she was THAT BITCH. The choreo was decent...but overal its still my favorite "look" for a tour out of all her tours. The ONLY downfall was the corny ass cat woman catsuit costumes for "Black Cat" i am so glad Janet realized to not make that a choreo/theatrical number for that song..cus it doesnt need dancers. Juss her and that guitar upfront 

[jarrylf]

It's up high for me, of the 8 tours. I love the contrast between that & Rhythm Nation & how TVR was an evolution of that, & I feel like Rockwitchu was an evolution of that, and now State of the world. It's in the top 5 for me (I don't feel like ranking lol), I REALLY love her energy during that tour (as well as the era thus it is my favorite) I think because of the dancers that she had her goofiness was on showcase, I mean we all gagged at "yall know I came to snatch some wigs" with State Of The World but lets not forge "Band! Get Funky (why?).......cause I'm payin you!" Her fun side came out more on that tour than any other tour as a whole, the rest of the tours has it's sprinkles but that tour it was all over.

[Bailey]

I can honestly say Im finally at a place where I just enjoy Janet doing her thing, it doesn't have to be over the top, but I do expect quality always

[Lenzo88]

I think this is literally the only tour that comes close to the raw showmanship, wonderful theatrics and mind blowing medleys that was The Velvet Rope Tour!!! You can tell Janet LOVED this tour because she kept keeping the same kind of medleys for the next two tours she did. By TVR tour, she definitely reached her peak as a performer and live artist! Honestly, the AFY tour is one of her weakest because it just seemed like a light -hearted version of the TVR but without the same amount of energy and epic ness!

Back on subject! I LOVE the Janet. Tour because of the drastic contrast from the industrial, stripped down look of the Rhythm Nation Tour. The outfits were stunning, especially the opening Native American inspired fashion! Very original and inventive! The opening with “If” is by far the best opening to a concert I have ever seen! Janet has NEVER killed that opening choreography of If like she did on that tour! Wow!!!

Not to mention, this era/tour brought us the signature “KIDS” aka Janet’s most iconic team of dancers: Tina, Shawnette, Tish, Nicki, etc. Looking back, it was very 90s at certain parts with the laid back feel of the closing segments but most of the show holds up SOOOOOO well to this day. It’s the tour that really made Janet into one of the fiercest touring acts until the TVR tour set a new standard for how ambitious concert tours could be!

[hotboy06]

Was this her longest running tour? 

[Bailey]

2 hours ago, hotboy06 said:

Was this her longest running tour? 

yes, interestingly "State of the World" is going to take that title soon

[Bailey]

the tour was professionally filmed at one stop and there are some clips out there but it as we know never got released. I recall the hydraulic lifts that took the screens up couldnt be shipped over seas so Janet started the show from the stage instead of being brought down

[janetDAYZ]

36 minutes ago, Rocknet said:

the tour was professionally filmed at one stop and there are some clips out there but it as we know never got released. I recall the hydraulic lifts that took the screens up couldnt be shipped over seas so Janet started the show from the stage instead of being brought down

And I had always wondered why some of the footage clips of the intro showed her just standing on top of the screen but not being lowered down. I had juss assumed it was a tech problem cus i know how sometimes props wont work during a show. Every tour runs into those problems 

[jarrylf]

On 1/17/2019 at 10:39 PM, Lenzo88 said:

I think this is literally the only tour that comes close to the raw showmanship, wonderful theatrics and mind blowing medleys that was The Velvet Rope Tour!!! You can tell Janet LOVED this tour because she kept keeping the same kind of medleys for the next two tours she did. By TVR tour, she definitely reached her peak as a performer and live artist! Honestly, the AFY tour is one of her weakest because it just seemed like a light -hearted version of the TVR but without the same amount of energy and epic ness!

Back on subject! I LOVE the Janet. Tour because of the drastic contrast from the industrial, stripped down look of the Rhythm Nation Tour. The outfits were stunning, especially the opening Native American inspired fashion! Very original and inventive! The opening with “If” is by far the best opening to a concert I have ever seen! Janet has NEVER killed that opening choreography of If like she did on that tour! Wow!!!

Not to mention, this era/tour brought us the signature “KIDS” aka Janet’s most iconic team of dancers: Tina, Shawnette, Tish, Nicki, etc. Looking back, it was very 90s at certain parts with the laid back feel of the closing segments but most of the show holds up SOOOOOO well to this day. It’s the tour that really made Janet into one of the fiercest touring acts until the TVR tour set a new standard for how ambitious concert tours could be!

I FORGOT ABOUT IF AS THE OPENER, BEST opening track of the 8 tours, and I'd add I think it's the most high energy full on choreography open, where she's giving you that shit right out the gate, like...shit that blows my mind to even think about. Like, don't get me wrong TVR is my favorite opening period for the grand-ness & theatric's & production If being the followup song and performed with that high ass energy....brilliant. BUT If as an opener is like nothing else she's done since that tour & I'd be shocked/surprised if she did again. 

Also, I agree with you about AFY, Gil actually elaborated on what went on there, it was kind of thrown together and there was a ton of drama going on behind the scenes that got in the way of that tour so they came to an agreement to play it safe. Of the 8 tours it's actually my least favorite, like people talk about Number Ones, RWU, & Unbreakable, AFY feels like the most autopilot of the 8 tours (don't get me wrong I love it, and it has fantastic moments that others don't...but not as many as the rest IMO). 

And YES to that last point, like I always say the janet. era/album is my personal favorite because to me EVERY fucking thing about that era was perfect including for me it's the only era where I LOVE every single dancer and where the energy all felt so high and fun and fierce with a light dash of dark & edgy that led the way for TVR (like so much about the era did).

 

I had to just go back and watch......again NO OPENING WAS THIS LIT in terms of the choreography and energy

 

[Bailey]

wait....what drama was there with AFY tour because this sounds like a good discussion to be had  

[jarrylf]

Janet was still dealing with Rene suing her at the time of planning, Shawnette stepped down from being lead choreographer & lead creative director out of nowhere (Gil was her co-lead so her stepping down from everything Janet, in general, is what gave Gil the position), and there were label issues with cost throughout the way because though he didn't say it we know that's when Virgin damn near shelled out SO much money for Mariah & Glitter & paying Mariah out of her contract. But yea he said the planning was a mess, she both wanted to get out there and do a killer show, but she was also stressed out & tired during the planning & throughout the tour. 

[Bailey]

1 hour ago, jarrylf said:

Janet was still dealing with Rene suing her at the time of planning, Shawnette stepped down from being lead choreographer & lead creative director out of nowhere (Gil was her co-lead so her stepping down from everything Janet, in general, is what gave Gil the position), and there were label issues with cost throughout the way because though he didn't say it we know that's when Virgin damn near shelled out SO much money for Mariah & Glitter & paying Mariah out of her contract. But yea he said the planning was a mess, she both wanted to get out there and do a killer show, but she was also stressed out & tired during the planning & throughout the tour. 

I've heard many times that the Mariah situation pulled the plug on AFY album project no more videos and singles. Too bad. Now I never really knew what happen with Shawnette because it wasn't spoken on, BUT we do know a few things, she wasn't on that stage in LA for the huge RN performance, so that speaks  The interview Shawn did with Kelly Alexander pretty much put it out there she had some kinda issue with Gil, because Shawn kept saying his name. I still don't know what went down and how it got that bad, because I have pics from the AFY show with Shawn on stage with Janet.

[jarrylf]

1 hour ago, Rocknet said:

I've heard many times that the Mariah situation pulled the plug on AFY album project no more videos and singles. Too bad. Now I never really knew what happen with Shawnette because it wasn't spoken on, BUT we do know a few things, she wasn't on that stage in LA for the huge RN performance, so that speaks  The interview Shawn did with Kelly Alexander pretty much put it out there she had some kinda issue with Gil, because Shawn kept saying his name. I still don't know what went down and how it got that bad, because I have pics from the AFY show with Shawn on stage with Janet.

It was a messy situation with Shawn is all I'll say on that, I would've LOVED to see her in person at the Hollywood bowl dancing with Tish, Tina, Nicki & Kelly like she was a missing link....but I'm not surprised she wasn't there/apart of it. But yea in Gil's words AFY tour was drama from organizing till the last day.

[Lenzo88]

Is it bad that I’m more upset that the “Glitter” fiasco caused the All For You era to end abruptly in terms of singles and videos?!?  Definitely felt like after “Son of A Gun” there should have been more singles in store like “Trust A Try” and “When We Oooo” but whatever. What we got was good anyway!

[Bailey]

1 hour ago, Lenzo88 said:

Is it bad that I’m more upset that the “Glitter” fiasco caused the All For You era to end abruptly in terms of singles and videos?!?  Definitely felt like after “Son of A Gun” there should have been more singles in store like “Trust A Try” and “When We Oooo” but whatever. What we got was good anyway!

No cause Im mad, Janet said we would get to "Trust a Try" she wanted to .....but to think Mariah had a lock on coin that tough they had to pay her that much to not record, that's insulting too, like okay pay Mariah to go away and NOT record ....Janet you still under contract until the end

[jarrylf]

3 hours ago, Lenzo88 said:

Is it bad that I’m more upset that the “Glitter” fiasco caused the All For You era to end abruptly in terms of singles and videos?!?  Definitely felt like after “Son of A Gun” there should have been more singles in store like “Trust A Try” and “When We Oooo” but whatever. What we got was good anyway!

That's pretty much how we all feel. Her lablel took her & her work & worth for granted in 1 of the biggest industry fuckups ever.

[VelvetKnowledge1814]

I didn't know there was that much drama going on behind the scenes of the AFY tour. I knew that Janet and Shawnette had some sort of falling out, but I never knew Gil might have been part of this. It's too bad she stepped down from the top position because I think we could have gotten a lot of great stuff from her if she was at the helm longer. The AFY tour is kinda disappointing to watch after the VR tour unfortunately. The whimsical medley was tired at that point.

It's also too bad that Mariah's Glitter situation impacted the AFY era. I think having "Come On Get Up" released as a single was the right choice since the song is so poppy and upbeat. I think that if it got more push and a nice video (maybe in Hawaii or some other island locale) it could have been a bigger hit.

[janetDAYZ]

I know for some time this board has committed to the idea of speculating that Janet was affected directly and/or indirectly by Mariah coming on board to Virgin with that big payout and all that but the only thing that makes me sort of question that is bc Janet at that time was still EXTREMELY bankable...i mean A4U was the fastest selling album of her WHOLE career and was the biggest hit straight out the gate (in terms of first week sales) -not to mention A4U (the song) going on to become the biggest hit and longest running #1 song of 2001 and STCML peaking at #3.. Which would lead me to believe putting more money into Janet shouldnt have been a problem cus they were defintely gonna see a bankable return on their investment. Janet was hotter than fish grease in 2001. So i dont kno if i completely buy into this whole idea of ..."Oh Mariah is here!!!...move out the way all you other artists on our roster..the queen of the charts is in the building so she will be getting all of you alls promotion money and btw the rest of you dont mean nothing now" scenario that is painted in regards to this situation. Now it would be MORE believable if Janet was doing moderate saleswise at that time. For instance if TVR album came out in 2001...i then could see Virgin falling back a bit on financing promo and setting their sights on Mariah's arrival but since A4U was a HUGE era from the day it hit the consumers....i juss dont know about Mariah affecting her. 

[Bailey]

7 hours ago, VelvetKnowledge1814 said:

I didn't know there was that much drama going on behind the scenes of the AFY tour. I knew that Janet and Shawnette had some sort of falling out, but I never knew Gil might have been part of this. It's too bad she stepped down from the top position because I think we could have gotten a lot of great stuff from her if she was at the helm longer. The AFY tour is kinda disappointing to watch after the VR tour unfortunately. The whimsical medley was tired at that point.

It's also too bad that Mariah's Glitter situation impacted the AFY era. I think having "Come On Get Up" released as a single was the right choice since the song is so poppy and upbeat. I think that if it got more push and a nice video (maybe in Hawaii or some other island locale) it could have been a bigger hit.

I had NO CLUE, and for Jarrylf to say Gil called it drama from start to finish, I REALLY didnt know at all

[Bailey]

2 hours ago, janetDAYZ said:

I know for some time this board has committed to the idea of speculating that Janet was affected directly and/or indirectly by Mariah coming on board to Virgin with that big payout and all that but the only thing that makes me sort of question that is bc Janet at that time was still EXTREMELY bankable...i mean A4U was the fastest selling album of her WHOLE career and was the biggest hit straight out the gate (in terms of first week sales) -not to mention A4U (the song) going on to become the biggest hit and longest running #1 song of 2001 and STCML peaking at #3.. Which would lead me to believe putting more money into Janet shouldnt have been a problem cus they were defintely gonna see a bankable return on their investment. Janet was hotter than fish grease in 2001. So i dont kno if i completely buy into this whole idea of ..."Oh Mariah is here!!!...move out the way all you other artists on our roster..the queen of the charts is in the building so she will be getting all of you alls promotion money and btw the rest of you dont mean nothing now" scenario that is painted in regards to this situation. Now it would be MORE believable if Janet was doing moderate saleswise at that time. For instance if TVR album came out in 2001...i then could see Virgin falling back a bit on financing promo and setting their sights on Mariah's arrival but since A4U was a HUGE era from the day it hit the consumers....i juss dont know about Mariah affecting her. 

600k copies of AFY sold in its first week alone. The single AFY, broke records for being the fastest added song to radio rotations straight out the gate. STCML would have been her 11th number one, but JLo had some song out that held Janet off long enough to keep STCML from becoming a number 1.

As for money, I think you have to look at it as a budget, no matter how bankable an artist is, if the company had a planned budget to spend for the year, and out of nowhere they have to cough up a lot of money that changes the budget and any plans after it. I think a lot of companies run on the idea as long as they can recoup costs later they will spend. In the Mariah fiasco, Virgin couldnt break even, they had a huge unexpected expense, after that they cut back.

COGU was a hit that we didnt get, it was straight up a hit and ready. I mean can you imagine the remixes? AFY marked the first era I can recall where Janet's remixes became EP's if you bought the single,  the single for AFY had like 4 way different remixes, to the point they were like whole other songs. I wonder to this day what the maxi single for COGU would have been like

NOT the best photo, but this was July 2001 Detroit front row

[janetDAYZ]

I understand budget and all of that but I dont believe a label has a final set budget of how much they are gonna spend on the entire project before the album drops. They probably have an idea and/or a ballpark figure of how much they want to invest but I doubt they stick to that ballpark figure. I believe once a project is released...they wing it to see how much more they can sell and how much more they should invest..im sure they weigh out the pros and cons to stay out of the red. Dont get me wrong im not saying Mariah didnt have an affect on the A4U era...but im juss saying this board has a history of speculating which turns into being the GOSPEL TRUTH w/o any reliable receipts to support the speculations on here. Im more on the fence with ANYTHING i dont have proof of. The business aspects of the music industry has so many twists and turns and shit that wouldnt make sense to common folk. For me, until i actually hear Mariah being a direct reason as to why the A4U era came to an early end, im not gonna blame it on Mariah's arrival. It could be a ton of other politics that have nothing at all to do with Mariah. 

[Bailey]

6 hours ago, janetDAYZ said:

I understand budget and all of that but I dont believe a label has a final set budget of how much they are gonna spend on the entire project before the album drops. They probably have an idea and/or a ballpark figure of how much they want to invest but I doubt they stick to that ballpark figure. I believe once a project is released...they wing it to see how much more they can sell and how much more they should invest..im sure they weigh out the pros and cons to stay out of the red. Dont get me wrong im not saying Mariah didnt have an affect on the A4U era...but im juss saying this board has a history of speculating which turns into being the GOSPEL TRUTH w/o any reliable receipts to support the speculations on here. Im more on the fence with ANYTHING i dont have proof of. The business aspects of the music industry has so many twists and turns and shit that wouldnt make sense to common folk. For me, until i actually hear Mariah being a direct reason as to why the A4U era came to an early end, im not gonna blame it on Mariah's arrival. It could be a ton of other politics that have nothing at all to do with Mariah. 

you're right we dont know ...hell I had no clue Gil said the AFY tour was drama from start to finish like str8 up? We can only go on what's out here and we do speculate

[_KINGSEANCOURT_]

It's top 5. lol