JD posts video of Janet's concert at Madison Square Garden Jermaine Dupri late last night posted a new video on YouTube of footage from Janet's November 1 performance of the Rock Witchu Tour at New York City's Madison Square Garden.
Live Nation reports box score for NYC Live Nation this week reported to Billboard Magazine the box score for the New York City date of the Rock Witchu Tour.
The box scores for in San Diego, Toronto, and Kansas City have yet to be reported.
The new reported information, which is published in the issue for the week ending November 29, 2008, is as follows:
Rank: #16 Artist: Janet Jackson, DJ Juan Venue: Madison Square Garden City/State: New York, NY Event Date: Nov. 1, 2008 Gross Sales: $799,082 Attend/Capacity: 9,955 / 12,029 Shows/Sellouts: 1 / 0 Prices: $295.50, $40.30
JD posts another video of himself with Janet in Dubai Jermaine Dupri very early this morning posted another video on YouTube of himself and Janet during their trip in Dubai.
Janet is shown very briefly at the beginning while racing on the sand dunes.
Article on the production design behind the Rock Witchu Tour Live Design, an industry publication for live entertainment professionals in lighting, staging and projection, has posted an in-depth article onto its website today about all of the production elements behind the Rock Witchu Tour.
The article includes a lengthy interview with Vince Foster, who worked as the lighting, set and video designer for the tour.
Some interesting points include the fact that the actual rectangle stage itself is the same one that was used on the All For You Tour with obvious modifications.
Foster reveals that Janet initially wanted a set piece that moved out over the audience that she could walk on. The idea was determined to be impractical and instead it was replaced with the lighting bridge, which was used in the actual show.
She also initially wanted the 'U'-shaped runway to span around the entire length of the arena, however that was also determined to be impractical and a smaller version was made instead. Erik Eastland, president of sales and design at All Access, the company responsible for building the stage of the Rock Witchu Tour, says that the runway is similar to one they designed for country music group Rascal Flatts.
Another interesting detail Foster revealed is that during the performance of "Discipline," the dancers are not actually pulling the ropes to raise and lower the man that was picked out of the audience, but rather it is done with a motor controlled from backstage.
The article also includes an entire list of each piece of equipment used for the production aspects of the tour.
Source: Steven Battaglia. "I wanna Rock Witchu." Live Design. 21 November, 2008.
JD posts video of himself with Janet in Dubai Jermaine Dupri tonight posted a new video on YouTube of himself and Janet at the grand opening ceremony of the new Atlantis resort in Dubai.
Photo of Janet & JD in Dubai at Atlantis opening celebration Photo of Janet Jackson and Jermaine Dupri today at the grand opening of Palm Jumeirah and its flagship Atlantis, the Palm Resort at the Palm Jumeirah Island in Dubai, United Arab Emirates:
Janet in Dubai to attend opening of Atlantis Hotel Janet is currently in Dubai where she will be a guest at tonight's opening of the city's new Atlantis Hotel, a part of a $1.5 billion ocean-themed resort.
A slew of other celebrity guests including Robert De Niro, Michael Jordan, Lily Allen, Mary Kate Olsen, and Denzel Washington are also attending the opening of the resort. The three-day event will be highlighted with a private concert by Kylie Minogue.
In May 2007, Janet performed a private concert during the opening celebration of the Cove Atlantis resort in the Bahamas. Both of the resorts in Dubai and the Bahamas are owned by Sol Kerzner, a friend of the Jackson family.
Reports: Janet to tour Japan next February Media outlets in Japan are reporting that Janet will bring the Rock Witchu Tour to four cities in Japan for five performances in February 2009.
News website Sponichi Annex and ticket outlet Lawson Ticket are both listing five concerts in Japan for the middle of February.
The reported Japanese dates are:
Feb 14 & 15: Saitama - Saitama Super Arena Feb 17: Osaka - Osaka-jō Hall Feb 19: Nagoya - Gaishihoru Feb 22: Fukuoka - Marine Messe Fukuoka
The Lawson Ticket website states that tickets go on sale November 19, however whether that is accurate is unclear at this moment.
More Box Scores from the Rock Witchu Tour Posted below are the Box Scores for the Atlanta, Auburn Hills, and Tulsa concerts of the Rock Witchu Tour as reported by Live Nation to Billboard Magazine for the week ending November 22, 2008.
The concerts in San Diego, Toronto, Kansas City and New York City have yet to be reported.
Live Nation reports additional boxscores to Billboard Live Nation this week reported to Billboard Magazine the boxscores for an additional four shows of the Rock Witchu Tour in DC, East Rutherford, Houston, and Dallas.
Live Nation has not yet reported the boxscores for San Diego, Toronto, Atlanta, Kansas City, Tulsa, Detroit and New York City.
The new reported information, which is published in the issue for the week ending November 15, 2008, is as follows:
Janet nominated at the first ever BET J Virtual Awards Janet has been nominated for an award at the first ever BET J Virtual Awards, slated to premiere on BET J on Tuesday, November 25 at 8:30 PM ET. The "virtual" broadcast will be hosted by actress Nia Long and comedian Chris Spencer.
She is nominated in the following category:
Female Artist of the Year: - Alicia Keys, J Records - Chrisette Michele, The Island Def Jam Music Group - Estelle, Home School/Atlantic Records - Jill Scott, Hidden Beach Recordings - Ledisi, The Verve Music Group - Janet Jackson, The Island Def Jam Music Group
All postponed Rock Witchu tour dates officially cancelled Janet's representatives officially announced today that they will not reschedule any of the remaining postponed dates of the Rock Witchu Tour.
The announcement states that the concerts are not being rescheduled "due to conflicts in the singer's schedule."
The concerts that have been cancelled are:
- Montreal (Originally scheduled for Sept. 29) - Boston (Originally scheduled for Oct. 1) - Philadelphia (Originally scheduled for Oct. 2) - Greensboro (Originally scheduled for Oct. 4) - Ft. Lauderdale (Originally scheduled for Oct. 7) - Uncasville (Originally scheduled for Oct. 11) - Verona (Originally scheduled for Oct. 13)
Refunds for all of the shows are available at the point of purchase. If tickets were purchased through the fan club, they will be automatically refunded.
There currently are no scheduled dates remaining for the Rock Witchu Tour. There has been no official announcement about whether the tour is officially over or if more dates will be added in the future.
Rock Witchu Tour comes to a possible close last night in NYC Janet performed last night at New York City's Madison Square Garden, wrapping up the first - and possibly only - leg of the Rock Witchu Tour.
The setlist was identical to the regular set of songs, and there were no special guests.
There are no more concerts currently scheduled for the Rock Witchu Tour. Janet did not give any indication from the stage last night whether any more dates would be added or if this was the last show of the tour.
There are still six postponed concerts from last month that are waiting to be rescheduled. It is unclear what is happening with these dates.
The concert had been originally scheduled for October 11 but was "postponed" at the time because of what was cited as "migraine-associated vertigo." However, that concert will no longer be rescheduled.
Ticket holders can obtain refunds at the point of purchase.
There are six other postponed concerts in Montreal, Boston, Philadelphia, Greensboro, Ft. Lauderdale and Verona that are waiting to be rescheduled. It is unknown at this point whether all of those concerts will be canceled as well.
Janet's manager & Palace officials comment on 'Discipline' cut Billboard.com now has an article with statements from Janet's manager and from a spokesperson for the Palace of Auburn Hills explaining why the "Discipline" segment was cut from last night's concert in Michigan:
The singer trimmed a three-song section of her Rock Witchu Tour show, including the sexually explicit "Discipline," in order to comply with a Michigan state law prohibiting simulated sex acts in a public performing space.
Palace officials approached Jackson's camp with concerns about the segment Tuesday afternoon. An arena spokesman says that "we explained the law, asked her not to do it, she complied. We did not ask her to cut the song. That was her call."
In a statement, Jackson's manager Kenneth Crear, who was on site, said that "Janet did not want to disappoint her Detroit-area fans again, so we adhered to Michigan's state ordinance and trimmed the 'Discipline' segment of the show so it would not be canceled."
Jackson's show was a make-up date for an original Sept. 27 show that was one of several postponed when she was sidelined with a bout of migraine-induced vertigo.
UPDATED: 'Discipline' cut from concert last night in Detroit The "Discipline" segment of the Rock Witchu Tour was cut from last night's concert in Detroit, Michigan.
That segment of the show consists of parts of the songs "Funny How Time Flies (When You're Having Fun)," "Any Time, Any Place," and then the song "Discipline" in its entirety.
It was the first time on the tour that the setlist had been altered in any way.
Janet later told the audience that the segment of the show was cut due to a local law. Right now the specifics of exactly what law she was referring to are unclear.
UPDATE: The Detroit News is now reporting that the segment was cut due to a Michigan law prohibiting the simulation of sex acts:
Michigan law prohibits simulated sex acts in a performance space; a Palace spokesperson said venue officials discussed the law with Jackson's camp and asked her to not to perform the bit in question, but did not tell her she needed to cut the song, "Discipline," in its entirety.
LL Cool J leaves the Rock Witchu Tour LL Cool J's publicist confirmed today that he has dropped out of being opening act on the Rock Witchu Tour, according to the Associated Press.
His publicity firm is citing an unnamed scheduling conflict as the reason why he is leaving the tour.
There currently are only two more dates left for the tour: Detroit on Tuesday and New York City on Saturday. The AP report goes on to say that Janet is expected to announce more dates.
While originally intended to be the opening act for the bulk of the shows on the tour, LL Cool J only ended up performing on the tour four times - Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, and Kansas City. A handful of other dates had been postponed due to Janet's recent illness.
JD posts video from the Rock Witchu Tour in Tulsa Jermaine Dupri late last night posted a new video on YouTube, portions of which were filmed at last night's concert of the Rock Witchu Tour in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Mohawk came back last night in Tulsa Janet wore her normal mohawk wig at last night's Rock Witchu Tour concert in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
She had worn a new ponytail for the previous concert on Friday night in Kansas City, which was the only concert of the tour so far when she did not wear the mohawk wig.
Janet did not wear mohawk at last night's concert in Kansas City Janet did not wear her mohawk wig last night at her concert in Kansas City, Missouri. Instead, she wore a long, dark ponytail, similar to the one she wore on 1998's Velvet Rope Tour.
It is the first concert of the tour that she did not wear the mohawk.
Also, LL Cool J joined the tour again and performed at last night's show. The last time he opened one of the concerts was at the Toronto show on September 28, just prior to Janet's postponement of a series of concerts due to illness.
Billboard update for week ending November 1, 2008 The following list represents Janet's positions on all of the Billboard charts for the week ending November 1, 2008.
With "Can't B Good," the fourth single from Discipline, dropping off of the Hot Adult R&B Airplay chart this week, Janet no longer has any songs or albums currently charting on Billboard. Janet|Xone will not post its weekly chart updates until her next chart appearance.
JD posts video with Janet in Houston on the Rock Witchu Tour Jermaine Dupri this evening posted a new video on YouTube of himself with Janet, which was filmed last night from the backstage of the Rock Witchu Tour in Houston.
In the new video, JD says that he decided to film this video because of comments that fans had been posting for him online wondering why he wasn't giving updates while Janet was sick. Janet then speaks to the camera and thanks everyone for their support.
They end the video by denying tabloid rumors that they had broken up.
Billboard update for week ending October 25, 2008 The following list represents Janet's positions on all of the Billboard charts for the week ending October 25, 2008.
Feb 14: Saitama, Japan - Saitama Super Arena
Feb 15: Saitama, Japan - Saitama Super Arena
Feb 17: Osaka, Japan - Osaka-jō Hall
Feb 19: Nagoya, Japan - Gaishihoru
Feb 22: Fukuoka, Japan - Marine Messe Fukuoka
First Leg: United States - Fall 2008
Sept 10: Vancouver, BC - General Motors Place
Sept 13: Oakland, CA - Oracle Arena
Sept 17: Los Angeles, CA - Staples Center
Sept 19: Las Vegas, NV - Mandalay Bay Events Center
Sept 20: San Diego, CA - San Diego Sports Arena
Sept 25: Chicago, IL - Allstate Arena Sept 27: Detroit, MI - Palace of Auburn Hills [rescheduled]
Sept 28: Toronto, ON - Air Canada Centre Sept 29: Montreal, QC - Bell Centre [cancelled] Oct 1: Boston, MA - TD Banknorth Garden [cancelled] Oct 2: Philadelphia, PA - Wachovia Center [cancelled] Oct 4: Greensboro, NC - Coliseum Complex [cancelled] Oct 5: Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena [rescheduled] Oct 7: Fort Lauderdale, FL - BankAtlantic Center [cancelled] Oct 11: Unvasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena [cancelled] Oct 13: Verona, NY - Turning Stone Resort & Casino [cancelled]
Oct 15: Washington, DC - Verizon Center Oct 16: New York, NY - Madison Square Garden [rescheduled]
Oct 17: East Rutherford, NJ - Izod Center
Oct 19: Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena
Oct 21: Houston, TX - Toyota Center
Oct 22: Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center
Oct 24: Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center
Oct 26: Tulsa, OK - BOK Center
Oct 28: Detroit, MI - Palace of Auburn Hills
Nov 1: New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
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