Racial mix at Mac gigs

[Mr Scarrott]

Apologies if this has been brought up sometime before but I was at the second night at London and couldn't help noticing just how Caucasian the audience was. For a city as ethnically diverse as London it was extraordinary just how overwhelmingly white the audience was. I wasn't disturbed by it, just interested.

Does anyone, particulary any Black British or African American Ledgies have any thoughts/ experience regarding this and why this might be?

I'll be posting more thoughts about the gig itself when I've been to my second night later in June.

[reebokandlace]

Originally Posted by Mr Scarrott

Apologies if this has been brought up sometime before but I was at the second night at London and couldn't help noticing just how Caucasian the audience was. For a city as ethnically diverse as London it was extraordinary just how overwhelmingly white the audience was. I wasn't disturbed by it, just interested.

Does anyone, particulary any Black British or African American Ledgies have any thoughts/ experience regarding this and why this might be?

I'll be posting more thoughts about the gig itself when I've been to my second night later in June.

I am not sure how to answer this and still be politically correct/polite....so I will try....forgive me if I say anything offensive.

I have been attending FM shows since 1975 in many different cities worldwide, but I can honestly say in all those years I have seen less than 5 black people (and that is a stretch) all total as attendees at FM concerts. (I am not referring to free NBC morning shows etc). Yes, the Mac does root itself in the blues, but the sound overall just appeals more to whites than blacks. It is a very "white" band.

The same reason when a black person goes to see the comedian Kevin Hart, they look around and there are less than 5% whites in the audience. He is a very black oriented artist. Chris Rock on the otherhand has a much higher white following...maybe 40% white in his audience.

Some artists just appeal/connect more to one race than another.

.

[Macfan4life]

I mean no disrespect to the OP but a concert is not the place to make a statement about race. If I go to a snoop dog concert and 90% of the audience is black, why would I comment on that? Fleetwood Mac is a pop rock band from the 1970's that originated in England. Surely you aren't finding fault with the band or London because the racial make up was not represented from London's population.
Should concert tickets be sold for racial diversity? I think not.

[reebokandlace]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

I mean no disrespect to the OP but a concert is not the place to make a statement about race. If I go to a snoop dog concert and 90% of the audience is black, why would I comment on that? Fleetwood Mac is a pop rock band from the 1970's that originated in England. Surely you aren't finding fault with the band or London because the racial make up was not represented from London's population.
Its just ridiculous to bring up such a point. What next? African Americans playing in the NBA?

Wow. This board never ceases to amaze me with the level of snarky sarcastic harshness in some responses. The OP was posing what I believe to be a honest intelligent question (which normally should lead to an intelligent open discussion) and some people on this board have to come off as just effin mean and aggressive. Jeesh, it's no wonder most people walk away from this board.

It's not like he said he was a white guy who just landed in Nigeria and said "hey why are there so many 'minorities' here?" Now a statement like that is just ignorant and ridiculous...

.

[FuzzyPlum]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

I mean no disrespect to the OP but a concert is not the place to make a statement about race. If I go to a snoop dog concert and 90% of the audience is black, why would I comment on that? Fleetwood Mac is a pop rock band from the 1970's that originated in England. Surely you aren't finding fault with the band or London because the racial make up was not represented from London's population.
Its just ridiculous to bring up such a point. What next? African Americans playing in the NBA?

Sorry, I don't think its a ridiculous point to bring up at all. Indeed I recall just this discussion on another thread last year. I too find it curious and also wonder why this is the case. It's certainly not about finding fault with the band- its not their fault. There doesn't really seem to be too many specific reasons why they don't appeal to a slightly more ethnically diverse audience.

Now, pardon my ignorance here (I'd have been very young at the time)- I'd suggest in the 1970's there was a significant explosion of 'black' music- funk, soul, reggae, disco and even hip-hop (in the latter stages of the decade). I can therefore see why black people may have steered away from bands like Fleetwood Mac (what has been the ethnic mix at Eagles concerts, etc? btw) and naturally steered towards artists that more closely associated with their culture and heritage. I don't really know why their popularity hasn't filtered down over time to a slightly more diverse audience though. That's not to say there aren't considerable numbers of black Fleetwood Mac fans out there- there just seem to be comparatively low numbers.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by reebokandlace

Wow. This board never ceases to amaze me with the level of snarky sarcastic harshness in some responses. The OP was posing what I believe to be a honest intelligent question (which normally should lead to an intelligent open discussion) and some people on this board have to come off as just effin mean and aggressive. Jeesh, it's no wonder most people walk away from this board.

It's not like he said he was a white guy who just landed in Nigeria and said "hey why are there so many 'minorities' here?" Now a statement like that is just ignorant and ridiculous...

.

Hmmm so far you are the only one being snarky. I am not afraid to talk about race. But the OP did not just ask about Mac fan diversity. The original post goes way further. The OP linked it to the population of London as if the same quota or percentages of the general population of London was going to show up. That is laughable I was not being snarky at all. The OP uses the word "extraordinary" how white the audience is in racially diverse London." That statement suggests there is something wrong with the Mac fans that attended because they were not the same percentage of racial make up of people living in London. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever read on a message board before. It reminds me of the extreme political correctness following the 9/11 attacks on New York. The firefighters who took the American flag from a boat raised the flag. Its a famous statue now. But remember the extreme political correctness of some who demanded the statute not truly represent the actual men on that day.... they questioned and demanded the firefighters be changed to an Asian man and an African American woman to properly represent New York population.

Contrary to what you state, the OP did NOT just ask about Mac fan diversity. The OP made negative connotations (extraordinary) that the crowd did not properly represent London. No concert at any city accurately reflects the population. I saw the Mac in Miami. Miami-Dade county is 73% Hispanic. Most people attending where not Hispanic. The concert did not equally represent the population and no one found that bad or extraordinary. And its silly to think that. Nothing snarky about that. Not sure why you start throwing personal insults instead of contributing to the board.
Its a very sad comment about society where racial balance is demanded everywhere including a Fleetwood Mac concert in London. Would it be the perfect world to sell concert tickets to promote racial diversity at concerts?
I sure hope not

[FuzzyPlum]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Hmmm so far you are the only one being snarky.

No, sorry it did come across as a very unnecessary snarky reply to a very common and understandable observation. To then link it to 9/11 seems rather extreme.

[SisterNightroad]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Hmmm so far you are the only one being snarky. I am not afraid to talk about race. But the OP did not just ask about Mac fan diversity. The OP linked it to the population of London as if the same quota or percentages of the general population of London was going to show up. That is laughable and a ridiculous thing to say (yes I said that). I was not being snarky at all. The OP uses the word "extraordinary how white the audience is in racially diverse London." That statement suggests there is something wrong with the Mac fans that attended because they were not the same percentage of racial make up of people living in London. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever read on a message board before. It reminds me of the extreme political correctness following the 9/11 attacks on New York. The firefighters who took the American flag from a boat raised the flag. Its a famous statue now. But remember the extreme political correctness of some who demanded the statute not truly represent the actual men on that day.... they questioned and demanded the firefighters be changed to an Asian man and an African American woman to properly represent New York population. Its very silly but sometimes I forget there are children and teenagers who post on message boards. But your post is out of line calling me snarky.

Contrary to what you state, the OP did NOT just ask about Mac fan diversity. The OP made negative connotations (extraordinary) that the crowd did not properly represent London. No concert at any city accurately reflects the population. I saw the Mac in Miami. Miami-Dade county is 73% Hispanic. Most people attending where not Hispanic. The concert did not equally represent the population and no one found that bad or extraordinary. And its silly to think that. Nothing snarky about that. Not sure why you start throwing personal insults instead of contributing to the board.
Its a very sad comment about society where racial balance is demanded everywhere including a Fleetwood Mac concert in London. Would it be the perfect world to sell concert tickets to promote racial diversity at concerts?
I sure hope not

[Mr Scarrott]

I think it would be difficult to surmise from my original post that I was criticising any particular section of London's society for not being "proportionately represented" at a Fleetwood Mac concert. Far from it.

How different music, literature and art appeals or doesn't appeal across different cultures and backgrounds is endlessly fascinating. I am certainly not going to apologise for posing the question. It doesn't seem to me to be unreasonable to ask it in relation to a band that once had a reasonable claim to be the biggest popular music act on the planet.

[Dreamz19]

I have seen some black people at concerts, although not many. I'm not really sure why, but from my own personal experience I know they do have black fans. I have even seen quite a bit of black artist saying they liked FM as well. They just don't attend their concerts for whatever reason. There was a thread on this subject before though.

Here's a link
http://ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/showthread.php?t=19787

This post from that thread sums up my thoughts on it.

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

I think there are alot of African-American fans of Stevie and the Mac. I just don't think they shell out the cash to see them live because their are other artists that are more ingrained into their culture. For example, Etta James is playing here in Denver the same day that Stevie is at Red Rocks, and I'm sure there will be very few white people in the audience at that show.

I manage a retail store, and we play ALOT of Stevie and Mac in the store. I would venture to say that 70 percent of my customers are black, and it's so much fun when the black women come in and start doing a little dance to Stand Back or Dreams while they sing along. They always know the words. White customers never do that, they're too reserved and stuffy. One of my best friends, Santo, LOVES Stevie and would really like to go to Red Rocks with me, but he just bought his first home and is strapped for cash.

I remember when the FM reissues came out...I was listening to Beautiful Child, very loudly, as there were no customers in the store. This young black man decked to the hilt in hip-hop regalia came in, and I turned down the music. He said to me, "No man, you can jam, turn it back up!" So I did. He ended up listening to it, asked who it was, and so I showed him the CD. He said it was haunting and beautiful, and that he was off to go buy it. I love recruiting new fans.

The older generation of blacks doesn't seem to be too aware of Stevie or Fleetwood Mac, but the younger crowd is quite hip to them from what I've noticed. Most people's musical choices are influenced by what they heard while growing up, so it's really just a matter of exposure.

[Dreamz19]

Originally Posted by SisterNightroad

My thoughts exactly.

[johnnystorms]

Dr. Dre, Nikki Minaj, and Mary J Blige have all referred to Stevie ( FM ) as great music. I suspect it has more to do with lack of marketing to ethnic communities than anything else. Let's face it, this band SUCKS at marketing to the CORE fans, much less reaching out to new ones!!!

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

I mean no disrespect to the OP but a concert is not the place to make a statement about race. If I go to a snoop dog concert and 90% of the audience is black, why would I comment on that? Fleetwood Mac is a pop rock band from the 1970's that originated in England. Surely you aren't finding fault with the band or London because the racial make up was not represented from London's population.
Should concert tickets be sold for racial diversity? I think not.

It's a passive aggressive observation. It's about keeping racism in the forefront in people's mind, so it's easier to race bait about varies issues in the future.

[SisterNightroad]

Not to be presumptuous, but I think the main reason for the lack of fans of non-white ethnicity at Fleetwood Mac concerts is the high price of the tickets.
After all, if most of the non-caucasian fans are young, it's impossible for them to afford the costs.

[Dr.Brown]

Originally Posted by SisterNightroad

Not to be presumptuous, but I think the main reason for the lack of fans of non-white ethnicity at Fleetwood Mac concerts is the high price of the tickets.
After all, if most of the non-caucasian fans are young, it's impossible for them to afford the costs.

Races are run...