Rick Astley

[idontlikealdi]

Personally I think he's great and he's clearly living his best life but the demographic of the crowd. Middle aged white men and women. The lack of diversity is quite shocking.

Well, there was a local hospital called the Astley Ainsley and there was a lampoon of him in the student Christmas panto using that name so SOMEONE must have heard of him.

All these race goading threads are tiresome .
Unless you can prove black people were prevented from buying tickets or entry to see him it's a complete non story .
I would think RA's complete demographic are white middle age people , it's who he appeals to .

That’s exactly why he was so brilliant at Glastonbury. He was clearly thrilled to be there, didn’t take himself seriously and was having the time of his life.

You're right, @StockpotSoup in 1985 Rick Astley was an unknown drummer in a band. His first single was released in 1987. It achieved moderate success. Then came Never Gonna...

Why shocked; there's plenty of black acts that attract mainly black audience and vice versa. You could say why aren't there more council estate residents supporting Opera. It's assuming some sort of racist overtone. If you want a deeper dive, Rick Astley is not considered "cool" to black people young or old. Probably not that much appreciated by young white either, it's a white Mums and Dad's thing, hence lack of diversity. Sure Rick or anyone else would love an across the board fanbase. It's not a thing with alot of artists, so so what. There's plenty of examples of racism without looking for it where it ain't there!! False alerts don't do any favours (in fact they do alot of harm because they go some way to justifying the term "woke" even to non DM readers); to those wishing to highlight ACTUAL racism.

Why shocked; there's plenty of black acts that attract mainly black audience and vice versa. You could say why aren't there more council estate residents supporting Opera. It's assuming some sort of racist overtone. If you want a deeper dive, Rick Astley is not considered "cool" to black people young or old. Probably not that much appreciated by young white either, it's a white Mums and Dad's thing, hence lack of diversity. Sure Rick or anyone else would love an across the board fanbase. It's not a thing with alot of artists, so so what. There's plenty of examples of racism without looking for it where it ain't there!! Lol

Its really come to something that to see a big group of white people is some sort of terrible, shocking and criticism worthy thing

Whats that about?

Rick seems like a nice man and he has a great voice but I found the performance terribly boring so switched over to Jools Holland. I failed to notice the demographic of the audience of both shows but the Sugababes, while surly, were good on Jools. As was Raye who I’d never heard of but who put on an INCREDIBLE performance and also made me wonder if I’m definitely straight 😂

I watched both Jools and Rick. Thought the diversity in both was fine. Rick has had the same 2 black backing singers for years. Can't see the issue at all.

Well, guess whose DH got a bit merry and booked Rick tickets for later this year?! 🤣

I don't think so. I do recognise one of George Michael's old backing singers though.

This gave me a good laugh. People are bonkers aren't they, looking for outrage or offence or victimhood or conspiracy (not sure which op was getting at) in the most unusual of places. New year, same old mn.

People need to stop trying to tick a box. People are there to enjoy music, who cares about diversity. Music is personal preference, regardless of what they look like.

I agree, and I also find it somewhat ironic when people complain about lack of diversity and at the same time judge others for reading the Daily Mail.
So diversity of opinion doesn’t seem to count all that much (and no, I‘m not DM reader myself).

I think it is valid to note the nature of the audience. How tickets go on sale, for example the timing, perhaps also the location, may have an impact. One of the things we learnt from the pandemic was who had the option to work from home and whose job requires them to be in an office or other place of work that is not their house.

Tickets going on sale at 10am on a given day does reduce the chances for some people.

This has really made me laugh 😆 Great comment!

Right. So only white people over 50 can purchase tickets at that time?

I don’t get Rick Astley. I never heard of his stuff in the 80s and thought he was dire last night. If he was always that bad I’m surprised he’s got anyone in the audience.

Why is it valid to note the 'nature' of the audience?

Of what relevance is this for a pop concert?

Do you note the nature of the audience for black performers, Bollywood performances or films, do you raise issue with how those tickets are put on sale?

What is the 'nature' of an audience, given that each and every single person attending something is their own diverse person with their own differences and needs compared to the next person.

If you want to see a lack of diversity, look at a Just Stop Oil protest - whiter than a Hitler Youth rally.

How do you know there was no diversity? Diversity is more than the colour of someone's skin.

Shock horror that people are allowed a preference. What do you suggest forcing people who don't like his music to listen to him?

To be honest, its clear what needs to happen.

There needs to be a government scheme whereby each artist has to do a swap/buddy scheme for tickets with another artist.

So for Rick, perhaps he can buddy up with Stormzy and when tickets go on sale, half of Rick's tickets need to be assigned to someone who last attended a Stormzy gig. The people need to be forced to go, warrants for arrest in place if they dont turn up.

I needed that chuckle with my hangover lol

I think that's a good solution. Failure to attend would mean designated listening to recordings at a place of supervision.

I dont quite agree with that,The Rick Rolling thing opened him up to many generations, my 28 yr old DS would love to see him live!