It would not surprise me if many people who went to their first concerts in the 1970s or earlier remember being taken aback the first time they saw a corporate sponsor on a bill. Case in point: the Who on their alleged final trek under the sponsorship banner of Schlitz. It was not the quality of the product that troubled music fans, it was the idea that an entity not in the business of concert promotion was now involved in a show, forcing its agenda, possibly stealth-like, and somehow tampering with the fans’ altruistic idea of the performer.
Twenty five years later and distrust out the door: We’re shocked when there is not a sponsor listed on the ticket along side the name of the promoter. Oddly enough, this week saw two events that may well become new models for the concert business and I’m not sure if the one that involves just the standard promoter is the safer bet for consumers.
First, Alicia Keys came to Los Angeles on a tour overseen by Lexus. Not Lexus and a promoter, just the car company. Call it subliminal propositional marketing: You came for a concert, but you need a car and if you can afford these tickets, you might well soon want a bit of affordable luxury in your next vehicle. Care to test drive an ES or IS?
On Thursday Madonna announced her first tour with Live Nation under her 10-year, $100 million pact with the concert promoter. The dates themselves were of paramount concern, but deep in the details on the trek was a note that can be translated thusly: In Europe, Madonna and Live Nation are in bed with a company that facilitates the resale of concert tickets, aka, the secondary marketplace. It’s not scalping per se, just a facilitator of the resale of tickets, most likely at a price significantly above face value.

Richard Cromelin of the L.A. Times wrote a spot-on review of Alicia Keys' concert in Orange County; I reviewed the Monday show at Staples Center, the ninth date in her 30-city tour. It appears Keys is pretty much sticking to the same set each night with only slight variations. According to my notes scribbled during the L.A. show, she played:

Ghetto Story / Waiting for Your Love / Where Do We Go From Here / You Don't Know My Name / Teenage Love Affair / Lady Marmalade (backup singers only) /  Heart Burn /   Sure Looks Good to Me / How Come You Don't Call Me / Butterflies /  Goodbye / Prelude to a Kiss / Superwoman / I Need You / Diary / Tender Love /  Unbreakable / Like You'll Never See Me Again / A Woman's Worth / Karma / The Thing About Love / Fallin'>It's a Man's, Man's Man's World / No One / If I Ain't Got You /

Gossip mongers: The good news is that Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston (pictured between Alicia Keys and Fergie) look fabulous. Carrie Underwood was on hand at Clive Davis's party at the Beverly Hilton Hotel Saturday with Chace Crawford of "Gossip Girl" and she looked rather disinterested in the evening, even waving off Clive's effusive introduction.
Fellow "Idol" moneymaker Chris Daughtry played the highly respectful guest, giving the standing O to every major celebrity announced. And at the next table, Randy Jackson was big on the cheers, too.
As far as the music went, though, the evening was not one of Davis' more legendary marathon events. Videotapes of past years' highlights were played regularly to remind attendees how the party has achieved its legendary status and even Davis suggested that the evening would not be setting a new bar. Still, there were enough highlights to make this a good, if not great, night of pop music.
Evaluations, in order of appearance:
Foo Fighters. Did two songs, "The Pretender" and "Best of You." Potent and hearty, it was exactly what one would expect from Dave Grohl and the boys. Nothing we haven't seen before.
Leona Lewis. The British "Pop Idol" champ did two songs, the second of which was "First Time Ever You Saw My Face." She has a big voice and tender personality, two trademarks of Whitney Houston in her early years. But what I didn't sense from Lewis that I did sense from Houston back then was the desire to be liked and welcomed into the music world. Lewis steps in gingerly, with a graciousness that should endear her to many. But is she a major pop star? Not sure. The album comes out in two months.
Daughtry with Chad Kroeger and Slash. First tune, by just Chris Daughtry and his band, was rote commercial rock; to spice things up, the "American Idol" contender and guests waddled through John Fogerty's "Born on the Bayou." Slash delivered standard-issue solos - enough to hold the interest but not necessarily amaze. Worse, Kroeger has a banal voice and Daughtry seems hell-bent on following in his footsteps.
Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli. On paper, this sounds like a PBS nightmare. I have a fear of heights and this is the sappy musical equivalent of peering over the edge of the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Yet their performance of "The Prayer" worked. Not chill-inducing, but a pleasant interaction between two singers working with just piano and synth accompaniment. Both stayed within themselves and made it a delightful two-voice performance.
Fantasia. On Broadway, she stopped "The Color Purple" with "I'm Here" and she did it again Saturday night. Right performer, right song. And if the music industry is truly paying attention, they should realize that contemporary Broadway composers are creating interesting and dramatic material that can work for modern singers. In the digital download age, Broadway shows could be a great source of material and there are not enough A&R execs mining this increasingly rich territory.
Alicia Keys. Performs "Like You'll Never See Me Again" and "No One" after Davis gives her a lengthy introduction that suggests the label people were somehow surprised that her record would be great, sell vast quantities and should have somehow been in consideration for a Grammy. No, the J folks chose to release it in the 2008-09 eligibility period and just place the single in the 07-08 territory. Keys, as she has done at so many of Davis's parties, was spectacular. "No One" was the night's rousing highlight and there's no amount of praise that can be heaped on this woman that goes too far. She is simply the best.
Akon and Wyclef. Nice pairing and they dove into a little Bob Marley ("No Woman No Cry") and some political wordplay promoting Barack Obama and Clive Davis for president. The two sang about blood diamonds and romped through Akon's  "I Wanna Love You" with grace and precision.
Davis always introduces members of the audience - he  gave props to about 70 Saturday - and 
the biggest cheers of the night went to Michael Strahan, Gladys Knight and Quincy Jones.

In addition to longtime collaborator Kerry “Krucial” Brothers, Alicia Keys works with songwriters Linda Perry, John Mayer, Harold Lilly and Sean Garrett plus producers Mark Batson, Dirty Harry, Swizz Beatz and Jack Splash on her next album "As I Am."
Keys appears tonight on CBS’s "Fashion Rocks," performing the new tune “The Thing About Love” and dueting with Carlos Santana on  “Black Magic Woman.” Keys performs her single “No One” on Sunday's  MTV Video Music Awards.
Album is set for release on Nov. 13 on J Records

Three albums by three superb soul singers have release dates. J Records will release Alicia Keys "As I Am" on Nov. 6. Van Hunt's four track EP "The Popular Machine" will be released digitally on Aug. 7; Blue Note will release his full-length disc "Popular" on Jan. 15. And Angie Stone's "The Art Of Love And War," her first for Stax, will hit retail on Oct. 16.
Hunt says he shut out all media during the making of the album except for a little talk radio and some Franz Liszt. Judging by his song titles, though, he appears to have at least read the backs of Prince albums. Some of the cuts: "ur personal army," "there's never a g'time 2 say g'bye," "ur a monster, parts 1 & 2."
  Stone recorded her album at Marvin’s Room, Marvin Gaye’s former studio on Sunset Boulevard. She co-produced and wrote nearly the entire album. Betty Wright duets with her on one track.
Producers on Keys' album, which is still being recorded, include Kerry Brothers, Linda Perry, Mark Batson, Jack Splash, Harold Lilly and Marsha Ambrosia (from Floetry).  Alicia describes the overall sound of the album as "Rock 'n Soul - Janis Joplin meets Aretha Franklin."