POP/ROCK - Jan. 19, 1988

Earth, Wind and Fire canceled a concert in Knoxville, Tenn., citing violence at a recent rap show in Nashville, but slow ticket sales might have had something to do with the cancellation too. The concert was to have been Friday night in the 25,000-seat Thompson-Boling Arena on the University of Tennessee campus, but only 1,200 tickets were sold. The band also canceled a show that had been scheduled for Nashville on Sunday because two people were trampled to death at a rap show there last month. “What really threw them, I think, was the Nashville show they canceled because of the rap concert violence,” a spokeswoman said.