There have been few music stars in the modern era more complicated than Chris Brown, whose very public personal life has been marked by recurring violent episodes and legal issues.

But there’s also no doubting his enduring status as a bona fide entertainer brimming with showmanship. And it’s that latter reputation that drew more than 40,000 to Ford Field on Thursday for the first of Brown’s two sold-out shows in the Lions’ den.

Brown arrived in Detroit for the fourth stop on the North American leg of his Breezy Bowl XX tour, which marks 20 years since Brown broke big as a teen R&B sensation — a supremely skilled singer and dancer touted then by some as a Michael Jackson heir apparent. Two decades in, he's suddenly riding higher than ever: This international tour is the biggest of his car

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