Has Lanxess arena ever hosted a real rock concert? I mean does it fit for rock shows?
I'd put him in Oberhausen for smaller venue and better sound arena.
Reading these reviews just pisses me off on every count.
He should stick to festival shows from this on if it's going to be like this in europe..

xLiberiangirl said:

soulsurfer05 said:

Hey,

nobody threw something on the stage while the concert or while any band member was on the stage!

Just after the lights came on, no encore happened and workers started to build up instruments some plastic cans of beer landed on the stage! That's the fact!

Still it's not respectful 4 people who working there.

And boeing is not nice 2.

"Booing is not nice 2" - come on!

How are audiences supposed to act when they were obviously angered by a performance or its presentation? Walk away silently like sheep? You have to articulate your anger, otherwise you eat your frustration and that could turn into loving shit like the sound that was being blasted yesterday.

xLiberiangirl said:

powersoul99 said:

Wishful thinking.

And why would they?

You still got a concert.

Seems any problem and people start crying "they want money"

I was there but not going 2 ask my money back, but if there are giving money back, fine.

But 2 me it's not a reason 2 get money back, you got a show, show was disappointing, sound was not good , that's not the problem of the promoters/organizer.. i think

neither do I think that it was the local promoters fault - in fact, anyone with a half decent frame of mind knows that the discussed problem is taking over more or less since the Europe Tour started.

WORST Prince concert ever !!!

20:43h: "Laydown"

20:47-21:29h: NOTHING

21:30-22:45: The show

22:46h: OVER

4 minutes "Laydown" + 75 minutes the show ???

I want my money (144, 30 euro!!) back !!!

TheNewPowerMan

I found the link to this not exactly nice review (in German) on a German Princeboard:

http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/0,1518,777253,00.html

So glad that I've decided NOT to go. I think I'd rather put my money in real musicians with real music with real show and real sound.

Sad to see how Prince is ruining his own legend nowadys.

Completely agree with beatz01. Prince doesn't have a concept anymore, neither for albums nor for shows. He's just cashing in.

TheNewPowerMan said:

WORST Prince concert ever !!!

20:43h: "Laydown"

20:47-21:29h: NOTHING

21:30-22:45: The show

22:46h: OVER

4 minutes "Laydown" + 75 minutes the show ???

I want my money (144, 30 euro!!) back !!!

TheNewPowerMan

Why would you get your money back?

As you said you got a 79 minutes.

You need to Laydown.

powersoul99 said:

TheNewPowerMan said:

WORST Prince concert ever !!!

20:43h: "Laydown"

20:47-21:29h: NOTHING

21:30-22:45: The show

22:46h: OVER

4 minutes "Laydown" + 75 minutes the show ???

I want my money (144, 30 euro!!) back !!!

TheNewPowerMan

Why would you get your money back?

As you said you got a 79 minutes.

You need to Laydown.

I do hope that Prince will play a show like that everytime you attend one.

Does anyone know the "Fuck You"-song from Lily Allen's latest album? That's what people should have sung to Prince collectively yesterday.

Prince is getting bad press ( Der Spiegel is THE most important magazine in Germany), people are still complaining left and right, are pondering sueing him or the management of the venue due to having hearing problems, and there are still apologists on the org who are trying to downplay what happened last night without having been there?

This was the worst show I´ve ever seen.

Will this stop me from going to Prince shows in the future? Of course not. Shit happens, and everybody can have a bad day every now and then, even Prince.

But he could have handled things professionally. Saying "Sorry for the delay" is a nice gesture but that wasn´t enough after letting people wait for 45 minutes after one song without any explanation.

If he had improvised a bit, maybe played a longer piano set or acoustic guitar then people wouldn´t have complained so much. But all the delay and the very short concert ( roughly 75 minutes) left a bad aftertaste.

And the sound was definitely not the only thing that I disliked last night.

DoffieParker said:

Lobbing beers at the band? Out of order!! no wonder he bounced with some people behaving like twatty savages

I'm a fan for 25 Years and if i would have had a beer in my hands yesterday, i would have thrown it on stage as well! Yes it was that bad!

For an astronomical ticket price like € 90 and more you really can expect that some soundchecking is done BEFORE the show, dont you think?

We - the fans - deserve a much better treatment from/by the artist! It was a disgrace! First they didnt let us in for about one hour. We had to wait under a stair, like cows on a death row, without any possibility to go to the toilet or to get a drink and some food.

Then the show was stopped after one song for almost an hour WITHOUT any explanation given. When they finally made an announcment they forgot to turn the background music down, so nobody could hear what they were saying! Nobody pays € 100 to get treated like that! Every "students band" acts way more professional!

Believe me, i would have thrown anything yesterday - ANYTHING!!!

[Edited 7/29/11 4:04am]

xLiberiangirl said:

soulsurfer05 said:

Hey,

nobody threw something on the stage while the concert or while any band member was on the stage!

Just after the lights came on, no encore happened and workers started to build up instruments some plastic cans of beer landed on the stage! That's the fact!

Still it's not respectful 4 people who working there.

And boeing is not nice 2.

Since when does P treat us with respect please? Also the suckers working at Lanxess Arena were anything but surely NOT friendly towards the fans. Were they respectful towards us? Surely not!

Thats not nice 2!

[Edited 7/29/11 3:55am]

KoolEaze said:

Prince is getting bad press ( Der Spiegel is THE most important magazine in Germany), people are still complaining left and right, are pondering sueing him or the management of the venue due to having hearing problems, and there are still apologists on the org who are trying to downplay what happened last night without having been there?

This was the worst show I´ve ever seen.

Will this stop me from going to Prince shows in the future? Of course not. Shit happens, and everybody can have a bad day every now and then, even Prince.

But he could have handled things professionally. Saying "Sorry for the delay" is a nice gesture but that wasn´t enough after letting people wait for 45 minutes after one song without any explanation.

If he had improvised a bit, maybe played a longer piano set or acoustic guitar then people wouldn´t have complained so much. But all the delay and the very short concert ( roughly 75 minutes) left a bad aftertaste.

And the sound was definitely not the only thing that I disliked last night.

Eaze, you're so right. I was thinking almost the same. He could have saved the whole affair if he would have explained his reason for stopping after the first song. He could have sat at the piano to play some songs, while his people would have fixed the sound-problems. He could have been charming. Instead the primadonna probably sat in his dressing room, somehow spiky. But I smell another rat. Is the downfall of the Cologne-incident really only due to the soundengineer? If so, Prince could have easily gotten someone else from the area who would have done a better job than JOHN. Wouldn't it be possible or more likely that Prince rented rotten equipment for the tour? Even if he had, the problems could have been fixed mid-tour. Well, they weren't. So, isn't it more likely that something within prince himself is out of sync with what's going on?

Did anyone film the show. I want to see how bad it was.

Seems strange that the sound couldn't be sorted

I thought I read reviews of the Hop Farm gig where there was an extended first jam to sort the sound out before the gig started for real, couldn't this have happened in Cologne or was there some other problem?

[Edited 7/29/11 4:21am]

MISTERHANDS said:

powersoul99 said:

Why would you get your money back?

As you said you got a 79 minutes.

You need to Laydown.

I do hope that Prince will play a show like that everytime you attend one.

And that is what it is all about.

You was expecting 2 hours plus, you didnt get that so you all complain.

powersoul99 said:

MISTERHANDS said:

I do hope that Prince will play a show like that everytime you attend one.

And that is what it is all about.

You was expecting 2 hours plus, you didnt get that so you all complain.

Powergranny, you always pop up to snipe at comments that don't suit you.......try saying something constructive for once, instead of griping like Ena Sharples in a sixties episode of Corrie.

Jesus Christ!!

nonesuch said:

eireboy34 said:

powersoul99 said:

And that is what it is all about.

You was expecting 2 hours plus, you didnt get that so you all complain.

Powergranny, you always pop up to snipe at comments that don't suit you.......try saying something constructive for once, instead of griping like Ena Sharples in a sixties episode of Corrie.

Jesus Christ!!

Was wondering when the Troll would turn up changing peoples names like a 5 year old does.

agirl said:

Jboogiee said:

agirl said:

I really feel sorry for all of you guys who went to this concert. And P might have made mistakes the way he handled it....

But to say he has lost his inspiration and doesn't want to play anymore, just doing it for the money..... Come on, that's bullshit. Just look at most of the concerts he has done here in Europe (Gent, Amsterdam) and they'll proof otherwise.

Again, I can understand the frustration, but some reactions are ridiculous.

Agreed,a lot of these reactions are bullshit.

Have you been there yesterday?

funk4finns said:

Has Lanxess arena ever hosted a real rock concert? I mean does it fit for rock shows?
I'd put him in Oberhausen for smaller venue and better sound arena.
Reading these reviews just pisses me off on every count.
He should stick to festival shows from this on if it's going to be like this in europe..

Well, I've seen the likes of Peter Gabriel, George Michael and Eric Clapton at Lanxess Arena before and never had issues with the sound being that bad.

Like i said in my first post here, after the torture (concert) we were told at the information, that the sound was set for prince by professionals for a great experience, but Prince and his people came and changed it all! He wanted 2 have it louder! Even during his performance people were complaining about the loud sound and the arena staff contacted prince people many times but without any changes! So it might be, that the arena has not a perfect sound but real proffesionals can even handle that...The first thing 2 do is to turn down the volume a bit. For that u dont need a sound engineer!

Poor Prince is not able 2 deliver!

My wife has seen it yersterday too and she couldnt believe what happened. This was her worst experience ever! And she has seen a lot of people ( That that in Düsseldorf had great sound on monday and a great organisation)! She laught/ and could cry at the same time because we spent 220 Euro for the legend Prince (shame on u)! Prince, u dont do concert since 2 day! Extremly amateurish

If it is of any consolation to any of you, I remember seeing Iggy Pop in the gasometer in Vienna in 2003, I dont even know where to begin on describing the sound of that one, but a typewriter being chewed up by an escalator comes to mind, I did not recognise any of the songs he played, that is how bad it was. That said, I had often heard at the time that the sound in the Gasometer was dodgy. However, 2 years later I saw German hip hop band Fanta 4 there, and the sound was brilliant. I went as far as finding the place where I had stood on the balcony at the Iggy concert, to see/hear if that was the problem.

This remained a mystery to me till recently. At my new place of work, we have alot of live bands, and about 3 months ago, we installed an internal PA system, this was mostly done to cut the cost and work for the bands, hauling all their gear around. First few weeks were a complete disaster, embarrassing actually, the sound was dreadful and no one seemed to be able to pinpoint what the problem was. It turned out to be something really simple, which I stumbled upon one night when the manager was away. It was simply a matter of fine tuning the master volume with the mixing desk.

Everything was perfect for weeks, until last weekend, when the manager decided to get involved in the sound management again, f***ing disaster. The band ended up blowing two of their own amps, all coz the master volume was set too low. The lead singer let rip at the end of the gig, tore strips out of me, until he realised that i wasnt involved in the sound that night...

I know this is abit of a rant, but my point is sound engineering at gigs and concerts is not rocket science, but one does need abit of an ear for it. Prince and his crew should be well versed in all this, I cant imagine there is a PA system out there that he and his crew have come across and not been able to manipulate. Which leads me to think that there may be abit of sabotage going on, a theory which after reading "der Spiegel" review seems a possibility.

I know some are saying he should have improvised, and done an acoustic set, but to be honest that would never have worked if the sound system was "am Arsch", it would have simply made the fiasco a bigger joke than what it already is.

My advice to Prince, would be to take ownership of the mess, he is after all the manager, pinpoint where the problem is and find a solution. In addition to that, he should offer to rebook the gig and invite last nights ticket holders for free. Imagine the positive press he would get for that and it would be a wonderful gesture of goodwill to his German and European fanbase.

Xyoko2003 said:

Yes IT was too Short and the Sound was Bad, but i Managed to enter the stage, as i wished before! by jumping Over the fence, i almost broke my food but i was on the stage dancing with the Master and singing with shelby, everything Else is forgotten Now i am going Home to Berlin, Food bandaged, painfull, but anyway, i will always Love him!

I take it you wear loaf-ers

Whitnail said:

If it is of any consolation to any of you, I remember seeing Iggy Pop in the gasometer in Vienna in 2003, I dont even know where to begin on describing the sound of that one, but a typewriter being chewed up by an escalator comes to mind, I did not recognise any of the songs he played, that is how bad it was. That said, I had often heard at the time that the sound in the Gasometer was dodgy. However, 2 years later I saw German hip hop band Fanta 4 there, and the sound was brilliant. I went as far as finding the place where I had stood on the balcony at the Iggy concert, to see/hear if that was the problem.

This remained a mystery to me till recently. At my new place of work, we have alot of live bands, and about 3 months ago, we installed an internal PA system, this was mostly done to cut the cost and work for the bands, hauling all their gear around. First few weeks were a complete disaster, embarrassing actually, the sound was dreadful and no one seemed to be able to pinpoint what the problem was. It turned out to be something really simple, which I stumbled upon one night when the manager was away. It was simply a matter of fine tuning the master volume with the mixing desk.

Everything was perfect for weeks, until last weekend, when the manager decided to get involved in the sound management again, f***ing disaster. The band ended up blowing two of their own amps, all coz the master volume was set too low. The lead singer let rip at the end of the gig, tore strips out of me, until he realised that i wasnt involved in the sound that night...

I know this is abit of a rant, but my point is sound engineering at gigs and concerts is not rocket science, but one does need abit of an ear for it. Prince and his crew should be well versed in all this, I cant imagine there is a PA system out there that he and his crew have come across and not been able to manipulate. Which leads me to think that there may be abit of sabotage going on, a theory which after reading "der Spiegel" review seems a possibility.

I know some are saying he should have improvised, and done an acoustic set, but to be honest that would never have worked if the sound system was "am Arsch", it would have simply made the fiasco a bigger joke than what it already is.

My advice to Prince, would be to take ownership of the mess, he is after all the manager, pinpoint where the problem is and find a solution. In addition to that, he should offer to rebook the gig and invite last nights ticket holders for free. Imagine the positive press he would get for that and it would be a wonderful gesture of goodwill to his German and European fanbase.

I remember seeing at least 4 concerts there (Adam Green, The White Stripes, Seal and Sarah Connor-I had to accompany my niece to that one ) and every time the sound was okay. These shows must have been between 2004 and 2007 I think .

Serious said:

Whitnail said:

If it is of any consolation to any of you, I remember seeing Iggy Pop in the gasometer in Vienna in 2003, I dont even know where to begin on describing the sound of that one, but a typewriter being chewed up by an escalator comes to mind, I did not recognise any of the songs he played, that is how bad it was. That said, I had often heard at the time that the sound in the Gasometer was dodgy. However, 2 years later I saw German hip hop band Fanta 4 there, and the sound was brilliant. I went as far as finding the place where I had stood on the balcony at the Iggy concert, to see/hear if that was the problem.

This remained a mystery to me till recently. At my new place of work, we have alot of live bands, and about 3 months ago, we installed an internal PA system, this was mostly done to cut the cost and work for the bands, hauling all their gear around. First few weeks were a complete disaster, embarrassing actually, the sound was dreadful and no one seemed to be able to pinpoint what the problem was. It turned out to be something really simple, which I stumbled upon one night when the manager was away. It was simply a matter of fine tuning the master volume with the mixing desk.

Everything was perfect for weeks, until last weekend, when the manager decided to get involved in the sound management again, f***ing disaster. The band ended up blowing two of their own amps, all coz the master volume was set too low. The lead singer let rip at the end of the gig, tore strips out of me, until he realised that i wasnt involved in the sound that night...

I know this is abit of a rant, but my point is sound engineering at gigs and concerts is not rocket science, but one does need abit of an ear for it. Prince and his crew should be well versed in all this, I cant imagine there is a PA system out there that he and his crew have come across and not been able to manipulate. Which leads me to think that there may be abit of sabotage going on, a theory which after reading "der Spiegel" review seems a possibility.

I know some are saying he should have improvised, and done an acoustic set, but to be honest that would never have worked if the sound system was "am Arsch", it would have simply made the fiasco a bigger joke than what it already is.

My advice to Prince, would be to take ownership of the mess, he is after all the manager, pinpoint where the problem is and find a solution. In addition to that, he should offer to rebook the gig and invite last nights ticket holders for free. Imagine the positive press he would get for that and it would be a wonderful gesture of goodwill to his German and European fanbase.

I remember seeing at least 4 concerts there (Adam Green, The White Stripes, Seal and Sarah Connor-I had to accompany my niece to that one ) and every time the sound was okay. These shows must have been between 2004 and 2007 I think .

I remember wanting to see Tori Amos there, but after the Iggy Pop episode I took a raincheck on it.

Jboogiee said:

agirl said:

I really feel sorry for all of you guys who went to this concert. And P might have made mistakes the way he handled it....

But to say he has lost his inspiration and doesn't want to play anymore, just doing it for the money..... Come on, that's bullshit. Just look at most of the concerts he has done here in Europe (Gent, Amsterdam) and they'll proof otherwise.

Again, I can understand the frustration, but some reactions are ridiculous.

Agreed,a lot of these reactions are bullshit.

I agree and I know I may catch some gripe for saying this, but maybe some need to chill, because there's always a possibility of sound issues at any concert, and this is not about making excuses for what happened yesterday, and sure I can understand some fans being a bit aggravated because they were expecting so much, but to use what happened at this particular concert to judge all his recent shows, and saying he lost his inspiration, is a bit ridiculous. I'm sure many of these same fans have been to previous concerts of his, where they didn't experience this and had a great time. What artist performs as many concerts as he does, while trying his best to please the majority of his demanding fans, and even doing aftershows at the last minute, sometimes after his main concert, and giving shows at smaller venues, and playing some of his rarities for his hardcore base? That does not sound like an artist who lost his inspiration for music, because he doesn't have to do aftershows, last minute or surprise shows at smaller venues, especially when he's already made his money from performing at arenas.

From what I've read/reading from some of these reports on how some in the audience behaved, well I could understand the sound issues being a problem, but that's no excuse for grown folks to throw items on stage at him and the band members and threaten their security. Quite frankly, he didn't have to come to Germany at all, and could have cancelled the show altogether, when he realized there was some sound issues, but I'm sure that would have pissed off fans there even more, as some artists have done that on the spot, and their fans became angry because of it. But he didn't cancel the show, and chose to at least give the audience a performance, and with some saying he had a curfew to meet, it is possible that he respected the curfew, and apparently the time taken to deal with the sound issues, may have contributed to a shorter performance or because of the sound issues, maybe that is why he may have chose to shorten the show. The latter, just speculation of course.

I remember there were some sound issues at the Target Center in Minneapolis, but that particular situation never led anyone to automatically go off the handle and think Prince lost his inspiration because of that. That would be utterly ridiculous to even suggest that off of one experience at a concert where there were sound issues. I'm sure there is an explanation as to what may have went wrong, and you would think that even when some fans there did acknowledge there was a possibility there may be some sound issues, that some would have at least understood, and not immediately scream that he lost his inspiration for his music or displayed obnoxious behavior. Who knows, maybe next time he may choose to perform at a different venue in Germany, if he chooses to return, seeing how some have stated they've experienced sound issues at that particular venue with other artists.

[Edited 7/29/11 7:59am]

Whitnail said:

Serious said:

I remember seeing at least 4 concerts there (Adam Green, The White Stripes, Seal and Sarah Connor-I had to accompany my niece to that one ) and every time the sound was okay. These shows must have been between 2004 and 2007 I think .

I remember wanting to see Tori Amos there, but after the Iggy Pop episode I took a raincheck on it.

I explained that it was not my choice to see her . It was a birthday present for my niece to see her first concert ever, so I and my boyfriend at that time went with her. BTW I saw S.C. and the White Stripes within a week there, I suppose not many people saw both shows .