stillwaiting said:

thx185 said:

I was there and this is exactly how it came across to me. The problem wasn't with him playing all hits, it was that they were done in a very overblown medley. You would get 1 verse, 1 chorus, then on to the next song in the "megamix". Many of the hits were done in "reloaded" versions, with no exciting new elements, and no energy of the original versions.

.

Again, hits were not the problem. Nile Rogers and Chic played their solid set of all hits (including covers of a few that Nile produced and co-wrote, including Get Lucky), and it was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. Nile had such a natural winning personality and rapport with the audience. He presented himself as a human being, grateful to be there, and he presented his music with class, style, and FUNK.

.

Any true funk fan was in heaven during Chic. As for how the true funk fan would feel about Prince.. I can only speak for myself, but I left about 3 songs before the end judging by the setlists posted.

.

Now keep in mind, my seat was on the floor.. I paid some dollars for that ticket.. Suffice it to say I had gotten my moneys worth with the absolutely stellar Chic set, and so had no problems exiting early from the overblown and bland Prince performance.

.

Something I haven't seen mentioned yet, there was a steady stream of people leaving from the floor during the last third of Prince's set.. I watched them leave, he watched them leave, and I joined them as "The Bird" was starting.

.

I'm glad I saw him, it was Prince I was there to see, he is a legend and a treasure, but he is at a phase in his career where he's phoning it in.

[Edited 7/6/14 21:25pm]

I haven't written my review yet, but Controversy was awful, just him singing a little bit, and doing one of his trademark screams a bunch. For many songs, and of course, Kiss, he just held the mic for the crowd to sing. Some fool paid $2,500 for floor seats to hear the audience sing a bunch...it was a good show, but considering he had over 40,000...not buying that it was 50,000 there....it should have been a legendary show. The bootleg of 5/15 Birmingham was a better show.

And considering the crowd at the Essence festival...complete versions of The Beautiful Ones, Do Me Baby, I Wanna Be Your Lover, perhaps Uptown and/or Delirious, and Adore would have been much appreciated.

It was a very good almost great show, but Prince was in FULL DIVA mode, and not in MUSICIAN mode. Since he has the talent to put on an amazing show, just seeing a very good one was kind of a letdown, but this is Prince. At least nobody was shouting "Put Your Hands Up," And at least Doug E Fresh's HORRIBLE shouting in the mic was left to his own "show."

utopia7 said:

thisisreece said:

Of course they didn't, but I doubt they shelled out for The Bird or Cool either. Prince played arenas accross the UK this year with lots of casual fans, and they were hits shows with a few sprinkled rarities, and the crowds loved them. I'm not saying he shouldn't play his hits with larger shows like Essence, but a few rarer songs might make a casual fan think, 'I haven't heard that, and that was really good,' and it might urge them to look deeper into Prince's discography.

Great Post my sentiments exactly. I think Prince's paranoia of being filmed or bootlegged.Has turneD him into a broken-record constantly playing the hits.No longer working to hard, because the backup singers and horns will do it for him.I get that the casual fan wants to hear old songs.I find it odd he stays away from a vast catalog to play and re-imagine live

I counted 19 songs from the 80's out of the 22 of his songs that he played; so you have a point!

stillwaiting said:

laurarichardson said:

This sound like ORG B.S. I have checked out a lot of urban blogs and urban stations and the reviews are steller. Why are you not buying 50k when the Essence people are saying all 50k seats they were avalible were sold out. The last person to do this was Prince in 2004 but I guess you do not believe he did it in 2004.

-----

No, this is your bullshit. I went to 7 Musicology shows in 2004, and just like the tour before Musicology, One Nite Alone in 2002, those tours were filled with great musicianship, and FULL LENGTH SONGS with PRINCE SINGING most, if not ALL THE LYRICS. So I would be shocked if the 2004 Essence Festival Peformance was not an awesome show. Had he been there on the 1997 Jam/Medley of the Year Tour in 1997, I would have expected it to be an underwhelming but ok performance.

You should have seen the rush of people going to the bathroom during Act of God, Funk N Roll....and it's not like the crowd were paying attention to Lianne La Havas singing most of Sometimes It Snows In April. Nobody cared about the girls singing What Have You Done For Me Lately, and there wasn't much love for Which Way Is Up Either.

I could give an over-glowing positive review, or give a ridiculous Bart type negative review. But no, I give MY TRUTH...not some bullshit where I fall in line with what you read on facebook. It was not a terrible show by any means, but fans I talked to after the show were not glowing like fans leaving Musicology. Before I write any review, I discuss with the people around me, and go out of my way to talk to tons of fans to try to give other people's perspective as well as my own.

Tell it. By the way whose the artist for "Which Way Is Up" and what's popular about it?

fbueller said:

Nevermind what some fans think......how is PRINCE satisfied with these type of performances? He set the bar as a live performer! You would think he would want to introduce different songs from his catalog (many of which he has never played live). But there he went with another predictible setlist, a dozen horn players and disjointed band lineup. To make matters worse he has managed to make the actual SOUND of the shows really sterile. Recent performances of COOL sound pretty generic, for example.

Somebody else noticed, 19 songs from the 80's... hee hee

seasideterror said:

stillwaiting said:

Uh, listen to the 5-15-14 show in Birmingham on bootleg. It's obvious Prince can sing full length songs when he is in the mood. His setlist did not reflect much awareness of the crowd. Older 30-50 types with very few young people don't want to hear Act of God and Funk N Roll. I liked those songs, but strange choices.

I even said it was a good show, just not a great one.

It seems you are one of those OVER positve people. Everybody has to be positive, if you have an opinion, then you are Bart Van Halen. Not me. I give my opinion, and refuse to fall in line with anybody.

Well I am one of those "older 30-50 types" and I like Funk N Roll. Maybe you shouldn't categorize people by age and assume you know what they will and will not like to hear.

Good for you for having your opinion and not "falling in line with anybody"... so why not let others have THEIR opinion without your "this and thats" of why they should agree with your opinion.

And yes I am a positive person... I try to find the positive in things, which I think is way better than looking to find the negative.

Well, I was at the show, and saw people rushing to the bathroom during Funk N Roll. I like the song, I just felt it led to some of the fans saying the show was alright, but not legendary. His reputation is far ahead of what he did Friday night. It was a lazy, medley oriented song shortened show, with a few brilliant moments, and a few songs sung in full. Same thing for Act of God, fans were walking out. At least 3,000 fans were gone by the end...you can blame some of it on the show running late, but some were just done with it.

Astasheiks said:

stillwaiting said:

No, this is your bullshit. I went to 7 Musicology shows in 2004, and just like the tour before Musicology, One Nite Alone in 2002, those tours were filled with great musicianship, and FULL LENGTH SONGS with PRINCE SINGING most, if not ALL THE LYRICS. So I would be shocked if the 2004 Essence Festival Peformance was not an awesome show. Had he been there on the 1997 Jam/Medley of the Year Tour in 1997, I would have expected it to be an underwhelming but ok performance.

You should have seen the rush of people going to the bathroom during Act of God, Funk N Roll....and it's not like the crowd were paying attention to Lianne La Havas singing most of Sometimes It Snows In April. Nobody cared about the girls singing What Have You Done For Me Lately, and there wasn't much love for Which Way Is Up Either.

I could give an over-glowing positive review, or give a ridiculous Bart type negative review. But no, I give MY TRUTH...not some bullshit where I fall in line with what you read on facebook. It was not a terrible show by any means, but fans I talked to after the show were not glowing like fans leaving Musicology. Before I write any review, I discuss with the people around me, and go out of my way to talk to tons of fans to try to give other people's perspective as well as my own.

Tell it. By the way whose the artist for "Which Way Is Up" and what's popular about it?

Which Way Is Up is a song from a old Richard Pryor Movie, written by Norman Whitfield...who also

co-wrote "Just My Imagination." If Prince had to do covers, that would've been a true moment.

Still, it was a good show, it was just too predictible with what he has been doing lately. It was more like Welcome 2 America than 3rd Eye Girl...at least with the rock tour, he sings more lyrics to the songs. I wanted to hear him do the funk/R&B songs, with a few rock numbers, but I wanted it to be more serious, and wanted to hear him sing, not hold the mic out to the audience...ya know?

One thing I will say, is that Prince has enough jamming songs to have 3-4 different Set Lists for this show.

stillwaiting said:

Astasheiks said:

Tell it. By the way whose the artist for "Which Way Is Up" and what's popular about it?

Which Way Is Up is a song from a old Richard Pryor Movie, written by Norman Whitfield...who also

co-wrote "Just My Imagination." If Prince had to do covers, that would've been a true moment.

Still, it was a good show, it was just too predictible with what he has been doing lately. It was more like Welcome 2 America than 3rd Eye Girl...at least with the rock tour, he sings more lyrics to the songs. I wanted to hear him do the funk/R&B songs, with a few rock numbers, but I wanted it to be more serious, and wanted to hear him sing, not hold the mic out to the audience...ya know?

I'm sure I've heard it, just didn't remember it. I'm going to have take a listen again. But from the old Richard Pryor Movie... another old song. 1977

[Edited 7/7/14 22:38pm]

Wait a minute, hasn't Prince done "obscure song tours" before and people on the Org still complained? Rewind to 2002 ONA tours for my point

Alexandernvrmind said:

thisisreece said:

Of course they didn't, but I doubt they shelled out for The Bird or Cool either. Prince played arenas accross the UK this year with lots of casual fans, and they were hits shows with a few sprinkled rarities, and the crowds loved them. I'm not saying he shouldn't play his hits with larger shows like Essence, but a few rarer songs might make a casual fan think, 'I haven't heard that, and that was really good,' and it might urge them to look deeper into Prince's discography.

You really are showing your youth or ignorance or both. Black people know The Bird and Cool both R&B old school grooves from the day. Those were R&B radio mainstays. Look I get what you are saying but I think you are applying a template for a situation that doesn't fit. It would be different if it was a small intimate theatre or after show.

It's true that I didn't know the audience of Essence before posting.

[Edited 7/8/14 0:11am]

thx185 said:

stillwaiting said:

I haven't written my review yet, but Controversy was awful, just him singing a little bit, and doing one of his trademark screams a bunch. For many songs, and of course, Kiss, he just held the mic for the crowd to sing. Some fool paid $2,500 for floor seats to hear the audience sing a bunch...it was a good show, but considering he had over 40,000...not buying that it was 50,000 there....it should have been a legendary show. The bootleg of 5/15 Birmingham was a better show.

And considering the crowd at the Essence festival...complete versions of The Beautiful Ones, Do Me Baby, I Wanna Be Your Lover, perhaps Uptown and/or Delirious, and Adore would have been much appreciated.

It was a very good almost great show, but Prince was in FULL DIVA mode, and not in MUSICIAN mode. Since he has the talent to put on an amazing show, just seeing a very good one was kind of a letdown, but this is Prince. At least nobody was shouting "Put Your Hands Up," And at least Doug E Fresh's HORRIBLE shouting in the mic was left to his own "show."

Yeah, I agree with what you're saying here. I would have been happy with any setlist as long as it was done with musicianship and a connection to the audience. But I too would have thought, and I went in with some hope, that Prince was going to do a more classic R&B set for the Essence crowd.

.

Because, for those of you that were not there, the dome was FULL of old-school vibe and energy all night. Most of the crowd was in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. It was not a young casual crowd that needed hits only. There was a lot of purple experience up in there. I was among my people, not among a bunch of casual fans. You think casual Prince fans going to pay $200 and up for a ticket?

.

And consider this yall- it was July 4th. The man was on stage with a big horn section. I just knew he was going to play America and let those horns have their fun with that horn line.. u know the 1.. that they did live on the Parade tour.. that shit is sooooo goood. But no.

.

And you know yall- it was right around the 30th anniversary of Purple Rain.. so he mentioned that a couple of times in the show, great. But other than those verbal mentions, nothing special for the occasion.

.

The diva mode / vegas / casino medley show came across to me like a $400 jukebox. Because that's how much I paid to see Prince, because I absolutely LOVE and "Adore" Prince 4 ever.

.

So I am one of U. Not a hater or a spreader of "ORG BS".

.

And I am here to tell you that on that night in NOLA, 3rd Eye Girl had no on-stage chemistry with one another or with the audience. The oversized horn section, which other orgers have commented on in this and other Prince concert threads, was overblown. It is spectacle, not funk. It does not come off as cool as you would expect. I am a sax player myself, and LOVE the horn-elements of Prince's music up to the present day. What he is doing right now in his stage act with the oversize section is not anything worth writing home about.

.

Prince himself brought the fire and the jam sauce for his appearance with Nile Rogers, because Prince was playing guitar and being Prince. It was electrifying and I was euphoric. But during his own show, Prince was more of an MC, full Diva, acting aloof from the crowd, playing that cheezy over-baked-ham thunder sound effect between every medley of songs (while the sampler loaded the next medley). Prince very rarely played any musical instrument except for the guitar in the 1990s-grunge-throwback version of Let's Go Crazy (Reloaded).

.

I'm not here to say anybody else should agree with me or that it was a bad show for everyone. But for me, as a musician myself and Prince NUT, it was not all that.

.

Art is better with criticism. Any artist surrounded only by syncophants will get weaker.

The bolded part is the most head-scratching of all, and it's been going on since at least the SXSW show last year. I never in a million years would have thought the day would come when Prince would hardly play guitar. It's so sad.

stillwaiting said:

seasideterror said:

The SuperDome had a curfew and he started later than planned because of the performances before him. I do know that he changed his originally planned set, so maybe songs were left out because of the time crunch.

He was not singing that much, holding the mic out to the crowd to sing, and shortening songs in a short show is not good. Also playing Act of God, Funk N Roll, Which Way Is Up, What Have You Done For ME Lately, THe Bird, Jungle Love, and The Glamorous Life was foolish...

Had he replaced those with full length versions of :

Adore, Baby I'm A Star, Uptown, I Wanna Be Your Lover, The Beautiful Ones, How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore....

now that would've fit the crowd he had...and had he actually sung the lyrics to Controversy instead of playing crowd hype guy...that would've been awesome...but no....he didn't.

Not a awful show by any means, but seeing him in a large crowd like this was an opportunity...and he sometimes blew it.

Nothing Compares 2 U, Take Me With U, Little Red Corvette, Let's Go Crazy, Egg N Roll, and Purple Rain were pretty much great....but he's been playing all of those other than Egg N Roll over and over again.

What is your point? I am sorry you did not enjoy the show but apparently thousands of other people did based on the reviews which all over the net and radio. No one is going to pay large sums of money at a large venue to hear obsurce songs. P knew the audience and he played to that audience. When he goes over seas he does his Rock n Roll show and plays obsurce stuff because those audiences will dig it.

I have said it a million times some people need to step off the purple boat. Check out some other artist for a few years and come back when you realize what you are missing. Or stay gone if Nikki Minaj and Lil Wayne are your thing.

stillwaiting said:

laurarichardson said:

This sound like ORG B.S. I have checked out a lot of urban blogs and urban stations and the reviews are steller. Why are you not buying 50k when the Essence people are saying all 50k seats they were avalible were sold out. The last person to do this was Prince in 2004 but I guess you do not believe he did it in 2004.

-----

No, this is your bullshit. I went to 7 Musicology shows in 2004, and just like the tour before Musicology, One Nite Alone in 2002, those tours were filled with great musicianship, and FULL LENGTH SONGS with PRINCE SINGING most, if not ALL THE LYRICS. So I would be shocked if the 2004 Essence Festival Peformance was not an awesome show. Had he been there on the 1997 Jam/Medley of the Year Tour in 1997, I would have expected it to be an underwhelming but ok performance.

You should have seen the rush of people going to the bathroom during Act of God, Funk N Roll....and it's not like the crowd were paying attention to Lianne La Havas singing most of Sometimes It Snows In April. Nobody cared about the girls singing What Have You Done For Me Lately, and there wasn't much love for Which Way Is Up Either.

I could give an over-glowing positive review, or give a ridiculous Bart type negative review. But no, I give MY TRUTH...not some bullshit where I fall in line with what you read on facebook. It was not a terrible show by any means, but fans I talked to after the show were not glowing like fans leaving Musicology. Before I write any review, I discuss with the people around me, and go out of my way to talk to tons of fans to try to give other people's perspective as well as my own.

"7 Musicology shows in 2004, and just like the tour before Musicology, One Nite Alone in 2002, those tours were filled with great musicianship, and FULL LENGTH SONGS with PRINCE SINGING most, if not ALL THE LYRICS."

Come with some facts and not more B.S. I went to all of those shows and people on this very board bitched about Musicology having too many hits despite the fact that he sold 100 million dollars worth of tickets and received great reviews and he did do a medley at Musicology.

I went to One Nite Along and people bitched about not hearing enought hits yet he received steller reviews and the venue I went to was sold out. I even went to the Jam Of The Year shows which were thrased on this board. People were on their feet jamming the whole show.

Your opinion is your opinion and speaking to a few people around and seeing a few hundred out 50k go to the damm restroom just does not mesh with the other hundreds of reports.

Even Tom Joyner gave P props and there is no love between these two.

[Edited 7/8/14 6:26am]

theblueangel said:

thx185 said:

Yeah, I agree with what you're saying here. I would have been happy with any setlist as long as it was done with musicianship and a connection to the audience. But I too would have thought, and I went in with some hope, that Prince was going to do a more classic R&B set for the Essence crowd.

.

Because, for those of you that were not there, the dome was FULL of old-school vibe and energy all night. Most of the crowd was in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. It was not a young casual crowd that needed hits only. There was a lot of purple experience up in there. I was among my people, not among a bunch of casual fans. You think casual Prince fans going to pay $200 and up for a ticket?

.

And consider this yall- it was July 4th. The man was on stage with a big horn section. I just knew he was going to play America and let those horns have their fun with that horn line.. u know the 1.. that they did live on the Parade tour.. that shit is sooooo goood. But no.

.

And you know yall- it was right around the 30th anniversary of Purple Rain.. so he mentioned that a couple of times in the show, great. But other than those verbal mentions, nothing special for the occasion.

.

The diva mode / vegas / casino medley show came across to me like a $400 jukebox. Because that's how much I paid to see Prince, because I absolutely LOVE and "Adore" Prince 4 ever.

.

So I am one of U. Not a hater or a spreader of "ORG BS".

.

And I am here to tell you that on that night in NOLA, 3rd Eye Girl had no on-stage chemistry with one another or with the audience. The oversized horn section, which other orgers have commented on in this and other Prince concert threads, was overblown. It is spectacle, not funk. It does not come off as cool as you would expect. I am a sax player myself, and LOVE the horn-elements of Prince's music up to the present day. What he is doing right now in his stage act with the oversize section is not anything worth writing home about.

.

Prince himself brought the fire and the jam sauce for his appearance with Nile Rogers, because Prince was playing guitar and being Prince. It was electrifying and I was euphoric. But during his own show, Prince was more of an MC, full Diva, acting aloof from the crowd, playing that cheezy over-baked-ham thunder sound effect between every medley of songs (while the sampler loaded the next medley). Prince very rarely played any musical instrument except for the guitar in the 1990s-grunge-throwback version of Let's Go Crazy (Reloaded).

.

I'm not here to say anybody else should agree with me or that it was a bad show for everyone. But for me, as a musician myself and Prince NUT, it was not all that.

.

Art is better with criticism. Any artist surrounded only by syncophants will get weaker.

The bolded part is the most head-scratching of all, and it's been going on since at least the SXSW show last year. I never in a million years would have thought the day would come when Prince would hardly play guitar. It's so sad.

He played long lengthy guitar solos all over Europe this year. You even had people complaining that the solos were too long and too loud.

------

theblueangel said:

thx185 said:

Yeah, I agree with what you're saying here. I would have been happy with any setlist as long as it was done with musicianship and a connection to the audience. But I too would have thought, and I went in with some hope, that Prince was going to do a more classic R&B set for the Essence crowd.

.

Because, for those of you that were not there, the dome was FULL of old-school vibe and energy all night. Most of the crowd was in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. It was not a young casual crowd that needed hits only. There was a lot of purple experience up in there. I was among my people, not among a bunch of casual fans. You think casual Prince fans going to pay $200 and up for a ticket?

.

And consider this yall- it was July 4th. The man was on stage with a big horn section. I just knew he was going to play America and let those horns have their fun with that horn line.. u know the 1.. that they did live on the Parade tour.. that shit is sooooo goood. But no.

.

And you know yall- it was right around the 30th anniversary of Purple Rain.. so he mentioned that a couple of times in the show, great. But other than those verbal mentions, nothing special for the occasion.

.

The diva mode / vegas / casino medley show came across to me like a $400 jukebox. Because that's how much I paid to see Prince, because I absolutely LOVE and "Adore" Prince 4 ever.

.

So I am one of U. Not a hater or a spreader of "ORG BS".

.

And I am here to tell you that on that night in NOLA, 3rd Eye Girl had no on-stage chemistry with one another or with the audience. The oversized horn section, which other orgers have commented on in this and other Prince concert threads, was overblown. It is spectacle, not funk. It does not come off as cool as you would expect. I am a sax player myself, and LOVE the horn-elements of Prince's music up to the present day. What he is doing right now in his stage act with the oversize section is not anything worth writing home about.

.

Prince himself brought the fire and the jam sauce for his appearance with Nile Rogers, because Prince was playing guitar and being Prince. It was electrifying and I was euphoric. But during his own show, Prince was more of an MC, full Diva, acting aloof from the crowd, playing that cheezy over-baked-ham thunder sound effect between every medley of songs (while the sampler loaded the next medley). Prince very rarely played any musical instrument except for the guitar in the 1990s-grunge-throwback version of Let's Go Crazy (Reloaded).

.

I'm not here to say anybody else should agree with me or that it was a bad show for everyone. But for me, as a musician myself and Prince NUT, it was not all that.

.

Art is better with criticism. Any artist surrounded only by syncophants will get weaker.

The bolded part is the most head-scratching of all, and it's been going on since at least the SXSW show last year. I never in a million years would have thought the day would come when Prince would hardly play guitar. It's so sad.

Why not? He hardly played guitar during Parade-era concerts!

laurarichardson said:

theblueangel said:

The bolded part is the most head-scratching of all, and it's been going on since at least the SXSW show last year. I never in a million years would have thought the day would come when Prince would hardly play guitar. It's so sad.

He played long lengthy guitar solos all over Europe this year. You even had people complaining that the solos were too long and too loud.

------

He might not have played much guitar at Essence, but yeah, he played guitar like crazy all over Europe. I don't remember anybody complaining though.

seasideterror said:

namepeace said:

How long did Prince play?

His average arena set has been 3 hours.

I heard the set this year was 2 hours.

That probably explains the setlist . . . ahem . . . Controversy on this thread. Less time makes it less likely big fans are going to get the "deep album cuts" or B-sides they might otherwise hear.

Plus, for big fans, there's bound to be a point of "diminishing returns" when going to see an artist they've seen perform for perhaps as long as 3 decades.

That says at least as much about their expectations as it does the quality of the performance itself. I'm always going to be excited to see a Prince show, but can't expect to have my mind blown like it was in the 80s or 90s. Different times and circumstances for audiences and artist alike.

The SuperDome had a curfew and he started later than planned because of the performances before him. I do know that he changed his originally planned set, so maybe songs were left out because of the time crunch.

I think that's the long and short of it.

A lot of this discussion reminds me of Prince's line in "Don't Play Me":

"My only competition is . . . myself in the past."

Even if I were to believe Prince's performance was less than stellar, WITHOUT taking into account the curfew and compressed playing time, I'm okay with that. Even in his mid-fifties, Prince's off nights are better than the best nights of many artists in their prime.

BTW, I have no problem with the medley-style performances. He did that on the Lovesexy tour and that worked out just fine. Nor would i have been disappointed by him not playing much guitar; if I go to Essence, I know that's not what many of the casual concertgoers want to hear.

thisisreece said:

laurarichardson said:

He played long lengthy guitar solos all over Europe this year. You even had people complaining that the solos were too long and too loud.

------

He might not have played much guitar at Essence, but yeah, he played guitar like crazy all over Europe. I don't remember anybody complaining though.

--------- A few complaints not many but still strange. If Prince had played long loud solos at Essence you would have about half the crowd walking out. I have been the Essence fest and it is about 60% African-American woman and most of the ones I know are not into Rock n Roll. These people were looking for his RnB/Pop side.

Basically... it really doesn't matter what Prince does because people will find something to criticize him about. He played too much guitar, he didn't play enough guitar... He sang too much, he didn't sing enough... He was in diva-mode, he didn't interact enough with the crowd... He played too many old songs, he played too many new songs... His songs were too long, he had too many medleys... blah blah blah.

Prince is Prince, a music icon. If you are lucky enough to see him once in your lifetime be happy. And if you see him several times, be grateful you can see the different sides of his performing.

50,000 fans at his concert at Essence with positive reviews by critics... enough said.

thisisreece said:

laurarichardson said:

He played long lengthy guitar solos all over Europe this year. You even had people complaining that the solos were too long and too loud.

------

He might not have played much guitar at Essence, but yeah, he played guitar like crazy all over Europe. I don't remember anybody complaining though.

Essence festival wasn't Europe. The music was apparently, like so many here already told you, more than likely based on the type of audience he was playing for. It is very clear that what a musician plays for the demographics of one audience vs another, doesn't diminish their music talent. Different flavors for different audiences.

laurarichardson said:

thisisreece said:

He might not have played much guitar at Essence, but yeah, he played guitar like crazy all over Europe. I don't remember anybody complaining though.

--------- A few complaints not many but still strange. If Prince had played long loud solos at Essence you would have about half the crowd walking out. I have been the Essence fest and it is about 60% African-American woman and most of the ones I know are not into Rock n Roll. These people were looking for his RnB/Pop side.

yeah, go figure

he opens with a heavy rock version of LGC - I knew that wasn't going to last

thx185 said:

stillwaiting said:

I haven't written my review yet, but Controversy was awful, just him singing a little bit, and doing one of his trademark screams a bunch. For many songs, and of course, Kiss, he just held the mic for the crowd to sing. Some fool paid $2,500 for floor seats to hear the audience sing a bunch...it was a good show, but considering he had over 40,000...not buying that it was 50,000 there....it should have been a legendary show. The bootleg of 5/15 Birmingham was a better show.

And considering the crowd at the Essence festival...complete versions of The Beautiful Ones, Do Me Baby, I Wanna Be Your Lover, perhaps Uptown and/or Delirious, and Adore would have been much appreciated.

It was a very good almost great show, but Prince was in FULL DIVA mode, and not in MUSICIAN mode. Since he has the talent to put on an amazing show, just seeing a very good one was kind of a letdown, but this is Prince. At least nobody was shouting "Put Your Hands Up," And at least Doug E Fresh's HORRIBLE shouting in the mic was left to his own "show."

Yeah, I agree with what you're saying here. I would have been happy with any setlist as long as it was done with musicianship and a connection to the audience. But I too would have thought, and I went in with some hope, that Prince was going to do a more classic R&B set for the Essence crowd.

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Because, for those of you that were not there, the dome was FULL of old-school vibe and energy all night. Most of the crowd was in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. It was not a young casual crowd that needed hits only. There was a lot of purple experience up in there. I was among my people, not among a bunch of casual fans. You think casual Prince fans going to pay $200 and up for a ticket?

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And consider this yall- it was July 4th. The man was on stage with a big horn section. I just knew he was going to play America and let those horns have their fun with that horn line.. u know the 1.. that they did live on the Parade tour.. that shit is sooooo goood. But no.

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And you know yall- it was right around the 30th anniversary of Purple Rain.. so he mentioned that a couple of times in the show, great. But other than those verbal mentions, nothing special for the occasion.

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The diva mode / vegas / casino medley show came across to me like a $400 jukebox. Because that's how much I paid to see Prince, because I absolutely LOVE and "Adore" Prince 4 ever.

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So I am one of U. Not a hater or a spreader of "ORG BS".

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And I am here to tell you that on that night in NOLA, 3rd Eye Girl had no on-stage chemistry with one another or with the audience. The oversized horn section, which other orgers have commented on in this and other Prince concert threads, was overblown. It is spectacle, not funk. It does not come off as cool as you would expect. I am a sax player myself, and LOVE the horn-elements of Prince's music up to the present day. What he is doing right now in his stage act with the oversize section is not anything worth writing home about.

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Prince himself brought the fire and the jam sauce for his appearance with Nile Rogers, because Prince was playing guitar and being Prince. It was electrifying and I was euphoric. But during his own show, Prince was more of an MC, full Diva, acting aloof from the crowd, playing that cheezy over-baked-ham thunder sound effect between every medley of songs (while the sampler loaded the next medley). Prince very rarely played any musical instrument except for the guitar in the 1990s-grunge-throwback version of Let's Go Crazy (Reloaded).

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I'm not here to say anybody else should agree with me or that it was a bad show for everyone. But for me, as a musician myself and Prince NUT, it was not all that.

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Art is better with criticism. Any artist surrounded only by syncophants will get weaker.

I agree. I love going to his shows, but this one didn't do it for me. The Chic show was the highlight for me. I love Nile Rodgers. His humility and spirit of collaboration is what I LOVE about him, and it is how he has been so successful.

Maybe I'm just Purple Rain'd out. I know he must do the hits at Essence, but in every show I've been to until this one has been electric. This one didn't have me leaving walking on air. I love that he did Days of Wild and Hot Thing, but I swear if I hear Kiss or Purple Rain one more time....

The crew I went with had one other Prince fam and that was it. The rest of them enjoyed it. The fam and I? Well it was nice.

Nile Rodgers was amazing and I'm glad I went. I'm disappointed to say that, but it was just a nice show.

I guess I should have gone to the House of Blues that night.

[Edited 7/8/14 20:16pm]

Astasheiks said:

One thing I will say, is that Prince has enough jamming songs to have 3-4 different Set Lists for this show.

AMEN

seasideterror said:

Basically... it really doesn't matter what Prince does because people will find something to criticize him about. He played too much guitar, he didn't play enough guitar... He sang too much, he didn't sing enough... He was in diva-mode, he didn't interact enough with the crowd... He played too many old songs, he played too many new songs... His songs were too long, he had too many medleys... blah blah blah.

Prince is Prince, a music icon. If you are lucky enough to see him once in your lifetime be happy. And if you see him several times, be grateful you can see the different sides of his performing.

50,000 fans at his concert at Essence with positive reviews by critics... enough said.

Anybody have a idea how much he got paid for this performance?

Astasheiks said:

seasideterror said:

Basically... it really doesn't matter what Prince does because people will find something to criticize him about. He played too much guitar, he didn't play enough guitar... He sang too much, he didn't sing enough... He was in diva-mode, he didn't interact enough with the crowd... He played too many old songs, he played too many new songs... His songs were too long, he had too many medleys... blah blah blah.

Prince is Prince, a music icon. If you are lucky enough to see him once in your lifetime be happy. And if you see him several times, be grateful you can see the different sides of his performing.

50,000 fans at his concert at Essence with positive reviews by critics... enough said.

Anybody have a idea how much he got paid for this performance?

It was a benefit for Van Jones's organization. probably not massive amounts in that case.

Wow...I came here to read post about the wonderful show I witnesses Friday night.....and uh.... Is it me or are a lot of you a bunch of Debbie Downers that would ruin a wet dream!!! Like are ya'll EVER satisfied? I wouldn't blame him one bit if he said the hell with all of you and stop touring period.

ANYWAY my question is this...I understand that Prince is notorious for not allowing cameras, filming of his events.....MANNNNN I saw so many Ipads and phones out recording the ENTIRE CONCERT it was hilarious! Then he asked everyone to turn on their phones and hold them up....IS THIS NORMAL for him???LOL!! I'm just curious..what made Essence different?

laurarichardson said:

stillwaiting said:

He was not singing that much, holding the mic out to the crowd to sing, and shortening songs in a short show is not good. Also playing Act of God, Funk N Roll, Which Way Is Up, What Have You Done For ME Lately, THe Bird, Jungle Love, and The Glamorous Life was foolish...

Had he replaced those with full length versions of :

Adore, Baby I'm A Star, Uptown, I Wanna Be Your Lover, The Beautiful Ones, How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore....

now that would've fit the crowd he had...and had he actually sung the lyrics to Controversy instead of playing crowd hype guy...that would've been awesome...but no....he didn't.

Not a awful show by any means, but seeing him in a large crowd like this was an opportunity...and he sometimes blew it.

Nothing Compares 2 U, Take Me With U, Little Red Corvette, Let's Go Crazy, Egg N Roll, and Purple Rain were pretty much great....but he's been playing all of those other than Egg N Roll over and over again.

What is your point? I am sorry you did not enjoy the show but apparently thousands of other people did based on the reviews which all over the net and radio. No one is going to pay large sums of money at a large venue to hear obsurce songs. P knew the audience and he played to that audience. When he goes over seas he does his Rock n Roll show and plays obsurce stuff because those audiences will dig it.

I have said it a million times some people need to step off the purple boat. Check out some other artist for a few years and come back when you realize what you are missing. Or stay gone if Nikki Minaj and Lil Wayne are your thing.

^^^^THIS REPONSE IS EVERYTHING^^^^^

SunflowerDiva said:

Wow...I came here to read post about the wonderful show I witnesses Friday night.....and uh.... Is it me or are a lot of you a bunch of Debbie Downers that would ruin a wet dream!!! Like are ya'll EVER satisfied? I wouldn't blame him one bit if he said the hell with all of you and stop touring period.

ANYWAY my question is this...I understand that Prince is notorious for not allowing cameras, filming of his events.....MANNNNN I saw so many Ipads and phones out recording the ENTIRE CONCERT it was hilarious! Then he asked everyone to turn on their phones and hold them up....IS THIS NORMAL for him???LOL!! I'm just curious..what made Essence different?

I think there's some people on here who, if they found a £50 note on the street, would complain about the litter!