Can someone tell me exactly what happened? I haven't seen any footage of it (nor will I ever) but I heard the audio and there seems to be a moment where he says "Just the bass!" and then there's some fine but slightly messy bass playing. Was that Prince putting Sting on the spot? Sorry if this has been covered many times before, I've just never heard of this story and being a big Prince/Police/Stones fan I'm curious.

Sting and Ron Wood had come on stage to play along. The Revolution did "Miss You". Prince said, "This used to belong to you, but tonight it belongs to me," or something very similar. Prince kept sending up hand signals to the band to do different fills. Sting didn't know them and couldn't follow along. He finally just gave up in frustration. Prince was just in a playful, but very cocky mood.

There are pics of Prince and Ron Wood on stage. I am not aware if footage exists. I wonder if the whole concert does on a boot (audio) somewhere.

ernestsewell said:

Thanks! Were they both playing bass or was it just Sting? Man he must've been pissed; was around the time he could still be real crabby. The audio I heard sounds awesome, I wish I could see some video footage because it's hard to tell who's playing exactly what parts from just the audio.

FrankCapraMoment said:

Sting and Ron both play guitar and bass. It's Sting's main instrument and it's what he was playing that night. Ron played guitar to my knowledge.

There's no video footage, just the audio of the concert.

Prince was simply singing and dancing during the song and calling out instructions. In common with the rest of the tour, he rarely played guitar (that night some noodling at the end of 'Head' and 'Purple Rain', for example), a smattering of organ early on, but no bass playing, which was all left to Mark, apart from when Sting came on.

As Ernest described, Prince was simply being playful but cocky, and it didn't look from where I was that there was any deliberate intent to make Sting look inept or foolish. It was the last night of the three might run at London Wembley Arena, opening the European tour, Prince could do no wrong (the press reception was unanimously celebratory in the UK) and everyone, - musicians and audience alike - were simply on fire that night.

there is a video footage
on youtube i seen prince documentary
with more then a minute high quality
snippet of that performance,Sting ,Ron Wood and Prince performing Miss you
in that same documentary there is a
video of Prince playing Just My imagination
but not small club version

that was my first ever P concert, (i bunked off school 2 go !)

i may b wrong, but i think the documentary video footage referred 2 is from the aftershow, and not Wembley. (if it's the one where P is doing his Mick Jagger impersonation)

and yes, it was the awakening of MANY, critics, musicians and fans alike, of just what a freak of nature this guy was.

i have cassette version off all 3 shows, plus a double vinyl album (remember them ?) of the shows..ahhh memories.. (breaks out in2 Streisand vocal...)
[Edited 10/12/09 6:21am]

alexandernevermind1999 said:

did you get your cassettes off Camden market!

funkyhead said:

LOL !
no, was a member of the 'Controversy' fan group from back in the day (b4 P & Paisley Park got involved), and we used 2 share around tapes 4 each other 2 listen/tape, so as not 2 get ripped off by the bootleggers ! (SAYING THAT, I STILL BOUGHT THE BLOODY BOOTLEG DOUBLE ALBUM, DIDN'T I !!)

The footage comes from a BBC documentary from circa 1990/91 (maybe 'Panorama') and is definitely an aftershow gig after one of the Lovesexy Wembley gigs in '88.
Prince has got a black low cut vest on with the 'eye' symbol on it in white. Ron Wood is playing the 'Blue Angel' guitar.
Later on Prince hands out the mic to Mica Paris who is in the crowd, and she sings 'Just my Imagination.'
The rest of the doc is made up of a recap of Prince's life up until the D & P era. There are interviews with journalists who've interviewed him, rehearsal footage from the Lovesexy tour (European legs), and a great interview with Eric Leeds about the recording of the Madhouse 8 album, where Prince kept ringing Eric up at 1am, and 3am, and so on, and saying can you come back to the studio, I've had another idea!
I think (and I could be wrong) that the whole doc is littered with footage from a shelved in-house Paisley Park project which was to show the workings of Paisley Park and how it was used as a business, using the Lovesexy tours as an example.
Why it wasn't released, I don't know.
It is around 50mins long, and ends with more concert rehearsal footage of Prince playing a solo version of 'The Ladder' on a blue piano, which is one of the most moving performances I've ever seen of Prince's.

Hope this is helpful.

Wasn't his shirt black with an exposed midirft with the 'eye' cut out and surged in white outline?

If so I have seen some of that too, BUT, it seems to have only been a few seconds of Prince singing "miss you." As far as I recall I do not have that performance on bootleg so I am thinking it was on the "lovesexy" mini-doc.

AUGUST 14TH WEMBLEY STADIUM, THERE'S ONE OR TWO PICS OF THE 2 OF EM ON STAGE....

POSSIBLY MY FAVE VERSION THAT PRINCE HAS DONE OF MISS YOU

THE ROOF! THE ROOF! THE ROOF IS ON FIRE WE DON'T NEED NO WATER LET THE FOTHER MUCKER BURN!!!

The pictures people are refering to are from the excellent aftershow at the Camden Palais.

At the Wembley Arena show Prince only played guitar on two songs that night; Purple Rain and a rare early performance on Sometimes it snows in april.

I was in the front row so I got a good sight of Sting and Ron on the left of the stage. they looked like they were enjoying themselves. Sting looked more nervous than anything else. Ron didn't have a care in the world. Prince worked the audience for almost the entire performance, barely registering his guests once he'd introduced them.

SquirrelMeat said:

Wow! cool info, thanks.

I think this performance shows that Prince and Sting come from very diferent schools, you know, P type of jamming is more agresive and pretentious, Sting is more passive and calm. I have The Police cover of Rolling Stone magazine were Sting talks about Prince and his sexual revolution.

Pentapus said:

You're confusing two different gigs. Sting & Ron Wood was in 1986 w/ the Revolution. They did "Miss You". The Lovesexy gig is another whole show.

ernestsewell said:

There was a vinyl boot out back in the late 80's. I have it.

Hey thanks for the replies everybody! I'm really surprised at how many people were at this concert. I'm still pretty psyched when I meet someone who saw the man in his heyday, much less a pretty notable one like this. That's pretty cool. It must've been a trip to see.

Hope I can find that documentary footage one day. Prince and Sting are probably my two favorite frontmen from the '80s and while I agree that they may differ in style, they're very similar at the core. They're both mad talented multi-instrumentalists with amazing voices and very groove-oriented influences.

ernestsewell said:

Yeah, I have the whole show on audio.

I would REALLY like to meet the audience member that thought just because they brought a whistle, that made them a member of the band!

ernestsewell said:

I thought I couldn't see Sting!
But it was the only footage I'd seen of Prince & Ron Wood together. Oh well, you live and learn!

SquirrelMeat said:

There are also 4 or 5 pics from 1986. I have them somewhere but this one I still had on my PC.

SquirrelMeat said:

As I recall, he picked up the guitar at the end of Head that evening and played a very small bit of jazz styling?

<<<<< Overcome by bootleg catalog envy and fear of exposure of less than encyclopedic level of Prince concert detail knowledge, quietly reads thread and returns to rearranging sock drawer.

ernestsewell said:

Footage does exist. It was part of a BBC Omnibus documentary that I used to have on video but lost, it showed him in many playful behind-closed-doors scenarios too:

taking the piss out of his makeup artist by saying in a camille like voice " you're trying to jake me look stupid eh"

sat in an empty auditorium watching rehearsals, stopping everything and saying about Cat " phew, look at those shoes....spotlight on the shoes please"

it was an ace documentary with loads of rehearsal footage and had the Miss You aftershow, just my imagination aftershow with mica Paris and.....Daddy Pop video


Really wish I knew where I could see it again



.
[Edited 10/14/09 3:30am]

purpledoveuk said:

the omnibus footage was/is from '88/lovesexy tour, aftershow performance, not '86/parade tour, wembley. (P has his hair long or tied back in a pony tail in all the footage, but it was still short in '86) (i was at wembley '86, and was filmed meeting P when he was filming the documentary footage in '88 that he let omnibus use a few years later)

ps the BBC omnibus show is out there in the ether....
[Edited 10/14/09 4:50am]
[Edited 10/14/09 4:56am]

alexandernevermind1999 said:

I was going to say that I don't remember seeing Sting.

I imagine if somebody were to search the ether they should perhaps start with a website that sounds like it should be about watershoots for female sheep?

My first Concert ..remember very clearly Ron Wood and Sting on stage... Still got my bootleg that I bought from Camden ..also a Controvesy member...ah the good old days

mattj said:

I know....how novel having a reliable fan club that not only delivered what you paid for but often exeeded expectations.

I remember, even after it had been shut down and replaced by that shitty NPG fanzine(...I recieved just 2 issues of it) Eileen Murton (?)still arranged priority tickets through her contacts...what a gem.

What do we get now? Shell out $70 - $100 and youight or might not get what you signed up for and it may close after just a few months....somebody say RICO

the irony is that I got more priority tickets from Controversy AFTER itclosed than I did in all if the NPGMC years



.
[Edited 10/14/09 7:10am]

purpledoveuk said:

Eileen Murton...what a little wonder she was !!

purpledoveuk said:

That's not the same thing, as I stated before. The Revolution gig with Sting and Ron Wood is only available in audio form. The footage you speak of is from 2 years later during the Lovesexy period.

CJBabyDaddy said:

Likewise!