I loved this tour. I was about 14 years old. I attended the one in Little Rock, Ar. (1/3/98) It was my first time (out of 3 times...Hit and Run Tour in 2001 and Musicology in 2004) seeing Prince live. Yes, some of the hits were played in "snippet" format, but I got a chance 2 hear a great deal of the Emancipation album at this concert to my recollection. They did "Face Down", "Somebody's Somebody", "Jam of the year", "Dreaming about u" (although it was an instrumental performance), "Sleep Around", and "Emancipation". I was ok with Larry Graham opening up, but I was counting down to see what Prince was gonna do and he showed up for sure... with a lot of energy! I'll never 4get. That Emancipation album got me thru a lot during that time. Also... The New Power Soul album that followed was pretty cool in my opinion. "The One" and "Come On" did alright with the "urban" audience. Those performances at that time were on point 2 me.

I saw quite a few shows on this tour, including those warm up gigs of Love for Another charity shows, that NYC show is one of my faves, but as for the Jam of the Year tour, i remember liking it but looking back on it, it was a letdown, because here he had this 36 song epic and barely played more than 3 songs from it, if even. The Jones Beach that i saw was possibly my least favorite Prince show ever, maybe because i just hate Jones Beach for shows in general, but this show was just blah for me, though there were a few good after shows on this tour and i did catch him in jersey and that was better. but this tour for me, ranks middle of the road though next to the musicology tour where i saw him 24times, the emancipation tour i caught 12 gigs

charmz33 said:

I loved this tour. I was about 14 years old. I attended the one in Little Rock, Ar. (1/3/98) It was my first time (out of 3 times...Hit and Run Tour in 2001 and Musicology in 2004) seeing Prince live. Yes, some of the hits were played in "snippet" format, but I got a chance 2 hear a great deal of the Emancipation album at this concert to my recollection. They did "Face Down", "Somebody's Somebody", "Jam of the year", "Dreaming about u" (although it was an instrumental performance), "Sleep Around", and "Emancipation". I was ok with Larry Graham opening up, but I was counting down to see what Prince was gonna do and he showed up for sure... with a lot of energy! I'll never 4get. That Emancipation album got me thru a lot during that time. Also... The New Power Soul album that followed was pretty cool in my opinion. "The One" and "Come On" did alright with the "urban" audience. Those performances at that time were on point 2 me.

You are recollecting wrong.

motherfunka said:

charmz33 said:

I loved this tour. I was about 14 years old. I attended the one in Little Rock, Ar. (1/3/98) It was my first time (out of 3 times...Hit and Run Tour in 2001 and Musicology in 2004) seeing Prince live. Yes, some of the hits were played in "snippet" format, but I got a chance 2 hear a great deal of the Emancipation album at this concert to my recollection. They did "Face Down", "Somebody's Somebody", "Jam of the year", "Dreaming about u" (although it was an instrumental performance), "Sleep Around", and "Emancipation". I was ok with Larry Graham opening up, but I was counting down to see what Prince was gonna do and he showed up for sure... with a lot of energy! I'll never 4get. That Emancipation album got me thru a lot during that time. Also... The New Power Soul album that followed was pretty cool in my opinion. "The One" and "Come On" did alright with the "urban" audience. Those performances at that time were on point 2 me.

You are recollecting wrong.

At my concert he definitely played Jam of the Year and Face Down Your comment refers to "great deal"?

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

motherfunka said:

You are recollecting wrong.

At my concert he definitely played Jam of the Year and Face Down Your comment refers to "great deal"?

Generally 5 songs of 36 off EMANCIPATION - Jam of the Year, Get You Groove On, Face Down, Mr Happy, Sleep Around (Mr Happy and Sleep Around were normally dropped during the 2nd leg, as was Get You Groove On in the 2nd half of the 2nd leg).

stillwaiting said:

Had some really nice moments: If I Was Your Girlfriend, The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?, The Cross, Do Me Baby.

Had some songs played a few times not played on the entire tour: When Doves Cry, 17 Days, A Case Of U

Had some horrible moments: medley after medley, shortened song after shortened song, Purple Rain was barely the first verse, chorus, and the guitar solo.

The fact that Emancipation was touted as the album he was "Born To Make," made it silly that he pretty much only played two full length songs from it on the tour with JOTY, and Face Down. He played bits of Sleep Around a few times, and some actually got Somebody's Somebody and The Holy River...and in what would become typical of Prince, having a single out but hardly ever playing it live.

This was obviously a difficult period in his life, with the death of his child, who he acknowledged as being alive and well on Oprah, when he had either already passed or was dying...which was very creepy.

Basically, from 1997-2001, a Prince show always had at least a few minutes of excellence, but was a huge letdown from previous tours.

In 2002, he would go back to being the great live performer, and would continue through the 2004 tour....

Sadly, from 2006-2012, he is not so consistent, and plays some generic arrangements that hardly sound like the actual song. He plays too many snippets, and has 2 things in his show that go from beyond corny and stupid to self-parody: The Sampler Set, and having Shelby shout "Put Your Hands Up," anywhere fromn 50 to 200 times a night.

Still, even at the worst Prince concert, the guy who can be the greatest live performer on the planet still shows up for a song or two, or even 10 or more if you are lucky.

no he should just do the first verse of purple rain and call it a night otherwise a verse, chrous solo making the song only like 3 mins would be great!!

agree with everything else u said

This was the first one I went to, so of course I had a great time. But I did notice better and/or more enthusiastic crowds at ONA, Musicology, and Welcome to America (NY). The Jam of the Year show I went to was in Buffalo, NY, which could have explained the lack of enthusiam.

Back in '97, Prince was pretty close to the nadir of his career. That is probably why it isnt talked about too much.

motherfunka said:

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

At my concert he definitely played Jam of the Year and Face Down Your comment refers to "great deal"?

Generally 5 songs of 36 off EMANCIPATION - Jam of the Year, Get You Groove On, Face Down, Mr Happy, Sleep Around (Mr Happy and Sleep Around were normally dropped during the 2nd leg, as was Get You Groove On in the 2nd half of the 2nd leg).

Don't forget 'One of Us' also.