Wear Something Purple

September 5th 1984 Sheile E tours her album & band before opening 4 the Purple Rain tour

Prince & the Revolutoin Warm Up Gig: September 23. 1984 Bogart Cincinnati

Purple Rain Tour Rehearsals start October 1984 Minneapolis

November 4, 1984 - Prince & The Revolution kick off the “Purple Rain Tour” at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, MI. The first of seven sold out nights at the venue, the tour is a massive success and will play 33 cities, perform 87 shows to an audience of over 1.7 million people. Sheila E. and Apollonia 6 will also perform on the tour in support of The Revolution. The Syracuse, NY show on March 30, 1985 will be released on home video as “Prince & The Revolution Live!” later in the year.

All songs from the Purple Rain album were performed, Bsides were performed at least 1 time - all the time ie Another Lonely Christmas, God-the dance electric, 17 Days & Erotic City was usually performed by Sheila E sometimes with Prince, Possessed an outtake performed as well.

November 11. 1984
Joe Louis Arena Detroit, Michigan

opening act -Sheila E.

-Prince & the Revolution -

Prince
Wendy Melvoin(guitar)
Brown Mark (bass)
Lisa Coleman (keyboards/synth/strings)
Matt Fink (keyboards/synth)
Bobby Z (drumss)

1. Let's Go Crazy
2. Delirious
3. 1999
4. Little Red Corvette
5. Yankee Doodle Dandy
6. Free
7. Father's Song*
8. God
9. Computer Blue
10. Darling Nikki
11. The Beautiful Ones
12. When Doves Cry
13. I Would Die 4 U
14. Baby I'm A Star
15. Purple Rain

Prince- opening night of the Purple Rain tour, Detroit 1984

March 1. 1985
Daly City Cow Palace San Francisco
-Sheila E.-
-Prince & The Revolution-

1.Let's Go Crazy
2.Delirious
3.1999
4.Little Red Corvette
5.Take Me With U
6.When You Were Mine
7.Head
8.Father's Song
9.A Case Of You *
10.Still Waiting *
11.Iresistible Bitch
12.Condition Of The Heart
13.Do Me, Baby
14.Temptation
15.Let's Pretend We're Married
16.International Lover
17.God
13.Computer Blue
14.Darling Nikki
15.The Beautiful Ones
16.When Doves Cry
17.I Would Die 4 U
18.Baby I'm A Star
19.Purple Rain

My first Prince show, one of many spanning from 85-09. Indianapolis, IN. April 1, 1985. Toss up between that one and the Lovesexy show I saw as all time favorite.

I saw this tour twice: Buffalo in Dec '84 and New York (Nassau Colliseum) Spring '85.

QUESTION: Is there any footage of Sheila's opening set in circulation? I have never seen it ;( I do have the 3 disck "I dont' know when's the return" which has a cd of her set, but never heard of the video footage being around.

OldFriends4Sale said:

November 11. 1984
Joe Louis Arena Detroit, Michigan

opening act -Sheila E.

-Prince & the Revolution -

Prince
Wendy Melvoin(guitar)
Brown Mark (bass)
Lisa Coleman (keyboards/synth/strings)
Matt Fink (keyboards/synth)
Bobby Z (drumss)

1. Let's Go Crazy
2. Delirious
3. 1999
4. Little Red Corvette
5. Yankee Doodle Dandy
6. Free
7. Father's Song*
8. God
9. Computer Blue
10. Darling Nikki
11. The Beautiful Ones
12. When Doves Cry
13. I Would Die 4 U
14. Baby I'm A Star
15. Purple Rain

Prince- opening night of the Purple Rain tour, Detroit 1984

Look how time changes thing, no cordless mike back then!

I went to this show in Worcester, MA. We had a group of 17 people. We had the worst seats.

But, back in the 80's you could work your way around the venues without security hasseling you at every level point. My friend kerry an i crawled under seats ...etc. Eventually we got to about 5-10 rows from the stage.

I caught a part of glove he threw and got hit with the fake guitar stroking giz at the end of the show.

It sounds a lot worst now that I'm typing it. LOL.

I remembring thinking he was going to tip over with how big his hair was?

It was purple insanity at it's best.

GaryMF said:

I saw this tour twice: Buffalo in Dec '84 and New York (Nassau Colliseum) Spring '85.

QUESTION: Is there any footage of Sheila's opening set in circulation? I have never seen it ;( I do have the 3 disck "I dont' know when's the return" which has a cd of her set, but never heard of the video footage being around.

I've seen a video of the Belle of St Mark from her set. Try youtube.

Rev said:

I went to this show in Worcester, MA. We had a group of 17 people. We had the worst seats.

But, back in the 80's you could work your way around the venues without security hasseling you at every level point. My friend kerry an i crawled under seats ...etc. Eventually we got to about 5-10 rows from the stage.

I caught a part of glove he threw and got hit with the fake guitar stroking giz at the end of the show.

It sounds a lot worst now that I'm typing it. LOL.

I remembring thinking he was going to tip over with how big his hair was?

It was purple insanity at it's best.

Whats part of glove? Did it get ripped in half with another fan grabbing for it? Do you still have it today, could be worth something on ebay.

my 1st time seeing Prince in my hometown of Hartford Ct - it was the day after he won the Oscar for Purple Rain and he showed off the statuette and said - 'look what I got last night'

'twas cool.........

Sheila E. Concert
1.Shortberry Strawcake
2.The Belle Of St. Mark
3.Oliver's House
4.Erotice City
5.The Glamorous Life

Purple rain tour photography by Nancy Bundt

Wendy and Lisa
The Purple Rain Tour book
I was the photographer for the entire tour with photos used for books, video covers, promotion, LIFE and RollingStone magazines

I had tickets, but couldn't go due to family reasons-I was 12 yrs old and Prince was at the top then didn't get to see him again until 2004

March 22. 1985
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum Uniondale
-Sheila E.-
-Prince & The Revolution-

1.Let's Go Crazy
2.Delirious
3.1999
4.Little Red Corvette
5.Take Me With U
6.Yankee Doodle
7.Do Me Baby
8.Irresistable Bitch
9.Possessed
10.Still Waiting
11.Temptation
12.Let's Pretend We're Married
13.International Lover
14.God
15.Computer Blue
16.Darling Nikki
17.The Beautiful Ones
18.When Doves Cry
19.I Would Die 4 U
20.Baby I'm A Star
21.Purple Rain

Rev said:

I went to this show in Worcester, MA. We had a group of 17 people. We had the worst seats.

But, back in the 80's you could work your way around the venues without security hasseling you at every level point. My friend kerry an i crawled under seats ...etc. Eventually we got to about 5-10 rows from the stage.

I caught a part of glove he threw and got hit with the fake guitar stroking giz at the end of the show.

It sounds a lot worst now that I'm typing it. LOL.

I remembring thinking he was going to tip over with how big his hair was?

It was purple insanity at it's best.

Was that your first gay experience.( Not that there is anything wrong with that.)lol

OldFriends4Sale said:

Although I love Sheila E! I wasn't a huge fan of her live performance-She was instructed to be a female Prince and it didn't fit her. Sign O the Times forward she found herself and her own stage presence.

kewlschool said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Although I love Sheila E! I wasn't a huge fan of her live performance-She was instructed to be a female Prince and it didn't fit her. Sign O the Times forward she found herself and her own stage presence.

I have to agree with that. I didn't start truly appreciating her as an artist until SOTT. I liked The Glamorous Life and Romance at 1600, but she seemed like she was a female Prince impersonator, so I didn't take her seriously at the time. And I was too young back then to have known of her career before Prince.

PurpleChi said:

kewlschool said:

Although I love Sheila E! I wasn't a huge fan of her live performance-She was instructed to be a female Prince and it didn't fit her. Sign O the Times forward she found herself and her own stage presence.

I have to agree with that. I didn't start truly appreciating her as an artist until SOTT. I liked The Glamorous Life and Romance at 1600, but she seemed like she was a female Prince impersonator, so I didn't take her seriously at the time. And I was too young back then to have known of her career before Prince.

I LOVED here Glamorous Life album

I didn't see her enough to 'compare' her to Prince, and the GL video I thought made her really interesting

In truth as a protege she was supposed to be some kind of Prince

Morris Day was too, just a different aspect of Prince

If you check out Susan Moonsie in the Drive Me Wild video... she's like the innocent on the edge of 17 ready 2 loose her virginity Prince lol

OldFriends4Sale said:

PurpleChi said:

I have to agree with that. I didn't start truly appreciating her as an artist until SOTT. I liked The Glamorous Life and Romance at 1600, but she seemed like she was a female Prince impersonator, so I didn't take her seriously at the time. And I was too young back then to have known of her career before Prince.

I LOVED here Glamorous Life album

I didn't see her enough to 'compare' her to Prince, and the GL video I thought made her really interesting

In truth as a protege she was supposed to be some kind of Prince

Morris Day was too, just a different aspect of Prince

If you check out Susan Moonsie in the Drive Me Wild video... she's like the innocent on the edge of 17 ready 2 loose her virginity Prince lol

Oh, I definitely agree with you about loving The Glamorous Life. I just didn't take her musicianship as seriously back then. I felt like Prince was the mastermind and she (and The Time) were his puppets. I didn't appreciate her as a real musician until the SOTT days. But like I said, I was too young back then to know much else.

Cool thread! What an unbelievable show! There'll never be another!

March 30.1985
Carrier Dome Syracuse NY
Prince & The Revolution Live
Soundcheck
1.More Bounce To The Ounce
2.Bodyheat
3.Guitar Jam
4.Noon Rendezvous
5.Let's Go Crazy
6.When Doves Cry

1.Let's Go Crazy
2.Delirious
3.1999
4.Little Red Corvette
5.Take Me With U
6.Do Me Baby
7.Irresistable Bitch
8.Possessed
9.How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore
10. Let's Pretend We're Married
11. International Lover
12. God
13. Computer Blue
14. Darling Nikki
15. The Beautiful Ones
16. When Doves Cry
17. I Would Die 4 U
18. Baby I'm A Star
19. Purple Rain

OldFriends4Sale said: