It seems like Prince got bored with lots of his music, but I also wonder what some his favorites were.

Has he ever talked about liking particular songs/albums/periods?

Maybe songs he played live a lot, especially at afterpaties are telling?

I think he played "She's Always in My Hair" a great deal. I always thought that was a favorite of his.

Any thoughts?

Would be interesting to see what songs he played the most live...I always wondered if he really enjoyed Purple Rain or not...

He told Oprah that he always loved playing "Purple Rain". I think he loved the rockabilly nature of "When U Were Mine", and he always had fun with it in concerts.

I remember at one of the O2 shows, he played "Pink Cashmere", and before he did, he said something like "Those last songs were for you. Now I'm gonna play one for me."

So he obviously felt close to that song. It wasn't played much at the tour, in fact of the 5 shows I saw I think this was the only one where he did it.

Militant said:

I remember at one of the O2 shows, he played "Pink Cashmere", and before he did, he said something like "Those last songs were for you. Now I'm gonna play one for me."

So he obviously felt close to that song. It wasn't played much at the tour, in fact of the 5 shows I saw I think this was the only one where he did it.

Only played during the residency on 1 and 4 August

langebleu said:

Militant said:

I remember at one of the O2 shows, he played "Pink Cashmere", and before he did, he said something like "Those last songs were for you. Now I'm gonna play one for me."

So he obviously felt close to that song. It wasn't played much at the tour, in fact of the 5 shows I saw I think this was the only one where he did it.

Only played during the residency on 1 and 4 August

4th August was the first show I attended of 5! So there it is.

Militant said:

I remember at one of the O2 shows, he played "Pink Cashmere", and before he did, he said something like "Those last songs were for you. Now I'm gonna play one for me."

So he obviously felt close to that song. It wasn't played much at the tour, in fact of the 5 shows I saw I think this was the only one where he did it.

Possibly the only song (that's not in the vault) where he references his size? I love every nuance of that song.

lynx said:

Would be interesting to see what songs he played the most live...I always wondered if he really enjoyed Purple Rain or not...

http://www.setlist.fm/stats/prince-13d6b9ed.html

Not completely accurate, but maybe as close as we're going to get. "Purple Rain" was by far the most played song.

mynameisnotsusan said:

I'm remember a quote when he was asked what his favourite song was and he said "The next one!" - Frank Lloyd Wright said exactly the same thing when asked what his favourite building was

langebleu said:

bflan said:

I think he may expressed the love for a 'current' song with each album, the way he did with 'The Breakdown' in his last TV interview.

But back in '98, he claimed The One was high amongst his favourites. The fact that he performed it constantly in the subsequent two decades suggest he meant it, especially considerin' it aint even from a Prince album!

Isn't the One is on the New Power Soul cd. I don't have my cd's with me but I believe that is the cd, I know I have it at home. She's Always in My Hair is the b-side to what single? I am having a Sr moment. I remeber at Essence when he played COOL, I had never heard him sing a Time song live he seemed to enjoy our reaction and then he....

Went to see Mint Condition and they performed She's Always in My Hair-musically it was tight and right and Stokely did well on vocals. It was awesome. Today I'm said because I'll never hear Prince sing it It was a great tribute to Prince

'The Love We Make' got a lot of powerful live performances from 2002 - 2016 for an obscure album track, so I guess that song meant something to him.

Same with 'Eye Love U But Eye Don't Trust U Anymore' 'Beautiful Strange'.

Also interesting how 'Something in the Water' came and went from his live set over the years in loads of different versions.

[Edited 5/14/16 8:57am]

Aerogram said:

Prince obviously played his hits a lot because that is what he thought the audience expected, but among them I'd say he truly loved performing Purple Rain and She's always in my hair. He also clearly loved performing Let's Go Crazy Reloaded. Also, whenever a less played or known song would be performed long after it had been originally recorded, such as when I lay my hands on you or empty room, it's a safe bet it was one of his favorites. Lots of time, songs were picked because the band sounded good performing the piece, I'm thinking of all the critics love you in NY and peach, for that reason I'm not sure the song would be dear to him, he may have liked it well enough but the key thing was the band could do a great job.

So crazy you mentioned that. I just saw a clip of him singing "Empty Room/Elixir" last night, from Montreaux I think. It was amazing.

KingSausage said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Aerogram said:

Prince obviously played his hits a lot because that is what he thought the audience expected, but among them I'd say he truly loved performing Purple Rain and She's always in my hair. He also clearly loved performing Let's Go Crazy Reloaded. Also, whenever a less played or known song would be performed long after it had been originally recorded, such as when I lay my hands on you or empty room, it's a safe bet it was one of his favorites. Lots of time, songs were picked because the band sounded good performing the piece, I'm thinking of all the critics love you in NY and peach, for that reason I'm not sure the song would be dear to him, he may have liked it well enough but the key thing was the band could do a great job.

So crazy you mentioned that. I just saw a clip of him singing "Empty Room/Elixir" last night, from Montreaux I think. It was amazing.

I watch that Empty Room Montreux clip or listen to the audio regularly because he looks so totally into it. It's when he greatly shorten some songs I feel he's sometime letting his audience know that he's playing them more for the audience than for himself.

He played at The Academy of Music in Philadelphia....when " I wanna be your Lover " started he said " This is my jam"....heard it with my own ears....

Atlantic City Show.....1st 4 rows= Comped Casino folks just sitting there...5th row= Me in the middle & the start of the Purple Crowd all standing........he was stopping at just starts of songs...no, no....then he started " She's Always In My Hair"....looked right at me as I did the hand gesture complete with going thru my hair.....he turned to the side- made a gesture & BAM....He played the whole song....no doubt because his eyes were on me until I finished the entire wording with my hands...he played that complete....will never forget that one.

At that show he gave us all a lecture about not eating meat.....Chaka Khan took a big fall right on her back and he messed his leg up at that show...I didn't even know he got hurt and wasn't much I missed including Mayte getting ready to come out for " The One" and he stopped it saying " I'm not feeling that one tonight"....She was none too happy about that all dressed in White....clear view from where my spot was.....him hurting his leg= True Pro....I could not tell....afterwards they had to cancel shows because of that.....found out later that refrigeration units were right under the stage- next floor down....stage sweated and was slippery....small show at Trump Marina....was filmed...225 bucks for a ticket.

[Edited 5/14/16 13:12pm]