I went to see Prince last month at the Staples Center and as usual, it was a great show. It was the eleventh time I had seen Prince live. Watching Prince is always an experience and being a musician myself, he's someone to take notes from and study. As Prince played at Staples, doing his "hits", it came to me how glad I was to have seen Prince when he was raw and polishing his act. When the songs were brand new. The first time I saw Prince in concert was at the Santa Monica Civic on his Controversy tour. Then twice on his 1999 tour. Then twice again during the Purple Rain tour. And so on and so on. Seeing Prince do "When Doves Cry" and "1999" live when they were his current hits compared to seeing him do them now is well...different. I'm happy for Prince that there is still an audience there who loves him. And well they should. Personally, I would have loved for Prince to tour off of his new album and not made it a "hits" tour, but I understand his doing this. Just for the people that were fortunate enough to had seen Prince when he was "His Royal Badness" in his purple trench coat and the "rude boy" buttons, we were lucky indeed.

I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE SAYING.

THESE ARRANGEMENTS NOW MAKE THE SONGS SOUND LIKE LAS VEGAS SHOW TUNES. I HAVE LOADS OF CONCERTS ON AUDIO RECORDINGS OF THE SAME SONGS HE'S DOING NOW.

OF COURSE YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO FIND NEW ARRANGEMENTS FOR THEM AFTER SINGING THE SAME SONGS FOR YEARS. BUT THE VEGAS ROUTE AIN'T CUTE.

I HAVE TONS OF SHOWS ON AUDIO RECORDINGS. EVEN JUST COMPARING THE VIDEO FOR "AMERICA" WITH ANYTHING HE'S DONE WITH THIS NPG BAND. I THINK "AMERICA" IS ONE
OF THE DAMN HOTTEST LIVE PERFORMANCES HE'S EVER DONE.

I GIVE THAT UP TO THE REVOLUTION THOUGH. THEY WERE JUST NASTY!

well, as someone who's seen shows 'back in the day' and today, i can say prince has not performed this well since 1988. i don't hear a vegas-y thing going on. i hear a man making fresh bread out of stale dough. i know the kinds of performances you're talking about and yeah, they had a different groove to them. the way his aftershows are now is the way the whole live thing was then.

personally, i think this hits tour is a way for prince to re-introduce himself to the masses and make some money for future independent work. sometimes you've gotta please the masses to have the funds to afford freedom. if this album is a hit with the general public, i don't doubt we'll see a large scale musicology material tour...perhaps a second leg with an all new set list. if the album doesn't do well, he'll probably go on an independent small club tour a la one night alone.

either way, the man has obviously found a new muse because the intensity with which he's been performing so far is unmatched in recent years. i don't miss the 'old days' at all. well...not much, anyway

I'm glad for the Prince concerts I'll see in the future, though maybe not as glad as I am for what I've seen over the past weekend.

SassyFras said:

Prince wouldn't have been able to sell as many tickets if he was playing new stuff. It's the hits which most people wanna hear. Musicology won't fill an arena.

blackguitaristz said:

the shear energy and intensity are gone. Too bad he's become a "follower" of a religion. I always felt that Lovesexy was breaking new ground beyond and above the established religions.

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't The Gold Tour the only tour that didn't primarily contain hits from the back catalogue? It seems like since the Parade tour, they've all been practically greatest hits revues. But I can see it as a better experience when he didn't have so many "hits" to work with.
[This message was edited Wed Apr 14 14:31:37 2004 by psykosoul]

Prince is always going to be a compelling performer. Every time I see him I am amazed by his versatility and his stage presence. I may not dig much of his new stuff, but I always love to see the man do his thing.

Personally, when I see him again in May, I hope he'll balance the set list w/ more material from the Musicology CD.By than if the Cd is a hit, the casual/hardcore Prince fan would want this.Prince,please play live versions of A Million Days, Cinnamon Girl,ICPC,etc., it would make my night.

blackguitaristz said:

True indeed. He's definitely more polished now and probably w/better musicians. I saw him during the Purple Rain Tour and twice during the Lovesexy tour and then again in 96 and I'll definitely miss the mystiq of The Revolution. But this show will be hot!

It's hard to have a discussion on this subject on a Prince fansite. I mean, we are all varied in our tastes of Prince and his various styles over the years. But I think it's still safe to say that the vast majority of people who would take the time to freqent this site are in one way or another classified as a "die-hard" fan. And because of that fact, I think sometimes those amongst us are more easily bored by what Prince may or may not do on stage at any given time in his career.

I mean, think about some other artists out there. Have you ever been to one of their concerts? If they are not dancers by trade, then the music may be great, but the show itself often leaves much to be desired. For a lot of artists, if you've seen one of their shows, you've seen them all no matter how many years go by in between. But, with Prince if you've seen 5 concerts, you've seen 5 DIFFERENT concerts. And here's the kicker... even if some of the songs are the same, you've still heard 5 different versions of the same song. I really don't think there's anyone else out there laying it down like that besides Prince.

So in my opinion, there's really only one reason why people are saying the show sounds Vegas-y, and that is because the arrangement of the songs have been constructed to include live horn parts that would ordinarily be played by keyboards or some other instrument. And the question you have to ask is why would Prince use live horns to play those parts? The answer is certainly NOT because he wants to sound "Vegas-y", the answer is because he wants to set himself apart from everyone else. Anybody could get someone to play keyboards. But incorporating live horns (properly) takes a lot more effort and A LOT more practice. This is something that a lot of fans may not understand, but real musicians can appreciate.

blackguitaristz said:

I hear ya buddy - yes, indeed we were...

SassyFras said:

SassyFras said:

Absofreakin'lutely.

`
[This message was edited Wed Apr 14 15:49:14 2004 by Supernova]

blackguitaristz said:

Here ya go buddy - a little sumthin' 4 ya...

thought u would appreciate this 2:

I'd like him to mix the set up a bit. I mean We’ve heard Kiss several times now. RRHOF, Ellen etc. He could easily incorporate Controversy, Do Me Baby, Pop Life, Mountains, Girls and Boys, Alphabet Street etc and still be a HITS tour. I am a tiniest bit dismayed that I know what he’ll be playing as I am used to hearing surprises. At least a few. Heck at this point with all of the tickets sold, he can do whatever he wants. I am kinda tired of hearing the hits, honestly

Though I have noticed when he does the round, the set stays almost the same…it’s the after jams that he shakes it up and gets loose. I do hope as it progresses he does incorporate more of the new stuff from musicology and Chocolate invasion and slaughterhouse. I mean it’s gotta suck that he can’t play anything that he has created in the past decade. SHHH being the newest offering live from the back catalog.

I am glad I get to see him now but very much appreciate the earlier concerts where he was still composing songs and trying them out on audiences during a concert. Lovesexy 88 definitely surpassed the typical concert. There was much more going on that just the songs and I liked that a lot. Where the concert was even a concept in itself of something bigger. Much of it though went over the heads of the concert goers. It did for me at the time. Luckily I have that dang thing on VHS and can relive the moment, and catch stuff I didn’t before.

superspaceboy said:

On every comment...

He's one of those artists that has such a large catalog that he won't be able to please everybody at once. Not possible. Even if/when he strikes a nice balance it's not going to be to the liking of every fan.

`
[This message was edited Wed Apr 14 16:13:18 2004 by Supernova]

superspaceboy said:

FYI, he plays Controversy on this tour..

Supernova said:

`
co-sign. I haven't been to a Prince concert yet where after it was all over I didn't hear "why didn't he perform _____?"


.
[This message was edited Wed Apr 14 16:16:22 2004 by Universaluv]

i can relate to this topic. don't get me wrong, i think it's fantastic he's enjoying the spotlight again and reminding people of who and what he is, but the live broadcast didn't thrill me. i had the feeling i'd seen him do the songs before, better.

i think i was spoiled by the way the parties at the park used to be. i prefer those, and the afterparties, because then it seemed like he really wanted to play or was playing because he had a new idea and wanted to try it out on the audience, or even just jamming around on stage for the fun of it and not locked into the artist/fan cycle of expectations and the weight of producing a show

I just saw Prince Monday and I was ecstatic that he sang his hits because on the ONA show I really wanted to hear that instead of alot of the new material. But on the ONA show he put on a show there too. I really liked the jazz and Santana influence material. He said at the show he does not believe in lip-syncing and whether he sings his old stuff or new material; just give me a live show. Britney has the nerve with her non-singing ass to charge the same ticket price or higher and people go to see bullshit like that. P has always and is always going to put out new material. He is everchanging. He is not MJ. Prince I love U and you could do no wrong live rather it's old material or new. As as far as people saying he's gone Vegas. If that's what you call Vegas, keep gambling baby.

bananacologne said:

Whoa!!! That's an old one. LOL

Universaluv said:

I remember using that phrase more than 20 years ago at my first Prince gig - 5 albums into his career.

EvilWhiteMale said:

-----
Just like the Rolling Stones, Maddonna, David Bowie and Bruce. No one bates an eyeball when they do it but Prince is special (LOL) Whatever dude !!!!

SassyFras said:

-----
Co-sign Freedom is not free. If he wants to remain independent he has got to find a way to pay for it.

EvilWhiteMale said:

Supernova said:

Co-Sign....

he'll win over fans whether he plays old hits or new hits. He can turn a song that makes no sense in the studio into a hit onstage.

C'mon we're talkin about the Electric Man here. If he could use his guitar to turn water into wine, i bet he could do that too....

Supernova said:

that's why the 2002 xenophobia celebration was SOOOO wonderful...he really did play a lot of gems, and none of them were hits either...well a couple of them were but u get my drift, themajority them werent...and oh man, was it wonderful....but I have NO PROBLEM with this tour at all....cuz the new arrangements of the songs are great...


I still wish he'd play lady cab driver though...