Been a life long Prince fan and booked seats under the notion that they were advertised as "every seat is a great seat", my seat in Block 117 was directly in front of a lighting rig which meant almost the whole of the stage was obscured, after an hour our tickets were changed to floor seats in Block F3 and rather than seeing a perormance I saw a drummers backside for two hours.

To top it off we come out to find that there was no live music at the aftershow but just a bad DJ - for £25 - you got to be kidding. Whilst I know it would be impossible for Prince to play at every aftershow surely if money is coming into his pocket for these shows and I am certain it is, he could ensure that some live music is organised so that the fans aren't ripped off.

Also if he is so heavily involved in the stage design for the shows, he should kick off his heels and stand on the arena floor near the F block and see what view a little fella like him will have of the show (a pretty restricted view I am certain) not a great seat at all.

All in all I have spent a few hundred on tickets to just hear rather than SEE Prince perform and go to a crap nightclub with a bad wedding DJ and no live music - what was the £25 paying for exactly?

Its a shame that a man who is supposed to be so in control of his operation and made complaints about sharp practices of the record companies seems to think it is ok to apply sharp practices to his fans and royally rip people off many of whom have saved and worked hard to pay for these tickets.

There were loads of people last night who felt exactly the same both hardcore fans and casual fans out for a good night, many of whom had paid good money for seats with restricted views, I just hope that Prince can do something about the way the fans are being treated, otherwise these sjhows may backfire on him.

Out of 20000 people there that night, you seem to be the unluckiest. What a shame.
Wait for the DVD if there is one.....hope so

C'mon, it aint soo bad.
[Edited 8/16/07 6:18am]

drcoldchoke said:

P0PL1Fe said:

Before entering the Indigo last night, they announced that he would not play and you had the option to change tickets. They clearly said DJ only.

grantevans said:

Not everyone can exchange tickets, I travelled down Saturday and came home Sunday, so an exchange is completely pointless, so I decided to head back to the hotel I was staying at and lose £55 for 2 tickets (bought when they went on sale), to get a taxi back to central London at 3-4am would cost a bomb, don't mind doing it if theres a reason, such as some sort of live entertainment, but just a DJ is abit poor.

They should have some sort of entertainment for people buying these aftershow tickets, whether its guest artists, Princes backing band or Prince himself, shouldn't be just a DJ for £25, I'm gonna see the white stripes at the O2 for £30..... £30 for white stripes and £5 for a travel card or £25 for a dodgy DJ and £50 taxis home after waiting an hour at 5am, whats best value ?
[Edited 8/12/07 14:46pm]

sigers1 said:

TOTALLY agree.I 'm a npg fan and feel terrible now.I came back from London last week -Live in The Netherlands- and still feel week and sad....I even cleared up all the P stuff....Can't see my house full of it anymore.....

drcoldchoke said:

Fuck you. So a single bad experience at a concert suddenly means you can't enjoy his music and furthermore you feel you have the right to cuss him and call him names? You were never a fan in the first place, you piece of shit. Go ahead and delete your account, we don't want you and don't need you. After that outburst I think you need help. And if you don't delete your account you should be banned anyway. Asshole. You're full of shit, have absolutely no fucking grounds on calling him selfish, and majority of the aftershows have been excellent. As for the shows boring you, you obviously know jack shit about live performance and furthermore, music and musicianship. You'd probably say a G-Unit show was exciting.

How fucking dare you hope that he lives a "miserable life"? You want to go down that route? Fine - see how far that attitude gets you. Go and choke on some cold dick, bitch.
[Edited 8/13/07 3:40am]

Militant said:

At both of you!!

Militant said:

Well, two wash outs and two quick turn ups. Thats already 60% of the aftershows catered for....

21 shows, plus aftershows and ya'll have the stones to complain because you got a bad seat (IN AN ARENA...duh!) and you failed to pay attention to Prince's long-standing record of not-guaranteeing a performance at the aftershow?

Pathetic.

Chill guys the BBC watching us with the rest of the world and hearing you lot maon about a no show at an after show party. Please!! I have been to a few after show parties and the only one he showed up at was the one at Bagleys. did I throw my teddy out of the Pram no I had fun and enjoyed myself there.

thats my two pennies worth!

HEY!!

U must understand how pissed off fans feel!

I paid over the odds 4 VIP "best seats in the house", & stared at the back of the band most of the night. (maybe that's what they meant by best seats? )

& then l8r was advised that P & the band would not B playing @ the aftershow,(obviously 2 avoid any liabilty), so I could exchange my tickets at the box office, which was shut!

This is a total £ making scam. VEry poor show Mr PRN!!!

"£ don't matter 2nite"? 4 whom!!

The only reason I could possibly think of 4 giving fanclub members block F seats was the fact that the the stage entrance & exit was located there. Only he left the stage in a trunk wheeled out by security. BRAVE! He should know by now that fans would never rush him. They didn't when he entered!

SO let ppl vent their grievances. It's only fair.

THIS FIASCO SUCKED BIG TIME.

(Luckily 4 me, I freak 2 all P tracks, so despite being ££££ down I still enjoyed myself!! AND met loads of very nice ppl who like me, decided 2 make the best of a bad situation.)

DJ was clueless! He could have calmed troubled waters quite easily by playing Prince's stuff. Heard more P music on the river boat back 2 Waterloo.

Absolute tosh!! I was also in Block 117, and despite it being behind the drummer, Prince and also his horn section moved so much, that no one really got more of him than anyone else. He covered every inch of that stage, as it was a theatre in the round Talk about spitting the dummy out!!

I'd say he perhaps favoured the pointy end of the symbol, but then Block 117 wasn't exactly filled with fans going crazy.

Too many folk were just standing with their arms folded, barely moving. I for one was dancing constantly (and I can't dance!!). From what I could see, the circle end of the symbol where we were seated was the least active. If anyone else was in Block 117, and was dancing, this isn't aimed at you. There were others like me who didn't stop dancing. How can you stand still and listen to funk music???

To say that you wish him a bad life and say you're never listening to his music again is both ridiculous and childish. I can't comment on the aftershow as I didn't buy tickets to go to it, however it's a PARTY. Enjoy listening to his music and meeting fellow fans is the whole point. He never stated he would be performing at them.

jpav said:

My sentiments exactly. Some people just don't know how good they got it. I'd say there are very few
"bad" seats in that arena. There's an excellent view from the vast majority of them.

And the people complaining about the aftershows is just ridiculous. If you want a guaranteed Prince performance...you buy a ticket to the main event. Obviously.

Militant said:

Hey thats lovely of you.
Big words.
I hope to meet you.

The shows I have been to were great. Bot times I was in the upper tier and I thought the view and sound was very good.

I don't understand why people would complain about the aftershows. I've never been to an aftershow and didn't go to the 2 after the gigs I was at this month, simply because I KNOW he might turn up and he might not. He never guarentees to turn up, and if he does turn up, it depends on his mood as to how long he plays.

Every fan should know this. I don't grudge him not playing at an aftershow if he's not in the mood. What good would that be?? He'd just be going through the motions.

Stop bitching and enjoy the shows.

jarvis76 said:

Fine. Then don't charge for them up front! He wants his cake and eat it.

Do U think there's anyway we could co-ordinate ourselves & fight back @ AEG, regarding VIP/aftershow noshow etc.

MayB by getting 2gether in this way it'd B harder 4 our individual complaints 2 B brushed under the carpet?

What do U reckon?

Militant said:

There's really no need for this. I hope the mods come down on you for using language like this. This is not the place for it. Sure you feel strongly but there are other ways of expressing yourself.

I feel bad for everyone who has had a bad experience here. I think many things could have been done better i.e. the stage whilst being a good idea in principle, managed to segregate fans from the a large proportion of the show. I have only been to Saturday's show so far and he didn't venture around the circle of the stage very much at all.

As far as the aftershow is concerned I agree that it hasn't been handled very well at all. Prince will be receiving money for these and toi just have what sounds like a dodgy DJ play sounds pretty shitty.

Thing is though you can bet that the majority of people who have attended these shows so far have had a good time. You can't please everybody. I just hope that the September 13th show is as good as Saturdays. I've also got aftershow tickets for that night so fingers crossed for me.

What I will add is that if the amount of negativity continues I can't imagine Prince and his band going out of their way to please everybody. Give the man a break, I think the bad doers here are Ticketmaster and AEG who are massive corporations and don't give a toss about fans whereas I honestly think Prince does.

you know what? I am sick and tired of all this crap! I am a big Prince fam. So far I have missed only one of the shows at the o2, and yes there have been seating issues, and aftershow disappointments, BUT, I think we are all losing sight of the main issue here : Prince is here in London and our tickets were just £30, and there is no-one better live. No-one. I suspect some Prince fams get so wrapped up in comparisons, expectations, critiques etc that they forget to enjoy the show. Personally I have loved seeing the hits being played this way - it's such a change - I loved ONA, and my favourite tour to date was LOVESEXY - but I think that this tour is showing that Prince is simply the best when it comes to live musicianship, crowd interaction and well just plain old hitmaking. I genuinely do feel honoured to see him live every single time.

As for the aftershow and main gig seating problems - I think that the issues here lie with AEG Live and Ticketmaster. My only criticism of Prince would be the issue regarding the 3121 article about last Friday/ Saturday. That seemed a bit off. BUT, that said, the DJ playing in the Indigo has been really good, and if you are out for a good night, the only thing that can stop you doing so is yourself.

Please everyone CHILL OUT and enjoy the shows. Imagine if you went to see some other artist, like Sophie Ellis Bexter for one, or Keane, or Scissor Sisters - it would be the same show every single night - no exceptions. Compare and contrast and then say that these Prince shows are not value for money. And remember that it really is not normal to go to multiple shows as so many of us do.

I hope for music's sake Prince does not take these messages to heart.

guvnorx07 said:

And what was with the booing? I'm really enjoying these shows and really I haven't been disappointed. Yeah he didn't show on Saturday, but I've exchanged my ticket and will be going again at the end of the week. FAB!

adoreme said:

ladymisskat said:

I thought that too on Saturday. You shouldn't be booing the man for teasing the crowd the way he does. He's always done that, that's part of his stage persona and his showmanship. I think the bad mouthing should stop now. Yes some people will feel dissapointed and in all honesty I can't blame all of them (especially those who have paid top whack and been given pretty crap seats) but at the end of the day it's been 12 years since I've last seen him live. The last time was the Gold tour at the G-MEX in Manchester where I got to the very front, smack bang in the middle. Nothing will ever compare to that night for me and I don't expect it too. What is amazing though is the fact that we have the opportunity to see him play 21 times at the least if we want to. To me that's solid gold.

guvnorx07 said:

whats this all about? looked on 3121 and cant see what you mean did they write a bad review? or criticise the fans?

syble said:

I assume guv means about 3121 saying that Prince wouldn't be at the Friday aftershow and then turning up?

adoreme said:

Agreed, someone took the bait and has ended up looking like a true P fanatic, I personally love Prince's music and appreciate his ability as a musician but I do not LOVE Prince there is a difference!

AWJ


[Edited 8/13/07 6:41am]
[Edited 8/13/07 6:42am]