SquirrelMeat said:

LOL!!! too funny!

i think maybe there was a a techincal problem which caused a delay in the start

and then you are bound by the time contraints for finishes i guess

who knows

!! i thought the first hour or so on saturday was amazing - i thought he was on fire

all about opinions i suppose !!

a little more length would be appreciated next time !! said the actress to the bishop

I didn't attend either main show this weekend - but I can see where the original poster is coming from. It's certainly no way to judge the show by how good the aftershow may have been. Totally irrelevant.

But there's definitely a pattern emerging. The shows are getting shorter and shorter (I think the Cheeky Girls are on stage now for the same time as P) - 80 minutes is the stuff of new artists who run out of material (having charged £15). Even The Good, The Bad & The Queen managed to top that without delving into the Blur / Gorillaz songbook.

And, as of this weekend, the appearance of new tracks has also dried up. It looks like he spent the weekend on auto-pilot, getting away with the bare minimum. Forget the aftershow issues - if the shows continue to shorten as they have been doing (although surely, surely, he's already hit rock bottom on that front) he'll be back as a very unwelcome BBC news item. Quite rightly.

Let's hope he had the flu or something.

hemphizzx said:

Sums the night up really, disappointing late start as I noticed the women in the light suit bought out a revised set list.

The 1st hour was awesome, and then too much "dicking around" with that lift he has. My wife isn't a Prince fan but was shouting louder than me for more.

The After show then completed the night, but not for my wife as not much stuff that was that familiar. As for me I would watch him play Old McDonald’s farm for three hours and more.

SquirrelMeat said:

Totally agree

scottiedog said:

My wife enjoyed the aftershow but said it would have been better had she known any of the songs. She still enjoys watching him though as she loves his playfullness and facial expressions. On the drive home she said that he's the one person that could probably sing the phone book and still make it entertaining.

I think the reason why there's so much negativity for this current tour is that we were all spoilt rotten by the One Night Alone Tour. The gig I went to see in Manchester is still by far the best gig I've ever been to! Those concerts were long, full of new material and obscure fan favourites, were in small venues and marked a real renewel in Prince after the dark post 1996 days.

It's a shame people are being so critical of the Earth Tour as the tickets were cheap, we got a free cd and the chance to see him up to 21 times- why can't people be grateful?! People are starting to sound like nasty brats! Prince fans from other countries must be reading all these posts with a horrified disgust- I think if you can't appreciate these concerts then the fault lies with you rather than Prince.

So Mr Tease - let me get this right.

You're saying that we should NEVER complain and just be grateful for what we get? - is that what you're saying??

What if we didn't stand up for what we believed in? -

"....Be glad that you are free, free to change your mind, free to go most anywhere anytime.....!

To be honest I'd be happy with 10 minutes of prince for £31.21.

Been to 4 shows so far, everyone of them has been highly enjoyable. SOme absolutely awesome.

I understand where you are coming from, but even your valid points don't warrant saying 'absolutely fucking crap'!
[Edited 8/20/07 6:26am]

mmm maybe not rubberfish - but it made you comment - and that's what I wanted

Mrtease said:

When you say cheap? Keane charged £25 at the same venue in July, played a 105 minute set and yeah, they only have two albums so no one was going to be dissapointed by the set list, but I can tell you now, their stage set was a damn site more entertaining, which, for me, is not what it's about (music is all that matters), but a band charges whatever they think will sell tickets.

I can guarentee that if Prince were charging what George Michael (who had trouble filling stadiums this year because of over pricing), U2 and the like have charged recently, he wouldnot be playing to 21 packed O2 arenas.

Money has sod all to do with this. Prince isn't stupid. He has priced his tickets bloody well imo but it's sad to see how short the gig s are getting. Maybe he is having a mid season lull
[Edited 8/20/07 6:49am]

motr said:

Keane more entertaining than Prince??? I don't think that could be possible surely.... are you quite sure??? Perhaps with the change from your £25 you spent some time at the bar....
[Edited 8/20/07 6:52am]

ctmccartney said:

I take it you've seen Keane live then? But if you actually read my post again I said 'their stage set was a damn site more entertaining' SET being the word to look out for.

My point is, money isn't the point here.

Keane are crap- this is why they only charge £25

£31.21 is cheap for an artist of Prince's stature (granted not cheap compared to every gig- I usually spend £20 at most for a concert!).

1 hour and a half seems to be the standard length for a concert these days- obviously I'd love to hear Prince and the band play for 3 hours plus, but you aren't being ripped off if he 'only' does 1hr and a half (or gasp! 1 hour and 22 minutes stage time!)- its just I think we've been spoiled in the past and seem to expect him to go on for over 2 and a half hours at the very least, when to be honest, few bands do.

I suppose my problem isn't with people complaining, but its the way they're complaining with such vitriol and hatred- it just seems that since even before the concerts started people have been spewing out the hatred and whinging about everything and its started to leave a sour taste about the whole Earth Tour, or at least on these message boards (same on Housequake too).

Mrtease said:

Well, yeah, if you don't like them, I agree. I took my missus to see George Michael and he charged £50 for a standing ticket. That was crap. And yes, £20 is teh average for me normally (unless Depeche Mode are touring).

I think the problem with Prince, is that he has tried to mix this up a lot and of course, it's not a standard tour from city to city where you normally get the same set list with a few add ons etc.....
[Edited 8/20/07 7:04am]

well Mr Tease - there's no smoke without fire.

As I said before - I can say what I like. After paying for a concert ticket, I'm allowed to say what i want. As I said before, it's taken a lot for me to say these things after being a devoted fan for over 20 years. That's 20 years of albums, cd's, concert tickets, t-shirts etc etc and If I can't air my views, then I don't know who can.

Hateful comments?? no - I don't think so. Just feeling let down I guess.

And as I said before - it's not a time thing. If he filled the hour and a half with great songs, I wouldn't be complaining.

Mrtease said:

Then if there is lots of it, and on more than one message board, maybe there is strong validity in the words.

To quote Ben Kingsley -

"My father used to say: The first time someone calls you a horse, you punch him on the nose. The second time someone calls you a horse, you call him a jerk. But the third time someone calls you a horse, well,then perhaps it’s time to go shopping for a saddle."

ha ha ha to quote Ben Kingsley!! ha ha very obscure Squirrel!! - I Like it!!!!

Now I have to come up with a quote.....mmm.....let me think.....right - here we go - I THINK this one was Oscar Wilde - funny anyway!!!

"It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove any doubt"

ctmccartney said:

While I would agree with that personally, entertainment is relative. I know plenty of people that wouldn't go to see Prince if I paid them. I had two spare tickets after getting caught in the early sale hype and later getting better seats. None of my mates wanted them and in the end I sold them to a bloke my brother works with.

I'm sure a lot of my mates would go see Keane though.

In relation to the 17th august show, which was short in compariosn to the first weeks concerts, quite a few people on my row/block ( A2, row c) were complaining and some booing after realising Prince was done after one encore..
I had to shut them up by telling them that they had great seats/view and experienced a wonderful live set of Purple Rain...and Conroversy!!

Another thing that lurked in my head during the end and leaving the venue was the echo of the Mic/Guitar sound affects..something out of a sci-fi movie!!
Anyone recall that??
[Edited 8/20/07 8:43am]

SwoniboyScotland said:

You paid for a concert, and a concert is what you got. Thank you, come again!

Really though, to travel all that way and to then skip the aftershow makes not much sense to me... I don't mean to rub your nose in it, I'm just saying. Sorry you didn't enjoy yourself. I had a bloody brilliant time, and so did many others who travelled from much further afield. Maybe your expectations were too high?

SquirrelMeat said:

Yeah apart from the times he doesnt bother to show at all!

One4All4Ever said:

But its not just 31.21 is it its hotel bills and air fares and childminding costs saying its just 31.21 is unrealistic you know not everyone lives in London

SwoniboyScotland said:

I agree with you!!!!!

--
[Edited 8/20/07 13:35pm]

kornie said:[quote]

One4All4Ever said:

[quote:]

Kornie:

You know what though, not everybody in the States, lived in Vegas either and we all had ticket/hotel/airfare/food/cab expenses some had child care expenses as well to pay, but nobody put a shotgun to our heads and made us go, it was our personal choice; at the same time, also knowing that he may or may not show up at any of the aftershows was a chance we took as well. I saw two, but not in the main room of the aftershow, but from the room on the outside, I was happy just for that, because I knew the main show was a guarantee he would show up and perform and at least I got a chance to see that, unless it was cancelled due to some circumstances that couldn't be avoided. How many artists you know do an aftershow after a main gig? Most of the time you get just the main show and then you take your azz home.

If you know you can't afford these type of expenses, but go anyway, whose fault is it really? Who said life was fair? If you take the chance and do it, knowing when it's all over that you have these expenses to deal with later, then live up to that decision you made when you made the arrangements to go in the first place and deal with the consequences of it and move on, 'cause b*****g and moaning doesn't pay the bills. We all take chances when we spend money to see a movie, go on vacation or for whatever purposes we spend money on to enjoy ourselves. It would be impossible for him or any artist to satisfy every single person in a 20,000 capacity arena -- everyone has their favorite song or songs they would like to hear him sing, and I doubt if everyone's wishes would be granted every night.

I'm sorry if you don't agree as you are entitled to your opinions of course. but when you go with high expectations to any artist's show, instead of taking in the experience for what it is and enjoying it, then the disappointment falls on you. You'll either love the performance, may not like all of it, or don't like it all, it's what you make of the experience. At least Prince made an effort to go to London to perform for you guys, when he could have chosen somewhere else instead, and I'm sure there's many fans that would have loved it if he chose to do a 21-night concert in their country instead.

I say if you've already made arrangements to go, then make the best of the experience while it lasts, because who knows when he'll ever return to London again to do more shows there after London's 21 nights are up

Peace
[Edited 8/20/07 18:17pm]

listen prince charged a measley £31 quid ... most concerts are just short of the 2 hr length.. average about 1hr 50..

he's playing 21 shows, he's nearly 50 years old.. what do u expect.. he is human 2...

i thought the shows were great... not as good as the one nite alone tour which was a mamooth 3hr +.. but that was a different ball game..

he's covered the vast majority of his catalogue on this tour ill have seen 3 shows plus 3 aftershows by the end of it and i loved it.

SwoniboyScotland said:

Had to agree with you after 3rd Aug show....great by some standards but a 1hr 30 show 30 mis of which he wasnt on stage is mad

ian said:

Something you might like to consider Ian , lots of people travelling a long distance to see him are going on package deals that supply a coach ride to the venue as well as the concert ticket . They don't have the option of staying
for the aftershow , they have to get on the coach as soon as the show ends or find their own transport back to wherever they came from which can cost more than they can afford . Not everyone is driving themselves