FunkyBrotha said:

Just be thankful he isn't doing a 160+ date world tour then.

Looks like u were unlucky,I went to the 1st of aug and 11th, the atmosphere was amazing and no one wanted to go home. He played 2.5 hrs on 1st and 2 hrs on 11th,no support though.
My only critisiam is he played some covers,pass the peas, le chic,lets freak and ok crazy is pretty good.
I hate when plays covers because he could be spending that time playing his own stuff..

moonshine said:

Well that's fair enough, I didn't know that.

After a 12 year gap since i last saw him live

(and even then he only played hits from the gold album)

I was still blown away to hear some of the old stuff.

I can't knock him if i tried. (and i'm not scared to either!)

the only thing i would say was that he did not play nearly as long as i wanted

him to.

Then again i would have let him go on all night.

But the actual show was amazing and that is were i fail to see why swoniboy was

so dissapointed.

I wish i could agree but i can't.

I left the gig well satisfied and safe in the knowledge that at nearly fifty he

still puts most people to shame.

But hey this is a Prince fan site and you know how it is if you say something

slightly negative about the man himself, I for one respect your opinion and

feel slightly dissapointed that you did not have as good a time as me.

I,m easily pleased though...just ask the wife!

motr said:

very good point about the ticket pricing. the only reason they are so 'cheap' is to fill the arena out! U2 charge £55 a ticket beacuse they could sell out any stadium in the world. they treat every audience like it was their last gig, they play 2.5 hours with a great balance of hits and new material, Prince could learn a lot from U2, in respect of how to treat his fans!

Prince is without question an utter genius. However, he isnt as popular as he used to be and had to resort to giving away his album free to create publicity, which in turn helped sell out the 21 nights. He always has been , and probably always will, remain an enigma, which is part of his appeal. I just wish he'd get over himslef and play Sign oF The Times EVERY NIGHT!! i know some people can afford to go more than once and that Prince cant satisfy all of the fans at every gig, but i get the feeling that he enjoys toying with the crowd by playing samples of his hits! it massages his Ego to think every1 is desperate to hear them, but that he's to cool to give in! lets to an extended version of 'Le Freak' instead!!!

wheelie said:

for someone who isn't as popular as he used to, he sure has done well at selling out a 23,000 capacity venue for 21 nites. thats a lot more than he's sold at any other previous uk tour, and possibly more than any other previous european tour. if you add up the dates and capacity for the george micheal arena tour in the uk this year, you'll find prince sold more tickets (and i was at the GM tour this year and last)

one thing about prince is he does what he wants to do, when he wants, and thats what makes prince good. he doesn't turn up and play the same set every nite, even if half the audience want to hear the same 20 hits, he mixes things up so fans who go every nite get a different show. you won't get the likes of U2 doing that. prince is one of the few artists that could literally play a completely different set every nite and the audience would still love it, whereas almost any other artist or band has to stick to the same set to keep the fans happy

and who else plays an aftershow gig after the main show, and plays yet another completely different set again? the things that people critise prince for, are the things that keep our interest in him

wheelie said:

I think George Michael is another example to use here, He toured UK and Europe last winter for the first time in ages and tickets ranged from £50-£100 for the indoor leg and every date sold out.

This summer, he played a stadium tour, with tickets in some regions being about £50-£150. In Scandinavia for instance, he announced dates in stadiums and at least 2 of teh shows had to be moved indoors due to the lack of interest, due to pricing. A fair amount of stadiums were also far from full and again, many put it down to the price of tickets. Touts were selling standing tickets at his Norwich gig for £20 a piece for a standing ticket and that's less then half the bloody price I paid.

On the other end of teh scale, you have a band like Depeche Mode who pretty much charge £25 - £40 depending on which country you see them in. Germany was the most expensive on the last tour I believe and they were definately the most expensive out of the countries I visited but they virtually sell out everywhere they go, whether it be stadiums in Denmark, Germany, Slovakia, Poland or arenas in the UK, Hungary, France, Germany, Croatia, Austria etc..... the US however were quite expensive and aswell as announcing the tour dates there late, they failed to sell out a great amount of shows.

Sometimes, I think promoters get a bit too greedy but a good promoter knows his market and in this instance, I think Princes agent got it spot on.

unique said:

Don't forget, he has had more publicity in the UK too this year than he has had in a long time. The newspaper giveaway had everything, good promotion, bad publicity (if you believe the recod industry), it basically put Prince in teh spotlight and by announcing 21 dates at Londons newest arena was a massive gamble to start with but in the end, along with the ticket pricing, it has all been a bumper year for Prince in the UK.

what about all the poor ppl who paid VIP prices to get 4 drinks and finger food and a 1.30 hr show....they must have felt cheated and robbed at his ego thinking he can come on stage for a short performance....dont 4get that they did that boring wonderful world during sat night which nobody wants in the perfornace....well i hate it anyway as i am attending nearly all shows.... im sick of it by now....PPL USE THAT SONG 4 A TOILET BREAK!!!

i thought it was going to be a different show every night???
he still does purple rain kiss etc MOSTLY every night.
he never did guitar sat night which he does most nights and i really wanted to see that cause the twinz have great legs.....,mmmmm

just my 2 cent....if he does a SIMILAR show on the night im going VIP then it will be my last tour i will be attending after going to every tour since nude in 1990.

WOLFY
[Edited 8/21/07 6:02am]
[Edited 8/21/07 6:03am]
[Edited 8/21/07 6:04am]
[Edited 8/21/07 6:05am]

but what did your wife think of the show? (hopefully her opinion was not effected by yours)

Before I start - here's my disclaimer - 'Yes - I know - It'll be an incredible show no matter what, and I can_not wait until next Tuesday.

I'm with the OP. Well, not about fuckin' crap - but on the show's length. We're going next Tuesday to both shows, and yes - I'd feel a bit short changed if he was on stage for less than 90 minutes after the earlier shows were much longer.

Sure - there's always going to be a bit of variation in the shows - but a difference of 45 minutes is pretty much taking the piss to be honest.

I'd love a 20 minute piano medley as much as anyone - but as something extra within a 2hr show, to mix it all up a bit, not to squash a 2 hr show into a 90 minute show.

Considering his awesome back catalogue, and his stuff about 'too many hits not enough time', I'd expect more than just 12 full Prince songs in a Prince show, and one that was roughly the same length as others in the same tour / run.

Is that really asking that much?

But as I said, it'll be a great show regardless - and we're off to the aftershow which hopefully, being a midweek one, will be great.

motr said:

He didn't actually announce 21 nights at the O2 though did he. He announced 21 nights in London with the initial dates set at the O2. I think the intention was probably to do smaller venues later on but as the tickets kept selling, the date kept getting added.

unique said:

But the point is that many in the audience aren't loving it. Personally, I'm going to several shows and enjoy seeing the different sets but to the average punter and let's not be under any illusion, the vast majority of the audience is the average punter, they just want to see the hits and I can fully understand their complaints. Even I get a bit fed up with his teasing. Just fucking play Sign Of The Times will ya man!!

I'd say that at least 80% of the audiences are not hardcore and are only going to 1 show, maybe two as a max. In some of the shows he really hasn't been playing to that majority. If it was just down to the hardcore, he'd be back doing 3 nights in Hammersmith and a couple in Manchester. I'm not saying that would be worse, just that he needs to acknowledge the difference.

I bin 2 the shows of the 10th and 11 aug .The friday was realy good i was lucky 2 see the aftershow 2 .But the saturday was not that great .He said he changed the setlist but he plays allot the same and also in the aftershow 3 times controversy is enough i think so .I go in sept again i have mixed feelings 2 go
again .Also that he don`t show up at the saturdays and must stand in a row 4 2 hours 2 change my cards .So i have now 2 extra aftershow cards 4 the 12 sept .And yes the greatest hits no thank u i prefert the ONA Tour .Prince 4get that allot of fans come all over and waited years 2 see him live and dont want 2 hear kiss again its almost in every setlist the last years .Also he called it the planet earth tour well were are the PE albums tracks live .some new stuff from the last albums that we not hear in Europe .Well 2 be honnest i am realy getting tired after 23 years die hard Prince fan .

I don`t have allot money so spend it on me .And so thats i u wanne c

onenitealone1970 said:

It's not called the Planet Earth Tour, my tickets just say The Earth Tour, which is subtly different. Technicalities aside, I'd also like to hear more of the new stuff. I was lucky enough to be there opening night and hear Planet Earth but I really want to hear The One U Wanna C.

TheEnglishGent said:

Yes, thats true, but I have a mate who works for an overseas concert agency and he actually said 21 nights had been booked and the on sale times will be staggered.

To book 21 nights at an arena like that takes a lot of scheduling before hand, especially when there is gigs there almost every night it seems (well, since it opened).

There were rumours that he was going to play a couple of gigs at Brixton Academy (read that elsewhere), but I presume that isn't going to happen.

Mrtease said:

I don't think that's fair really. My main gripe isn't so much to do with the length of the show (I'd expect a minimum of 90 minutes, hope for 120, and anything over that is a bonus), but the fact that they've been getting progressively shorter.

If they'd all been 90 minutes (give or take) I wouldn't have noticed.

But to shorten the show by pretty much 45 minutes is a hell of a lot - I don't think it's at all unreasonable to expect all the shows to be of comparable length.

iain said:

In fact, he only actually performed 10 full songs on Saturday! Songs like Kiss are being done as 2.30 sec edits, and songs like Sexy Dancer are mear snippets in a general groove.

What more do u people want....?

12 shows in total 4 me including aftershow perfomances

and more 2 come u dont wanna go....give me ur tickets!

12 shows mate??

I'm sorry - I'm a lilfelong fan. But that's mental


[Edited 8/22/07 8:58am]

YODAHENDRIX said:

Wise Master Yoda is not. Patience for more shows you must learn.

Aftershows are the path to the dark side. Non performance leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.....

I went to the show on August 18th all the way from south shields (near Newcastle upon Tyne) travelling down on a bus for 7 hours with my son i went to the concert on my own, i was sitting at the back row T which was high up, I thought Prince was brilliant, but I agree he wasnt on long enough, they did say he was going to come on in 15 minutes which should have been at 9pm but we were kept waiting for another 20minutes, once he was on i couldnt stop singing, dancing and screaming? Why did I go on my own you may ask well my family and friends have no taste obviously, this is the 4th time I have seen him and he is definitely worth making the effort for. I didnt go to the aftershow party cos i was by myself and didnt know whether he would turn up anyway sounds like I missed a pretty good show.