Hi everyone, my first Prince concerts in - what - 15 years (seen him 5 times before now, first in 86), and somehow it was a positive, but slightly mixed bag. Here are my 5 cents about the shows on Friday and Saturday...

Positive:
* Prince
As always a brilliant entertainer, an exceptional good singer, and what stage charisma, incredible

* The atmosphere:
On Friday, I was in the fan block (F3, but good seats as we were rather on the right side, with a good overall view), and the people were just rocking. Saturday (tier 1) was also good, nice view (blk 112), and lots of Prince fanatics around us having a great time - none of the "will grab a beer, another sax solo" crowd (see below)

* Seeing Prince from only 4 meters away:
We rushed to the stage for the encore on Friday, and thank God security did not bother us. Then for the second encore (on the sample box/keyboard) we were really only 3-4 meters away from Prince. Great to see all the mimmicking.And - skinny motherfucker with a high voice really sums up the physical presence of the man (he should eat a bit - gee, how fragile)

However, some stuff was a bit strange and not to my liking for an arena show:

* Too many covers
As much as I like the songs he chose for covers, I would really like to hear Prince songs at the concert. He's got so many hits, so little time, why bother with "what you need", "come together", "pass the peas", "play that funky.." etc. He should keep those for aftershows

* Self-indulgent improvisations
The same holds true for the long improvisations by Prince and the band. I really can do without a 10 minute workout of Satisfied. Real music by real musicians isn't something threatened by extinction, so no need to prove that point in a concerts where he says he will play the hits. You could really feel the otherwise good vibe in the audience gooing down during this. I know all the "he's an artist" arguments, but on arena nights he should primarily be an entertainer.

* The teasing short songs
I really hates how he cuts songs short. Get rid of the above (covers, improvisatons), and you have enough time for playing out these great songs.

* The show
The show was a bit too low-cost for my liking. Definitely not state-of-the-art. And the twins have no stage charisma at all.

* The "will just catch a beer" part of the audience
I really felt sorry for Prince and the band about the massive amount of people heading in and out of the arena during the songs, supposedly to catch a drink or go to the loo. I found that really disturbing.


I remember being blown away by the Parade tour, ecstatic while watching LoveSexy, kind of disappointed by the Nude tour and thrilled by the Diamond&Pearls tour. The concerts on Friday and Saturday I would rate as worse than Lovesexy and Parade and better than the other ones I have seen.

But still - I am so happy that the musical genius of my youth still tours, and still can deliver such a great show!

Overall, a 8/10

Great review!

Krid said:

agree with 99% of your review, however, i think the point s youve made regarding Self-indulgent improvisations, Too many covers and most annoyingly the short teasing songs are probably the main reason for the "will just catch a beer" part of the audience! Some people will do as they please regardless but judging by many of the comments regarding his shows so far, I would rather go for a beer and a toilet break than listen to a 15 minute sax or base solo! couldant agree with you more when you say that although Prince is a fantastic artist, when hes playing to 21000 people in an arena, he is an entertainer!!

wheelie said:

I know... they definitely did not leave the house while "Kiss" was on

The 1st Sept. was my favourite show yet.

Krid said:

Yeah - great overall review. Agree with most i have to say.

Re the people who go for beer or to the loo, as i have mentioned in a previous thread, i think this is mainly down to the fact that the venue is new and the facilities excellent and so much easier and quicker to get a drink or go to the toilet than in other venues of similar size - namely Wembley Arena and Earls Court. Plus at £3.50 a pint it's hardly rip off prices.

I think if the facilities were crap and the prices high we'd get loads of people on here moaning about that. I'd rather it is as it is, personally.

FunkyAphrodite said:

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"Real music by real musicians isn't something threatened by extinction."

Take a look at the charts !!!

For starters I have to say that it was definitely worth the trip from Finland to see these two shows.

I loved the selection of tracks, and the difference between the two shows. I loved hearing the greatest hits twice (Purple Rain had me feeling exactly like the crowd in the movie., just like I did fifteen years ago when I first saw the video on MTV). For me it was just like a single concert with a 22 hour intermission.

The amount of cover songs on Friday could have been a mistake, but they worked so well they didn't bring the mood down at all. The seats in F3 (Fri) and 111 (Sat) were both fabulous, and I was lucky as Prince seemed to be moving a lot more on Friday.

The only downside is that I couldn't make it to the aftershow on Saturday even though I had tickets for it... Oh well, at least there's something to wait for at the next tour.

laurarichardson said:

Naj, the charts at most times have been dominated by crap music. Even in Prince's heydays, it was mostly music created by producers, with some good-looking singers fronting...

And even today, there is good "handcrafted" music that makes it to the charts.