I went to Prince's Sunday night (16th) performance and I was blown away as I knew I would be. However I have a couple of gripes with the more casual 'fans'.

I couldn't believe the number of people leaving the auditorium half way through the songs to get a beer, burger etc.. also I had the misfortune to have 2 girls in front of me chatting loudly through some of the quieter moments of the concert which I found so rude.. plus there was a couple of people making phone calls also during performances.

I think it's so rude that Prince puts on a 21 night concert for a great price and these people do not respect the effort made.. To all those people (who im sure aren't checking this site as I don't consider them true fans), please and stop spoiling the enjoyment for others.

I hope I don't sound like an old moaning fuddy duddy!!
[Edited 9/20/07 3:46am]

This is the kind of crowd you get when the tickets are so cheap and the concert is in that kind of venue. You get what you pay for and Prince knows that.

Yeah that really gets 2 me too, but i was at a aftershow, and this guy said to this lady next to me " I don't like coming here on the weekends, there are to many casual fans and kids" and when he said that he looked at me, i was so pissed off, just cause im young doen't mean im not a fan arsehole

andykeen said:

Blah - I'd assume the weekends would also be more convenient for anyone who doesn't want to or can't miss a day's work after an aftershow - or anyone who wants to coe with friends, since it might be hard for them all to get the same work-holiday privileges. Maybe this guy took 2 months off work and spent his entire savings on tickets, but most people didn't.

Whiskas31 said:

I aint going no where till the shows over

At one show there was 3 girsl behind me in...
I swear to god..lingerie ,nighties

I was at this show. I thought the crowd were rubbish. Tried to encourge people to make some noise at the end so that he would come back on again but noooo they just raced of for the tube

I went to this show as well and noticed that there was a lot of "senior" people in the crowd. Although I'm 36 myself. I don't have an issue with that, but when it came to some of the non-famous hits being sung the crowd did go a bit subdued.

I was in block A1 and I must admit the sound wasn't too great down there on the floor, too much bass so it drowned out the vocals!!!

Whiskas31 said:

we went on the 6th and had some people next to us, well next to me that constantly wanted to squeeze past to get drinks, were talking all the way through and by the end of the night they all looked fairly worse for wear..... however, i didnt let that spoil my fun, i just moved slightly down the line to the aisle (we were on the end seats) and carried on my parrrrtay there

Only went to the afetrshow on Sunday, but us at the front were commenting how that night there seemed to be a nice lively bunch of young people this time. We'd been to others where a lot of people at the front tended to be 50+ year old men there on their own, standing with their arms crossed. Probably big fans, but they were so stern and serious it was like they were there to analyse the show for a project.

Ellie said:

when we were there, a couple appeared at the side of us, you could tell the guy wanted to proper get on down with his bad ass self but everytime he tried his partner didnt half throw him daggers!!!!
in the end he ended up getting deafened by me and londoner and he spent alot of time watching us and smiling (and probably thinking why cant she be like them)

i just dont understand how you can get tickets (even if you are not a prince fan and have gone with some one who is) and resist the urge to jump so much yr trousers fall off, shout so loud your voice box takes a vacation and clap so hard your fingers are crying out for A+E!!!

andykeen said:

there was a couple of young guys in front of me, about 18 methinks and they were dancing hard, lol.. thats the kind of guys that should be at the concerts.. To be honest I have nothing against casual fans, I just hate the ones who don't respect the fact that some hard core fans such as myself (as well as casual fans who really respect music) wanna enjoy the experience to the fullest. Hope I haven't caused offence to any casual fans!!

Unfortunately it's been said time and time again because of the venue, because of the length of residency the shows have to appeal to one and all and that includes casual fans.

I've been around for some time and digging everything Prince has ever done. I've done all the mainstream releases and have been looking for all the underground stuff for years, even spent loads of money on items you can't find in the shops...

adehone said:

I was quite close, I was around the same area, and i agree there was way too much bass, couldn't hear the vocals very well either!!

abigailj said:

Were you on the same date? I thought the crowd finally picked up at the end, at least P did one encore... after that though people did get going... I was staying for more, but when the band walked off (right next to me) and the wooden box (which no doubt contained the man himself) I gave up!!

Ellie said:

Had the same thing at a Jarvis Cocker gig in June at the Royal Festival Hall, it was seated but Jarv said to front few rows we could come stand by stage, well we did and this guy stood there arms crossed having a go at a few people for dancing in front of him! I swear Jarv looked down at one point with a look as if to say 'stupid fools!' lol

purplerain33 said:

What a sour old cow! If that was my boyf, I'd be a bit more understanding of how excited he is and even if I didn't like the music, I'd still dance about a bit just to help him have a good time.

Whilst I do find it dissapointing to see/hear of folk leaving early I do think it is a persons right to act as they do at a concert as long as it doesn't involve physical or verbal abuse towards others. I was too busy on Sunday watching the man/living and loving the moment on Sunday at the main (A3) and aftershow to take too much notice of what was going on around me. If there are folk who just want to stare blankly then tahts there choice - its up to the rest of the crowd to turn the funk out ! Partyup y'all !

I was at the main and aftershow on 6th Sep (when Prince wore his oh-so-cool yellow hooded suit!)- which has been one of the highly rated shows. Such an amazing night, couldnt fault it in anyway!

Went with a casual fan, who also thought it was the best night of her life. From all the talk abt the 2 previous shows i had been to, another friend decided 2 come along (didnt even have 2 persuade her, coz id been raving abt all the shows so much).

Anyway, she spent the whole main show sitting down, and sat in the corner during the after show. Found her when the night had ended, and her first words were "these have been the worst 5hrs of my life". I was tempted to grab the dj's mic and annouce to everyone what she had just told me!! Was on too much of a high to even get angry! But kinda disappointed i hadnt opened her eyes to how much of an amazing performer Prince is! Oh well....
[Edited 9/20/07 7:52am]

kindy said:

Oh my GOD. What music does she like?

Whiskas31 said:

I'm always amazed at how many people clear off during the show. Luckily I was there on the 16th and with a great bunch of people.

Can't remember which night it was but Prince acknowledged the people creeping out during one song. He gave the, 'on the one', command, the band stopped and Prince said, "The bars closed". That cracked me up.

wlcm2thdwn said:

Yeah, you're right;
I've noticed this more and more in life in general! People just can't seem to concentrate and can't live wothout "texting" every two seconds.....am I getting old???

Whiskas31 said:

Yeah I was there on that day. IMO it was a case of too little too late. They only seemed to start getting into it when he played Purple Rain.

Ellie said:

Probably something like this:-

http://uk.youtube.com/wat...eOYqR_Lz9w

Whiskas31 said:

Oh LOL! I love Vic & Bob.

Maybe she likes club style singing http://uk.youtube.com/wat...0keph8daK4

Ellie said:

well she just recently went to the justin timberlake concert and said that was the best concert ever, so who knows.....damn right aint into Prince thats for sure!!

I wish I had a chance to go to more than 3 shows and 1 aftershow this time around, but there you go. Financially I couldn't stretch further than that and with 2 small kids waiting at home it's not fair on them. But I've had a blast, I've been in the heavens in Block 413, down in the lower tier Block 111 and on the ground in A1. Best by far has been the lower tier !!!

Without the casual fans he wouldn't have been able to put on 21 shows...just a shame they didn't get the tickets for the heavens, with the fans getting the lower tier ones !!

kindy said:

At the little all night diner outside the O2 there's some 20 year old guy who works there and we KEEP having arguments over Prince with him after the shows. He thinks Justin Timberlake is amazing. He knows lots of staff at the arena so has snuck into some aftershows before and said he stayed half an hour and left. There's really no hope, but it's fun continuing the fights

He said that Prince doing 21 shows proves that he's old hat (apparently according to him, Prince looks 60). Justin only did 2 shows (?) because he's got better things to do. Don't worry, I don't understand any of that logic either.

kindy said:

lol yeah, im trying to get my girlfriend off that stuff... however she went with me to the concert and loved it.. she didn't know half the songs but danced like crazy to every one.. hope i have a convert!!
[Edited 9/20/07 8:01am]
[Edited 9/20/07 8:50am]

abigailj said:

yeah, I suppose so... i suppose us hardcore fans just want it to go on forever lol

Ellie said:

The kid likes Justin Timberlake, don't even try and bring logic into it.